p. 1

issue two september 2011 al-qalam university of melbourne islamic society duas for studying pages 1 and 2 scientific miracles in the quran pages 7 and 8 page 6

[close]

p. 2

islamic awareness week 2011 please see poster on the right for times and venues of all the events monday ­ panel discussion the cultural context in which islam was revealed join us as sheikh issa musa and dr eqbal hassim look into the cultural context in which islam was revealed and the character of the prophet s.a.w before and after the revelation tuesday ­ free bbq and green hijab day the university of melbourne islamic society in collaboration with the melbourne university pakistani society are organising a free barbecue as well as collecting funds for flood relief camps running in pakistan it is also green hijab day so come along dressed in green to raise awareness of the muslim population on campus wednesday ­ what is islam and what is christianity christian union cu and university of melbourne islamic students society umis come together to achieve the aim of creating awareness of each other s respective faiths without debate and objective comments two university of melbourne students from each club will present on their respective faith the presenters will be nonie flynn rob pallot esma yucel and ahmad siddiqi thursday ­ amazing race cultural day edition as part of the multicultural day of islamic awareness week aimed to bring peace and harmony among muslims and non muslims and in order to promote intercultural understanding the university of melbourne s islamic society proudly presents the amazing race cultural day edition teams will race against the clock and their competitors while decoding clues and puzzles as they steer their way through this adventurous journey relying on a range of skills such as teamwork timing and the ability to keep a cool head under pressure to aid them complete the given challenges as quick as possible sign up before the 10th of october by emailing us at contactumis@gmail.com thursday ­ umis trivia night 2011 watch as teams put their knowledge to the ultimate test as they compete to become the umis trivia champions of 2011 there ll be a variety of different rounds featuring questions from many different topics plus there ll also be special performances throughout the night including spoken word by alia gabres and stand-up comedy by hani el-rafei free pizza will also be provided on the night friday ­ lecture why are people turning to islam and friday khutbah a lecture by sheikh aslam abu ismaeel a graduate from the islamic university of medina 11am-12pm theatre d old arts plus friday khutbah by sheikh aslam abu ismael 1.20pm-2pm eastern stadium of university of melbourne sports centre friday ­ sports matches soccer and badminton come join us at the sports centre for an afternoon of sports matches sisters will play badminton at the basketball court and brothers will play soccer at the hockey field free pizza will also be provided.

[close]

p. 3

[close]

p. 4

fast-a-thon 2011 assalamu alaikum on the 22 of august umis held our first fast-a-thon event in ramadan our aim for this event had two main purposes to raise money for the east africa famine and also to gather as many non-muslims to participate in the act of fasting in the month of ramadan all i can say is alhamdulilah the event was a success we were able to raise a fair amount of money through the fast-athonians and their sponsors and also through generous donations by the attendees of the iftaar the current situation in east africa is dire east africa is in the grips of one of the worst food security crises in the world today across somalia ethiopia kenya and djibouti 12.4 million people more than half the australian population are affected by the devastating crisis including over 2 million children the crisis is caused by the convergent effects of the worst droughts soaring food prices and the ongoing armed conflict within the country we must also keep in mind it s not just a food crisis but a crisis for child survival all proceeds raised have gone through human appeal international the event was overall received well by everyone upon speaking to our special guests the fast-a-thonians they had thoroughly enjoyed themselves throughout the night they felt welcomed and pleased to meet so many muslims that night and appreciated the cultural aspect of the various food items we had for iftaar catered by lazzat kebab express and al-hana the talk by sheikh rabea baytie was also quite informative for all it was good to see so many people taking the initiative to fast all day they had felt the effects that are meant to be gained through fasting it was expressed to me that they had felt a sense of purity and harmony in their body through abstaining from food and water greater levels of concentration was achieved and a feeling of peace with themselves alhamdulilah we achieved the aims for the event i would like to thank the committee members for their hard work on the night and the couple of weeks leading up to the event we have such a hard working group mashallah thank you to all the wonderful dedicated volunteers of umis whom without the event would not have run so smoothly may allah forgive us for our shortcomings accept our deeds and keep us guided on the straight path jazakallahu khair nd zakia haque sister s coordinator

[close]

p. 5

treasurer s report bismillah wa salatu wa salam ala rasulillah asalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu from your club s treasurer umis has been incredibly busy as of late raising funds for various organisations alhamdulillah we have accomplished a lot over the past six weeks praise is due to allah the creator of the world for allowing our community to achieve what it has i ask him to keep our community strong for it is with a strong community spirit that we are able to do the most good in this world and therefore attain the highest level of dìn jazakallah khayr to all those who have supported us in our efforts this year ramadan of 2011 saw our first fast-a-thon in which we invited nonmuslims to join us in a day of fasting to better understand our ways and religion alhamdulillah our brothers and sisters were most accommodating towards our guests and showed the participants a great day the fast-a-thonians as they were affectionately known as were asked to seek out sponsors that would sponsor them to participate in the day all proceeds will go towards human appeal international s east african emergency appeal with a combined effort from the fast-a-thonians and our muslim community were able to raise $1120.00 umis is proud of this result and would like thank all of those who donated jazakallah khayr inshallah allah will see to it that the famine is lifted and our brothers and sisters in somalia can recover from this devastating event for those unaware umis sponsors two orphans in palestine through human appeal international named ahmad and jana every year umis makes a monetary contribution towards these two children in hopes of providing for them a better life in their war-torn country th last week on thursday the 7 of september umis held a bake sale to raise money for our orphans all food was donated to us by members of our community for which we are deeply grateful our efforts were well noticed by the public which resulted in nearly all food items being sold we were able to raise a total of $383.15 a significant contribution to our sponsorship obligations umis has also been raising funds for an orphanage in indonesia we have been fortunate enough to raise $500 again thank you to those who donated finally i would like to thank our muslim community for your continuing support with your generous donations umis has acquired over $5000 since may of this year the money has been spent wisely predominantly in funding our three iftars without a doubt it is these donations that have helped umis to thrive and flourish this year may allah swt bless you all and your families and to guide us on the path towards him jazakumullah khair ramadan iftaars 2011 bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim alhamdulilah our iftaar program was a success this year saw umis host the fast-a-thon which was designed to raise money for human appeal s east africa famine relief program and as a platform for dawah for the not yet muslim population on campus the overall response from the participants was great and a substantial amount of money was raised for the charity the second iftaar saw umis host a group of refugees from afghanistan alhamdulilah they enjoyed the night and were extremely pleased to be part of such a large gathering of muslims from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds umis would like to thank the brothers and sisters who without their help our iftaar would have not been such as success we would also like to thank our suppliers and sponsors who without their support we would have been unable to provide the iftaars finally we would like to thank everyone for attending jazakumullahu khair abdul hakim elmi activities officer want to be in the next issue of al-qalam if you have an article story poem or anything interesting you would like to be featured in the next issue of al-qalam please send it to abid khan treasurer alqalam.umis@gmail.com

[close]

p. 6

prophet on eid day it was the day of celebration and a day of rejoicing there was an air of festivity in the streets of madina all the people both young and old were dressed in their best clothes especially for this special day of eid as it was time for early morning eid prayers everyone made their way to an open piece of land on the outskirts of the city of madina prophet muhammad pbuh arrived and led the prayers after they had finished they all greeted each other and everyone was walking back home the children running and playing in excitement smiling and laughing without a care in the world as prophet muhammad pbuh walked back home he suddenly became aware of a little boy zuhair bin saghir sitting by himself on the side of the path the little boy was crying and looked very sad the prophet muhammad pbuh bent down and patted him on the shoulders and asked why are you crying please leave me alone sobbed the little boy the boy didn t even see who was talking to him the prophet muhammad pbuh ran his fingers through the boy s hair and very gently and kindly asked him again why he was crying this time the boy said my father was martyred fighting and now my mother has married again and my stepfather does not want me to live at home any more today is eid and everyone is happy all the children have new clothes and nice things to eat but i don t have any clothes except what i am wearing i have no food and i don t even have a place to live prophet muhammad pbuh said to him i know how you feel i lost both my mother and father when i was a little boy the boy was surprised to hear that it was an orphan who was comforting him and when he looked up to his great surprise it was the prophet muhammad pbuh and he immediately jumped up to his feet out of love and respect prophet muhammad pbuh said to him if i were to become your new father and my wife you new mother and my daughter your new sister would that make you feel better oh yes that would be the best thing in the world the boy started smiling the prophet muhammad pbuh took him home and gave him new clothes and good food on this beautiful day of eid the boy indeed had a wonderful eid that day therefore we should think of others that are less fortunate than ourselves on the beautiful day of eid not everyone has such a wonderful day it is a day of celebration but take a moment to stop and think of those who are less fortunate than ourselves by following the sunnah of our prophet muhammad pbuh islamcan.com

[close]

p. 7

dua s for studying duas before/during studying allahumma infa nii bimaa allamtanii wa allimnii maa yanfa unii o allah make useful for me what you taught me and teach me knowledge that will be useful to me allahumma tufiltuf bi fi taysiri kulli asirin fainna taysirra kuuli asirin alaika yassirun o allah make easy for me every difficult thing with your special favour and kindness for it is easy for you to make every difficult thing easy dua after studying allahhumma inni astaodeeuka ma qara tu wama hafaz-tu faradduhu allaya inda hagati elayhi o allah i entrust you with what i have read and i have studied o allah bring it back to me when i am in need of it dua for anxiety allahumma inni a udhubika minal hammi wal hazan wal ajzi wal kasal wal bukhli wal jubn wa dhala id-dayni wa ghalabatir rijaal o allah i seek refuge in you from grief and sadness from weakness and from laziness from miserliness and from cowardice from being overcome by debt and from being overpowered by men other people [sahih al-bukhari 7:158 ww.mizzoumso.org

[close]

p. 8

scientific miracles in the quran by enes bendak the scientific signs of the verse assalamualaykum dear brothers and sisters in islam the quran is allah s swt own word which he revealed to prophet muhammad pbuh via the angel jibreel gabriel over the course of nearly 23 years as the final book to humankind and through his wisdom he decreed that the prophet pbuh be illiterate to eliminate the argument of the prophet writing the quran himself thus leaving the disbelievers no standing to argue over and to signify the importance and the high standing of science and knowledge in the sight of allah swt the first word to be revealed of the quran to the prophet pbuh was the word iqra which literally means `read and which is basically a command from allah swt for all of us to learn and engage in the pursuit of knowledge nowadays the topic of quran and science is becoming more and more relevant to us muslims as we prove that the quran indeed comes from a divine source and that it was impossible for it to be written by any man here is one of the scientific facts in the quran allah swt says 1 the expansion of the universe and its building discovery of very rapid expansion of the universe agrees with expansion of the sky mentioned in the quran 2 albert einstein s blunder and the miracle in the quran in what he would later call the greatest blunder of my life einstein added a term called the cosmological constant to his equations that would make his calculations consistent with a static universe einstein admitted his mistake in 1929 when edwin hubble showed that distant galaxies were indeed receding from the earth and the further away they were the faster they seemed to move discovery of very rapid expansion of the universe agrees with expansion of the sky mentioned in the quran which means with power and skill did we construct the firmament for it is we who create the vastness of space quran 51:47 the expansion of the universe proves that 1 there are many galaxies outside of our own 2 these galaxies are all receding from us if we go to large enough distances 3 the velocity of recession is proportional to the distance from us 3 create the vastness of the sky in 1998 observations of type 1a supernovae suggested that the expansion of the universe is speeding up 4 etsaa-al-samaa the vastness of the sky an expanding universe does not mean that everything in the universe is growing in size michael s turner craig wiegert the discovery of galaxies beyond the milky way leads to another astounding discovery the galaxies are all moving away from each other the universe is expanding the galaxies are not expanding the galaxies are moving apart because the space between them is increasing stars and galaxies were not pushed out into space but that space itself expanded these words represent a good explanation to the arabic word la mosoon which mentioned in the previous verse.

[close]

p. 9

5 with power and skill did we construct the firmament and the four fundamental forces of nature objects held together by forces strong enough to resist this expansion won t expand for example atoms are held together by the electric force neutrons and protons are bound by the strong force and astronomical objects like the earth our solar system and our galaxy are held together by the force of gravity associated with these high concentrations of matter allah says 1 2 which means it is allah who sustains the heavens and the earth lest they cease to function and if they should fail there is none not one can sustain them thereafter verily he is most forbearing oftforgiving quran 35:41 i hope this aided you in learning more about the quran and its deep meanings wassalam your brother in islam enes bendak reference www.quranandscience.com

[close]

p. 10

musallah announcement dear respected brothers and sisters of umis some issues have come to the attention of the committee members in the past few weeks please do take these issues seriously 1 the level of noise in the musallah complaints had been directed towards the committee members in regards to the number of people speaking in an above modal tone of voice which disrupted the prayers of others in the musallah on both the brothers and sisters sides this was most prominent in the half hour periods on either side of the dhuhur asr and maghrib fard prayer times committee members are also at fault please do respect the nature of the house of worship and please keep your voice at a minimal level whilst inside please avoid speaking altogether and hold conversations outside on lt pelham st 2 vending in the musallah foyer many of you may have noticed that the collapsible table to the right wall of the musallah foyer is now clear of all of the produce that was placed upon it throughout the past two years this is because the committee felt that it had become too cluttered we have now put in place a protocol where one may sell items provided that they have first approached us and received permission to do so if one does which to sell things there please email us at contactumis@gmail.com for those wishing to recover their items please do the same 3 brothers and sisters habit of leaving footwear by the step as most of you have noticed there was placed on the floor by the step a sign that asks all brothers to place their footwear including the sandals and slippers used whilst in the wudu area on the shoerack once they step past it the shoeracks are incorporated into the design of the musallah to keep the entrance way clear for people to move about freely please brothers place all of your footwear on the shoerack it is a simple task please do not leave them on the black linoleum between the sliding door and step your co-operation is much appreciated 4 leaving belongings and unwanted items in the musalla there have been issues with the cleanliness of the musalla as well as the foyer it is to be advised that all belongings are not to be left in the musalla and the space should be kept tidy at all times no items for donation should be left in the musalla without prior notice to the committee members as this will result in a mess and congestion of the limited space 5 posters donation tins and other promotional materials it is to be advised that any promotional materials placed in the musalla without prior permission is prohibited as of 1st october 2011 this includes posters brochures donation tins pamphlets business cards calendars etc .any unauthorised items will be removed for permissions and more information please email contactumis@gmail.com please email us if you have any complaints or improvements or drop them anonymously into the white wooden box in the foyer please help us to make our musalla a comfortable space for everyone jazakum allahu khair musallah officer

[close]

p. 11

by amira haruwarta

[close]

p. 12

e umis committee 2011/2012 president ahmad siddiqi vice president amira haruwarta secretary fahim zafar treasurer abid khan sister coordinator zakia haque activities officer abdulhakim elmi social welfare officer sofia wahhab musallah officers md nassif hossain umairah joffri publications officer yunus hassan da wah officer marissa setyabudhi mentoring officer shazmin shahim subcommittee in alphabetical order the university of melbourne islamic society is always looking for voluntary donations and will be approaching businesses for sponsorships if you wish or know anyone who wishes to donate or sponsor please get in touch with us inshallah contactumis@gmail.com alaric indranada bernard setyabudhi enes bendak hani el-rafei kabir mosaddiq karima popal natasha suliman altaleb umis would also like to thank the following businesses for their contribution to our ramadan iftars facebook.com/contactumis contactumis@gmail.com

[close]