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issue one ramadan 2011 al-qalam uniiversiity of mellbourne iisllamiic sociiety un vers ty of me bourne s am c soc ety 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 officers yunus hassan da wah officer marissa setyabudhi mentoring officer shazmin shahim ramadan iftar program 2011 ramadan is finally upon us so please join us for three special iftars during this blessed month they will be held on the 9th 16th and 22nd of august when after maghrib prayer will take place in the musallah iftar program 9th august ­ tuesday where graduate centre to get notified about all the latest umis events make sure to add us 16th august ­ tuesday 22nd august monday sisters ­ gryphon hall level 1 brothers ­ multifunction room level 4 contact umis taraweeh prayers will also be performed throughout ramadan starting at 7.30pm in the musallah little pelham street

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presidents welcome al-qalam this issue 10 tips for a productive ramadan praise is due to the almighty i wish peace upon the final prophet his family and his companions i begin with his name and i wish peace upon the reader and all of the members of humanity we are mere subjects to allah our lord we cannot give him enough praise even if every word we were to utter from birth until death were a word of the best of praise to him alhamdulillah i am glad to say that this address is a part of the first al-qalam that is published by the umis 2011-2012 committee page 3 recent umis events i would like to begin by thanking every one of the 2010-2011 committee and all committees prior to that generally many of the members of the past committee have remained as officers in this one we welcome the new members of the committee and umis in general it is our aim to represent every muslim and muslimah on campus since becoming president in may of this year i am thankful and glad to announce that one large scale project bearing umis name had come to pass and yield a beneficial result alhamdulillah the `moozlum film screening took place on the 16th of july and was absolutely critical in my own view to how the rest of the term may develop it was the first project and indeed acts now as a standard for the rest of the events of the term the committee is planning to maintain everything that was established in the previous term islamic awareness week and the musallah library we also plan to establish the umis online website in the coming semester to facilitate communication for all the members and be a primary source of information as humans and as a part of society we are products of the actions of those who came before us so every individual s involvement and activity becomes precious and desired i thank everyone who has contributed in every single way to umis be it from donations volunteering and even criticism i look forward to the year and to the interaction with you all that i am to have as president i also wish everyone a fulfilling ramadhan jazakum allahu khair page 5 mooz-lum movie review page 6 ramadan checklist page 7 ahmad siddiqi umis president 2011-2012

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allah s apostle said 10 tips for a productive ramadan when the month of ramadan starts the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of hell are closed and the devils are chained [bukhari 1 have sincere intentions work hard and make lots of dua for an ultimate productive ramadan 2 plan your day each day of ramadan the night before choose three important tasks you want to achieve the next day and record them 3 never miss suhoor wake up at least 1 hour before fajr and have a filling balanced meal 4 start working on your most important tasks right after fajr and get at least 1 or 2 done 5 try to get an afternoon nap not more than 20 minutes either just before dhuhur or after dhuhur 6 plan your ramadan days and life around salah times oh you who believe fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you that you many learn piety and righteousness qur an al-baqarah 2:183 not the other way round 7 block at least one-hour for reciting quran each day 8 break your fast with dates and milk or dates and water go pray maghreb then come back for a light meal 9 give lots of `physical sadaqah get involved in organising community iftars charity drives helping orphans etc earn rewards working for others 10 don t miss an opportunity for dawah when someone asks you why you re not eating give them a beautiful explanation of ramadan and islam courtesy of productiveramadan.com

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turhan ebu aydin yolcu with the meaning and purposes of life in the view of said nursi the turkish islamic scholar said nursi in the eleventh word of his risale-i nur treatise of light elucidates the nature and purposes of life and the universe via a comparison he imagines a king who has unbounded wealth this king possesses elevated wisdom in all branches of science and learning and furthermore is skilled in countless forms of beautiful art in fact the king exemplifies beauty and perfection in all of his attributes nursi then applies the truth that every possessor of beauty and perfection wishes to see and display his own beauty and perfection therefore the king builds a palace in which to display his riches and artistry and the marvels of his knowledge he does this so that he can behold his beauty and perfection in his own view but also so that he can see it through the view of others to draw an analogy just as a musician wishes to hear and appreciate his own music he also wishes for others to hear and appreciate it moreover he wishes for those who can properly appreciate it moving from the comparison to reality nursi points out that allah possesses absolute beauty and perfection jamal and kamal in all his attributes allah wishes to display and manifest his absolute beauty and perfection so that he may behold it himself for beauty and perfection are loved for their own sake thus allah creates the universe and other realms all full of art and beauty further allah wishes to see his beauty and perfection through the view of others this requires conscious observers such as mankind as a manifestation of his mercy and compassion his rahmah allah loves and wishes to be loved thus he creates conscious beings to see his art and receive his bounties so one of the purposes in the creation of mankind and one of our duties is to be conscious and appreciative observers of the universe it is for this reason that allah in the very first words revealed to muhammad pbuh commands us to read in the name of thy lord who createth quran 96:1 we are required to read what nursi calls the book of the universe not only is man a conscious observer of allah s beauty and perfection but he is also a comprehensive place of manifestation and a mirror that reflects allah s attributes and names for example as allah possesses the attribute of love wadud so too man possesses to an infinitely lesser degree the ability to love as allah possesses limitless free-will so too man has been endowed with a small measure of free-will free-will therefore is an integral part of being human we have the free-will to make decisions to do or not to do to believe or not believe to love or not to love to utilize the capital of our lives wisely or to waste it on the 1 fulfillment of base desires if humans did not possess this small sample of free-will they would not be a comprehensive mirror to allah s attributes and would not be freely discerning observers of his art it is partly for this reason that allah does not fully manifest himself in this world in a manner that would force us to believe if he literally showed himself to us our free-will would be rendered inoperative and we would be unable to be examined in conduct yet examination through temptation difficulty and calamity are all essential to human attainments to our growth and maturity it is only through this striving and exertion that a human being can rise through the levels of kamalat maturity and it is only through gaining maturity of heart mind and spirit that a person can properly appreciate the infinite degrees and beauty of allah s names 1 love and belief are both held in the heart as we know the heart is in allah s hands and it is therefore allah who places belief in our hearts however it is still incumbent upon us to use our free-will to make appropriate decisions and to act appropriately by doing this we put ourselves in an acceptable position before allah to receive the light of belief directly from him

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events melbourne premiere ­ 16th july mooz-lum the movie mooz-lum premiered in melbourne on the 16 of july with umis organising both screenings each screening attracted a phenomenal turnout alhumdulilah umis hopes to continue to organise more major events such as this one in the future inshallah th mentoring lunch ­ 28th july the mentoring lunch provided mentors with the opportunity to catch up with their mentees and check on how well they have transitioned into university life so far all while enjoying a free pizza lunch to stay up to date with all the latest umis events make sure to connect with us on facebook `contact umis `university of melbourne islamic society

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movie review review by mooz-lum 2011 directed by qasim basir starring danny glover nia long evan ross running time 99 minutes mooz-lum tells the story of a young african-american muslim male struggling to keep his identity and his faith in a post-9/11 world the title is a mispronunciation of the word muslim specifically in american english this mispronunciation is a reflection of the fact that many other aspects of islam are misunderstood in the western world `mooz-lum is the debut feature of writer-director qasim basir he utilises the familiar storyline of the man searching for identity to raise awareness of the fact that terrorism affects many groups of people other than those directly affected alaric indranada there is an utterly realistic feel about the exchanges between tariq and his other family members these exchanges capture excellent moments of household drama at times they are very heartwarming they are fascinating portrayals of a broken up family yearning to be close who hesitates for the sake of maintaining a strong face a university setting seems appropriate for the theme the theme being a young individual s exploration of faith and identity in unfamiliar surroundings it is part of their development that an individual is exposed to unfamiliar surroundings in order to become acquainted with the world around them the same plot has been used many times before with differing features in name race and environment thus the plot of the movie is quite obvious and predictable what distinguishes this feature from others is that it is impressively driven by a tense atmosphere that basir effectively creates throughout the film which parallels tariq s confusion and also complements his inability to express his true feelings through this basir tries to summarize what is felt by many adolescent muslims in the present time a university setting seems appropriate for the theme an exploration of faith and identity the film begins with tariq evan ross leaving home to go to college in doing so he moves away from his strict but caring father hassan roger guenveur smith already he rarely sees his mother safiyah nia long who had separated from his father and had taken his sister to live with her as he is leaving the street of his home tariq s embarrassment and shame of following his religion is evident at points throughout the film viewers are presented flashbacks that show tariq s troubled childhood and how he came to be ashamed of the religion in his time at college tariq experiences the pressures and insights that characterize secular environments because of this he encounters a different perspective of islam through meeting his muslim room-mate hamza kunal sharma a perspective that contrasts his views about islam the performances are fine ross displays a fine portrayal of tariq s hesitating nature undecided on what to follow or believe particularly impressive are smith as hassan who shows a man not willing to sacrifice his image of authority for showing affection towards his children and sharma as hamza tariq s devout but shy room-mate unsure on how to approach tariq s rejection of faith nia long and danny glover put in usual solid performances with their experienced talent undoubtedly evident ultimately basir s goal in making the film is to effectively give an account of one muslim s shame to follow his religion due to pressures and impatience at times in the film it is felt that the messages and situations are being presented too forcefully nevertheless it is a very solid portrayal and basir achieves his goal he may be responsible for starting a new wave of films with islamic-centred content movies are powerful things perhaps in the future they can be a major force in helping to change people s perception of the adherents of islam from mooz-lums to muslims i have a feeling that basir made the film especially for a muslim audience as much of the dialogue is filled with islamic parlance at the same time however there are enough implied meanings in the verbal exchanges to allow other members of the audience to remain engaged although this is the case the messages in this film relate to everyone and benefit all alaric indranada first year biomedicine student

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ramadan 2011 checklist

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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 insha-allah contactumis@gmail.com umis is proudly supported by umis would also like to thank the following businesses

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