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Muhammad Herzullah, Professor of Al Azhar University – Imam of Hussein Mosque Cairo

The request of the presence of an official imam and the existence of a mosque and Muslim cemetery in Athens expressed in his interview at “Ethnos”, Dr. Muhammad Herzullah, Professor of Al Azhar University and Imam of Hussein Mosque of Cairo. Dr. Herzullah defends the ideals of Islam and states that many times Islam is distorted in the West. The imam also rejects the aspect that the division of the Muslims into Shias and Sunnis has religious base and he supports that in fact there are different schools of Islamic thought.

An interview with Paraskevi Vonatsou

The interview was given in the context of the International Conference that took place in Athens the day before yesterday and the translation was made with the assistance of the president of the Muslim Association of Greece, Mr. Naim Elghandour.

In the Western world many times it is attempted to connect Islam with terrorism. How do you interpret that?

There is not the relevant education to understand Islam. In the countries that the one is connected with the other there is not the right information, Islam is something unknown.

Islam is a religion with high standards, respects for others and all opinions. This is the basis of Islam. I wish there were theologians coming from certified universities to many countries, in order to avoid misconceptions.

Then why there are deaths in the name of jihad?

The word jihad is another misunderstood term of the West that connects it with terrorism. It is a fight, and effort, a struggle. The word jihad exists everywhere: when one is going to study, to work, when one tries to solve problems between people, when he preserves his rights, when he defends his country.

In Athens, where there is not an official imam, is there a bad interpretation of the Quran from those who play the imam role at the unofficial praying places?

This is really very dangerous because anyone may interprete the Quran as he pleases. The authorities of the countries that have Muslim population must take care of the wellbeing of the country and for the harmonious coexistence, they must solve this matter, so that the faithful know which is the true Islam.

Does the religious division between Shias and Sunnis exist, or this is a case of political perspectives?

In fact those are different Islamic schools of thought. This hard rivalry between them is provoked by enemies of Islam, as happened in Iraq, where after the intervention of the foreign powers began the inner fight between them.

What is Islam at last? Is this a religion, and ideology or a way of living?

Islam is the vein of life. What gives life. It respects other religions, wants dialogue and thinking, and adopts the exchange of opinions with other religions, in order to eliminate religious conflicts and deaths in the name of religions.

There is the aspect that the Muslim woman has a diminished role in the society. Is this an order from the Quran?

No, this is a wrong aspect. Islam has given rights to the woman and gives her freedom of thinking and will. For example when a woman does not want to marry someone, she expresses that, she cannot get married by force, also the courts issue divorces to women. The Muslim is also a very good husband.

Polygamy is not derogatory for a woman? Why does it not exist for the opposite also?

I invite you to think which is best: a man to have two or three formal wives with rights at heritage, at pension and fortune or to have mistresses? The vise versa does not stand because a woman is not created in her nature to have many husbands. It is scientifically proven that the woman in her nature cannot marry more than a husband. This does not underestimate the woman. It is characteristic that many women accept the role of the second wife instead of being mistresses without marriage.

How do you comment the fact that there is not an official mosque and Muslim cemetery in Athens?

Greece is considered as the Cradle of Democracy and Freedom since those ideals were born here. I also ask the Greek government to make action those that your country represents. Like in Egypt, we have Orthodox churches and schools and communities and cemeteries.

Muslim Conference in Athens

The different schools of Islamic thought but also the hot issue of not having a mosque and a Muslim cemetery in Athens were the issues that were discussed at the first international conference titled “the Muslim Communities and their Cultural Identity”.

The initiative for the organizing this belongs to the Cultural Center of the Iranian embassy in Athens, to the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic School of Thought, and the Muslim Association of Greece. In the beginning at his salutation, Mr. Yunes, representative of the Afghani immigrants in Greece underlined that Athens is the only European country, despite of the existing laws that has not allowed yet the existence of a formal place of worship and a cemetery for the Muslims.

On behalf of the Muslim Association of Greece, Mrs. Anna Stamou underlined, “Islam is a system of life, not just a religion, and takes part at every aspect of people’s life. If someone wants to be called a good Muslim, he must fully respect the laws of the state in the country he lives.” The result of the conference was read by a professor of Tehran university and concluded that the right face of Islam must be shown globally.

Between the speakers were Ayatollah Akhtari, of the International Committee of Prophet Muhammad’s descendents, Ayatollah Taskhiri, secretary General of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic School of Thought, Yashar Sherif Damadoglou deputy mufti of Didymotiho and the unofficial Mufti of Komotini Ibrahim Sherif, to whom the Muslim Association of Greece kept the distances.

Ramadan 2009 Timetable for Greece

Jihad: my post-conversion struggle

By Adam Christodoulou

Read in Greek

Everyone, non-Muslim or Muslim goes through personal struggles throughout their life. These struggles in Islam are know as jihad. Allah (swt) has designed these jihad for us to test our faith. As we go through these jihads, we have to remain steady in our love for Allah (swt) and Islam.  Today, I want share a personal jihad with you that I went through recently.

A week ago, my wife and I were walking down the street talking about how we miss alcohol. Then, I was thinking to myself, why don’t we buy some liquor for tonight and only tonight? I told my wife that we are going to the store to buy alcohol.

She was like “Ok, we’ll need to buy some after a rough day at work and school.” I am like, “I agree. We need some, however, we will only drink tonight.” She replied, “Ok, let’s do it.” We head towards the store.

Meanwhile, in my head the good was fighting the evil. The good side was saying, “Adam, Allah is watching you. Alcohol is haram you can go to hellfire.” The evil side was saying, “Adam Allah will forgive you. He will understand”.  I saw the store and told my wife we can’t do this. We are Muslim and we can’t drink. Al hamduillah, we come through this alhamdu lillah. We walk away from the store Alhamdu lillah.

During the same week we went through another challenge (jihad). My wife wanted to take off the hijab and I was going to go back to the Roman Catholic faith. During that week, we were having religious problems with my family in Greece and personal problems as well.

I just reached my limits with all the problems so I thought to solve all my problems and decided on a solution to go back to the Roman Catholic faith. However, my Muslim side of me told before I do this, I will reach out to all my Muslims brothers and sisters, Greek or not.

Alhamdu lillah, I reached out to all the Muslim brothers and sisters by posting “Leaving Islam?” on facebook as my status. Afterwards, a got more than a dozen message and emails from Greek Muslims and Muslims across the world alhamdu lillah. I felt that I had the support that I need, however, the local support was smaller and more difficult to find. Khair it’s all good.  After emailing sisters and brothers and talking to them over the phone we got through the jihad. The most important thing that I did was I turned to Allah (swt) and ask for his forgiveness and his support. Alhamdu lillah it arrived. We are proud Muslims.

Jihads will always come at us at the worst time of our lives, however, if we turn to Allah (swt) inshallah we will get through the jihad. In addition, we can also turn to our brothers and sisters for support. We are here for each other and we all go through the same struggles. Whether it is the wearing the hijab, drinking or other haram acts. We need to stay on the right path for the love of Allah (swt).

Adam Christodoulou

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Note: Jihad literally means struggle and the best struggle is conquering personal struggles within yourself.

When one expects the very first word to be revealed to a prophet would be “Kneel!”, “Bow!”, “Prostrate!” or “Hark!”, it is surprising to learn that the first word revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was “Read!”.

It is all the more surprising when you know that Prophet Muhammad was an illiterate person who belonged to a mostly illiterate nation!

The following are the very first ayas (verses) that the Prophet had received:

“Read in the name of thy Lord Who created; Created man from a clot; Read, and your Lord is the Most Bounteous; Who has taught (the writing) by the pen; He taught man that which he knew not.” (Holy Qur’an, 96: 1-5)

The Holy Qur’an revolutionized a nation of illiterate, hostile warring tribes by inviting them to reflect, think and re-think about everything in life, especially the signs of God’s oneness, greatness and blessings.

In fact, Edward De Bono* once said: “Islam is more about thinking than any other religion”. He also testified that “there are 130 verses in Koran specifically about thinking”.

Little wonder, it only took a few decades to transform a people with hardly any civilization worth mentioning into the patrons of science and enlightenment for the next one thousands years!

On the other hand, Islam brought up a nation of disciplined fearless warriors who would sacrifice everything they had to please their Lord.

Allah (swt) states in the Noble Qur’an: “Truly Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in rows (ranks), as if they were a solid structure.” (61:4)

Muslims had a strong belief in the afterlife and knew that dying on the battlefield was not just an honour, but also a direct path to paradise.

It was a win-win deal – and still is for people who believe!

The very compulsary five daily prayers that should ideally be performed in a mosque or in congregation not only taught Muslims discipline, but also strengthened their sense of brotherhood and unity.

With their high spirit and strong faith they were able to defeat armies many times greater and better equipped than theirs (See the table below).

Khaled Ibn Al-Waleed was a Muslim commander who is considered to be one of the most successful military commanders of all time. He never ever lost a battle! But he was by no means the only great Muslim commander. There were many others, as you’ll see later.

Strength – be it in body, mind or spirit – was a highly appreciated quality in a Muslim and the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is known for having said: “A strong believer is better and dearer to Allah than a weak believer; and there is good in both”.

Omar (may Allah be pleased with him) also once said: “Teach your children swimming, archery, and horse-riding”.

Furthermore, Islam discouraged Muslims from living an extravagnt lifestyle and was categorically against excess, especially when it came to material matters.

Austerity was encouraged; and, in fact, one of the Prophet’s (pbuh) well-known sayings is: “Toughen yourselves, for life’s blessings do not last for ever”.

Finally, the Prophet (pbuh) predicted that there would come a day when Muslims will be so large in numbers yet so weak that their enemies would invite one another to assault them. The reason? Muslims would have become fond of life and fearful of death.

These dark days have already been around for some time. But, insha’Allah, with sincere efforts to revert to our deen, the dawn is not too far away!

Just some of the historical battles in which the Muslims defeated their enemies despite being greatly outnumbered.

*Edward de Bono (born May 19, 1933, in Malta) is a Maltese physician, author, inventor, and consultant. He is best known as the originator of the term “lateral thinking” (structured creativity) and the leading proponent of the deliberate teaching of thinking in schools.