by Nader Nasr
www.thenutfactory.com
Narrated by Ibn “Umar: The Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him) said, “Amongst the trees, there is a tree, the leaves of which do not fall and is like a Muslim. Tell me the name of that tree.” Everybody started thinking about the trees of the desert areas. And I thought of the date-palm tree but felt too shy to answer. The others then asked, “What is that tree, O Allah”s Apostle?” He replied, “It is the date-palm tree.” ? (Bukhari, 58)
In early Islamic history it was customary for the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to place a chewed date in the mouth of a newborn baby, and the baby would feel soothed and cease to cry. In Surah Mariam, in the Holy Qur”an, an anecdote is told of how Mary (PBUH), in her pain of childbirth, was driven to a palm tree where she was commanded by a voice to shake its trunk as fresh, ripe dates would fall down for her to eat. During Ramadan, Muslims all over the world tend to break their fast with dates, just as the Prophet (PBUH) did.
The date palm and the date Of all the fruits which exist today, none has been heavily emphasized, by the Qur”an or the Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH), more than the date. The Qur”an mentions the date palm at least 20 times. Why? What is the significance of this fruit? It is wrinkled, dry, no larger than an iPod Shuffle, and commonly mistaken for a prune. Yet, other than pomegranates, olives, and figs, it has been one of the most important fruits and staples for not just Muslims, but civilizations dating as far back as Ancient Egypt. In fact, there is an old Arab saying which says, There are more uses from the date palms, than there are days in a year.? It is time to put this saying to the test and discover the role of the date in Islam.
The date palm is believed to have originated around the Persian Gulf and was very abundant between the Nile and Euphrates rivers. Around 4,000 B.C., its cultivation was widespread in the Middle East and North Africa, as Arab nomads would grow date palms wherever they traveled. It eventually was introduced in Spain, and soon after, it was grown in many European regions including the French Riviera, southern Italy, and Greece. However, the date palm did not find too much success in such regions due to specific conditions”long, hot growing season, low humidity, absence of summer rain, and soil types with low salt levels and free draining sands”needed for it to grow. Today, the date palm flourishes in such countries like Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Arabia, and Iran. Iraq leads all countries, as the number one producer of dates, with 22 million date palms producing over 600,000 tons of dates annually.
One region of the world, where the date palm has found success in is Southern California, specifically, the Coachella Valley. Imported from Iraq and Egypt in 1890 by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Coachella Valley is responsible for 95 percent of the nation”s date crop. In fact, it is celebrated in the annual Indio Date Festival near Riverside. Not only has the fruit made its way to the United States, but the culture behind it has found its way here too. Examples include the naming of towns after Arabic cities like Mecca and Baghdad. The Indio Date Festival hosts events in which they perform plays on the Arabian Nights. However, according to Jonathan Friedlander, Assistant Director in Near Eastern Studies at UCLA, the incorporation of the Arabic? culture in such places is merely meant to sell. The annual Indio Date Festival is only a form of advertisement that utilizes Arabic? culture to sell and promote the date fruit.
The date fruit has for centuries been praised for its sweet taste, but just as the Arab saying claims, it has close to 400 different uses, if not more. Structurally, the branches of the date palm have served as a source of shade amidst the blazing, hot desert sun. During the time of the Prophet (PBUH), date palms were crucial in the growth of early Muslim communities. Its leafstalks were used by many scribes to record the chapters and verses of the Qur”an. Early mosques were built using palm fronds woven together and the pillars of the mosques were made from the trunks of palm trees.
Besides the structural uses, the date fruit has had many culinary and medicinal uses that help explain many of the verses of the Qur”an and Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Dates are an excellent source of iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, copper, and phosphorous. They possess rich natural fibers and vitamins including thiamine, riboflavin, biotin, folic and ascorbic acid. Today, they are used to make syrups, jams, ice creams, and sodas. They are high-energy fruits that are recommended for the health conscious. Dates are also easily digested. This explains why the Prophet (PBUH) would break his fast with them. Hunger is caused by a shortage of sugar in the blood, and not by an empty stomach (as usually assumed). Dates help elevate blood sugar levels as soon as they are consumed, instantly satisfying hunger.
Some of the medicinal uses of dates include being an excellent muscle stimulant. Early Muslims who would engage in battle used to consume them as a source of energy, and would survive for days on just dates and water. Dates can also reduce pain sensation and heart rate, which is why the Prophet (PBUH) would place chewed dates in a newborn”s mouth. Any pain the child feels after birth ceases, and the baby is able to calm down almost instantaneously. Pregnant women are encouraged to eat dates during pregnancy because experiments have shown that the muscles of the uterus are stimulated in the last months of pregnancy. This allows for dilation on the time of delivery and a reduction in bleeding”explaining the anecdote in Surah Mariam. Dates are also used in the treatment of bronchitis, tumors, hemorrhoids, poisonous bites, night blindness, skin allergies, anxiety, and depression. The American Cancer Society recommends that a person consume 20-35 grams of dietary fiber a day, and according to Family Nutrition Online, dates are excellent sources of dietary fiber with one date containing 3 grams.
And in the earth are neighboring tracts, and gardens of vines and green crops…yet some of them We make more excellent than others to eat. Verily! In these things there are signs for the people who understand? (Holy Qur”an 13:3). Allah (SWT) has created for the world an eclectic selection of plants, yet He chose a few to be more excellent than the others. The date palm is one example of these plants, which truly has more uses than there are days in a year.? It is one of the many blessings Allah (SWT) has bestowed for Muslims, and it is a tree we should always respect and protect for the sake of Allah. Indeed, Muslims are like the date palm, for we live in the toughest conditions and always find a way to survive, and better yet, a way to assist the world. ¢
Amazing as always
Libya and Colonialism
Hasnain Imam
Are we being duped? Yes we are being duped.
What happened in Libya is no surprise. After Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and the others, it was clear that public discontent with old and repressive Middle East regimes was spreading faster than fire in dry grass. It should be noted that all these repressive regimes were openly supported by the Western Powers including the European Union. The Western leaders are now speaking about rebuilding Libya. These open ended promises may, or may not, metamorphose into a new colonial involvement in Africa. The main parties to this issue are the British and the Italian governments. They have a major stake in the Libyan Oil industry. Till yesterday the rogue turned friend Ghadafi was being courted by the British and was being supplied with weapons to suppress his people but today he is being touted as the biggest rogue in the Middle east.
The so-called opposition has been named as “Interim National Council”. Who is the projected leader? An unknown lecturer Guma El-Gamaty in the Grafton College of Management Studies. Who has found him capable of leading a country? The British. Do the people of Libya recognize him or is he just one of the MI6 operatives being groomed for the job? Libyan politics depends mainly on tribal alliance so to which brig tribe does this man belong? The same is true for Shammam and Mahmoud Jabril whom America is courting. Dr. Abdulmonem Hresha ios said to be a prominent figure of Muslim Brotherhood in Libya. He taught physics at the University of Tripoli but was exposed as a Western plant in the Muslim Brother so he escaped to Canada and is now living in Britain. Now the west regards his organization as a terrorist set up so how come he is being sheltered instead of being arrested for the crimes of his organization? It is strange that the Western powers still believe that they can replace on tyrant with another stooge in any country they wish and call it a democratic government. From the Shah of Iran to Muammar Ghadafi the western powers have supported only tyrants. Even today they are blinded to the massacre in Bahrain by their supporter the Khalifa family who are in the minority but with the explicit support of the Western powers and the Wahhabi Arabs led by Saudi Arabia is able to crush the majority of the population who happened to be Shia Muslims.
By fomenting regime changes in Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Libya the US government is securing a safe passage for gulf and central Asian oil via the Atlantic to its shores. Democracy as we all know now is the rule of the industrial powers with the help of the corrupt officials over the un-suspecting majority. American forces are already stationed in the Gulf States, Central Asia and Egypt and so the oil is secure. A monopoly over the oil reserves of the world is slowly but surely being established. The growing economies of the third world will soon have to buy oil from this Western cartel at whatever rate its fixes. This however, cannot be done without the commitment of ground troops and this is where the strategic partners of the Western powers like Pakistan, India, and Indonesia will have to commit themselves. The citizens of the US and its allies are not amenable to the idea of body bags of their sons coming home. They do accept the idea , at least to some extent, that their countries are fighting the “bad guys” but now they wonder that such powerful forces as theirs have not been able to establish “:good guys” under a democratic set up in Iraq and Afghanistan. Al Qaeda remains undefeated after nearly a decade.
In Libya, the rebels on the eastern side are free while the main oppression is on those who live in the west side controlled by Ghadafi so why are they being bombed? Al-Amin Bilhaj and Kemal el Helbawy two other Muslim Brotherhood’s so-called leaders are now also stationed in Britian. Yusuf al Qaradawi — an Egyptian preacher in Qatar widely viewed as the Muslim Brotherhood’s chief spiritual guide — issued a fatwa or religious ruling obliging any Libyan soldier who had the opportunity to do so to assassinate the leader. Qatar is another protectorate of the Western powers. This makes one thing very clear and that this regime change was being planned from the time the Muslim Brotherhood (Libya) was compromised by the British Intelligence services and they were instrumental in bringing Ghadafi close to Britain. This was the great betrayal of the aspirations of the people of Libya. These people are helping the colonization of Libya in the name of democracy. It should also be noted that Muslim Brotherhood is a Wahhabi organization financed to a large extent by Saudi Arabia and its gulf allies. The same will be the case in Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria. Muslim Brotherhood will support the so the new so-called democratic governments in these countries. The Passage of oil to the western countries is now ensured.
But why are Europe and the US so anxious to overturn Gadhafi after more than 40 years? It seems mighty strange that the “Allied” forces were able to act so quickly on this one. The quick action indicates preplanning that has been going on for weeks. If the agenda is to stop the killing of protestors protesting dictators and their corrupt reigns, then why not make it a clean sweep of it everywhere throughout the entire world? What is the major difference between Qaddafi and all the other dictators throughout the world that requires such immediate action now? When Israeli aircraft and missiles are used against civilians in Lebanon or Gaza, I don’t see the West threatening anything at all — no embargo, nothing to prevent Israel from flying and bombing, and surely no attack on tanks or armored vehicles used to kill civilians. More than 20,000 civilians have died in such attacks.
According to Seymour Hersh a group of radical neoconservatives hijacked US foreign policy agenda in order to pursue a crusade of the ancient order similar to those back in 1096-1099. The objective is “to change mosques into cathedrals. That is the attitude pervades a large percentage of the Joint Special Operation Command (JSOC)” (Foreign Policy dated 18 January 2011).
Hersh went on to disclose that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who headed JSOC before becoming the top US commander in Afghanistan and his successor Vice Adm William McRaven as well as many within JSOC ” are all members of Knights of Malta.” The Knights of Malta dates back to the 11th century. Its mission is to avenge Islam and Muslims for the decline of Christianity. It is a sovereign entity that has diplomatic relations with more than 80 nations.
Are we being duped through democracy? Yes , there is not an iota of truth in what the Western powers are saying.