"THE WORLD IS CHANGING"
ISLAM IS THE WORLD FASTEST GROWING RELIGION....

Aminah Assilmi, a national Muslim community activist in the US, Sister Aminah, who was 65, died in a acar accident on March 05 2010. She served as the Director of the International Union of Muslim Women. She was an internationally-respected author, an advocate for women’s rights and a renowned speaker on Islam.

The Aminah Assilmi Story

Former Baptist explains why she is now a Muslim
By Rebecca Simmons, Abilene Reporter-News, Saturday, November 1, 1997

She used to be a Southern Baptist, a radical feminist and a broadcast journalist. Now Aminah Assilmi is an ambassador of Islam.

The director of the International Union of Muslim Women, Assilmi calls Fairfield, Ohio, home. She travels the country speaking on college campuses, increasing public awareness and understanding of the faith.

She wears the traditional Islamic hijab, which includes a head scarf, covering her hair and neck and modest clothing with long sleeves.

Last week at the University of Tennessee, Assilmi spoke to a near-full audience on the status of women in Islam in her lecture, “A Muslim woman speaks from behind the veil.”

Assilmi cautions critics who say that women are oppressed in some predominately Muslim countries. She says their practices are cultural, not Islamic.

“People who are held down, are held down by ignorance,” she said. “They follow cultural practices. Do not judge Islam by these individuals who have only practiced like the people in their family.”

But, Assilmi told audiences, she hasn’t always been a Muslim and a proponent of Islam.

Meeting her first “real life Muslims” when she took a college theater class some years ago, Assilmi said she almost dropped the class when she walked into the room and saw some Arab students in traditional hijab.

In the handbook she authored, “Choosing Islam,” Assilmi writes, “There was no way I was going to sit in a room with dirty heathens. .. I shut the door and went home.”

After her husband encouraged her to go back to the theater class, Assilmi said she felt it her duty to “convert the poor, ignorant Muslims.”

Hoping to convert the students to Christianity, Assilmi began to study the Koran, the holy book of Islam, in a quest to prove that Mohammed was a false prophet and that Islam was not a valid religion.

But the more she read, the more she became interested in Islam. She was particularly interested in what the Koran had to say about men and women.

Islamic women, she thought, “were freely beaten by their husbands and tossed aside.”

Assilmi says she had based her opinion on stereotypes; and soon found out those ideas were not in keeping with the Koran.

This Month is the Month of Hajj - Dhul Hajj. Around 30 lakhs of people have already arrived at Makkah to attend the annual ritual of Hajj. They come from all countries of the world with the same intention of completing Hajj, which is acceptable to Almighty God. Qur'an has commanded thus:

"And proclaim to mankind the Hajj (pilgrimage). They will come to you on foot and on very lean camel. They will come from every deep and distant (wide) mountain highway (to perform Hajj), that they may witness things that are of benefit to them. Let them complete their prescribed duties and perform their vows and circumambulate the ancient house" (Qur'an 22:27-29)

"Pilgrimage to the house is a duty to Allah by all people who are able to make the journey. As for those who disbelieve, Allah is in no need of anyone in all the worlds. Say: People of earlier revelation, why do you disbelieve in Allah?¦s revelations, when Allah Himself is witness to all that you do. Say: People of earlier revelation, why do you try to turn those who have come to believe, away from the path of Allah, seeking to make it turn crooked when you yourselves bear witness (to its being) straight)? Allah is not unaware of what you do" (Qur'an 3:97-99)

"The pilgrimage shall take place in the months appointed for it. And whoever undertakes the pilgrimage in those [months] shall, while on pilgrimage, abstain from lewd speech, from all wicked conduct, and from quarrelling; and whatever good you may do, God is aware of it. And make provision for yourselves - but, verily, the best of all provisions is God-consciousness: remain, then, conscious of Me, O you who are endowed with insight!" (Qur'an 2:197).

Pilgrimage was prescribed to the followers of all Prophets from Adam to Muhammad. It is one form of worship.

Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam to be performed by a Muslim who has the means and sufficient health to accomplish the same, the other pillars being Kalimah (confirmation of faith in one God), 5 times prayer per day, fasting in the month of Ramadan, Zakat (2.5% of money left with the individual after completion of one full year to be given to poor, needy, orphans, widows etc.). Hajj is the congregation of world Muslims in a specified place and time with the same object viz. obeying the Commandment of Allah - Lord of the Universe, Creator and Cherisher, with no beginning and no end. Hajj is compulsory once in life time, if the person has means to perform, by way money and health.

Hajj tests the patience, belief, spirit of sacrifice, humbleness, kindness, brotherly love, love towards God, readiness to give up all materials comfort and convenience for the will and plan of God.

Read more about Hajj:
http://www.muslimpath.com/hajj/
http://www.hajinformation.com/main/f05.htm