Beware Of Religious) 419ners!

BEWARE OF (RELIGIOUS) 419ners! Due to the pervasiveness of some bunch of deceivers who took advantage of people’s respect and sentiment to their religious believes, to swindle them of their hard earn money; and having been asked severally on what to do when an e-mail or cellular phone text messages requires that you send some religious messages to a number of individual or face doom? I had planed to sensitize our readers on this deceptive disguises, which comes in various form, before I received this mail through the electronic mail system (e-mail). The content captured my thinking and believes so much so that I resolved to publish it with slightest editing from the original text. The latest trick is perpetrated through cellular phone text messages carrying Names of Allah or some form of prayers or Prayers for the Holy Prophet (SAW), while receivers will be requested to send them to certain number of people for favour or else something terrible befalls them. Please readers, be guided by the content of the following mail and NEVER again shall you be deceived. Salaamu Alaikum, Thank you for the email. I started reading through but then I realized it's the same letter that has been circulating for over 20years, to my knowledge at least! I recall that I came across it the first time in my secondary school, that's way back in the 80s and typical of secondary school studentsboarding, we became very apprehensive and were anxious to find ways of circulating it before the deadline! We had no access to a photocopier of course (email was a non-existent word then, even in the dictionary) and some of us panicked naturally, not wanting anything horrible to happen to us! I must say, alhamdulillah, even then, being the skeptic that I was I did not loose any sleep over the matter rather we had the hindsight to seek our imam's advise who was then a student of Sheikh Aminudeen Abubakar the leader of the Da'awah organization in Kano, and he immediately allayed our fears and informed us that it was only the handy work of some misguided elements or at best mischievous and evil people.

After secondary school to date I think I have received more than twenty of such letters and on every occasion I tore it up to shreds and burnt it because Allah's (SWT) name and that of his beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) have been mentioned otherwise it would have been fit for the toilet. With the email era this is the 4th or 5th time! Needless to say I never forwarded any of them, I just deleted it. But I now became very concerned because of the way the letter has persisted and the way it is being forwarded is quite alarming! Initially I assumed that it must have gone round the world so many times and so everyone must know about it. It is circulating in many languages I don't know how many. I know that I have received copies in English, Arabic and Hausa! Please note that I am not denying the dream 'sheikh Ahmad' had of the prophet (SAW) as I have no way of proving it only Allah will know for sure. Rather my main concern and for which I want to bring our attention to is to do with the instructions telling us that failure to forward to others will result in doom for us and forwarding it would result in good fortune! This is quite silly indeed. Did you notice that some of the names mentioned in the later did not sound like those of Muslims? Allahu a'alam. The point I am trying to make here is that I want us all to realize that as Muslims who believe in the Oneness of Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala),and in His last messenger Muhammad (Sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam), and believe in the pillars of Islam and in particular Articles of Faith in which the 6th and last Article mentioned that we should believe in' fate(Qadar), both the good and the bad and that they are from God alone (and none else) - " wal imaan bil qadr,khairihi wa sharrihi,minallahi ta'ala". We should always have it at the back of our minds that no one, and I mean no one can make something happen to us whether good or bad except if Allah has already ordained that it will happen to us. So if you send the letter nothing good happens to you except if Allah (SWT) has already recorded it against your name. Similarly no ill-fate will befall you except if Allah had ordained it to serve as trial for you. THE MAIN/ IMPORTANT THING I WOULD LIKE US TO NOTE ARE THAT:

Conforming and complying with such instructions may lead to invalidation of one's faith (iman), so we have to be really careful on what we forward to each other. This applies to other similar mails that we keep getting. I know I have in the past fallen victim to such mails, but my only reason for forwarding them, even then, was if I found the main gist of the message interesting or useful hoping that those I forwarded it to would also ignore the part threatening us to either forward it or have something bad happen to us. I later stopped and damned the consequences! Examples of such mails include those otherwise we do not love Allah or we do others. I believe that forwarding a mail, condition for the affirmation of my faith mortal like me!

telling us to forward to others not believe in Allah and so many any mail for that matter is not a as a Muslim, especially not by a

Only Allah (SWT) has the authority and capacity to examine my iman through my actions or inactions, He alone also can know what is in my heart and therefore He alone can judge me at the appointed time. I want us all to really stop and ponder over such dangerous and misleading mails! The next VERY IMPORTANT thing I want us to do is to imbibe the habit of regular prayers, seeking Allah's help and protection in our worldly affairs and to also seek his deliverance from all evil. Prayers, as we are aware of, are the sword of the Muslim. We do not have any defense against anyone or anything except if we seek it from Allah through prayers. Of high potential to us is the daily 'adhkaar' (remembrance) prayers which the prophet (SAW) instructed/advised us to recite every morning and evening and which He, sallallahu alaihi wasallam, assured us that whoever maintains or sustains this habit should be rest assured that nothing bad or harmful will happen to him or her for that whole day as they are meant to serve as protection from all that is bad and also to avail us of the blessings of that day. This assurance according to Shiekh Moatassem is 99.9%! So what else do we need? I am a firm believer in the above statement and I am certain that by Allah if something bad ever happens to me it is meant to serve as a trial from Allah (SWA) which if I persevere will result in bonus rewards for me from Allah, for He has promised to reward us for any trial He puts us through if we

persevere. It did not happen because Allah did not answer my prayers or was not watching over me-astaghfirullah! When we pray to Allah the condition is that we are absolutely convinced that Allah would answer our prayers. Doubting whether our prayers will be answered nullifies the act itself. I wish to assure us all that prayers are IT! Prayers work miracles but we have to believe first and we have to persevere. Prayer increases one's confidence in everything, and eventually increases ones iman. We must all continue to seek for knowledge from the Qur'an and the Hadith which will shed more light on Allah's message and commands as well as the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW). May Allah (SWA) continue to guide and protect us and may He preserve our iman for us till we die and may He also raise us to the reckoning with it (iman),amen. May Allah's peace and blessings be on His Prophet Muhammad (SAW), his family, companions and the whole Muslim Ummah? You may please wish to re-route this to those we have forwarded the earlier mail to, they may also find some food for thought in it. Thank you very much.

DU’A: WEAPON OF THE BELIEVER Tomorrow, Saturday and the following day Sunday falls on the 9 th and 10th of Muharram respectively. The 10th of Muharram is popularly referred to as the day of Aashura’, a very significant day in the life of a Muslim. You are therefore enjoined to FAST on these two days and make the best use of the following prayers to combat your problems of any kind. Recite it at least 3 times after morning and night prayers particularly on the Aashura’ day: “Bismillahi Rahamani Rahimi” Allahumma ya qabila tawbata yawma Aashura’ waya rafi’a ‘idris ‘ila-ssamahi yawma Aashura’, waya muskinat safinat Nuhin ‘ala judiyyi yawma Aashura’, waya ghiyatha Ibrahima min-nari yawma Aashura’a, waya jami’a shamli Ya’quba yawma Aashura’, waya kashifa durri ‘Ayyuba yawma Aashura’ waya farija kurbati Dhi-Nnuni yawma aashura’, waya sami’a da’waati Musa wa Haruna yawma Aashura’, waya nasira Muhammad (SAW) yawma Aashura’, waya khaliqa Jannati waNnari yawma Aashura’, waya khaliqa Jibrila wa Mika’ila wa Israfila wa Azara’ila yawma Aashura’ waya khaliqa-l-‘Arshi wal-Kursiyyi, wal-lawhi, wal-qalam, wa-s-Samawaati, wal-‘ardi yawma Aashura’. ‘Iqdi haajati wa ‘idfaia ‘anii-s-sayyi’ati wal-baliyyati, Ya Hayyu, Ya Qayyumu, Ya Dhali Jalali wal-‘Ikraami, Ya Maalika yawmi-d-dini ‘iyyaka na ‘budu wa ‘iyyaka nasta’inu, wasalla llahu ‘ala khayri-l-khaliqi Muhammadin wa ‘ala ‘alihi wa-s-ahbihi ‘ajma’in. Amin. MEANING: “In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful” O Allah, you accepted the repentance of prophet Adam on the day of Aashura’, O You that lifted up prophet Idris on the day of Aashura’, O You that settled the wish of prophet Noah on mount Jud on the day of Aashura’, O You that made the reunion of prophet Ya’qub and his children on the day of Aashura’, O You that averted the affliction of prophet Ayyub on the day of Aashura’. O You that freed Dhi-Nnuni from his problems on the day of Aashura’, O You that heard the call of prophet Musa and Haruna (his brother) on the day of Aashura’, O You that helped prophet Muhammad (P.B.O.H) on the day of Aashura’, O You that created Arch Angel jubril, Mikail, Israfil and ‘Azarail on the day of Aashura’, O You that created the garden of bliss (Al-Jannah) on the day of Aashura’. O You that created theThrone (The Chair), The Slate, The Pen, The Heaven and The Earth on the day of Aashura’. Grant my desires, protect me from errors and

calamities. O You that leaves, ever existing, Almighty and Most Honourable God. The king of the Day of Judgment. It is You we worship and from You we seek assistance. May Allah’s Peace and Blessings be upon Prophet Mohammad, his relatives and companions (Amin). Recite the prayer below seventy times (70 times), and Suratul Fatihah Forty (40 times) thereafter: “Bismillahi Rahamani Rahim” Allahumma ‘arzuqni kamalal-husna, wasa ‘adatal-‘uqba wa-khayral ‘akhirati wal ‘ula, Allahumma amin. MEANING: “In the Name of Allah, The Most Beneficent The Most Merciful” O God! Bless and favour me with full and complete goodness, successful end, the goodness of this life and the hereafter (Amin). Also fasting for 6 consecutive days in the Month without any gap is another wat of offering special prayer. Make your request during the 6th day of the fasting. You will laugh at the end, insha Allahu