Muslims babies now form the majority of nonmarital births

Last year, 55.8% of children born out of marriage were born to Malay mothers. This is a surprising fact for a community that forms only 13.6% of the total population.

55.8% of babies born to mothers who were less than 19 years old were also Malay, out of the national total of 820. That means 457 Malay girls below the age of 19 gave birth last year.

Here's the newspaper report on the publication of statistics by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (in Malay).

http://cyberita.asia1.com.sg/singapura/story/0,3617,122654,00.html?

I have no comment. Facts speak for themselves. They say that we're missing something very very big here.

But for the grace of God, there go I

Through our sunless lanes creeps Poverty with her hungry eyes, and Sin with his sodden face follows close behind her.

Misery wakes us in the morning and Shame sits with us at night.

(Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Anglo-Irish playwright, author. The weaver, in "The Young King," A House of Pomegranates (1891).)

1891

Displeasure with Blame

from Purification of the Heart : Translation and Commentary of Imam al-Mawlud's Matharat al-Qulub; by Hamza Yusuf, page 131.

Displeasure with blame is a well-known disease of the heart. Concern with people's opinions and desiring their praise and displeasure at their criticisms are a barrier from achieving the station of excellence in worship. Overcoming that barrier is through the realisation that there is no benefit or harm unless it comes from God, the Possessor of all dominion, Exalted and Majestic is He.
Furthermore, what is prohibited from this disease is what leads to the prohibited, just as Imam al-Ghazali has elaborated.
The perfection of sincerity is that you do not give notice to any praise or blame that emanates from people.

The Prophet (s.a.w.) said to Ibn Abbas, "Be mindful of God, and God will protect you. Be mindful of God, and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, ask of God. If you seek help, seek help from God. Know that if the whole nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it would only benefit you only with something that God had already prescribed for you. And if the whole nation were to gather together to harm you, it would harm you only with something that God had already prescribed for you. The pens have been lifted and the ink has dried."

The Khalil Moore Effect

Here's a list of thoughts I gathered from other blogs by fellow Singaporean mudpies about their take on Khalil Moore. Masha Allah. This just goes to evidence the desparate need we have in Singapore for an English speaking shaykh like him. May God bring him here again soon.




The light of Shaykh Khalil Moore by LEMAU.


that "NUR" - "Whoever threads a path to seeking knowledge without a doubt, Allah will thereby make easy for you the path of paradise.".

seekingHuda

the journey towards guidance

and finding my inner self



NURR
Lingering Thoughts





And here's a video of the qasidah that Khalil Moore recited at the end of his last public talk here. The sound is a little muffled, but dont blame the recording, it sounded just as good live.

Khalil Moore at Masjid Sultan, Singapore

Khalil Moore was at Masjid Sultan yesterday, where he delivered a pre-Friday prayer talk. Praise God, He made it easy for me to finish my morning's work and scoot off at 12 pm for the mosque. I arrived early enough, and got a seat near the front, just about 10 metres in front of him. I was rapt listening to his talk. He is indeed a good speaker, and praise God for bestowing him such a gift. He spoke radiantly, and one could see the love he had for our beloved Master the Prophet, blessed be He.

All too soon, it was time for azan, and he ended his half hour speech. Ustaz Zaki was there and accompanied him. To my surprise (and I think to his too) the syaikh was asked to deliver the sermon as well. He did so (see picture above), and subsequently led the prayer as well.

At my age, I have accepted the reality that I am not able to recall and record herein what he said, so I will not try.

All I can say is that I fell in love with this young man, for he is clearly in love with our Master. If I cannot have the opportunity to see my Master, then at least I thank God that I am able to meet one who loves my Master as if he sees him.

I went for the talk later at the SingPost auditorium. I wish the organisers, my good friends from SimplyIslam, would stop using that place. The last time there was a talk there with Imam Faisal, it was the same litany of problems, not enough space, and terrible sound system. Anyway, I am not criticising the organisers, God will bless them and the Prophet would be pleased with them; I hope they will realise the issues for next time.

At the talk, in spite of a 15 minute delay in starting (which was the standard throughout all the talks I attended of the shaykh this week), I was nevertheless not at all disappointed. He spoke well about the topic he obviously loved the most about the Person he loved the most.

Towards the end of the talk, I was left with the same question I had been inflicted with since the last few visiting lecturers - where do we go from here? A foreign speaker comes, nobody knows who he is, during a few days of talks his name gets spread around, and by the time he holds his last talk there would be hundreds of people attending. And then - nothing more. We wait, and do not know what we wait for. Maybe insha Allah, another undetermined speaker, maybe insha Allah, at an undetermined time. Then suddenly a few months later, we get a weeks' notice of an unknown speaker and the whole cycle starts again.

It is like getting appetiser after appetiser and the main course never arrives. Each speaker comes, introduces himself, you fall in love with him, and then he leaves. Later someone else does the same. Yo-yo da'wah, if you will. This has to stop. We must come up with programs that follow up from these talks and visits. The root issue is our lack of English da'wah expertise locally, so I wonder whether it is possible to have videoconference sessions at least.

Anyway, none of the above detracts from the beauty of Khalil Moore.

I do hope and pray that he comes back. Soon.