"Education
This is the second most important step in the strategy after Aqeeda and
a key requirement for A'mal. Knowledge is the basis of all progress. A
nation that is without knowledge can never progress. A nation that is
led by people of ignorance is a nation doomed to slavery. People who
don't learn from their history are condemned to repeat it. Let us see
what the history of Islam and the Muslims teaches us about the
importance of knowledge.
Too often we are faced with seemingly
unsurmountable odds, and we turn our attention to other than Allah. We
seek support from other than Allah, and we seek advice from those
outside of Allah's favor.
Allah is known through His proofs on earth. A proof (hujjah) or sign (ayah) can take many forms. As Allah mentions in the Qur'an:
He
has made subject to you the Night and the Day; the sun and the moon;
and the stars are in subjection by His Command: verily in this are
Signs for men who are wise [Qur'an 16:12]
Signs
can also take human form. When we turn to Allah for assistance and seek
his friends (awliyah) for guidance, new doors open for us that allow us
to peer into His divine perfection.
At-Ta'am
according to philology refers to all that is eaten and taken
as nourishment. But it is said that it is used to wheat and
other such grains only. Lisanu ?l-Arab
says: "When the people of Hijaz use the word
at-ta'am without any restriction or association,
they mean wheat exclusively." He further says: "Al-Khalil has
said, ?In high Arab language at-ta'am is wheat in
particular." The same meaning has been given by Ibnu ?l-Athir
in an-Nihayah. It is for this reason
that in most of ahadith narrated from the Imams of Ahlu ?l Bayt (a.s.)
it has been declared that
at-ta'am in this verse means wheat and other
grains, although a few traditions give another meaning; and we shall
talk about it under "Traditions".
In order
to have a clear understanding of this issue, it is extremely
important that we first define the two words in question.
In Arabic,
halal means "that which is allowed, permitted or
permissible." Thus, "halal meat" is meat that is
considered permissible in Islam.
The term
zabiha comes from the Arabic root zahaba, which means
"to kill (by slitting the throat); to slaughter, butcher, to
murder, slay; to sacrifice."
