Bismillah Rahman Raheem
ISLAM ALWAYS - Q. & A.
Free Service Provided by Yusuf Estes
www.IslamAlways.com
NOTICE: WE DO NOT OFFER FATWAH (Religious Rulings).
"It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision."
Quran [33:36]
__

Question #09-11-03
re: Visiting websites that attack Islam - People are emailing me websites that attack Islam. They say they are from the Jews and that we should send this out to everyone and tell them about it.

But is this a good idea to send these sites to everyone? What about the non-Muslims? Should we tell them to be careful too?

What should be done? Can we visit them at all? Should we warn others?
__
Thank you for your question.

As always, before we begin to provide answers, here are some important points to keep in mind:

1. As Muslims we cannot lie about anything, especially about our religion.

2. We have original recorded sources of our religion:

       A) The Quran

       B) Teachings of Muhammad.

This is a very unique part of Islam, not available in any other ancient religions.

3. Sometimes "questions" contain misinformation. We must qualify what it is that someone is saying against what they are implying.

4. If you find the answer to your question makes you say, "I didn't know that" or "This is good" are you ready to worship your God and your Lord without and partners?

This what Islam is really all about. The most important subject is the worship of Almighty God, without any partners or associates or "gods" besides Almighty God.

Bismillah Rahman Raheem - Answer #03-09-11 3:45 PM

Thank you for asking about these websites and for putting such confidence in our ability to be able to provide answers.

Actually, we have written on this subject a number of times. It is not permissable according to Islam, to visit these sites, nor to mention them, nor to forward emails about them. This is not the proper way to handle the situation. In fact, this is exactly what the enemies of Islam want us to do. In many cases they pretend to be Muslims or friends of Islam who are supposedly "exposing" these evil websites. To those who are not familiar with the way that the search engines work on the internet, there would seem to be no problem in visiting these sites. However, nothing could be further from the truth. The more "hits" (visits) that the site gets, the higher it is going to be rated by the search engines and the higher position it will have on a search. This will help increase the chances of these websites to come up in a word search for "Islam."

Do you doubt this?

O.K. Go to www.google.com and then type in the word "Islam" and see how many total sites there are out there with the word "Islam" in them. Today (Sept. 11, 2003) there are over 9,670,000 websites listed with Google.com and where do you think the position of one of the worst (Answering Islam) is?

Today it is on page 2.

For three years it has been on page #1. It's position has changed from 8 to 7 and then up to 6 and even 3rd.

Now, how is it that the enemy of Islam can manage to stay on the page one for over 3 years in the top ranking position? HOW?

Because Muslims continually send out messages like the one that you just sent and then they tell everyone to do the same thing.

And it works - for the enemy.

They know it will work and right now they want to get back up on the first page.

Imagine that out of 9,670,000 websites with the word "Islam" - the deviants and misguided and enemies of Islam are sharing the highest places.

Why?

Because of Muslims promoting the wrong message.

The number one position usually goes to Ibrahim Shafi at: www.islamworld.net (because he has the most links with the word "Islam")

The number two (and sometimes number one) goes to: www.islamicity.com (because they have so many links to them from their other site and others sites that link to them).

Number three is usually their other site: www.islam.org (same reasons)

Then number four is usually the Shiites or NOI (Nation of Islam under Louis Farrakhan) [notice I DO NOT give the address]

Then number five or six or seven is usually ANSWERING ISLAM - [no address again]

Islam is having another reason not to promote these sites. You see many Muslims today do not really know a lot about Islam and they are easily confused by these people who know how to mistranslate or misrepresent the verses of the Quran and the hadeeth of the prophet, peace be upon him. As a result I have a number of emails coming to me from different countries wherein the youth are asking me about things that have really messed them up, all of it stemming from these teachings.

For the above reasons you can see why it is haram to give out these sites or to even visit them.

What should we do?

Good question:

First, when you receive email talking about these sites - DO NOT FORWARD IT TO EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST.

Second, copy this letter and then send it back to everyone on the list that comes with the email to let them know the ruling on this.

Third, begin to visit and promote the websites that are dealing with the real issues of being a Muslim in this place in these times. This is critical.

We can all make a difference. But it takes cooperation and dedication. We must not play with this subject. We must work hard at promoting the real Islam based on the Quran in the Arabic language and the authentic hadeeth.

Our prophet, peace be upon him, warned us of times like these and here we are. So, let us make an agreement to work together for Allah.

Jazakalah khair was salam alaykum,
Yusuf Estes

For live discussions on these matters:

Www.IslamTomorrow.com/live/ (you must first download some software and then join as a member <Free> and then you can ask your questions in "chatroom" style).

Then let us also provide the Quran and other materials for them to take home and use there to help them to discover the truth about our purpose for being here in the first place (worship of Allah without partners).

We offer CDs; Tapes; Videos and website addresses, all for free:

www.IslamTomorrow.com/free

www.IslamTomorrow.com/av

www.IslamYesterday.com

www.todayislam.com/bible.htm

www.TodayIslam.com/quran/

Any good is from Allah & the mistakes were from myself.
May Allah guide all of us to His Truth, ameen.
Salam alaykum - Yusuf Estes
National Muslim Chaplain

Fatwah: http://www.islam-qa.com

Answers from Sheik Yusuf Estes, National Muslim chaplain. American born & former Christian, a student of many excellent scholars, he offers assistance to provide accurate & authentic information in easy English to questions about Islam & Muslims.