A woman named Hafsa lives down my street. She is Muslim. I have met her son, Mousa. Mousa and my son skateboard on our street and talk about religion. I told Mousa that I would like to meet his mother. He gave me her phone number and I called her. She was not home. I called again a week later. Mousa answered. He said that she wasn’t home but that he would have her call me. She didn’t call.

A week later I tried again. Mousa answered and said he would “make it my mission” to have his mother call me. That was several weeks ago, and she still hasn’t called. I’m told that many Muslim women possess as much reticence and misunderstanding toward “Christian Americans” as Christians do toward Muslims. They think that our faith is corrupted and that we hate them.

“When it comes to reaching Muslims, multitudes of people have stumbled for cultural, social, and linguistic reasons, before they ever had the opportunity to stumble at the cross,” says Robert Douglas, former director of the Zwemer Institute of Muslim Studies and now director of the Chicago Center for Urban Mission. He means that Christians confront many obstacles that thwart them in understanding and relating to Muslims.

“There is a desperate need for evangelical Christians to take the time to understand Islam and not to buy into the stereotypes that are floating out there,” Douglas says. “We will have to work hard at building relationships with Muslims, which means a Christian presence where Muslims are concentrated.”

As we move into the third millennium, God-fearing Muslims from every corner of the earth are moving into our neighborhoods. And more are coming.

“God is sending the world to the door of the [American] church,” Douglas says. “Every lay person in the pew has the opportunity …

SOURCE:christianity Today

To connect better to Qur’an one can do if tries to remember a Ramadhan that was really special and when really felt connected to Allah. That will help to find what exactly brought that feeling, whether prayers, reading or their reflection of those words was what brought your heart closer to Qur’an and Creator. These words of our Creator have the power to enlighten and open our hearts softening them and increasing our faith.

”When the verses of the Most Merciful were recited to them, they fell in prostration and weeping.” (19:58)

”The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a fear in their hearts and when His ayat are recited unto them, they increase their faith.” (8:2)

The Qur’an is the light that is sent and brings hearts to life removing our worries and softening even the hardest hearts. People are worried about future or past events which makes their hearts harden. After reading Qur’an their hearts are brought to life again and their worries are gone. The Qur’an is recommended by scholars as remembrance of Allah and they would complete reciting of the Quran during the Ramadhan even more than once.

Even the Prophet said:

”Fasting and the Qur’an will intercede for the slave on the Day of Resurrection. Fasting will say: ‘O My Rabb! I prevented him from food and desires, so accept my intercession for him.’ And the Qur’an will say: ‘I prevented him from sleep during the night, so accept my intercession for him.’ He r said: ‘And they will (be allowed to) intercede.’ ” [Authentic: Ahmad, at-Tabarani, Al-Hakim]

To connect to Qur’an there are three keys that will help to feel the power of the Qur’an during the Ramadhan. The first key is reading the Qur’an at Fajr time for a few minutes even after every prayer. If you do that after each prayer, in Ramadhan you will complete reading the whole Qur’an. Even without knowing how it will impact your heart and how highly rewarded by Allah you are while reading.

Reflecting of the words you read means to experience them, to feel their beauty not necessary to understand them. It doesn’t matter you speak Arabic or you use translation, time spent on reading the explanation of only a few verses or of a surah can make a very deep effect on your heart. While reading, think about reflecting these verses on your life, how much you applying them and how can you start applying them now. That way you will bring them to your life and connect more to the Qur’an.

Reciting of the Qur’an verses should be done with attention on what is recited. During tarawih try to feel the words and let them enter your soul and your heart.

Make these three keys your daily routine and try to spend 20 minutes on reading, 30 minutes on reflecting and then reciting and listening to tarawih. Stick to your plan during the Ramadhan and don’t let anything distract you. If by any chance one of these three is missed, catch up before you go to bed and do a bit of each.

LOS ANGELES, California (April 30, 2012) – Coming off of their success at the LA Times Festival of Books last weekend, ICNA Southern California Chapter’s dawah project WhyIslam hosted a second large scale Dawah booth at the 23rd annual Fiesta Broadway Festival. This was the organization’s second consecutive year at the fair, which is described as the world’s largest Cinco de Mayo celebration.Covering 12 blocks of the Downtown Los Angeles area, the festival drew nearly half a million people this year. WhyIslam volunteers distributed over 1,000 Spanish translations of the Qur’an and over 200 English language Qur’ans to booth visitors. Over 3,000 educational WhyIslam pamphlets in both Spanish and English were also distributed at the booth. The pamphlets covered topics ranging from the concept of Shariah to human rights in Islam.
Volunteers held live demonstrations at the booth, teaching visitors how to make ablution (wudu) and offering their five daily prayers for all to observe. They also gave classes on the daily prayers, the pillars of Islam and basic Islamic terms.

Booth visitors were keen to learn more about the Muslim faith, with eight taking their shahadah i.e. accepting Islam, on the spot. One person took his shahadah in the morning, and returned later with a friend who also accepted Islam. At least six more expressed a deep interest in the faith, taking extra literature with them to study further before accepting.Booth organizers were extremely happy that several converts who accepted Islam at the LA Times Festival of Books last weekend volunteered at Fiesta Broadway this week, inviting others to learn more about their new faith.

The WhyIslam booth also attracted other vendors, including friendly volunteers from a Christian booth nearby. Members of the WhyIslam team were happy to talk to the volunteers and clarify any misconceptions about the Muslim faith.

Source:I C N A