April Fools Day!

Society Religion & Philosophy
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Salaams.

I came across the following somewhere, I don’t know if it is true or not.

Dear friends,
Many people celebrate April fool day every year and fool each other. But how many of us know the bitter facts hidden behindit. It was around a thousand years ago that Spain was ruled by Muslims. And the Muslim power
in Spain was so strong that it couldn’t be destroyed. The Christians of the west
wished to wipe out Islam from all parts of the world and they did succeed to quite an extent. But when they tried to eliminate Islam in Spain and conquer it, they failed. They tried several times but never succeeded.
The unbelievers then sent their spies in Spain to study the Muslims there and find out what was the power they possessed and they
found that their power was TAQWA. The Muslims of Spain were not just Muslims but they were practising Muslims.They not only read the Quran but also acted upon it.
When the Christians found the power of the Muslims they started thinking of strategies to break this power. So they started sending
alcohol and cigarettes to Spain free of cost. This technique of the west worked out
and it started weakening the faith of the Muslims in particular the young
generation of Spain. The result was that the Catholics of the west wiped out Islam and conquered the entire Spain bringing an end to the EIGHT HUNDRED LONG YEARS’ RULE OF THE MUSLIMS in Spain. The last fort of the Muslims to fall, was Grenada (Gharnatah), which was on the 1st of April.
From that year onwards, every year they celebrate April fools day on the 1st of April, celebrating the day, they made a fool of the Muslims. They did not make a fool of the Muslim army at Gharnatah only, but of the
whole Muslim Ummah. We, the Muslims, were fooled by the unbelievers. They have
a reason to celebrate April fool day, to keep up the spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, when we join in this celebration, we do so out of ignorance. If we had known about it, we would never have celebrated our own downfall. So now, that we are aware of it, and now let us promise that
we shall never celebrate this day. We should learn our lesson from the people of Spain, and shall try to become practising Muslims, never to let anybody weaken our faith NOR FOOL ( OR MAKE A FOOL OF ) US ANY MORE.

Please forward this message to as many people you know. Please try to do it before the 1st of April, to create an awareness that WE ARE NOT FOOLS.

thanks

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif

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Fwd’ing

Bismillah-ir Rahman-ir Raheem
“Fala wa Rabbika laa yu’minuna Hatta yuHakkimuka femaa shajara baynahum
thummah laa yujidu fee anfusihim Hajaam-mimmaa qaDayta wa yusallemu
tasleema.” “But no! By your Lord, they have no Faith, unless they make
you
judge in all disputes between them, and then find in themsleves no
resistance against your decisionsand accept with full submission in
Islam.”
Holy Quran 4:65

It Appears That Muslims Are the Fools http://www.islamtoday.com/everything/

Now as regards the incorrect story circulating amongst the Muslims on
the
Internet saying that April Fool’s Day is the celebration of the kufar
over
the conquest of Muslim Spain. I felt that it was necessary to clarify a
few
points in the interest of truth, inshallah.

Bismillah Al Hamdulilah was Salat wa Salam ala rasoolulah. Allahu Alim.
In
the Name of Allah, I praise Allah and ask for His Peace upon Muhammad,
ameen. Allah Alone is The All-Knower.

To continue: Once again, Muslims are circulating a fabrication on the
Internet trying to claim things which can easily be proven incorrect by
Christians and non-Muslims who rejoice in watching us play the part of
Everyday Fools.

The most recent story says that Christians could not conquer the
Muslims
there and sent spies to discover why. According to the story, they
found
that the Muslims there were on the ‘Taqwah’ (God Fearing and Pious) of
Islam. Then the story says the Christians sent in alcohol and
cigarettes
which the Muslims used and lost their ‘Taqwah’ and then the Christians
defeated the Muslims on April first and began celebrating ‘April Fool’s
Day’ ever since. This story is not correct in many aspects.

1.) First, let us consider the historic fact that Muslim Spain ended on
the
12th of January in the Christian year of 1492 A.D. yet ‘April Fool’s
Day
was not heard of until over fifty years later. Once upon a time, back
in
16th-century France, before computers, people celebrated New Year’s Day
on
March 25, the advent of spring. It was a festive time. They partied
steadily until April 1. In 1564, when the calendar reformed and became
Gregorian, under the influence of Pope Gregory, King Charles IX
proclaimed,
perhaps
pompously, that New Year’s Day should be celebrated on January 1st
instead
of in the spring. Diehard conservatives resisted the change (or perhaps
didn’t hear about it due to the absence of e-mail) and continued to
celebrate New Year’s from March 25 to April 1. During this period of
spring
festivity, the more flexible French mocked the rigid revelers by
sending
them foolish gifts and invitations to nonexistent parties. The victim
of an
April Fools’ Day

prank was called a “poisson d’avril,” or an “April fish,” because at
that
time of year, the sun was leaving the zodiacal sign of Pisces. April
Fools’
Day hit its stride (avoiding the banana peel) in England in the 18th
century, and was brought to colonial America by the English, Scottish,
and
French.

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2.) Second, we should know that cigarettes were not even invented until
AFTER the time of the fall of Muslim Spain (January 1492). According to
the
State College in Framingham, the Human Biology course by Dr. Roger
Morrrissette, Ph.D., smoking of any kind did not exist in Spain until
after
it was brought back from the New World AFTER King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella had come to rule Spain. This is from their website:
Introduction to Human Biology Framingham State College
Roger N. Morrissette, Ph.D.

I. The History of Smoking.

900: smoking is referred to on a Mayan stone carving.

1492: Columbus notes the natives of the New World smoke leaves.

1550: Spaniards begin cultivating tobacco in the West Indies to export
to
Europe.

1880: Tobacco use is widespread but people only use small amounts.

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**3.) ** Muslim Spain began to deteriorate at the time of Ibn Seenah and
others
who were beginning to use their logic in place of Divine Revelation of
Allah. Some were very interested in the Greek and Roman philosophies
and
concepts and began to try to ‘rethink’ Islam much the same as some
‘modernists’ are doing today. It was right after this that Muslim Spain
began to divide up into small kingdoms and fight against each other for
control and gold. They employed mercenaries from amongst the Christians
and
killed and destroyed each other for a number of years. When the
Christians
came against them the first time, they appealed to the ruler of Maghrib
(Morocco) across the Mediterranean Sea who sent troops to quell the
attacks. He stipulated that the Muslims must stop fighting each other
and
go back to the Islamic system of rule under one leader. They did not do
it.
When they began fighting each other again, the Christians came in very
strong against them and this time the ruler of Morocco refused to help
them. They lost battle after battle against the Roman Christians and
finally the last stronghold of Islam fell to the Christian King,
Ferdinand,
in January of 1492. [for details order the video “Muslim Spain”]

**So regarding the email claiming that April Fools Day is a celebration
of
the take over of Muslim Spain, it is clear the whole thing is a made up
lie. This is totally unacceptable and should be brought to the
attention of
the one who sent you this lie in the first place. A good Muslim would
never
accept to repeat lies and fabrications especially in presenting facts
about
the history of Islam.

If you have received such a letter it is your duty in front of Allah to
write back to those who also received it and ask them to contact all of
those on their lists and email the truth about this issue. And we
should
all fear a Day when we will stand in front of Allah and be asked about
these matters.

If we don’t do something about correcting the education of our beloved
brothers and sisters in Islam, then everyday on the internet is MUSLIM
FOOLS DAY.

Again, it is only Allah who has All Knowledge. May He forgive me my
mistakes and guide us all to the right way, ameen. **

Jazakalah khair, AsSalam alaykum,
Yusuf Estes http://www.islamtoday.com/

5

If there is a reason for not liking a ritual or
celebration we (muslim or anyone) should just avoid
it. There is no REASON to co-relate them to a
religion.

There are so many facts that are completely untrue,
the fall of Muslim in Granada occurred on the night of
1-2 Jan in 1492. It was never the April 1st.

Like all of us, I dislike this ritual and would not do
anything moronic to celebrate April 1st. However, we
muslim have to be very careful in relating these
TRIVIAL issues to us and MISINFORM others.

Although, there in no exact explanation of the origin
of April fool's day, however, most historian will
conclude that in pre-Georgian days March 21 was
celebrated as the first day of New year. This was the
beginning of the new year according to the
pre-Gregorian calendar. In France when the
implementation of the Gregorian calendar was changed,
by Charles IX in 1564, the beginning of the new year
was changed and celebrated on January first, those
people who still celebrated the day on the first of
April were know as April Fool's. Prior to the change
of the date it was customary to give gifts on the
first day of the year therefore when the date was
changed people began sending mock gifts to other
people on April.

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Pardon my ignorance ladies,
I did not know the real origin of the April fools day, however now I am truely enlightenned by your through explaination, and shall convey this message to every reciepient of that misguiding email, the real truth behind the April fools day.

thanx
May God increase my knowledge.