#tahir rahim

[hiddenbyleaves]

A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, 2009)

[incorrect-dying-light-quotes]

redid some of my dl cat designs. no rais cat bc im a bit stuck in redesigning him. i plan to update this wiiiiith rais, spike, zere, camden, ezgi, troy and maybe some others. i think itd be fun to add more minor npcs once im done with major characters but we'll see. ill also do a size accurate line up when i have more done

[holofirastory]

Pengasas eHati nafi program gugat akidah

KUALA LUMPUR – Pengasas program motivasi rumah tangga (eHATI) menafikan dakwaan program anjuran mereka mengandungi unsur menggugat akidah umat Islam atau bertentangan dengan maqasid usul akhlak mulia. Pengasas eHati International Sdn Bhd yang juga pasangan suami isteri, Diyana Tahir dan Rahim Shukor mendakwa program ditawarkan itu tidak sama sekali mengabaikan atau mengetepikan nilai agama…

[reel-reviewing]

Madame Web (2024) - Review

Director: S.J. Clarkson | 1h 56mins | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Cassandra Webb, a New York paramedic, starts having visions of the future. While trying to save three teenage girls from a deadly threat, she must confront her past at the same time. 

Since the MCU brought Spider-Man into their multiverse Sony have struggled to keep a grasp on their rights to the character. Gone are the days of the Sam Raimi web-slinging films as Sony painfully tries to create a new spidey-world of their own. We’ve had two Venom films that were particularly underwhelming and Morbius was one of the biggest disasters of 2022, but, Madame Web may just take the mantle as the worst of the bunch – an incoherent and nauseating experience that seems to have been a production and marketing nightmare. 

The term for these Sony films can only be described as ‘mass-produced’. Instead of artistic achievements they feel like generic stories pumped out at the end of a production line with no flavour or personality. It’s an extremely low-bar to meet but somehow Madame Web can’t even get the basics right. There are small moments of terribly uneven ADR, barbaric editing and even a split second where Dakota Johnson seems to actively walk into the camera. These mishaps aside, the film still fits the mould of a flavourless production – not really knowing what kind of film it’s trying to be. 

Cassandra Web is a paramedic working in New York who becomes clairvoyant after a near death experience. As she tries to adapt to the weird, incredibly jolting, visions she must also save the lives of three young girls who are being threatened by a man called Ezekiel Sims. In the first few minutes of the film, we understand that Ezekiel has a connection of his own to Cassandra and is the reason her mother died. A simple narrative in some respects, but one that is overly told and convoluted in execution. It’s amazing that, for a film that uses dialogue as a constant barrage of exposition, there is very little sense to make from it all – essentially understanding the core concept but never really giving us any reason to care. 

You as an audience member will probably care about as little as Dakota Johnson seems too in her performance. While she’s not the first star of a film to look actively uninterested on-screen (Daniel Craig in Spectre is a prime example), Johnson takes it to another level. In some scenes she can barely get through the cringe-heavy dialogue as Cassandra obtusely exposites to herself or someone else – even in the scenes with Adam Scott (who plays Ben Parker), there is an obvious fabrication to their banter. Nothing feels natural and Johnson, who in the right role is an excellent actress, seems to know it. 

Joining Johnson is Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced and Celeste O’Connor. All actresses who have tremendous talent but are sadly wasted with fiercely underdeveloped characters. One is smart, one is awkward and one is a rebellious teenager. That, in a nutshell, is all the access we are granted to these three seemingly important characters. Very little is known as to when they eventually develop their spidey-powers but it’s safe to say we may never find out, as judging from the response of audiences Madame Web may never be revisited. As for the villain, who is played by Tahir Rahim, he seems to be taking it a little more seriously but still succumbs to horrendously manufactured writing. 

A last minute decision was made to market the film as a ‘suspense thriller’. Maybe in a bid to offer something new in the superhero genre, which last year proved tiresome with audiences, but that promise is rarely met. The film injects multiple moments where it should find tension – cars dangling off of bridges and a subway brawl are just two examples – but unfortunately the jittery editing takes any sense of thrill or suspense from every scene. Even the grand finale, in which the protagonists fight the villain atop a giant Pepsi sign, becomes a hot mess of underwhelming writing and uninspired visual effects – really rounding off an experience that you’ll be praying to end. 

There seems to be so many things about Madame Web, both in the intrinsic detailing of the film making and the manufactured feeling of the script, that play a part in the disaster that is this film. Even in the niche group of people that seek out films that are ‘so bad they’re good’, this will be a complete disappointment – a film that objectively fails to achieve the most basic checkpoints for making a coherent final product. Based on everything we’ve seen and heard surrounding the film this seemed doomed to fail and I can imagine Sony will be doing everything to forget this disaster in the future. 

1/5

[sunshine-moonshine12]

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Please go help these poor families that are in war (Here are their gofund.me)

https://gofund.me/7e05a237

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[letterboxd]

Life Detained.

The Mauritanian director Kevin Macdonald talks with Jack Moulton about researching Guantanamo Bay’s top secrets, Tahar Rahim’s method-acting techniques, the ingenuity of humanity during the pandemic, and his favorite Scottish films.

“You’ve got to understand that for a Muslim man like Tahar, this role has a much greater significance than it does for you or me.” —Kevin Macdonald

It’s not uncommon for a director to release two films in one year, but Academy-Award winning—for his 1999 documentary One Day in September—director Kevin Macdonald is guilty of this achievement multiple times. Ten years ago, he released his first crowd-sourced documentary Life in a Day and the period epic The Eagle within months of each other. A decade on, he’s done it again.

The Scottish director (and grandson of legendary filmmaker Emeric Pressburger) released both his Life in a Day follow-up and the legal drama The Mauritanian this month. The latter tells the story of Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohamedou Ould Slahi (sometimes written as Salahi), who was held and tortured in the notorious US detention center for fourteen years without a charge. The film, adapted from Slahi’s 2015 memoir Guantánamo Diary, features Jodie Foster and Shailene Woodley as his defense attorneys Nancy Hollander and Teri Duncan, with Benedict Cumberbatch, who also signed on as the film’s producer, playing prosecutor Lt. Stuart Couch.

Benedict Cumberbatch as prosecutor Lt. Stuart Couch in ‘The Mauritanian’.

The Mauritanian also introduces French star Tahar Rahim to a global audience, in the role of Slahi. “The ensemble is excellent across the board,” writes Zach Gilbert, “while Tahar Rahim is best in show overall, bringing honorable heart and humanity to his role [of] the titular mistreated prisoner.”

Much of the story is filmed as an office-based legal thriller involving thick files, intense conversations, and Jodie Foster’s very bright lipstick. Macdonald expertly employs aspect ratio to signify narrative shifts into scenes recreating Slahi’s vivid recollections of torture and his achingly brief conversations with unseen fellow detainees.

Qualifying for this year’s awards season due to extended deadlines, The Mauritanian has already earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress for Rahim and Foster respectively. Slahi remains unable to travel due to no-fly lists, but he was a valuable resource to the production, providing an accurate and rare depiction of a sympathetic Muslim character in an American film.

It was the eve of Life in a Day 2020’s Sundance Film Festival premiere when we Zoomed with Macdonald. Behind him, we spied a full set of the Italian posters for Michelangelo Antonioni’s classic Blow-Up. As it turns out, he’s not a fan of the film—only the posters—so we got him talking about his desert-island top ten after a few questions about his new film.

The attention to detail on Guantanamo Bay in The Mauritanian is impressive. There are procedures depicted that you rarely see on-screen. How did you conduct your research? Obviously Guantanamo Bay is a place which the American government spends a great deal of effort keeping secret. It was important to Mohamedou and me that we depicted the reality of the procedures as accurately as we possibly could. That research came primarily from Mohamedou who has an incredible memory. He drew sketches and made videos of himself lying down in spaces and showing how he could stretch half his arm out [in his cell]. There are a lot of photographs on the internet of Guantanamo Bay which are [fake] and others are from a later period because the place developed a lot over the years since it started in 2002 and Mohamedou was able to [identify] which photos were rooms, courtyards and medical centers he had been in.

Director Kevin Macdonald on set with Jodie Foster.

How did you approach creating an honest representation of the graphic torture scenes, without putting the audience through it as well? Whenever films about this period are [made] they’re always from the point of view of the Americans and this time we’re with Mohamedou. You can’t underestimate the fact that there have really been no mainstream American cinematic portrayals of Muslims at all, so in portraying a sympathetic Muslim character who’s also accused of terrorism, you’re pushing some hot buttons with people. It was important that those people who are uncomfortable with him understand why he confessed to what he confessed.

Everything you see in the film is what happened; the only difference is that they weren’t wearing masks of cats and Shrek-like creatures, they wore Star Wars masks of Yoda and Luke Skywalker in this very perverse fucked-up version of American pop culture. Obviously, we couldn’t get the rights to those. Actually, I don’t feel that it is graphic. There is more violence in your average Marvel movie. It’s psychologically disturbing because you’re experiencing this disorientating lighting, the [heavy-metal] music, and he’s being told his mother’s going to be raped and he’s flashing back to his childhood. To be empathizing with this character and then to see them to be so cruelly treated is so deeply disturbing.

How did you prepare Tahar Rahim for his convincing portrayal of such intense pain and suffering? Tahar went through a great deal of discomfort in order to achieve it. He felt that to give a performance that had any chance of being truthful, he needed to experience a little bit of what Mohamedou had suffered, so throughout the movie he would insist on wearing real shackles which made his leg bleed and give him blisters. I would plead with him to put on rubber ones and he would say “no, I have to do this so I’m not just play-acting”.

He starved himself for about three weeks leading up to a torture sequence—he had lost an awful amount of weight and he was really unsteady on his legs. I was very worried about it and I got him nutritionists and doctors but he was determined to stick with that. You’ve got to understand that for a Muslim man like Tahar, this role has a much greater significance than it does for you or me. He felt a great weight of responsibility to do this correctly, not just for Mohamedou, but he was speaking for the whole Muslim world in a way.

Jodie Foster and Shailene Woodley as defense attorneys in ‘The Mauritanian’.

What compels you to study this period in time? Mohamedou was released a couple of weeks before Trump came to power in 2016, so the story is still ongoing for him. He’s still being harassed by the American government and he’s not allowed to travel because he’s on these no-fly lists. I didn’t want to make a movie that was saying “George W. Bush is terrible”. We’ve been there, we’ve done that. This is looking back with a little bit of distance and saying “here’s the principles that we can learn from when you sidestep the rule of law”—what it takes to stand up like Lt. Stuart Couch did when everyone else around you is going along with something that’s really terrible.

You see that around Trump with the choices within the Republican Party to stand up and say they’re going to sacrifice their careers to do the right thing. It is a hard thing when there’s this mass hysteria in the air. The basic principles that the lawyer [characters] are representing is not about analyzing and replaying what happened after 9/11, they’re directly related in a bigger way to the world we all inhabit.

Did anything surprise you in how your subjects for Life in a Day 2020 addressed the pandemic? One of the most affecting characters in the film is an American who lost his home and business because of the pandemic, so he’s living in his car. He seems very depressed when you meet him for the first time, then later he’s telling us there’s something that’s giving him joy in his life. He brings out all these drones with these cameras on them and puts on this VR headset and loses himself by flying through the trees. I thought that was such a great metaphor for the way that human ingenuity has enabled us to survive and thrive during the pandemic.

I get the feeling of resilience from [the film]. This is a more thoughtful film than the original one. I see this as a movie of [us] being beware of our susceptibility to disease and ultimately to death and mortality, [and] how we’ve found these consolations as human beings. To me, it’s a really profound thing. It also speaks to the main theme of the film which is how we’re all so similar, same as The Mauritanian. It’s confronting you with all these people and saying we fundamentally all share the basic things that underpin our lives and the differences between us are much less important than the things we have in common.

Let’s go from Life in a Day to your life in film. What’s a Scottish film that you love but you feel is very overlooked or underrated? That’s really hard because there aren’t many Scottish films and there aren’t many good ones. Gregory’s Girl is the greatest Scottish film ever made—it’s the bible for life for me. That’s very well-known, so I would have to say Bill Forsyth’s previous film That Sinking Feeling, which was self-funded and made on 16mm black-and-white. It has some of the same actors and characters as Gregory’s Girl in it. Or my grandfather Emeric Pressberger’s film I Know Where I’m Going! which is a rare romantic comedy set in Scotland.

John Gordon Sinclair and Dee Hepburn in Bill Forsyth’s ‘Gregory’s Girl’ (1980).

Which film made you want to become a filmmaker? I think it was Errol Morris’s The Thin Blue Line, which is one of the top five documentaries ever made and in my top ten desert-island movies.

What else is in your desert-island top ten? Oh god, don’t! I knew you were going to ask me that. I’ll give a few. I would say there would have to be something by Preston Sturges—maybe The Lady Eve or The Palm Beach Story. There would have to be a film written by my grandfather, so probably The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, which is the best British film ever made. There would have to be Singin’ in the Rain, which is the most purely joyful film I’ve ever seen. There would probably be The Battle of Algiers, which I rewatched recently and was an inspiration on The Mauritanian. Citizen Kane I also rewatched in anticipation of watching Mank, of which I was very disappointed. I thought it completely missed the point and was kind of boring.

Which was the best film released in 2020 for you? I thought the Russian film Dear Comrades! was really stunning. It was made by a director [Andrei Konchalovsky] in his 80s who first worked with Andrei Tarkovsky back in the late 1950s. He co-scripted Ivan’s Childhood. I would love to make my masterpiece when I’m 86 too!

Related content

Films with Muslim characters

Movies that pass the Riz test

Scottish Cinema—a regularly updated list

Follow Jack on Letterboxd

‘The Mauritanian’ is in select US cinemas and virtual theaters now, and on SVOD from March 2. ‘Life in a Day 2020’ is available to stream free on YouTube, as is the original.

[twowaypr]

The Mauritanian Is Joy

I was a bit anxious before watching The Mauritanian. Knowing that the main character, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, had endured years of terrible experiences made me fear that viewing the film might be hard to watch and depressing. While there are some parts that are hard to watch, The Mauritanian is the opposite of depressing—it’s inspiring and an affirmation of life.

Jodie Foster shines as Mohamedou’s main attorney, Nancy Hollander, and well deserves her Golden Globe award. I was especially interested in seeing Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of Stuart Couch, who was drafted to prosecute Mohamedou but ends up refusing when he finally manages to see enlightening documentation. Lately I’ve been thinking about what it takes for a person to realize that they’re wrong (especially after January 6th), and Stuart Couch is an example of real soul-searching.

What was most surprising, though, was Tahir Rahim’s performance as Mohamedou. Mohamedou has a very unusual, engaging personality and, at first, I was wondering how true to life it could be. But after seeing both Nancy Hollander and Mohamedou in Code Pink’s Q&A after the online screening and also some other interviews, it is very true to life and a real testament to the power of Mohamedou’s inner strength.

I do hope that many people will take the time to see this wonderful film. People in the U.S. need to know what was done in our name, in the hopes that this will not happen again. There are several organizations, including Code Pink and the ACLU, fighting to have Guantanamo shut down. The more people who see The Mauritanian, the better.

[jennacolemanfrance]

#NEWS 📸 New stills of @Jenna_Coleman_ and #TahirRahim in #TheSerpent (2021) @BBCOne #Netflix @bbcdoctorwho @VictoriaSeries 🔗

[fuckyeahwomenfilmdirectors]

Treat Me Like Fire dir. Marie Monge (2018)

A gambling addict falls in love with his boss’s daughter and introduces her to the high stakes world of underground gambling.

[thepeoplesmovies]

Scary Truths Unveiled In The Mauritanian UK Trailer

Scary Truths Unveiled In The Mauritanian UK Trailer

What if you were arrested and jailed without charge, there would be an outcry. In the UK Trailer for The Mauritanian Tahir Rahim finds himself languishing in prison with charge or trial. As Jodie Foster fights for justice and his freedom some scary truths are unveiled.

This true story legal drama centres around Rahim’s character Mohamedou Ould Slahi. The man considered by the U.S government as…

[crane--here]

dying light lgbt headcanons

(dying light + the following edition)

kyle crane: bisexual. no doubts here. very open about it too

rahim aldemir: that is a gay man

jade aldemir: bisexual

harris brecken: he's... actually not quite sure himself! all he knows is had he not been dating lena he'd be down for a date with kyle

spike: gay ace. he and haluk had something going on you can't deny it

alfie: i know sidequest npc. most don't care. but this man is gay

mel wyatt: bi as well! she was questioning her gender too, being a teenager and all

rais: homosexual homophobe.

tahir: not sure but he and rais had something going on

karim: bisexual, with a preference for men though

troy: oh that's a lesbian

savvy: transhet king

ezgi: LESBIAN

jasmine (the mother): lesbian (trust me)

[dicktat]

Dying Light characters as shitty cake pics

Kyle Crane:

Hakon:

Lawan, to Aiden:

Rais, to Karim/Tahir at some point:

Jade Aldemir:

Lawan:

Rahim:

Barney:

And finally, Waltz:

Ty 4 reading.

[hyperfixatinglove]

Dying Light for the fandom asks?

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

Brecken & Kyle! Kyle is obv because I love him.

Brecken is amazing actually. Surviving night run automatically makes you big badass, but I enjoyed how sincere he was & how it was shown how leadership was dragging him down emotionally and I just really loved his accent/vibes (I think it's supposed to be Australian?) I love the fact he was some salesman pre-apocalypse.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

Ezgi! Punk little woman! Love her! She's rebellious, sometimes even dumb because she's teenager but she's great. I love how she knows her home is hellhole (she's not fond of the religion her home has) and leaves on her own accord & gets quite far without help. She's survivor!

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

Rocket! He's proud little shit to Kyle & thus player but he's fun! Certainly didn't deserve to die just bc he liked challenging Kyle. I wish we got to know more about him than just his skill in parkour.

Also quartermaster at the Tower & Toygar aka the guy near bulletin board! Both have very few lines but what little we know both are naturally inclined to help others (Quartermaster's bit snarky I love it), it's telling we don't have a name for one of them jfc.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

Dahlia! She does have rather prominent role, well, she has quite lengthy side mission chain, but I still want more of her! I love her being a witch and being arrogant & trying to challenge Kyle's worldview! I love her decorating skills, the closest I'd ID her with witchy terms is death & herbs witch. The way she speaks is intimidating but I love her!

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

Rahim.

From what I've seen some consider him annoying but I adored him, he was spunky but over his head outside Tower. Story does present him as pathetic since he did this entire suicide run that Crane promised to do instead just bc he wanted to do it. He did massive mistake by going out w/o telling anyone, getting other runner killed & cherry on top, lied about his bite just so Crane would take the bombs. Everyone in story thought it was utterly stupid of him.

Still love him. And he lives in my canon.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

Tahir. He has tormented me enough in turn with his boss fight, with his weird damage immunity at weirdest times, I can grant him some torment as treat. Also he beat up Kyle in prologue, so that must be avenged. The only thing I kinda appreciate is the fact he's build like brickhouse.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

Rais of course, the war criminal himself, the guy who killed Jade in game canon, just begone thot.

He's boring as villain but I'd still send him to superhell.

[foradecision]

forthechaos sent :    ‘you're a rat stuck in my maze, crane. nothing more, nothing less. you move because i will it. because you've been taught to follow the cheese.’

     consciousness eluded him for a while. it comes back in pieces, like shards of glass digging into the soft tissue behind both eyes — like the details of what happened before. of how he missed the steel trap buried beneath dead leaves until he was right on top of it, and its teeth had already snapped shut. an explosion: he remembers that. zere’s camp under siege. rahim’s blood still on him when brecken told him to go, cast him out of the frying pan and straight into the fucking fire. but that’s not on brecken. he would’ve gone either way. he always does.

     in hindsight, rais probably counted on it.

     he remembers tracking them — rais’ men, zere’s abductors — back to the garrison and getting inside. parking garage. bullets flying, ricocheting, clipping the meat of his right shoulder just beside the line of his tac vest. a grazer. barely superficial. the place was clear, but it wouldn’t stay that way. crane remembers kicking down a door, telling zere to lower his voice, the blurted intel that he’d given jade his research for camden before she’d disappeared to old town — 

     the lights. the lights went out. 

     and then they came back on.

     six guys. three grunts, and tahir. and roman. and rais himself. the gang was all there. tahir’s gun to zere’s head. roman in the shadows behind them, watching, while rais jammed a blade into the doctor’s thigh. more concerned with preventing his escape, he’d said, but there was something else, something before that, something in the dictum of an order.

     jade. it was about jade.

     hunt the scorpion down. spare no resource.

     the last thing he remembers is a rifle stock swinging at his face.

     there’s the headache. 

     an absolute, unrelenting beatdown of a fucking headache, fireworks of white and threads of black, and every minute shift of movement costs him a nasty lurch of his stomach. it takes a second to get his left eye open; blood from his hairline was holding his lashes together like glue.

     a grunt. a groaned, “... shit.”

     "are you aware of the myth regarding dying in dreams?”

     actually, backpedal. there’s the headache. 

     the room — if it is a room; it’s hard to tell when his spatial awareness is compromised and everything’s out of focus — is scantly lit with a single lantern turned down low. it throws rais into an even deeper cast of shadow, throws the scars on his face into sharp relief and turns the darkness of his gaze to pools of near - black. 

     “they say if you die in them,” he continues, “you die in reality. fortunate, then, you've decided to wake up and join us. get up.”

     “... fuck you.” but crane does get up. pain skews his vision sideways and through it, his eyes stay on the warlord. “where’s zere, you son of a bitch? if you laid another hand on him, i swear to god, i’ll —”

     “what, crane? what will you do, hm — ?” 

     “you’re a dead man walkin’, rais.”

     rais tuts softly. the low sound raises crane’s hackles like the hiss of a viper from a curtain of tall grass. “you bark, little dog, but as it would appear ... you have finally begun to lose your bite.”

     “wh— the fuck’s that supposed to mean? answer me, motherfucker.” 

     “is that not why you left roman alive, when you stole my explosives?”

     the school. of course he knows they were at the fucking school. somehow, he doesn’t think the information came from roman; any of the others on site, maybe. all it would’ve taken was a glimpse of him going in or out. words overheard. details that don’t even matter in the here and now because the bottom line is that rais knows, and that opens the floor for a whole other kind of threat. 

     it’s not that he knows about crane crossing paths with roman. 

     it’s that crane crossing paths with roman might not be all he knows. 

     “why don’t you ask him yourself? i told you, i’m done with this shit. tell me what you did with zere.”

     “the doctor is alive,” rais says, smooth where crane is rough. “for the time being.”

     “where is he, rais?” 

     a smile. sharklike, all teeth. he’s fluid in the way he moves toward crane, tuts again at the practiced reach for a weapon that’s no longer there. “if i were you, agent, i would be less concerned for him and more concerned for yourself.”

     the breath crane had pulled in catches halfway down his throat. it holds. blood pounds in his ears. agent. friends on the outside. 

     he knows. 

     “you come to us,” his voice carries a serrated edge to it now, a commanding volume without lifting to a shout. the distance between them gets smaller. everything about this fucking place gets smaller, walls closing in. “like a snake in the grass. here, in a city of lies — you are the biggest liar of them all. did you take me for a fool, crane? did you think i would not find out, that it does not behoove me to know from which filthy corner the vermin scurry?”

     a door opens behind rais, flooding the room with light. no, not a room: a shipping container. two men enter, flanking the warlord, awaiting his order. roman and tahir. 

     his right hand, and his left. 

     crane’s hands flex into fists, the cut of his jaw clamped tight. so tight that he could almost swear he hears a crack of molar. 

     “you’re a rat stuck in my maze, crane. nothing more, nothing less. you move because i will it. because you’ve been taught to follow the cheese.”

     crane snaps. red mixes with the white and black. he jerks forward with his arm coiled to spring — and, that quickly, both roman and tahir are on him. tahir’s knee flies up for a brutal blow to his gut, doubling him over, but they haul him back up, keep him standing. in the greyish light, roman’s eyes meet his. 

     something is different. just like at the school. 

     something isn’t right.

     then the order comes.

     “throw him in the pit,” rais tells them, already walking away. “then we will truly see how well the GRE trains its operatives.” 

[sharmaheena850]

Ram Rahim, 3 others convicted in journalist murder; sentencing on Jan 17

A special CBI court in Haryana's Panchkula town on Friday convicted Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for the murder of Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.

Three others, who were close aides of the sect chief, were also convicted by the court.

The judgment was pronounced by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court judge Jagdeep Singh in Panchkula, adjoining Chandigarh.

Chhatrapati was shot at in October 2002 and died later. BS

[basicsofislam]

ISLAM 101: Muslim Beliefs: Knowledge of God Almighty: Asmaul Husna ( The Beautiful Names): THE ALL-BEAUTIFUL NAMES OF GOD Part 2

As will be mentioned below, some verifying scholars have divided the Divine Names into the categories such as the Names indicating the Divine Essence, the Names originating in the Affir- mative Divine Attributes, and the Names indicating the Divine Acts. They have also regarded some Names as being the leaders or foundations of all the Names, and have made another categorization under the titles of the Names of Majesty and the Names of Grace. They have considered all the Names to be the foundation or source in which the truths of things originate or even these truths themselves, as well as being the means of all things being transferred from the Realm of the Unseen to the visible or manifest world through the Divine Knowledge, Wisdom, Will, and Power. Such scholars have stressed that these all-blessed Names are veils before the All-Sacred One Who is called by them. It is He alone Who knows the exact truth of everything, and what we must do is to believe in whatever He teaches us. It is unnecessary to make a detailed explanation of the All-Beautiful Names here as there are numerous studies that have been made so to date—a few of these were mentioned at the beginning of this article. You will find below the most widely known Divine Names only with just brief definitions.

O God! Show us the truth as being true and enable us to follow it; show us falsehood as being false and enable us to refrain from it. And bestow blessings and peace on our master Muhammad and on his Family and Companions, all of them.

THE NAMES INDICATING THE DIVINE ESSENCE

Allah: God, the Proper Name of the Divine Being

(Ar-)Rabb: The Lord (God as the Creator, Provider, Trainer, Upbringer, and Director of all creatures)

(Al-)Malik: The All-Sovereign, the Owner and Master of everything

(Al-)Quddūs: The All-Holy and All-Pure (Who is absolutely free of any defect)

(As-)Salam: The Supreme Author of peace and salvation

(Al-)Mu’min: The Supreme Author of safety and security

(Al-)Muhaymin: The All-Watchful Guardian

(Al-)‘Aziz: The All-Glorious with irresistible might

(Al-)Jabbar: The One Who manifests His Will and Grandeur

(Al-)Fard: The All-Independent, Single One (free from having any equals or likes in His Essence and Attributes

(Al-)Mutakabbir: The One Who has exclusive right to all greatness and manifests it

(Al-)‘Aliyy: The All-Exalted

(Az-)Zahir: The All-Outward, Whose existence is the most manifest

(Al-)Batin: The All-Inward, Whose Essence cannot be comprehended

(Al-)Kabir: The All-Great

(Al-)Jalil: The All-Majestic and All-Supreme

(Al-)Majid: The All-Sublime, the All-Illustrious

(Al-)Haqq: The Ultimate Truth and Ever-Constant

(Al-)Matin: The All-Forceful and All-Able

(Al-)Wajid: The Ever-Present and All-Finding

(As-)Samad: The Eternally All-Besought, Himself being needy of nothing

(Al-)Awwal: The First Whom there is none that precedes

(Al-)Akhir: The Last Whom there is none that will outlive

(Al-)Muta‘ali: The All-Transcending

(Al-)Ghaniyy: The All-Wealthy and Self-Sufficient

(An-)Nur: The All-Light, Who is the unique source of all illumination

(Al-)Warith: The One Who survives all beings and inherits them

Dhu’l-Jalal wa’l-ikram: The One of absolute Majesty and Grace

(Ar-)Raqib: The All-Watchful

(Al-)Baqi: The Eternally All-Permanent

(Al-)Hamid: The All-Praiseworthy

(Al-)Wahid: The One of absolute Unity (Who is absolutely indivisible and having no partners and equals)

(Al-)Ahad: The All-Unique of Absolute Oneness (Who is beyond all kinds of human conceptions and absolutely free from having any partners, likes, parents, sons or daughters)

THE NAMES ORIGINATING IN DIVINE ATTRIBUTES OF GLORY

(Al-)Hayy: The All-Living

(Ash-)Shakur: The All-Responsive (to the good and gratitude of His creatures)

(Al-)Qahhar: The All-Overwhelming (with absolute sway over all that exists)

(Al-)Qahir: The All-Overpowering, Who crushes those who deserve crushing

(Al-)Muqtadir: The All-Omnipotent

(Al-)Qawiyy: The All-Strong

(Al-)Murid: The All-Willing

(Al-)Qadir: The All-Powerful

(Ar-)Rahman: The All-Merciful (Who has mercy on the whole of existence and provides for all of them)

(Ar-)Rahim: The All-Compassionate (Who has particular compassion for each of His creatures in their maintenance, and for His believing servants especially in the other world)

(As-)Subhan: The All-Glorified

(As-)Sultan: The Absolute, Eternal Authority

(Al-)Karim: The All-Munificent

(Al-)Ghaffar: The Ever All-Forgiver

(Al-)Ghafur: The All-Forgiving

(Al-)Wadud: The All-Loving and All-Beloved

(Ar-)Rauf: The All-Pitying

(Al-)Halim: The All-Clement (showing no haste to punish the errors of His servants)

(Al-)Barr: The All-Benign

(As-)Sabur: The All-Patient (Whom no haste induces to rush into an action)

(Al-)‘Alim: The All-Knowing

(Al-)Khabir: The All-Aware

(Al-)Muhsi: The All-Counting and Recording

(Al-)Hakim: The One Who does everything properly, the All-Wise

(Ash-)Shahid: The All-Witnessing

(As-)Sami‘: The All-Hearing

(Al-)Basir: The All-Seeing

(Al-)‘Afuww: The All-Pardoning (Who overlooks the faults of His servants and grants remission)

THE NAMES INDICATING DIVINE ACTS

(Al-)Mubdi: The All-Initiating

(Al-)Wakil: The One to rely on and to Whom affairs should be entrusted

(Al-)Baith: The One Who restores life to the dead

(Al-)Mujib: The All-Answering (of prayers) and Meeting (of needs)

(Al-)Wasi‘: The All-Embracing (in His Knowledge and Mercy)

(Al-)Hasib: The All-Sufficing as One Who reckons and settles the accounts (of His servants)

(Al-)Mughis: The One Who gives extra help

(Al-)Hafiz: The All-Preserving and Keeper of records, the All-Protecting

(Al-)Khaliq: The Creator (Who determines measure for everything and makes things and beings exist out of nothing)

(as-)Sani‘: The Maker

(Al-)Bari: The All-Holy Creator (Who is absolutely free from having any partners and Who creates without imitating anything)

(Al-)Musawwir: The All-Fashioning

(Ar-)Razzaq: The All-Providing

(Al-)Wahhab: The All-Bestowing

(As-)Sattar: The All-Veiling (of His servants’ shortcomings and sins)

(Al-)Fatir: The All-Originating (with a unique individuality)

(Al-)Fattah: The One Who opens the door of good

(An-)Nasir: The All-Helping and Giver of victory

(Al-)Kafi: The All-Sufficing

(Al-)Qabid: The All-Constricting; the One Who takes the souls of living beings

(Al-)Basit: The All-Expanding

(Al-)Hafid: The One Who lowers and humiliates whom He wills

(Ar-)Rafi‘: The All-Elevating

(Al-)Mu‘izz: The All-Exalting and Honoring

(Al-)Mudhill: The All-Abasing

(Al-)Hakam: The All-Judging (Who settles the matters between people)

(Al-)‘Adl: The All-Just

(Al-)Latif: The All-Subtle (penetrating into the minutest dimensions of all things and providing for all)

(Al-)Mu‘id: The All-Returning and Restoring (the One Who causes to die after life and returns the dead to life)

(Al-)Muhyi: The Giver of life and All-Reviving

(Al-)Mumit: The One Who causes to die; the All-Dealing of death

(Al-)Waliyy: The Guardian, the Protecting Friend (to rely on)

(At-)Tawwab: The One Who guides to repentance, accepts repentance, and returns it with liberal forgiveness and additional reward

(Al-)Muntaqim: The Ever-Able to requite

(Al-)Muqsit: The All-Dealing of justice

(Al-)Jami‘: The One having all excellences to the infinite degree; the All-Gathering

(Al-)Mughni: The All-Enriching

(Al-)Mani‘: The All-Preventing and Withdrawing; the One Who does not give whatever He does not will to give

(Ad-)Darr: The Creator of evil and harm

(An-)Nafi‘: The All-Favoring and Giver of benefits

(Al-)Hadi: The All-Guiding

(Al-)Badi‘: The One Who originates in unique fashion and with nothing preceding Him to imitate

(Ar-)Rashid: The All-Guide to what is correct

(Al-)Qayyūm: The Self-Subsisting (by Whom all subsist)

Maliku’l-mulk: The absolute Master of all dominion

(Al-)Mu‘akhkhir: The One Who leaves behind

(Al-)Muqaddim: The One Who causes to advance, Who moves things forward

(Al-)Muqit: The All-Aiding and Sustaining

(al-)Wali: The All-Governing

THE FOUNDATIONAL NAMES

(Al-)Hayy: The All-Living

(Al-)‘Alim: The All-Knowing

(Al-)Murid: The All-Willing

(Al-)Mutakallim: The All-Speaking

(Al-)Qadir: The All-Powerful

(Al-)Jawad: The All-Generous

(Al-)Muqsit: The All-Dealing of justice

THE NAMES OF MAJESTY

(Al-)Kabir: The All-Great

(Al-)‘Aziz: The All-Glorious with irresistible might

(Al-)‘Alim: The All-Knowing

(Al-)Jalil: The All-Majestic and All-Supreme

(Ad-)Dayyan: The Supreme Ruler and All-Requiting (of good and evil)

(Al-)Majid: The All-Sublime, the All-Illustrious

(Al-)Mumit: The One Who causes to die; the All-Dealing of death

(Ad-)Darr: The Creator of evil and harm

(Al-)Muntaqim: The All-Requiting

THE NAMES OF GRACE

(Ar-)Rahim: The All-Compassionate (Who has particular compassion for each of His creatures in their maintenance, and for His believing servants especially in the other world)

(Al-)Jamil: The All-Gracious and All-Beautiful

(As-)Salam: The Supreme Author of peace and salvation

(Al-)Muhyi: The Giver of life and All-Reviving

(Al-)Mu’min: The Supreme Author of safety and security

(Al-)Latif: The All-Subtle (penetrating into the minutest dimensions of all things and providing for all)

(Ar-)Razzaq: The All-Providing

(Al-)Khallaq: The Supreme Creator

(Al-)Awwal: The First (Whom there is none that precedes)

(Al-)Akhir: The Last (Whom there is none that will outlive)

(Az-)Zahir: The All-Outward, Whose existence is the most manifest

(Al-)Batin: The All-Inward, Whose Essence cannot be comprehended

(Al-)Qarib: The All-Near

88 Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn as-Sirri az-Zajjaj (d., 924) was a philologist and interpreter of the Qur’an. Among his works are Ma‘aniu’l-Qur’an and Tafsiru Jami‘i’l-Mantiq.

89 Abu ‘Abdullah Husayn ibn Hasan al-Halimi (949–1012) was a famous Shafi‘i juris prudent and scholar of Hadith. He was a judge in al-Bukhara.

90 ‘Abdu’l-Qahir ibn Tahir ibn Muhammad al-Baghdadi (d., 429) was a jurist, scholar of principles of religion and theology, man of letters, grammarian, and mathemati cian. He settled in Naysabur in Khurasan. Among his works are Bulughu’l-Mada min Usuli’l-Huda, Fada’ihu’l-Karramiyya, and al-Farq Bayna’l-Firaq.

91 Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazzali (d. 1111): A major theologian, jurist, and sage who was considered a reviver (of Islam’s purity and vitality) during his time. Known in Europe as Algazel, he was the architect of Islam’s later development. He wrote many books, the most famous being Ihyau ‘Ulumi’d-Din (“Reviving the Religious Sciences”).

92 Abu Bakr Ibnu’l-‘Arabi (d., 1148) was a Muslim from Spain. He was a master of al-Maliki jurisprudence. He also contributed to the spread of al-Ash‘ari theology in Spain. His most famous works are ‘Aridatu’l-Ahwazi (a commentary on Sunanu’t Tirmidhi), and Ahkamu’l-Qur’an.

93 Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn ‘Umar ibni’l-Husayn Fakhru’d-Din ar-Razi (1149– 1209) was a very famous Muslim theologian, philosopher, and a commentator on the Qur’an. He was born in Ray, now a district of modern Tehran. He died in Herat, in modern Afghanistan. He also wrote on Islamic law, medicine, physics, astrology, litera ture, and history. His most famous work is at-Tafsiru’l-Kabir (“The Great Commentary on the Qur’an”) known as Mafatihu’l-Ghayb (Keys to the Unseen).

Al-Kitabu’l-Athna’ fi Sharhi Asma’illahi’l-Husna (“The Book of the Means to Explain the All-Beautiful Names of God”) by al-Qurtubi,94 Al-Jami‘ li-Asma’il-Husna (“The Compendious Book of the All-Beautiful Names”) which Hamid Ahmad Tahir, Ayman Abdu’r-Razzaq, and Yusuf ‘Ali compiled from Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziya,95 al-Qurtubi, Allama as-Sa‘di,96 Ibn Kathir,97 and al-Bayhaqi,98

Kashfu’l-Ma‘na an Sirri Asma’illahi’l-Husna (“Unveiling the Mystery of God’s All-Beautiful Names”) by Muhyi’d Din ibnu’l-‘Arabi, Asma’ullahi’l-Husna (“The All-Beautiful Names of God”) by ‘Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani99 in prose,

94 al-Qurtubi, Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ahmad Al-Qurtubi ( 1214–1273) was a famous Sunni Maliki scholar. He lived in al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) and Egypt. He was specialized in fiqh and Hadith. The most famous of his works is his twenty-volume tafsir, al-Jami‘ li-Ahkami’l-Qur’an.

95 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziya, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr (d., 1350): A famous, all-round scholar and a disciple of Ibn Taymiya who is also considered to be among the best representatives of his school of thought.

96 ‘Allama ‘Abdu’r-Rahman ibn Nasir as-Sa‘di (1889–1956) was a prominent scholar.

He was born and lived in Saudi Arabia. He wrote on matters concerning Islamic jurisprudence, Hadith, Qur’anic commentary, and language. Among his works are Taysiru’l-Karim ar-Rahman fi Tasfsiri’l-Qur’an, Minhaju’s-Salikin and al-Qawanin wa’l-Usulu’l-Jami‘a wa’l-Furuq wa’t-Taqasimi’l-Badi‘ati’n-Nafi‘a.

97 Abu Al-Fida, ‘Imadu’d-Din Isma‘il ibn ‘Umar ibn Kathir was a famous scholar (1301–1373). He was born in 1301 in Busra, Syria, and studied Islamic jurispru dence, Hadith, Qur’anic commentary, and history. He died in Damascus. Among his famous works are his commentary on the Qur’an known as Tafsiru Ibn Kathir, and al-Bidaya wa’n-Nihaya.

98 Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Husayn al-Bayhaqi, known as Imam Al-Bayhaqi (994–1066) was born Khurasan. He was a famous Hadith scholar. He was also an expert in Islamic jurisprudence. Among his most well-known books are as-Sunanu’l-Kubra, commonly known as Sunanu’l-Bayhaqi, al-Mabsut, Dala’ilu’n-Nubuwwa and al-As ma’ wa’s-Sifat.

99 ‘Abdu’l-Qadir al-Jilani (d., 1166): One of the most celebrated Sufi masters. A student of jurisprudence and Hadith, he became known as the “Spiritual Pole” of his age and the “Greatest Means of Divine Help.” Among his well-known books are Kitabu’l-Ghunya, Futuhu’l-Ghayb, and Al-Fathu’r-Rabbani.

Al-Maqsadu’l-Athna’ fi Sharhi Asma’illahi’l-Husna (“The Best Means in Explaining the All-Beautiful Names of God”) by Ahmad ibn Ahmad Zarruq,100

Sharhu Asma’illahi’l-Husna (“Explaining the All-Beautiful Names of God”), by Abu’l-Qasim al-Qushayri,101

These works can be cited with appreciation and prayers to God that they may be favored with the approval of God Almighty.

The All-Beautiful Names are God’s Names of Glory Which mean the All-Beautiful and All-Exalted Names. The Divine Names are mentioned with this title both in the Qur’an and the accurately related sayings of our master, the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings. Among these Names, Allah (God) is in the form of noun, while the others are in the form of adjectives. The glorious Name Allah (God), Which is the Word of Majesty, is the all-glorious Title of the Divine Essence, Which encompasses all the other Names; it is not possible to express Its meaning with another word.

100 Ahmad ibn Ahmad Zarruq (1442–1493) was a Muslim scholar and Shadhili Sufi from Morocco. He traveled and studied is Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Cairo and Hejaz. He studied Qur’anic commentary, Hadith, Islamic jurisprudence, and lan guage. Among his famous works are Qawa’idu’t-Tasawwuf, I‘tina’u’l-Fawaid, and Sharhu’l-Haqa’iq wa’d-Daqa’iq.

101 Abdu’l-Karim ibn Hawazin al-Qushayri (986–1074) was a Muslim Sufi scholar and master. He also studied Islamic jurisprudence, Qur’anic commentary, Hadith, and theology. His major works are ar-Risala (“The Treatise on Sufism”) and Lata’ifu’l Isharat. His Risala has had great influence on Sunni Sufism and Sufis.

105 Imam Malik, al-Muwatta’, “Jana’iz” 17; Ibn Hanbal, al-Musnad, 1:452.

106 al-Bukhari, “Shurut” 18; Muslim, “Dhikr” 5; at-Tirmidhi, “Da‘awat” 82.