Alexander Litvinenko Conversion to Islam

[Mabsoot]

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42344000/jpg/_42344774_litvinenko_afp203b.jpgAlexander Litvinenko Conversion to Islam 2 days before his death

Litvinenko worked for the Russian Secret Service in the KGB and in the FSB. He exposed many of the lies of the Kremlin and of Putin. He campained on behalf of the Chechen Muslims who had been persecuted for many years by the Russians. He also showed how the FSB and Putin was responsible for the Moscow Apartment bombings and many other terrorist activities.

He fled to Britain with his family. He died aged 43 in University College Hospital, London. He was found to have been poisoned with radioactive polonium-210. Alexander blamed the Russian authorities for his poisoning.

What is not so well known, is that Alexander Litvinenko became Muslim 2 days before his death.

Reported in some newspapers including the well known Times newspaper. At the end of the Times Online (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2486268_1,00.html) article.


Litvinenko's father, Walter, said in an interview published today that his son - who was born an Orthodox Christian but had close links to Islamist rebels in Chechnya - had requested to be buried according to Muslim tradition after converting to Islam on his deathbed.


"He said ’I want to be buried according to Muslim tradition’," Mr Litvinenko told Moscow's Kommersant daily.


"I said, ’Well son, as you wish. We already have one Muslim in our family - my daughter is married to a Muslim. The important thing is to believe in the Almighty. God is one.’"The date of Litvinenko's funeral has also not been disclosed. Friends say the casket will be sealed to prevent the spread of radiation. He is to be buried in a Muslim cemetry in London.


Litvinenko's father today told RFE/RL's Russian Service (http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/12/8d652515-398f-4465-be34-9b4646f756df.html)that his son told him shortly before his death that had converted to Islam, and wished to be buried according to Muslim tradition.

"He told me about his decision two days before he died. He said, 'Papa, I have to talk to you about something serious. I've become a Muslim,'" Valter Litvinenko said.

"I said, 'Sasha, it's your decision. As long as you don't become a communist or a satanist, that's the main thing. I'm a Christian myself, but I have a granddaughter whose father is Kabardin -- my daughter's husband, he's Muslim as well," he continued. "We haven't lost God; we believe in God. But how to believe in God, how to pray -- everyone should do that in the way they consider best."

Valter Litvinenko said his son had grown disenchanted with what he described as the "hierarchy" of the Russian Orthodox Church, and had sought a change.
http://gdb.rferl.org/f11d40d7-2a39-4516-8278-18256594ed85.jpg
Akhmed Zakayev, the London-exiled Chechen separatist envoy, told RFE/RL that Litvinenko asked him about the possibility of converting in the early days of his illness. "I told him it was a purely personal question, that it isn't important to which god we pray as long as we aren't doing ignoble acts. And I sort of dropped it. But he over and over again returned to the subject."

Zakayev added that Litvinenko went on to pronounce the shahadah, the fundamental Muslim statement of faith.

"Any student of Islam will tell you that there are no particular rituals for converting to Islam. All you have to do is say one sura" -- a verse or chapter from the Koran -- "and from that moment if the person who pronounces this sura, this shahadah, has sincere intentions, from that moment he is considered a Muslim," he said.

Zakayev also described the day before Litvinenko died: "On November 22, at his request, I, with his wife's approval, brought an imam to him. He read over him a sura from the Koran, the one that is read over a dying Muslim," he said. "Of course, according to Muslim rituals, they pray over the body before burial. Now, unfortunately, that part of the process which Aleksandr requested cannot be fulfilled because of the exceptional circumstances of the radiation in his body and the fact that the coffin that will contain his body cannot be opened for 6 1/2 years."

Litvinenko, who defected to Britain in 2000, had previously been active in uncovering corruption in Russia and was involved in investigations into the murder of Anna Politkivskaya, the Russian journalist and anti-Chechen campaigner killed in Moscow last month.

Radio station Echo Moskvy reported Friday Litvinenko had converted to Islam shortly before his death.

Litvinenko, it said, had been read the Yasin surah, or prayer, and given Islamic death rites by an imam invited to his hospital bedside.

Ekho, a prominent liberal broadcaster funded by state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom, said Litvinenko would be buried in a Muslim cemetery in London.

Goldfarb, a close associate of Litvinenko in London, said no arrangements for a funeral had been made as post-mortem examinations were continuing.

Inna Lilahi Wa Inna Ilayhi Rajioon,
Indeed we are from Allah and to him we will return

If anyone has anything related to his becoming Muslim please add below inshaAllah and will add info here.

Wasalam

[jamilgame]

at least he died in the state of islam and had been forgiven for all his sins 2 days b4 all praises due to allah.

Jamil

[Imad]

Alhamdullilah

[Muslim-]

Spy's contact and wife also poisoned
By Duncan Gardham and John Steele

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/02/npoison02.xml



A new radiation alert was issued last night after it emerged that a second man on the hit-list handed to the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has been poisoned.


Mario Scaramella: Significant amount of radiation


Tests have also shown that Mr Litvinenko's wife, Marina, has been exposed to radiation, although John Reid, the Home Secretary, said last night that there was "no reason for concern in the short term".

Mario Scaramella, an Italian investigator who had lunch in a sushi bar with Mr Litvinenko and flew back to Britain to help police on Tuesday, has been found with a "significant amount" of the same radioactive element in his body.

The Health Protection Agency said Mr Scaramella, whom it did not officially name, had received quantities of polonium 210 "likely to be of concern for [his] immediate health".

He is being treated at University College Hospital in central London where Mr Litvinenko died on Thursday last week.

advertisementA post-mortem examination was carried out yesterday on Mr Litvinenko's body but the results are not expected for several days.

The Daily Telegraph has been told that Mr Litvinenko had converted to Islam.

Akhmed Zakayev, the leading Chechen dissident who lived next door to Mr Litvinenko, said: "He was read to from the Koran the day before he died and had told his wife and family that he wanted to be buried in accordance with Muslim tradition."

Yesterday the Government's Cobra emergency planning committee met to discuss the latest developments. A Cabinet Office spokesman said: "Clearly there is another trail — literally — that the police have now to work out and for the agencies to examine. We will be looking for information about where he's been and what he's been doing."

The Italian authorities were also alerted to the dangers. "They may now need to take steps," the spokesman said. "For example, they have the same predicament about airlines that we faced."

So far 2,655 people have contacted NHS Direct fearing that they may have been in contact with the substance, with 356 asked to provide a urine sample for analysis. This figure could rise as police pinpoint Mr Scaramella's movements in Britain.

Last night the Ashdown Park Hotel in East Sussex, where Mr Scaramella had been staying since his return to this country, was being checked for signs of radiation.

Mr Litvinenko's home in north London, to which he returned after his meetings on Nov 1 and before he was taken ill that evening, has already shown signs of radiation.

Scientists at Aldermaston have been able to identify the polonium 210 as manmade and it is believed they have identified a Russian reactor as the probable source.

Health experts say Mr Scaramella probably ingested the radioactive isotope at the same time as Litvinenko, although he received a smaller dose.

Mr Scaramella met Mr Litvinenko at the Itsu sushi restaurant in Piccadilly for lunch on Nov 1. During the half-hour meeting Mr Scaramella handed him a list that named both men, as well as the exiled billionaire Boris Berezovsky and the Italian senator Paolo Guzzanti, who had led the Mitrokhin Commission investigation into the KGB's activities in Italy.

A friend of Mr Berezovsky said last night: "He can't believe what is happening. He has had a test but has not had the results yet. He is not showing any symptoms."

Police believe that Mr Litvinenko went on to meet three Russians, one a former KGB agent, at the Pine Bar in the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square, where traces of radiation have also been found.

It is believed that he also visited a private security firm on Grosvenor Street and an investment company linked to the giant Russian oil firm Yukos, which has offices opposite. Police have also found traces of polonium 210 at rooms on the eighth floor of the Sheraton hotel in Park Lane.

They believe the substance was brought into the country on a British Airways flight from Moscow on Oct 25, but other flights have also shown signs of contamination.

[dido70]

إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون
May Allah has mercy on him and all the muslims
how lucky he is i sear to Allah i wish if i was him

[Muslim-]

Alexander Litvinenko confessed to his father to a wish to be buried as a Moslem

Moscow, December 4, Interfax – Former FSB lieutenant colonel Alexander Litvinenko, who died recently in London from radioactive poisoning, had contemplated conversion to Islam not long before his death, his father has said.

‘He had these questions; he was thinking about it’, Walter Litvinenko said answering a question about his son’s conversion to Islam in an interview with Kommersant on Monday.

Litvinenko senior also told the newspaper that during one of his visits to the hospital he said to his son, ‘I have put a candle to St. Sergious of Radonezh and prayed for your soul’ and in response to these words Alexander confessed that he wanted to be buried according to Moslem tradition.

“I said, ‘Well, son, it will be as you wish. You will be another Moslem in our family, the daughter being married to a Kabardinian. The most important thing is to believe in the Almighty as there is one God. The most important thing is to refuse to live according to satanic laws”, W. Litvinenko said.


source: interfax religion

[Muslim-]

Better than Spy Novels
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=columnists&alt=&trh=20061205&hn=38935
The death of a former Russian spy, his demise one seemingly from the pages a John Le Carre novel, is attracting more attention than the most popular Darya Dantsova detective books.


Detective stories and thrillers have proven a very successful genre of new Russian literature. Darya Dontsova has written about 50 novels, and her books have been published in the millions.

The poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, an ex-spy in the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), and a key figure in religious, federal and nuclear cases, has turned all eyes towards London and Moscow.


Litvinenko was in London for a series of contacts. But he was poisoned on Nov. 1 and died despite receiving medical treatment.


In a statement released after his death, Alexander Litvinenko blamed a "barbaric and ruthless" Russian President Vladimir Putin for the attack.


Not too long ago, Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent Russian journalist known as a fierce critic of Putin, was killed in what appeared to be a simple yet mysterious murder.


The atmosphere was ripe for the Kremlin to be blamed. As time passed, relations between retired KGB and FSB agents and rich businessmen known as oligarchs and their international business interests began to surface.


At a press conference I closely followed, the head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, Sergey Kiriyenko, said Polonium-210 was a very sensitive substance produced under tight government control, underlining the fact that it was not easily accessible.


Polonium-210, a rare radioactive substance found in cigarettes and forests, was found in Litvinenko’s body and determined to be the cause of his death.


According to information given by Kiriyenko, Russia produces only eight grams of Polonium-210 a month. However, it has not exported the substance to England in recent years. It appears that the radioactive substance is in high demand on Europe’s black market. Some say Litvinenko poisoned himself during a transaction.


Others claim that retired KGB agents ordered the death of both Politkovskaya and Litvinenko. In Turkey, where familiar organizations like Atabeyler and Ergenekon act in the name of nationalism, the press is pointing the finger at an organization called Dostoinstvoi Jesti.

The Western media claims Litvinenko was killed by a limping 42-year-old nuclear expert named Igor, who knows judo and speaks fluent English and Portuguese.


While outrage prompted by the death of Litvinenko continued, Russia’s infamous economic reformist and one of its first ministers, Igor Gaydar, was poisoned in Dublin. Although Gaydar has recovered, how and by whom he was poisoned still remains unknown.


The claims made about Litvinenko’s accusations have created as much sensation worldwide as his unexpected death. Ahmad Zakayev, a Chechen emissary, said Litvinenko had become a Muslim and read the Quran just one day before his death. Zakayev said Litvinenko had told his wife and children that he wanted to be buried according to Islamic rites.


Just like the128 people who died in the Nord Ost Theater rescue operation, the use of Polonium-210 for poisoning and assassination has become another first in history.

[NewMuslim]

:salam2:
It looks like it's true. Alhamduillah!

[jugnu]

MAY ALLAH SHOWER HIS BLESSING UPON HIM AMEEN

[Tahar]

The brother met Allah with a clean slate. We rejoice for his reversion to Islam, pray to Allah to accept him in paradise and bring his punishment upon the coward perpetrators.

Ina-Liallahi-Wa-Inna-Ilayhi-Rajioun (We are God's creation, and to God we shall return.)

[OmarTheFrench]

Allah guides who he wants.

[sad]

Allau Akbar i am so happy, to see a person who once was an spy leaves this world as a muslim.
It's something amazing as Muslim need to take alesson from this Allah guides who ever he wants and for sure he is the Most Mercy full.
no one have a gaurantee for paradise but what ever u earn is what u will get.
Allahu Akbar

[Abdul Hasib]

Mashallah Litvinenko became muslim and didn't die as a kafir. Inallillahi Wainaelyhe Razioun

[Hannah123]

Alhamdulillah. All praise is due to Allah alone. For all His Glory and Compassion, surely He is the Greatest.
:shymuslima1:

[brighten]

:salam2:

Alhamdulillah. May Allah bless and showers his mercy upon his soul.


wassalam.

[Suharjo Makalalag]

Alahamdulillah, Allah alwas be someone who keeps looking for the truth.

Suharjo Makalalag

[cumaari]

aslama alakum brothers and sisters in Islam i am new member here my ALLAH guad all of you and my ALLAH pless all of the muslims in the world sorry may spell........ i am still learning Insha ALLAAH please make du'a all muslim countries to protect from kufar especail somalia and iraq. aaamiin

[Karema]

Mashallah that's really great he's ahal al jannah
subahana allah look at the diffrentce this world is nothing the here after is everlasting may allah guide as alll
ameen

[AbdullahAlways]

Dear translator as the meaning of the statement will be altered please change to the correct translation which is "We belong to Allah, and to him we shall return " beautiful story that shows when Allah sees senserity in some one's heart He guides him or herto his path. May Allah accept this dead man, grant him mercy, and accept him into Jannah and all muslims Ameen

[sister harb]

Alexander Litvinenko died as muslim but when Anna Politkovskaya was Christian when she died; but they both died by the same reason; trying tell to the world what is really happening to they sisters and brothers in Chechnya.

This song has made in my country for memorising Anna

Song for Anna Politkovskaja by finnish;

http://anna.voima.fi/anna.mp3


Uuden ajan kynnyksellä – Laulu Anna Politkovskaljalle/Song for Anna

uuden ajan kynnyksellä/When you open door to new era
syntyy mustelmia/you will get hits


uuden ajan kynnyksellä/when you open door to new era
syntyy ruumiita/somebodies will die


se joka kertoo totuuden/that who tells the truth
se joka päättää toimia/that who decide to work
saa hississä luodin otsaan/will get bullet to hers head


ne eivät vielä tiedä sinusta/they don´t know that it is YOU
ne eivät vielä tiedä minusta/they don´t know that is is ME


ammutut laukaukset kuuluvat pitkälle/all the world will heard those shots
(laukaukset kuuluvat pitkälle)/they will heard
mustelmat näkyvät pitkälle/all the world will see those hits
(mustelmat näkyvät pitkälle)/they will seen
lopulta ne kuitenkin katoavat/sooner or later they will disappeared
ja hautausmaan keskelle kasvaa/ and the grave yard become
kymmenen uutta puuta/ten new trees


uuden ajan kynnyksellä/When you open door to new era
syntyy mustelmia/you will get hits


uuden ajan kynnykselläwhen you open door to new era
syntyy ruumiita/somebodies will die

kun maa on rumimmillaan/when earth seems the most dirty
ammutut muistetaan paremmin/you will remember those heroes
kuin ne jotka maksavat murhan/than those whose paid those murders


ne eivät vielä tiedä minusta/they don´t know that it is YOU
ne eivät vielä tiedä sinusta/they don´t know that it is ME


ammutut laukaukset kuuluvat pitkälle/all the world will heard those shots
(laukaukset kuuluvat pitkälle)/they will heard
mustelmat näkyvät pikälle/all the world will see those hits
(mustelmat näkyvät pitkälle)/they will seen
lopulta ne kuitenkin katoavat/sooner or later they will disappeared
ja hautausmaan keskelle kasvaa/ and the grave yard become
kymmenen uutta puuta/ten new trees

This song has song in Finland 20-10-06 to Russian president Putin for human rights violations in Checehnya.

Translation by sister Harb.

For me also Anna was my sister!

[Bluegazer]

Assalamu Alaikum,


To begin with, I pray to God Almighty to have mercy on Alexander Litvinenko's soul and accept him in Paradise. Ameen. It's a truly remarkable event.


I was also very alarmed by the following part of the story (as posted by brother Mabsoot at the beginning of the thread):

Akhmed Zakayev, the London-exiled Chechen separatist envoy, told RFE/RL that Litvinenko asked him about the possibility of converting in the early days of his illness. "I told him it was a purely personal question, that it isn't important to which god we pray as long as we aren't doing ignoble acts. And I sort of dropped it. But he over and over again returned to the subject."


Zakayev's position is totally wrong and very dangerous. A non Muslim who has received the message of Islam in a clear and undistorted way must revert to Islam. If he or she fails to revert to Islam before death, then he or she will dwell in Hell for eternity. I thank God Almighty for His mercy in guiding Litvinenko to insist on reverting to Islam.


The following is the religious opinion of Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid in his answer to question no. 6688 [Whoever does not believe that the kaafirs are kaafirs is himself a kaafir]:

"Question:
Is it true that anyone who does not accept that kuffaar are kuffaar is a kaafir himself, even if he prays, believes in the Qur'aan, and the Prophet Muhammad ( )? If so, what is the proof for this? Can a person insist on believing that Jews and Christians can be believers and go to heaven after being shown clear evidence against this, and still be considered a Muslim?

Answer:

Praise be to Allaah.

Yes, this is correct. Whoever is not convinced that the person who disbelieves in the religion of Allaah is a kaafir, does not believe what Allaah has told us about their being kaafirs, and he does not believe that the religion of Islam abrogates all previous religions and that all people must follow this religion no matter what their religion was before.

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers” [Aal ‘Imraan 3:85]

“Say (O Muhammad): “O mankind! Verily, I am sent to you all as the Messenger of Allaah” [al-A’raaf 7:158]

Al-Qaadi ‘Ayyaad said: hence we regard as a kaafir everyone who follows a religion other than the religion of the Muslims, or who agrees with them, or who has doubts, or who says that their way is correct, even if he appears to be a Muslim and believes in Islam and that every other way is false, he is a kaafir

(Al-Shifaa’ bi Ta’reef Huqooq al-Mustafaa, 2/1071)

Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhaab (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

Know that among the greatest things that can nullify Islam are ten things:

Associating othes in worship of Allaah alone, Who has no partner or associate. The evidence ofr that is the aayah (interpretation of the meaning):

“Verily, Allaah forgives not (the sin of) setting up partners (in worship) with Him, but He forgives whom He wills, sins other than that” [al-Nisaa’ 4:116].

This also includes offering scarifices to other than Allaah, such as to the jinn or at graves.

Whoever regards others as intermediaries between him and Allaah and calls upon them to ask them to intercede for him, is a kaafir according to scholarly consensus.

Whoever does not regard the Mushrikeen as kaafirs or doubts that they are kaafirs or regard their way as correct, is a kaafir according to scholarly consensus.

After enumerating them, he said (may Allaah have mercy on him):

In the case of all these things that nullify Islam, there is no difference whether a person is joking or is serious or is afraid – except in cases where he is forced to do something. All of them are among the things that are very dangerous and which happen very often. The Muslim has to beware of them and fear them happening to him. We seek refuge with Allaah from the things that earn His wrath and His painful prunishment, May Allaah bless Muhammad.

(Mu’allafaat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhaab, 212, 213).

Shirk and kufr are the same when it comes to the ruling (hukm)

Ibn Hazm said:

Kufra and shirk are the same; every kaafir is a mushrik and every mushrik is a kaafir. This is the view of al-Shaafa’ and others.

(al-Fisl, 3/124).

The Jews and Christians are kuffaar and mushrikeen. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And the Jews say: ‘Uzair (Ezra) is the son of Allaah, and the Christians say: Messiah is the son of Allaah. That is their saying with their mouths, resembling the saying of those who disbelieved aforetime. Allaah’s Curse be on them, how they are deluded away from the truth! … They (Jews and Christians) took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allaah (by obeying them in things which they made lawful or unlawful according to their own desires without being ordered by Allaah), and (they also took as their Lord) Messiah, son of Maryam (Mary), while they (Jews and Christians) were commanded [in the Tauraat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel)] to worship none but One Ilaah (God — Allaah) Laa ilaaha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He). Praise and glory be to Him (far above is He) from having the partners they associate (with Him).” [al-Tawbah 9:30-31].

It was reported from Abu Hurayrag that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “By the One is Whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, not one of this nation, Jew or Christian, will hear of me and will die without having believed in that with which I have been sent, but he will be one of the dwellers of Hell fire.”

(Narrated by Muslim, 153)

Whoever says that the Jews are not kaafirs is disbelieving in the words of Allaah (interpretation of the meanings):

“And their hearts absorbed (the worship of) the calf because of their disbelief” [al-Baqarah 2:93]

“Among those who are Jews, there are some who displace words from (their) right places and say: “We hear your word (O Muhammad) and disobey,” and “Hear and let you (O Muhammad) hear nothing.” And Raa‘ina [in Arabic it means “Be careful, listen to us, and we listen to you”, whereas in Hebrew, it means “an insult”] with a twist of their tongues and as a mockery of the religion (Islâm). And if only they had said: “We hear and obey”, and “Do make us understand,” it would have been better for them, and more proper; but Allaah has cursed them for their disbelief…” [al-Nisa’ 4:46]

“Because of their breaking the covenant, and of their rejecting the Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allaah, and of their killing the Prophets unjustly, and of their saying: “Our hearts are wrapped (with coverings, i.e. we do not understand what the Messengers say)” — nay, Allaah has set a seal upon their hearts because of their disbelief, so they believe not but a little. And because of their (Jews) disbelief and uttering against Maryam (Mary) a grave false charge (that she has committed illegal sexual intercourse); And because of their saying (in boast), “We killed Messiah ‘Eesaa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), the Messenger of Allaah,” — but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but it appeared so to them the resemblance of ‘Eesaa (Jesus) was put over another man (and they killed that man)]…” [al-Nisa’ 4:155-157]

“Verily, those who disbelieve in Allaah and His Messengers and wish to make distinction between Allaah and His Messengers (by believing in Allaah and disbelieving in His Messengers) saying, “We believe in some but reject others,” and wish to adopt a way in between. They are in truth disbelievers. And We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating torment” [al-Nisa’ 4:150-151]

Whoever says that the Christians are not kuffaar is disbelieving in the words of Allaah (interpretation of the meanings):

“Surely, in disbelief are they who say that Allaah is the Messiah, son of Maryam (Mary)…” [al-Maa’idah 5:17]

“Surely, disbelievers are those who said: “Allaah is the third of the three (in a Trinity).” But there is no Ilaah (god) (none who has the right to be worshipped) but One Ilaah (God —Allâh). And if they cease not from what they say, verily, a painful torment will befall on the disbelievers among them” [al-Maa’idah 5:73]

And he is disbelieving in the words of Allaah concerning the Jews and Christians who do not believe in our Prophet or follow him:

“Verily, those who disbelieve in Allaah and His Messengers and wish to make distinction between Allaah and His Messengers (by believing in Allaah and disbelieving in His Messengers) saying, “We believe in some but reject others,” and wish to adopt a way in between. They are in truth disbelievers. And We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating torment” [al-Nisa’ 4:150-151]

What is there left to say after these clear statements from Allaah, may He be exalted? We ask Allaah to guide us. May Allaah bless our Prophet Muhammad.

Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid"

Source: http://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=6688&ln=eng


However, it might be that Mr. Zakayev only remebered certain verses of the Qur'an while unintentionally forgetting others.


The following is the religious opinion of Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid in his answer to question no. 2912 [Who are the Jews and Christians who will enter Paradise?]:

"Question:
For the time being, I do not have the resources to quote the exact Quranic verse, nor can I tell you what sura it has been taken from. However, I believe it is a common verse. I understand little Arabic; hence I found that in English. The verse can be interpretted as such:
The godfearing Jews, muslims and christians will not have fear (on that day).
I am not exactly sure of the bracketted phrase.
Now my question to you: is it mistranliteration?
We know that christians and jews in general cannot be hoped to have any sanction in the life hereafter. So, how do we understand the verse?


Answer:

Praise be to Allaah.

What you refer to in your question is mentioned in two similar aayaat in the Qur’aan. The first of them is the aayah (interpretation of the meaning): “Verily, those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians, whoever believes in Allaah and the Last Day and do righteous good deeds shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.” [al-Baqarah 2:62]

The second is the aayah (interpretation of the meaning): “Surely, those who believe, those who are the Jews and the Sabians and the Christians – whosoever believed in Allaah and the Last Day, and worked righteousness, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.” [al-Maa’idah 5:69]

In order to understand these aayaat correctly, we need to refer to the scholars of Tafseer (Qur’aanic commentary). The great Imaam Ismaa’eel ibn Katheer, may Allaah have mercy on him, said in his tafseer of the aayah from Soorat al-Baqarah:

“Allaah, may He be exalted, points out that whoever of the previous nations did well and was obedient, will have a good reward, and this will be the case for everyone who follows the Unlettered Prophet [Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) until the Hour comes – he will have eternal happiness, and they will not fear what they are going to face, nor will they grieve for what they have left behind. As Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): ‘No doubt! Verily, the awliya’ of Allaah [i.e., those who believe in the Oneness of Allaah and fear Allaah much, and love Allaah much], no fear shall come upon them nor shall they grieve.’ [Yoonus 10:62]. And Allaah tells us what the angels say to the believers at the time of death (interpretation of the meaning): ‘Verily, those who say, “Our Lord is Allaah,” then they istaqaamu [stood straight, i.e., truly followed Islam], on them the angels will descend (at the time of their death) (saying): “Fear not, nor grieve! But receive the glad tidings of Paradise which you have been promised!”’ [Fussilat 41:30]

As far as the Jews are concerning, their faith meant believing in the Tawraat (original Torah) and following the way of Moosa (peace be upon him) until ‘Eesa came, after which whoever continued to follow the Torah and the way of Moosa, and did not leave this and follow ‘Eesa, was doomed. As far as the Christians are concerned, their faith meant believing in the Injeel (original Gospel) and following the laws of ‘Eesa; whoever did this was a believer whose faith was acceptable to Allaah, until Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came, after which whoever did not follow Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and leave the way of ‘Eesa and the Injeel that he had been following before, was doomed.

The aayah (interpretation of the meaning), “And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers” [Aal ‘Imraan 3:85] is a statement that Allaah will not accept any way or deed from anyone, after sending His Final Messenger, except those that are in accordance with the laws of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Prior to this, however, anyone who followed the Prophet of his own time was on the Straight Path of salvation. So the Jews were those who followed Moosa (peace be upon him) and referred to the Tawraat for judgement at that time. When Allaah sent ‘Eesa (peace be upon him), the Children of Israel were obliged to follow him and obey him, and so they and others who followed him became Christians.. When Allaah sent Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), as the Final Prophet and a Messenger to all the children of Adam, all of mankind was obliged to believe in him and obey him, and refrain from what he prohibited. Those who did so are the true believers. The ummah (nation) of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) are called the believers because of their deep eemaan (faith) and conviction, and because they believe in all the past Prophets and in the prophesied events that are yet to come.”

Commenting on the aayah in Soorat al-Baqarah, Ibn Katheer (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

“What is meant is that every group believed in Allaah and the Last Day, which is the appointed Day of Reckoning, and did righteous deeds. But after Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was sent to both mankind and the jinn, true belief can only be in accordance with the way of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Whoever follows his way will not fear the future or grieve for what they leave behind.

Islam Q&A
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid"

Source: http://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=2912&ln=eng


Let me make it perfectly clear that I do not declare that Mr. Akhmed Zakayev is an apostate. Even though what he said is a statement of disbelief, and yet there are many conditions to declare a certain individual a disbeliever [apostate]. I believe that Mr. Zakayev was confused when he only remembered certain verses of the Qur'an while not remembering others, which might have led him to believe in his very mistaken opinion. I am also in no way a scholar and therefore do not have the right to make such pronouncements. Only an Islamic Court or a renouned scholar known for his knowledge and piety has the right to decalre a certain individual out of the fold of Islam.


The following is the opinion of Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid. It's his answer to question no. 44594 [Advice to one who slanders his Muslim brothers and accuses them without any proof]. I underlined certain sentences.:

"Question:
Our Shaykh, I love you for the sake of Allaah and I hope that you can tell me how to silence those who slander the scholars. There are people who accuse you of being extreme in labeling others as kaafirs and of Qutbi (a group that claims to base its ideas on the writings of Sayyid Qutb) – as they call it. What is your answer? Please note that I am – as Allaah knows – one of those who love you for the sake of Allaah.

Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.

May Allaah love you, for Whose sake you love us, and may He bring us together in His mercy on the Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail, except him who brings to Allaah a clean heart (cf. al-Shu’ara’ 26:89).

With regard to what you have said in your question, we advise you to keep away from everyone who speaks about your Muslim brothers or slanders them, or accuses them and casts aspersion on their intentions. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “O you who have spoken the words of faith but faith has not entered your hearts! Do not backbite about the Muslims or seek our their faults, for whoever seeks out their faults, Allaah will seek out his faults even if he is his house.” Narrated by Abu Dawood, no. 4880; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani.

It is also necessary for you to advise these people to fear Allaah and refrain using such labels and names that divide the Muslims. With regard to offering advice and correcting mistakes, this should not be done by means of exposing people’s faults or casting aspersions on their intentions etc.

With regard to the issue of takfeer (labeling people as kaafirs), this is subject to further discussion. Describing as a kaafir one who has been described as such by Allaah or by His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is obligatory. Allaah has described some groups as being kaafirs in His Book, as when He says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Surely, disbelievers are those who said: ‘Allaah is the third of the three (in a Trinity)’”

[al-Maa’idah 5:73]

“Surely, in disbelief are they who say that Allaah is the Messiah, son of Maryam (Mary)”

[al-Maa'idah 5:17]

But it is haraam to label as a kaafir someone whom Allaah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not label as such.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Just as it is not permissible to label a specific person as a kaafir unless the conditions of labeling someone as such have been met in his case, so too we should not shy away from labeling as kaafirs those whom Allaah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) have labeled as such. But we must differentiate between what is specific and what is general.

Sharh Kitaab al-Tawheed, 2/281.

See also question no. 21576.

And Allaah knows best.

Moreover, everyone who levels an accusation against another person must provide proof:

“Say (O Muhammad), Produce your proof if you are truthful”
[al-Baqarah 2:111]

“Since they produce not witnesses, they are the liars in the sight of Allaah”

[al-Noor 24:13]

This problem is widespread among some of those who claim to be religiously-guided, may Allaah guide them, for they make accusations against people on grounds that are not regarded as something worthy of criticism in sharee’ah or that do not undermine a person’s religious commitment.

Then they do not bring any proof of that, and they follow their own whims and desires, because it is human nature to appoint oneself as judge, praising and condemning on a whim.

We must go against the whims and desires of our own selves and measure people by the criteria set out in Islam; we should make mention of their good points and advise them with regard to their mistakes.

And Allaah is the Source of strength.

Islam Q&A"

Source: http://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=44594&ln=eng


The following is part of an answer given by Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid. It was in response to question no. 14231 [Some of the rulings on apostasy and apostates]:

"Not every Muslim who falls into kufr is a kaafir and apostate. There are reasons why a Muslim may be excused and not judged to be a kaafir, for example: ignorance, misunderstanding, being forced, and making mistakes.

With regard to the first, a man may be ignorant of the ruling of Allaah, because he lives far from the Muslim lands, such as one who grows up in the desert or in a kaafir land, or has only recently come to Islam. This may include many of those Muslims who live in societies where ignorance prevails and knowledge is scarce. These are the ones concerning whom the questioner is confused as to whether they are to be judged as kaafirs and executed.

The second reason is if a person interprets the ruling of Allaah in a manner not intended by the Lawgiver, such as those who blindly follow the people of bid’ah (innovation) in their misinterpretations, such as the Murji’ah, Mu’tazilah, Khawaarij and the like.

The third reason is if an oppressor overwhelms a Muslim and will not let him go until he makes a blatant statement of kufr out loud in order to ward off the torture, when his heart is at ease with faith.

The fourth is when words of kufr come to one's lips without meaning it."

Source: http://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=14231&ln=eng


Best regards,

Bluegazer,

Wassalamu Alaikum

[Muslim-]

Poison probe visits Russia
December 5, 2006


From combined dispatches
MOSCOW -- A team of British police investigating the poisoning of a former KGB agent arrived in Moscow yesterday as the Russian foreign minister warned that continued suggestions of Kremlin involvement in the death could damage diplomatic relations.
Alexander Litvinenko died Nov. 23 in London after ingesting the radioactive isotope polonium 210. In a deathbed statement, he blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin -- an accusation the Kremlin has vehemently denied.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said suggestions in Britain of high-level Russian involvement in the death were "unacceptable," adding: "It is of course damaging our relations."
Both Russia and Britain say Mr. Litvinenko's death should not be politicized, Mr. Lavrov added.
"If there are any questions, they should be put through law-enforcement agencies," Interfax quoted him as saying.
British Home Secretary John Reid said in Brussels that Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett had been in touch with Moscow "and they have assured us we'll get all the cooperation necessary."
Associates of Mr. Litvinenko have said that either the Kremlin was involved in the killing or that rogue elements in Russia's state security service were responsible.
Italy's foreign minister said he would ask Mr. Putin in Moscow today to help the British police in their investigation.
Radiation has been found at a number of sites in London and on two British Airways planes that traveled the Moscow-London route since Nov. 1, when Mr. Litvinenko is thought to have been poisoned. Yesterday, British authorities said they were investigating two additional central London locations.
The British detectives are likely to try to interview Russian citizens who met Mr. Litvinenko at London's Millennium Hotel on Nov. 1.
Andrei Lugovoy, a former KGB agent, says he and businessman Dmitry Kovtun met Mr. Litvinenko that day at the hotel. But Mr. Lugovoy, now back in Moscow, says they discussed a business opportunity and denies having anything to do with the poisoning.
Alex Goldfarb, a London-based friend of Mr. Litvinenko, said the British investigators should see another former KGB agent, Mikhail Trepashkin, who had what he called "substantive information."
Trepashkin, serving a four-year sentence in a prison in the Urals for divulging state secrets, said in a letter last Friday that the FSB, the Russian state security service, had created a hit squad to kill Mr. Litvinenko and other enemies of the Kremlin.
Meanwhile, Mr. Litvinenko's father said his son had requested that he be buried according to Muslim tradition.
"He converted to Islam when he was sick, at a point when he didn't yet know he was going to die," Walter Litvinenko told Agence France-Presse by telephone, confirming a Russian press report. "My son voiced the wish to be buried following Muslim custom."

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20061204-110524-6986r.htm

[Noor to shine]

Ya rabi forgive us and all our muslem brothers and sisters whether alive or dead.
Noor

[sister harb]

May Allah forgive also for our sisters and brothers whose were not muslims. They also were human beings.

:shymuslima1:

[NATURESOUL]

Assalamo alaykom,i want to say just SUBHANALAH MASHALLAH AND ALLAHO AKBAR

[m_nww]

:ma: may allah give him mercy and accept him as a muslim.
ya allah you are my hope so forgive me and all of muslim.:salah:

[talibulislam]

how blessed he was,all his sin forgiven 2days b4 his death,any beliver would love this death,allah is so great & merciful alhamdulillah
may allah give saber to his family insh'Allah
also this is a nasiah to all of us that b attached with allah swt cuz u know never know in waht form will u die but it will b true sucsess if its in the form of imaan inshallah

[Muslim-]

other sources for the story:

Former Russian spy to be buried according to Muslim tradition

http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/news/news.php?article=12111

Litvinenko to be buried in London
By Ruth Holmes
Comment

Alexander Litvinenko died on November 23.
THE funeral of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko will be held in London today, two weeks after his death.

Mr Litvinenko's body will be buried in an air-tight coffin, in a private ceremony, after he was poisoned with the deadly radioactive isotope polonium-210.

His father, Walter Litvinenko, said the 43-year-old, who was born an Orthodox Christian but had close links to Islamist rebels in Chechnya, would be buried according to Muslim tradition.

He said his son had requested it as he lay dying in University College Hospital after apparently converting to Islam in his final days.

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/display.var.1061330.0.spy_to_be_buried_in_london.p hp

[Muslim-]

Today on the agenda hosted by Yvonne Ridley, they were talking about Alexander Litvinenko decision to accept Islam, and the lady (I dont know who she was) said the same that was said in the newspapers.

Also on Islam channel (the agenda) they said that a prayer service would be held in Regents park Mosque today, Islamic cultural centre.

[Jamillah37]

Al Hum Dulillah! May Allah subanawatAllah give him Jennah. May Allah protect the believers and make it easy for us. The ecoli spread is in my area and people are dying because of it. It was found in places most Muslims don't eat. At least the ones in my community. Alumdulillah for Halal. Teach the children. They also say its in the green vegetables in our area as well. The attack is getting closer. May Allah protect us. Make Dua for the believers who are oppressed and the oppressed (if you are) Allah hears your cry high above the clouds so pour your heart out to Allah subanawata Allah!

[El-Wijdan]

Alhamdulillah wa subhanallah, Allah showed us a secret of life

[ibn azem]

:salam2:

Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian agent who died of radioactive poisoning, was buried today. The funeral was held according to Muslim rites, as the 43-year-old was a recent convert. British police are treating his death on November 23rd as murder. The probe has led investigators to Moscow where small traces of radiation have been found at the British Embassy. They are to interrogate a number of witnesses who met Litvinenko in London around the time he fell sick in early November. Among those is businessman and former Russian agent Alexander Lugovoy. He saw Litvinienko the day he fell terminally ill, but denies any involvement in his death. Lugovoy is also being checked for radiation contamination.

video:
http://www.euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_info&article=394804&lng=1&option=1

[Muslim-]

Funerals for Litvinenko at London mosque and cemetery
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2491810,00.html

The news came on the day that Litvinenko was buried in the same London graveyard as Karl Marx today after the Muslim prayer service that he asked for as he lay on his deathbed last month.

Around 50 of Litvinenko’s friends and family gathered for his burial at Highgate Cemetery in North London. Marx, the German father of Communism who also died in exile, is buried close by.

The mourners were led by Litvinenko's wife, Marina, and 12-year-old son Anatoly. Joining them in the rain was his father Walter, his mother Nina Belyavskaya and first wife Natalia, as well as friends Alex Goldfarb, the exiled Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky and the filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov.

Litvinenko’s dark-stained coffin was driven around the perimeter of the cemetery before being laid to rest at the burial site in a non-denominational service. The Health Protection Agency has been consulted on the necessary safety precautions for his coffin because his body remains radioactive.

Earlier, Walter Litvinenko joined mourners at the Central London mosque in Regent’s Park for a Muslim service dedicated to the former spy. His father says he converted to Islam shortly before his death, although some of his friends say he was simply sympathetic to the cause of Muslim Chechens.

But critics of President Vladimir Putin fear that the announcement that the Russian Prosecutor General’s office is to conduct its own investigation into both the Litvnenko and Kovtun cases could severely hamper the British one.

The move would allow suspects to be prosecuted in Russia. Officials previously have said that Russia would not extradite any suspects in the killing of Litvinenko, who died in London on November 23.

Several workers at the Millennium Hotel in London's Grosvenor Square where Litvinenko held a meeting also tested positive for low levels of polonium-210. Health officials are likely to ask anyone who was in the hotel's Pine Bar on 1 November to come forward.

In a statement written on his deathbed, Litvinenko, a 43-year-old former KGB officer, accused Mr Putin of being behind his poisoning, an accusation echoed once more by his father today.

On Monday, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, expressed worries that ties could be damaged if insinuations of high-level Russian involvement continued.

But today he insisted that political ties between Britain and Russia were not being affected by the investigation into the poisoning. He said: "The Scotland Yard investigation is not affecting the quality of Russia-Britain political relations."

A lawyer representing Mr Kovtun and Mr Kovtun, Andrei Romashov, emphasised that they were being treated "as witnesses". He disclosed that Mr Kovtun had also been interviewed briefly on Tuesday about his two trips to London.

A third Russian businessman, Vyacheslav Sokolenko, who also flew to London to watch a football match on November 1, is on the list of men British detectives want to meet.

[Muslim-]

Muslim prayers for Litvinenko
Thu Dec 7, 2006 6:20 PM GMT
Email This Article | Print This Article | RSS [-] Text [+] By Mark Trevelyan
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-12-07T182004Z_01_L07738750_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BRITAIN-POISONING-FUNERAL.xml&WTmodLoc=HP-C2-Business-2

LONDON (Reuters) - Huddled against the December chill, the wife and young son of Alexander Litvinenko led a small crowd of mourners on Thursday at a private London funeral while confusion surrounded his deathbed conversion to Islam.

Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky and separatist Chechen leader Akhmed Zakayev, two of the Kremlin's most outspoken exiled critics, were among the six pallbearers who lowered Litvinenko into his grave at Highgate cemetery in north London.

He was laid to rest two weeks after dying from radiation poisoning in a case that has revived echoes of the Cold War and raised tensions between London and Moscow.


Russia strongly denies Litvinenko's deathbed accusation that the Kremlin ordered him killed, and announced on the day of the funeral that it was opening its own murder inquiry, in parallel with a Scotland Yard police investigation which has taken London detectives to Moscow.

Litvinenko's father Walter spoke emotionally at the graveside and an Imam then performed Muslim rites.

CONVERSION CONTROVERSY

But there was controversy to the very end over Litvinenko's reported conversion to Islam shortly before his death.

"He asked to be buried in accordance with Muslim traditions and customs," Chechen rebel Zakayev, himself a Muslim, told Reuters on the eve of the funeral.

He said Litvinenko was disillusioned with the Russian Orthodox Church because, as a former security agent, he had seen how some priests collaborated with the KGB secret police by passing on details of churchgoers' confessions.

But another friend of Litvinenko, Alexander Goldfarb, said he had "strong reservations" about the deathbed conversion and that the graveside Muslim prayers were against the wishes of the dead man's widow, Marina.

"It was supposed to be a non-religious, non-denominational ceremony according to the wishes of the widow," Goldfarb said, adding that Marina had allowed the rites to go ahead to avoid an "unseemly situation".

Earlier, some of the mourners attended noon prayers at London's central mosque.


"Thank you to my son's brothers in faith that they remember him and pray for him," Walter Litvinenko said.

At the cemetery, Marina Litvinenko and the couple's 12-year-old son Anatoly led about 50 mourners to the graveside on a bleak, wet afternoon.

The man was brought up under Soviet Communism, became a state security agent then later turned into a fierce Kremlin critic. He was buried a few hundred yards (metres) from Communist founder Karl Marx.

It was a last strange twist for a man whose life, and death, are still full of unanswered questions.

[Muslim-]

Poisoned Russian spy takes secrets to his grave
By Anna Tomforde Dec 7, 2006, 15:49 GMT

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London - The first chapter in the increasingly entangled tale surrounding the death of Alexander Litvinenko closed Thursday as the former Russian spy took his secrets to his grave in a London cemetery where Karl Marx is buried.

Close friends and family gathered at Highgate West cemetery in North London to lay the 43-year-old to rest in a special airtight coffin, chosen to prevent the escape of the radioactive poison that killed the former KGB agent on November 23.

The dead man himself added another facet to the bizarre circumstances of his spy thriller life and death with the revelation that he had converted to Islam.

Accordingly, relatives and friends joined other Muslims for midday prayers in the Central London Mosque in Regent's Parks at lunchtime Thursday, before they proceeded to a 'private non-religious service' at the cemetery in the north London district where Litvinenko lived.

Litvinenko's aging father, Valter, his mother, Nina Belyavskaya, and his first wife, Natalia, were among some 30 relatives and friends who travelled from Russia to attend the funeral.

Litvinenko leaves behind his wife, Marina, and Anatoly, their 12- year-old son.

The mosque's Imam said a special prayer for the dead spy, the mosque's spokesman revealed.

'There was a funeral prayer at the end. The imam said a special passage from the Koran,' said Ghayasuddin Siddiqui.

He added that Litvinenko had converted to Islam soon after he fell ill from a large dose of polonium-210 in early November.

Among those present at the mosque, and the funeral, were Litivinenko's close friends, including former Chechen separatist Akhmed Zakayev, the exiled billionaire Boris Berezovsky, the filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov and a number of other London-based Kremlin critics.

Following his defection to London in 2000, Litvinenko became a protege of Berezovsky, the Russian tycoon who fell out with the Kremlin, and who believed that he owed his life to Litvinenko.

The former spy alleged publicly in Moscow in 1999 that he had been 'ordered to liquidate' Berezovsky in London.

The then head of the secret services that allegedly gave the order was Vladmir Putin, now the Russian President.

The murky circumstances of the death of Litvinenko appear to grow messier as the investigations continue.

Litvinenko, meanwhile, is bound to make some sort of history by the extraordinary circumstances of his radiation death - in peacetime, in the centre of a major western capital.


© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

[Muslim-]

Former Russia Spy Laid to Rest in London
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6265064,00.html
Thursday December 7, 2006 6:16 PM


AP Photo LMN107

By DAVID STRINGER

Associated Press Writer

LONDON (AP) - After a Muslim prayer service, ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko was laid to rest Thursday in a rain-swept funeral at London's Highgate Cemetery attended by a Russian tycoon, a Chechen rebel leader and other exiled Kremlin critics.

In Moscow, Russian prosecutors opened their own investigation into the former KGB agent's poisoning death, and a news agency reported that a key figure in the probe had fallen into a coma.

Self-exiled billionaire Boris Berezovsky, Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev and some 50 mourners consoled Litvinenko's widow, Marina, and 12-year-old son, Anatoly. A single white rose was placed on his rain-splattered dark oak casket.

Lord John Rea, director of the Save Chechnya campaign, held up a picture of crusading Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose murder Litvinenko was investigating at the time of his fatal poisoning.

From his deathbed, Litvinenko blamed his fate on Russian President Vladimir Putin - a charge that Kremlin officials have called ``nonsense.'' Traces of highly radioactive polonium-210 were found in Litvinenko's body after his Nov. 23 death.

Scotland Yard on Wednesday said it was investigating his death as a homicide, and traces of radiation have been found at more than a dozen sites in Britain and on jetliners that flew between London and Moscow.

As the investigations proceeded in both London and Moscow, Britain's Health Protection Agency said seven workers at the Millennium Hotel, where Litvinenko met two Russians on the day he fell ill, have tested positive for ``low levels'' of polonium. The agency said the employees were working in the hotel's Pine Bar.

There was no risk to the workers' health in the short-term and little danger for the general public, the agency said.

The opening of a criminal case in Moscow would allow suspects in the Litvinenko case to be prosecuted in Russia. Officials there previously have said that Russia would not allow the extradition of any suspects in the death.

The Russian Prosecutor General's office also said it had opened a criminal investigation into the attempted killing of former agent Dmitry Kovtun, who met Litvinenko in the Millennium Hotel on Nov. 1, hours before the former spy fell fatally ill.

In the latest twist in the case, the Russian news agency Interfax reported that Kovtun fell into a coma immediately after being questioned by Russian investigators and Scotland Yard detectives in Moscow.

Doctors said Kovtun's condition was critical, Interfax reported. The report could not be immediately confirmed.

Russian authorities said earlier that Kovtun had developed an illness connected with polonium-210.

A scheduled interview with former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi, who was with Kovtun at the Millennium Hotel in London, was postponed, Lugovoi's lawyer told The Associated Press. Lugovoi said he would answer all the British investigators' questions, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Kovtun and Lugovoi have told reporters in Moscow that someone is trying to frame them in Litvinenko's death.

Lugovoi was at one point a bodyguard for former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, who also fell sick recently in Ireland with an illness that Russian doctors have been unable to diagnose. On Thursday, Britain's Financial Times and the Russian newspaper Vedomosti published a letter written by Gaidar with the headline: ``I was poisoned and Russia's political enemies were surely behind it.''

``Most likely ... some obvious or hidden adversaries of the Russian authorities stand behind the scenes of this event, those who are interested in further radical deterioration of relations between Russia and the West,'' Gaidar wrote in the letter.

Faint levels of polonium-210 had been found at two locations at London's Emirates Stadium, where Lugovoi and Kovtun attended a soccer game Nov. 1, officials said Wednesday.

The radiation was ``barely detectable'' and posed no public health risk, government health agency spokeswoman Katherine Lewis said.

Traces also were found at the British Embassy in Moscow, the Foreign Office said. Officials said the level was low and posed no risk to health.

Lugovoi is now hospitalized in Moscow for tests for possible radiation contamination.

Litvinenko, who criticized Putin's policies in Chechnya, reportedly had converted to Islam before his death, and some of the mourners were dressed in traditional Muslim robes. They left red flowers and an orange and yellow wreath at the stone gate of the famous cemetery where communist revolutionary Karl Marx is buried.

Earlier Thursday, Zakayev and Litvinenko's father, Walter, joined hundreds of Muslims who had gathered at London's Regent's Park Mosque for regular daily prayer to attend a memorial service, where the imam recited a funeral prayer.

``The imam said a special passage for him from the Quran,'' said Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, head of Britain's Muslim parliament.

Walter Litvinenko and Zakayev both insisted the former spy had converted to Islam on his deathbed, although some friends disputed the claim - saying he had merely expressed empathy with Chechen Muslims. Siddiqui said the mosque had been told Litvinenko converted to Islam 10 days before he was admitted to a hospital last month.

Vladimir Bukovsky, a friend and fellow Putin critic, said Litvinenko had asked that his body eventually be moved to Chechnya. The region in southern Russia is mostly Muslim and plagued by rebel attacks as well as violence blamed on federal troops and forces of the Moscow-backed Chechen government.

``On his deathbed, he asked to be buried when the war is over in Chechen soil,'' Bukovsky said. ``He was a fierce defender of Chechnya and critic of the Kremlin.''

Litvinenko's father told Radio Free Europe on Wednesday that his son had said he had converted to Islam two days before his death. Several friends also said the former agent had converted.

``It was a deeply personal thing, the result of a very intimate personal process, and there's absolutely no connection to his political views,'' said a Russian friend, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

He said the Litvinenko family had decided to hold a nonreligious burial because they feared an ``inevitable attempt by Litvinenko's enemies to portray him as an associate of Islamist extremists.''

Zakayev said that on the day before Litvinenko died, the former spy was visited in hospital by an imam, who read a Quranic verse traditionally said over the dying.

---

Associated Press Writers Jim Heintz in Moscow and Raphael Satter and Katie Fretland in London contributed to this story.

[noreen9]

salam


when i hear stories like this it makes me stronger in the belief of allah and islam as the true deen not that i dont believe init but makes me happy if you get what im trying to say inshallah but subhanallah allah guides whom he wills and none can be led astray and those whom are misguided non can guide them allah-hu akbar may allah guide the muslims aswell as the non muslims inshallah


waslam

[shama]

alhamdulillah he is so lucky

[zarah]

:salam2:

Wow I just read this article in "Metro",I was gobsmacked!:SMILY335:

Mashallah that is great news.May Allah(Swt) bring us all to the straight path and protect us from evil.(Ammen)

Jazzak-Allah khair for sharing.

:wasalam: :arabi1:

[mujahid]

Al hamdu lillah!

[Delyan]

Nothing to add, I am just very happy that he reverted to islam, we re all proud of him I guess.May Allah Forgive himas we pray Alah to forgive us, ameen.

[syed_kashif]

May Allah bestow his mercy upon this newly revert who has been decorated with shahadah before facing his Allah (SWT). All sins washed away instantly and the visa to enter Jannah has been stamped. May Allah Raise his degree in jannah and reward him for what he had suffered here. Moreover, one more thing should be observed that Prophet (pbuh) said that these sufferings and illnesses that man bear on this earth cause the increase in his piety and washes his sins. whatever he would have done against Muslims were first washed away owing to his serious illness and suffering as he might thitherto be respectful in the eyes of Allah Almighty. After that Allah highgtened him to the level of belief where he could pronounce Shahadah as he became sinless like a newly born child (according to Prophet's (pbuh) teachings).

MAy allah bless him.

[basheerpkm]

Conversion to Islam[/LEFT]
Two days before his death Litvinenko, a disenchanted Russian Orthodox Christian, informed his father that he had converted to Islam: the actual conversion happened at a point during his sickness but before he knew he was going to die.[31][32] Akhmed Zakayev, Foreign Minister of Chechen government-in-exile who lived next door to Mr Litvinenko and considered him "as a brother",[33] said: "He was read to from the Koran the day before he died and had told his wife and family that he wanted to be buried in accordance with Muslim tradition."[34] According to Vladimir Bukovsky, Litvinenko accepted Islam mostly to show his solidarity with Chechen people, who he felt were brutally oppressed by Russians.[35] Before his burial, prayers were said for Litvinenko at Regent's Park Mosque.[36] Litvinenko's reported conversion to Islam and the related wish for Muslim funeral rites were recognized by his father, but have been rejected by his widow, Marina, as well as his close friend (and press spokesman during his illness), Alex Goldfarb who preferred a non-denominational ceremony.[37]
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Litvinenko#Conversion_to_Islam

[Muslim-]

'His last words to me were: Marina, I love you so much'
David Leppard and Margarette Driscoll



THE widow of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy who was killed in London, has spoken of her ordeal as she watched him die in agony from radioactive poisoning.

In an emotional interview with The Sunday Times, Marina Litvinenko described how her husband had always told her that he and his family would be “very safe” after defecting from Moscow to Britain. Marina, 44, said his last words to her before he slipped into a coma were, “Marina, I love you so much.”

She said she had decided to speak out after becoming angry at “completely untrue” reports suggesting her husband was a man of dubious character. She said he had been an honest man, a crime fighter rather than a spy.




He was, she said, a “lovely dad, a very caring person and a very special man” who would be deeply missed.

Speaking through tears in halting English, she said: “I don’t feel good and, of course, I don’t know when I [will] start to feel good after what
happened.”

She said that her husband — known to his family and friends as “Sasha” — was “a very caring person about us” and had always tried to look after her and their 12-year-old son Anatoly: “He tried to protect me, he just tried to protect me.

“Sasha told me we were very safe, I’m very safe . . . I think he felt nobody could kill him.”

She said that throughout the three weeks that her husband was in hospital after being poisoned with a massive dose of polonium-210, she watched his condition deteriorate but never gave up believing he would recover: “I didn’t lose my hope. He was very fit for his age. He didn’t smoke, he didn’t drink.”

But she could see him slipping away day by day: “He was a very handsome man. But each day for him was like 10 years, he became older in how he looked.”

Marina said she had tried to hide her feelings and fears from him. It was not until the end that she finally accepted that he would die last month.

“Suddenly I saw he was tired, too tired to fight. Before that, he’d been a strong fighter. This time I saw he’d almost given up. I wasn’t sure if I should go home. I said, ‘Are you okay? Shall I go home?’

“Then he said the first full sentence he’d said all day: ‘Marina, I love you so much’. I said, ‘Thank you’.”

She said that he used to tell her every day that he loved her.

Marina said that they had so enjoyed the freedom of living in Britain that they had fallen into a false sense of security. In Britain her husband, an emotional man, she said, had felt able to speak freely about his passions.

“Life here in England fooled us. After six years we were different people from who we were in Russia,” she said.

“Of course he had enemies but not [enemies] to kill him in this horrible way. Sasha never felt that he was a first target.

“Everybody tries to write about Sasha like he was an ex-spy, but it’s completely untrue. He never was a spy.”

It was only when her husband was close to death that Marina finally realised the enormity of what had happened. “Finally I can see that he was a target,” she said.

Police believe that Litvinenko, a vehement critic of the regime of Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, was poisoned when he met two or three Russian businessmen in the bar of the Millennium hotel in Mayfair, central London, on November 1. They suspect he was targeted by a Russian “hit squad” that flew to London in October.

Last week it emerged that seven other people at the Millennium hotel were contaminated with polonium, although at far lower levels than Litvinenko. The Health Protection Agency is trying to trace a further 200 people who visited the bar that day so that they can be tested.

Marina was reluctant to enter the diplomatic row that has ensued from the murder of her husband, who has been denounced by the Russians as a fantasist who had a grudge against Putin.

Asked to comment on Tony Blair’s promise that relations with Russia would not interfere with the police investigation, she said: “I don’t like to say words like pathetic . . . But Sasha said personal life was very important in England. It’s not very important in Russia.

“In Russia it doesn’t matter how many people are killed. I’d like to believe [the] life [of] only one person can still be very important in England.”

She declined to say whether she thought the Russian authorities or Putin were behind her husband’s killing. But she added that her husband’s public claims about his former employers at the FSB had alienated them.

“Sasha never had enemies in his life but because he was a former FSB officer and knew, just like me, that you never can escape from the FSB and he was starting to speak openly about crime . . . I can’t say [it was]
he was starting to speak openly about crime . . .

“I can’t say [it was] these people but I’m absolutely sure they didn’t forgive him for what he did.”

November 1, the day he was poisoned, was a special day for both of them: the sixth anniversary of their escape from Russia, where Litvinenko had fallen foul of his political masters after coming to believe that corruption permeated the FSB security service and the upper levels of government.

They had made a new life in north London where Sasha — and, by extension, Marina and Anatoly — felt safe. “Sasha told me, ‘In Russia people can do what they like. In England it’s rules, it’s law’.”

At first Marina felt lost in London, but as Anatoly began to make friends at school and she began to learn English, she settled down. The best thing was that Sasha, who had become an obsessive workaholic as he investigated corruption in Russia, began to relax.

“When I met him in Russia I could see he had potential,” she says. “In England he became more of a man, more of a person. He spoke to Vladimir Bukovsky [another dissident] every night. That was his university.


“In Russia it was all about his job. He’d be busy for two, three days at a time. He’d forget to eat and drink. It was difficult to cope. We couldn’t plan anything. Although he’d be so happy when he’d finished, when he’d caught somebody. He was full of life. He was 32 years old and he had a high-level job. Everybody was predicting that he would be the youngest general in the FSB.”



His downfall, she believes, was a result of being too honest: “It was the last two years before we left Russia that he was really unhappy. He was trying to investigate crime at a high level but he was frustrated.

“[In Britain] he wrote articles, he spoke out, but he felt nobody would kill him for it. He felt safe here. He never told me exactly what he was doing, but he had his business and I had mine: I was in control of the family, my son, my home. He tried to protect me.”

On the anniversary of their escape they always had a celebratory supper. Marina was planning to cook a chicken dish. But first Sasha had meetings in town and Marina went shopping to buy a birthday present for a friend’s son.

“It was very normal. Sasha came home and changed his clothes, watched some internet news. He said he had to be up early the next day as he was busy.”

That night, Sasha complained of feeling sick. Marina could not understand it; she had eaten the same food. Sasha began to suspect immediately that he had been poisoned.

“I said, ‘Sasha, I can’t believe it’. I tried to calm everything down. He was so fit. He didn’t drink or smoke. It was a joke. people would say, ‘You’re Russian? And you don’t drink?’ He could run 10km — fast.

“But he knew this wasn’t normal. I have never seen anyone vomit like that. He’d studied such things at the military academy and he knew the symptoms.”

Two days later he was admitted to hospital and staff at first believed he had caught a bug; but he persuaded them that he had been poisoned and the race began to unravel the mystery of what had happened to him.

The poison had a dramatic effect on his body. His hair fell out and it became too painful to him to swallow.

She did not give up, convinced that he would recover. “I never gave up hope,” she says. “It was not until the very last day that I thought I would lose him.”

Litvinenko also believed he would survive, especially when the doctors told them that they believed he had been poisoned with thallium. “We were so happy. We thought, there’s an antidote, he’ll recover. He said to me, ‘I’ll take the antidote, no matter how painful it is’.”

Despite their optimism, Sasha’s condition continued to worsen. “I tried to hide my feelings,” she says. “I would hold his hand and massage his feet. He said, ‘I’ll do it for you every day when I get home’. He talked about running again.”

Marina’s great concern was how to help her son: “We never kept Anatoly apart from what was happening to Sasha. He knew when we escaped from Russia that his life was not normal for a child.

“He was always very interested in what Sasha was doing. Sasha would take him to meet people. He is old enough to read the newspapers, he knew everything that was happening to his dad.

“It’s so hard. I’ve said to him, ‘Anatoly, are you okay, how do you feel?’ He said to me, ‘Six years ago I already lost my life in Russia and now it’s happening again’.”

Every day Sasha’s condition worsened. The doctors realised that they were looking for more than thallium but they were running out of time.

“On the Wednesday [November 22] he was weaker. He couldn’t speak,” said Marina. “We cancelled all visitors. During the day he was sleeping. He could hardly speak, just asked me to stay. His dad came and at 8 o’clock, I wanted to go home as Anatoly was there.

“Suddenly I saw he was tired, too tired to fight. Before that, he’d been a strong fighter. This time I saw he’d almost given up. I wasn’t sure if I should go home. I said, ‘Are you okay’ Shall I go home?’

“Then he said the first full sentence he’d said all day: ‘Marina, I love you so much’. I said, ‘Thank you’,” she smiled, “because he told me that every day. I said, ‘Okay, can I go now?’ His eyes closed. He was a little upset again but he didn’t open his eyes.”

She set off for home, not knowing that those were the last words he would ever speak to her. At midnight the hospital called to say he was in a bad way. His heart had stopped and they had revived him but he was on life support.

“I couldn’t speak,” she said. “He couldn’t see me. Suddenly I started to feel I could lose him. It was so sharp. I knew I shouldn’t think about that and when I left him on the Thursday I thought, it’ll be okay.

“Anatoly asked me, ‘Is it okay with daddy?’ And I said, ‘Anatoly, shall I speak to you as an adult or as a child?’ I spoke to him as an adult. I said Sasha was on a life support machine: would he like to see him?”

They agreed that they would go to the hospital together on Friday. But later that night, the telephone rang again, saying Sasha’s condition was critical. “Anatoly said, ‘I’ll go with you’. It was the last time he saw his father alive.”

Since then she has been overwhelmed with grief. “I don’t know when I will feel good again,” she said. “Everyone says Sasha was a spy but he was never a spy. He was special person, a very caring man who was a lovely dad to our son and a good son to his father.

“Life with him wasn’t easy. Six years ago I lost my country, I lost the life I had before. Now it’s just a huge feeling of losing my husband. What’s important to me is to try to find out who killed him and why.”

Marina Litvinenko met her husband, Alexander, at a birthday party to celebrate her 31st birthday. Friends who knew Alexander “Sasha” Litvinenko thought the tall, blond FSB officer would appeal to her — and they were right. “It was so romantic. I always used to tell him he was my birthday present,” she said.

“We were so happy. He’d say to me, ‘Marina, why didn’t I meet you sooner?’ and I’d tell him ‘Don’t worry, Sasha. We’ll have a long and happy life together’.”

It was not to be.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2496496_2,00.html

[truesuccess]

AllahuAkbar

At the time of our death, please remind Kalamaye-Tawheed and save us from hellfire.


SubhanAllah

:mashallah:

[nasir89ah]

it's funny how all the news reports i watch like cnn, failed to mention that he had become muslim...i am glad there are more sources of news then just cnn

[simplifyinglife]

Ina-Liallahi-Wa-Inna-Ilayhi-Rajioun (We are God's creation, and to God we shall return.)

[Solemn_G]

it's funny how all the news reports i watch like cnn, failed to mention that he had become muslim...i am glad there are more sources of news then just cnn
As-salaamu alaikum

You recognized that too? What's up with that? It seems like CNN is very biased when it comes to what they show. I've watched them for a while now and they have seriously been picking and choosing what they want to show, most of what they choose having to do with Muslim violence. I mean, they even had a segment about Litvinenko's funeral and they seriously didn't talk about his reversion?? It's a lot more interesting than a lot of the stuff they have been showing recently.

Oh well.

[Believe2Succeed]

Fuztahu be rabul kaaba (verily in the name of the LORD of the Kaaba, he succeeded) if he accepted islam before his death!
May Allah SWT forgive him and grant him paradise!

Woes to the enemies of humanity and islam who rule this world today..
Allah SWT will guide those HE wills alone!

[koolwitje]

Al hamdullilah he became Muslim! I hope that the fact he became Muslim also become word news!!

[Argus]

I wish all would look upon this example and become Muslim as this former spy has done. I pray Allah accepts his entry into paradise and brings more people to Islam, insha'Allah.

[raul008]

Well I shuld tell That this man is a real intellegent man!! because He converted to Islam!!! May Allah Forgive All His Sins and may allah give him jannatul fardous! Allah Is The Most Gracious and The Most Merciful !!

[virtualeye]

Brother Raul008, Its not just intelligent but the Blessings of Allah. Otherwise Einestein would have been Muslim. And other intelligents too. Its the matter of special belssings of Allah SubhanahuWaTaalah.

[lema]

don't forget that putin also worked in knb.. but became president, and the other aget becomes muslim. who knows, when and who becomes what.

[Razmi]

May Allah Almighty shower his 'rahmath' and 'magfirath' to him. Ameen!

[sheith]

:salah: Hamdolillah...he who chooses the people to show them the right path...And our brother Alexander Litvinenko is one of those men...May Allah gather us all within his Eden-Gardens.
Salem alaikoum

[Yakubu U. Sembele]

ON THIS SPECIAL DAY OF ARAFAT AND JUMMA`A, I PRAY TO ALMIGTHY ALLAH TO SHOWER HIS MERCY AND FORGIVENESS ON LITVINENCO AND ALL MUSLEMS FAITHFULS DIED BEFORE NOWN. AND FOR THE REST OF US, MAY WE RETURN TO HIM (ALLAH) IN IMAN.

[feeni]

AT LEAST HE DIED A MUSLIM AND MAY ALLAH FORGIVE HIM AND MAY HE ATTAIN PARADISE AMEEN GOOD FOR HIM:ma:

[ali91]

may allah give him jaanah ameen andinshalahwill give him paradise :ma: :salah: Hamdolillah...he who chooses the people to show them the right path...And our brother Alexander Litvinenko is one of those men...May Allah gather us all within his Eden-Gardens.
Salem alaikoum

[Argus]

don't forget that putin also worked in knb.. but became president, and the other aget becomes muslim. who knows, when and who becomes what.

Alhamdulillah, only Allah knows what we shall become. :)

[allmuslimsrequal]

His story really amazes me. It is beautiful. May Allah (Swt) bless his soul, and may he have his place in Jinnah.

[Paki Idol]

:salam2:
I read an article including a survey of Russian females who embraced Islam between ages of 14 and 23 was 5 thousand.Plus, Mr.Litvinenko's sister was a Muslim, too.His reversion to Islam at that time does fascinate all of us, MashAllah!A New Muslim is forgiven all sins and he died a couple of days after His reversion to Islam.

[banonnaz]

:salah: A very moving story. May Allah bless him and give him paradise. To all my muslim bro and sis,do remember him in your prayer pls. May he rest in peace. ameen

[jason_faizal]

alhamdulilah