Yes, it’s that time again when there are many special dishes on the table, loads of movies on the telly, the hype of the end of the year and a big celebration at the end of it all.... yep, it’s Ramadan slap-bang in the middle of the X-mas celebrations!

To make it worse, this year you’ve got the Millennium Madness Disease spreading everywhere.

This is the month when we’re supposed to be doing extra worship, becoming pious, wipe the slate clean and try to attain Taqwa, understand Islam properly and become a practising Muslim.

Well if you thought it was difficult last time round then by-heck have we got a hell of a challenge this year.

Here’s ten top sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad(saw) on the blessed month of Ramadan:

"Fast after sighting the moon and end the fast after sighting it and if it is cloudy then complete thirty days of Shaban." (Bukhari)

"Ramadan has come to you as a blessed month. During this month Allah has prescribed fasting for you, the gates of heaven are opened and the gates of hell are closed. The rebellious devils are chained. There is a night in this month that is better than a thousand months, whoever misses it is indeed deprived of enormous blessings." (Bukhari)

As we enter into the new millennium (Christian Era), we see that many people are confused about the ultimate truth and reality. There are an increasing number of people who claim not to believe in a Creator and believe that there is no Lord who oversees the function of the universe.

Even within those groups of people who submit that there is a supreme Creator are divided into various religions. The main religions of the world are Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism.

The followers of each of these religions will claim that they are on the right path and only they will have success in the hereafter. The question is that how do we determine who is right?

Gang wars, stabbing, shooting, drug dealing, pimping, mugging, rape, every fraud you can think of, abusive language, fornication.....the list is endless.

Why is it that an increasing number of young Muslims are involved in every crime and dodgy behaviour imaginable?

Today nicking a car tape, selling weed, credit card fraud etc. is as common as eating fish and chips!

The sixty million dollar question is that why are Muslims involved in these shady acts? Well, you could say its the way we’ve been brought up, lack of identity, lack of facilities, the mosques are not offering us anything, our parents are uneducated... the list of reasons (or excuses) is larger than Nawaz Sharif’s bank account!

The following is the text of a talk given by Shaikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller at Nottingham and Trent University on Wednesday 25th January 1995

There are few topics that generate as much controversy today in Islam as what is sunna and what is bida or reprehensible innovation, perhaps because of the times Muslims live in today and the challenges they face.

Without a doubt, one of the greatest events in impact upon Muslims in the last thousand years is the end of the Islamic caliphate at the first of this century, an event that marked not only the passing of temporal, political authority, but in many respects the passing of the consensus of orthodox Sunni Islam as well.