Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah

“Oh Allah. May You be found by all who seek You tonight. Ameen.”

Allahumma salli ala Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim.
Alhamdulillahi rabbil Alameen. Ameen.
–
From Nader Khan

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala rasulullah

I just finished this book and its one of my first goes at reading Islam from the social science perspectives. I’ve only glanced at a few books sparingly but I went through this one in its entirety.

A few things I learned that I shall share:

-It is disappointing there exists very little research on Muslims as far as anthropology and sociology are concerned, even now, despite 9/11 there seems to be less work being done than their should be. ‘Zone’s of theorizing’ exist in discussing Islam- the study of anthropological Islam being tainted and biased by ideological and political interests in theory-making.

-Marranci focuses inexhaustibly on the question as to exactly what a Muslim is? This at first seemed an easy question to me, but I realized why this is such a difficult topic- since shahadah isn’t enough to shape identity, there has to be a “Muslimness,” he finally arrives at a definition I feel compromises a little bit: it is to “feel Muslim” and the Muslim experience (key focus being the emotional experience) is likened to a map (of discourses)  for a territory analogy- loose,changing and approximate(consider how Qadianis or non-heterosexual Muslims or alcoholic Muslims will never answer ‘no’ to the question of “Are you Muslim?”). There are a number of questions regarding the schizophrenic nature of being Muslim in the West- juggling multicultural, religious influences with personal ambition- and unfortunately, this aspect of our social life has been characterized by writers as more pathological, perhaps to avoid the fact it is a product of pluralism? Also, there is the struggle with essentialist ideas of Islam and Muslims- reductionist thinking making Muslims into ‘ideal types’ which usually, don’t exist, anywhere. I find this difficulty to grasp Muslims and Islam intriguing because their is an intensity of the Muslim experience and it is very hard for academics to take it apart and get intimate with it, whether they are Muslim or not, because it is such a vast experience. It encourages me to think about the richness and unique aspects of our experience and how it has shaped me.

-Marranci discusses a number of ethnographic experiences in studying Muslims and how it has become difficult for anthropologists to see how Muslims live their daily lives and explore Muslim behavior, because of Muslim fear in the wake of 9/11. Nonetheless, its encouraging to read about how there exist interviews and studies on many aspects of Muslim life- from village life, to living in the West, to the experience of Muslim women, in shelters, non-heterosexual Muslims, to mosque conflicts. I would like to mention when Marranci attended a talk in North Ireland by a Sufi speaker. In the weeks following the talk, the Sufi would continue to teach her and others via dreams. Another writer, K.P. Ewing mentioned a similar experience after having baraka transfered to her by a Sufi shaykh. Both of these anthropologist were non-Muslim, yet had this unique experience, which shows us what Islam can tell us about ourselves as human beings, the most rudimentary aspects of the human condition, the soul and the human psyche.

-A discussion on the ummah was probably necessary. Its interesting how Marranci keeps coming back to a mental definition for much of what is described- “feel to be Muslim” and how ummah is more of a mental construct uniting Muslims, despite the contradictions of racism and sectarian strife. Personally, I think this contradiction is characteristic of Muslims- we tolerate contradictions and pardon our shortcomings for greater solidarity with each other and being associated with the glory of Islam- one can just recall the story of the Muslim ruler who launched a war because a Muslim woman’s honor was violated, he believing only he had the right to oppress his population. Marranci somewhat accounts for this aspect by mentioning though there are no charismatic leaders for the entire ummah- charisma and”special-ness” (think baraka) is dispersed throughout the ummah (perhaps as a sort of bonding force?).

-Gender and Islam is a topic I was expecting would be discussed, but it was great to see some ignored criticism- how western feministic models will just replace patriarchy, being no better and strip away the Islam of Muslim women. Its very true how Westerners view Muslim women as mysterious, exotic and/or erotic objects of the Other- even among converted Muslims, or even born and raised Muslims, there is this attitude of the veil being both oppressive and yet seductive. In light of this fact, it was refreshing also to see a discussion on masculinity in Islam- although it wasn’t too developed, it was a start considering there isn’t much written on this topic.

I would recommend this book and I would also recommend readers to visit the author’s blog and website.

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa anta astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

http://marranci.wordpress.com/

Bismillah

I’ve just gotten into Twitter lately and masha Allah, its a really nice tool. You can add me here.

I’m still new to it, but its a good way to stay in touch with a lot of people whom I used to be in touch with via Facebook. There is also a Twitter widget on the right panel of this blog- near the very bottom. Hopefully, this way, readers can get an idea as to the projects that are going on here.

Baraka Allahu feek.

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, Ameen.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah

This is a very important piece because in the West there is a big imperative on Muslims taking Sufi shaykhs. And its very much indoctrinated among the Sufi people I have come across, which is something I question. I think many question this as well and wonder but can’t find someone to explain this to them. So this is why its very important.

I’ve never taken a shaykh and I was glad to come across Shaykh Hamza talking about this controversial topic since this is a big criticism of Sufism that is very valid. I’ve transcribed it below as best as I could, listened to it like 3-4 times to make sure I didn’t put my own interpretation in it.

Question: How necessarily important is it to commit to one shaykh to develop your spirituality?

Answer:
You’ll get different opinions depending on who you ask. There’s a nice translation of Ibn Abbad’s letter on whether its obligatory to take a shaykh. There’s a saying, “Whoever doesn’t have a shaykh, Shaytan is his shaykh.” Generally, first and foremost it means you have to have a teacher for the Shariah. You have to have someone who teaches you the religion. When we visit Sh. Mimmar (spelling?) the other day, what did he keep saying? “Get teachers even if you have to pay them. Have teachers. You need teachers to guide you. You need to have sources of knowledge.” In terms of spiritual advancement, if people are having spiritual experiences its good to have people who know what they are doing. Suhba (companionship) is also good. Many of the shuyukh of this period, like Shaykh Ahmad Mashur al-Haddad, who I studied with, Dr. Umar studied with, Sidi Abdul Hakim Winters studied with- he was of the opinion that the idea of taslim was over, the surrendering yourselves to a shaykh completely was over, this wasn’t its time. And there are a lot of dysfunctional aspect in a lot of relationships that happen, so there are problems in all these systems. And surrendering your sovereignty, you have to be very careful with that, who you surrender your sovereignty to, some people demand a lot. There’s a poem by Robert Frost, “They say the truth will make you free, my truth will make you slave to me.” So you just have to be careful, there’s a lot of manipulation out there. People from Pakistan know very well about the peer sahibs, and what happens there. I’m not making this up, am I? A lot of these people are flat-out charlatons, there’s charlatans all over West Africa, you know ‘Sufi shaykh, come and be a murid.’ The danger of Sufism that bothers me, is there are a lot of principles in Tasawwuf that are very easily manipulated into certain cultic control mechanisms and they become very dangerous. I think for those of us in the West, we come from a tradition of individual sovereignty and independence of self. And I personally believe those are very high Islamic characteristics and qualities. I think a lot of the problems in the East is all this slavishness, and devotion and obsequiousness to the grand Master Pu-Ba whoever. I mean, if you want my personal opinion, I do believe that. That does not mean I don’t show the utmost respect to my teachers. Sh. Abdullah bin Bayyah is my teacher and what I love about him is he’s somebody who respects my opinion, listens to my opinion, he’s never been despotic in any way. Habib Ahmad Mashur al-Haddad was not despotic at all, he didn’t get angry at people, he didn’t abuse people. Sifadur Harawi was like that. You just have to look to people and observe them. You just have to be careful. And then there are some people who are just deluded or they are trying to keep something alive and they have their limitations. Sidi Ahmad Zarruq said that there weren’t any complete teachers by his time, the 9th century, the completed masters were gone and to just find people that could do the best that they could do and recognize their shortcomings and don’t have greater expectations that they can do that. Wallahu Ta’ala Alaam. Allah knows best.

–Taken from Shaykh Hamza Yusuf’s CD set on Tasfiyah al-Qublub, (Refinement of the Heart) by Imam Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi, CD 12, Track 3 and 4 (copyright)

I think this is something for brothers and sisters who are into the Sufi scene to ponder over deeply, especially considering its from Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, and for people who criticize Sufism to realize these concerns aren’t marginal at all.

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

Bismillah…

An interesting event happening soon in Toronto hosted by Qurba Academy…

—

Without it…

prayer is just exercise,

fasting is hunger,

life has no direction.

Welcome to Belief: Securing Faith.

Whoever believes through mere following

Their faith is not safe from creeping doubts

[Ibrahim al-Laqani, Jawharat al-Tawhid]

Is your faith safe?

Life is full of ideas, events, and people that test your beliefs. Sometimes, even shake them. In our culture of scientism and skepticism, religion is seen as foolish, irrational, and outdated. This leaves Muslims with the responsibility to know and articulate their beliefs – or be outsmarted.

Know your Aqida

This course gives you the tools to navigate through philosophical clutter and learn the sources of Islamic theology. Through a highly organized and uncomplicated curriculum, you’ll discover what you need to have sound belief.

You Will Learn…

• The orthodox tenets of Islamic belief and their sources
• The relationship between knowledge, faith, and action
• To have complete trust in Islamic theology, so that you can live your life with confidence, purpose, and clarity

Who Should Attend?

• Any Muslim who wishes to know, with complete confidence, the articles of their faith and the tenets of their beliefs
• Anyone who desires to love God, but wants to first know Him better
• Any Muslim who wants to follow the Prophetic example by truly understanding his message of tawhid

Topics Covered in this Course

1. Tenets of Faith
2. Threshold of Valid Belief
3. Epistemology (The Ways of Knowing)
4. The Sources
5. Realizing One’s Faith
6. The Relation Between Knowledge, Faith and Action
7. Increasing One’s Faith

Program: Essentials Certificate Program

Course: BEL1101 – Belief: Securing Faith

Teacher: Shaykh Ramzy Ajem

Course Format: In-class

Date & Time: November 21-22, 2009

Location: Ryerson University

Price: $99 CAD $89 before Nov 1

Register Now!

Seats are Limited

Shaykh Ramzy Ajem

Shaykh Abu Shamsudin Ramzy ibn Mahmoud Ajem is of Tunisian descent and was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. In 1995, he left Canada to begin his Islamic studies in Damascus, Syria. He completed the two year pre-college program with honors at Abu-Nur Islamic Institute of Syria. While in Damascus, he had the honor to meet and study with a number of scholars including Sh. Ramadan al-Bouti, Sh. Muhammad al-Yaqoubi, Sh. Abd al-Rahman Kharsa, Sh. Nur al-din Ittir, Sh. Adib Kallas, Sh. Farid al-Jazairi, Sh. Abdul Mu`iz al-Nafti, Sh. Muhammad Kaylash, Sh. Mu’min Al-Annan, and Sh. Jihad Hashim Brown.

In pursuit of the classical Islamic education, Shaykh Ramzy traveled to west Africa, where he was amongst the first westerners to be accepted by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments of Morocco to study at the Ancient Madrasah of Tanalat in the Atlas Mountains of Southern Morocco (Madrassat al-Hajj Muhammad al-Habib). As a full-time student at the school, he studied some of the known texts of the various Islamic sciences under its current director and teacher, Sidi Sheikh al-Haj Muhammad al-Ghali, who is one of the foremost students of its very founder: the famous Shaykh, al-Zahid, al-Wali, and Mujahid Sidi Muhammad al-Habib al-Susi (Allah have mercy on him). After completing basic texts in Grammar, Morphology, Aqida, and Fiqh, he received permission from his teacher Sidi Shaykh al-Haj Muhammad al-Ghali to teach in these fundamental fields of sacred knowledge.

Now back in Toronto, he is continuing his studies with Shaykh Ahmad Talal Ahdab, may Allah protect them all and benefit us by their baraka and knowledge. Shaykh Ramzy founded, directs, and teaches at Dar al-Marifa, an institution that offers homeschooled children weekday classes in Arabic and Islamic studies. He also is a part-time teacher at Kitab Academy, where he directs its Arabic and Islamic curriculum. In addition, he has volunteered at a Toronto Deen Intensive, Camp Nur, the Muslim Student Association in Toronto and Montreal, and the local mosque Imdad al-Islam. Shaykh Ramzy currently lives in Toronto with his wife and four children.

I really liked this video…it truly captures the human struggles of Gaza and Palestine in general. Spread it around.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah.

I had a realization the other day. I have always tried to help people in my everyday experiences, holding the door open for others or picking up things they have dropped. But one characteristic of our time, is we are always in a hurry. So often, I will help someone, but I will help them in a hurry. This has the curious effect of them thanking me for a ‘deficient’ good deed.

A lady drops some paper towels from her groceries. I pick it up and give it to her and hurry on my way. But I forget the fact she is carrying a number of items in her hand and placing the paper towels back onto her trolley will also inconvenience her. I could possibly have put it back on her trolley for her. In this way, my good deed turns into “half a good deed” for which she may say ‘thank you,’ but I have not done my best in trying to help. Another example: I will hold the door open for someone coming behind me, they’ll say ‘thank you’ and then I will hold open the next set of doors for them, for which they will say ‘thank you’ again, but then they will jog a little, to quickly go through the doors so as to not inconvenience me nor waste my time in trying to help them. The fact I am holding open those second set of doors means, they are now obliged to enter those doors while at the same time, not make me wait for them. I can imagine this creates a feeling of resentment in them for me (for being forced, by my philanthropic intentions) and my resentment for them, if I am indeed truly in a hurry. And on top of that, they must say ‘thank you.’ Islam demands ihsan (excellence) in all our actions and deeds, and its not hard to see how haste makes us lacking in that excellence.

Our culture of speed causes a number of issues in our society. I did a great deal of reading, thinking and writing on the topic of a speed culture, dromology and what social philosophers and thinkers have said about it. But its even more fascinating to read about what Islam says about speed and how that relates to what these writers have said about it. There is a saying of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, “Deliberation (or slowness or calmness) is from Allah and haste is from Shaytan.” Its interesting to note the wisdom in this saying, especially in light of the incidents I have mentioned above. I intend to write more on how acceleration and the culture of speed have captivated our society and how it dilutes the Muslim way of life, in sha Allah.

So from now on, its important to be very slow in helping others, so as to be truly considerate of them!

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

Yusuf, brother of Omar Mullick, requested I spread the word about this awesome photo exhibit happening later this week.

The exhibit is on Thursday October 8th from 6pm to 9pm, at 16 West 23rd Street in New York City.

See here for a map

Gallery Website

Facebook Event

If you can’t make it check out some of the artwork at his website. Also there is a short interview with Omar Mullick here.

Its important we support our artists- they are the sources of inspiration. They are the ones who safeguard the secrets on how to love our community and appreciate the hidden beauties in Islam. This is all the more important because there is so much hatred in our communities. I don’t say that because I’m also becoming a bit of an artist (ok, maybe a little) but because I do really believe that. I am really touched by this photo exhibit, because I am always in awe of watching our brothers and sisters pray. Just that alone- still amazes me and that is no exaggeration.

I don’t live in NYC, but if I did I would definitely check this out. I encourage you check it out, 100-200 years from now these photos will really mean something!

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah

I thought rather than jumping around…I would contnue and show you the son of Umar bin al-Khattab so you can see for yourself what sort of father and how his piety affected his family.

May Allah make us pious parents and pious children and grant us and our progeny the same, ameen.

Abdullah ibn Umar bin al-Khattab (radiallahu anhuma)

Nafi narrated that Abdulah ibn Umar (radiallahu anhuma) said: “The truth is that I have never once ate my fill since I became Muslim.”

Abdullah, son of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, narrated that Abu Bakr ibn Haf said: “Abdullah ibn Umar (radiallahu anhuma) never sat to eat a meal unless an orphan had a share in it.”

Salim bin Asim narrated that Abdullah ibn Umar (radiallahu anhuma), never turned away a beggar unsatisfied, and that he sometimes ate with a leper from the same plate, and at times the leper’s hand may have been plasmatic.

Abu Hamed bin Jabla narrated that Maimun bin Mihran said: “I visited the house of Abdullah ibn Umar and I noticed that the value of its combined contents did not equal the price of a shawl.”

Abdullah bin Muhammad narrated that Abdullah ibn Umar (radiallahu anhuma) said: “One does not become a truly knowledgeable alim except: 1) If he is not met with the jealousy of those higher in rank; 2) if he is not belittled by those who are less knowledgeable than he; and 3) as long as he does not take advantage of his knowledge for monetary gain.

Salem bin Abi’l Ja’ad narrated that Abdullah ibn Umar said (radiallahu anhuma): “A man does not attain the station of true faith (iman) unless he regards others as incapable of understanding the reasons behind his immoderate religious exertions.”

Muhammad bin Hayyan narrated that someone said to Abdullah ibn Umar (radiallahu anhuma): “O Abu Abdu-Rahman, Zaid bin Haritha al-Ansari has just died.” Abdullah replied: “May the mercy of Allah encompass him.” The man continued: “O Abu Abdu-Rahman, he left one hundred thousand Dirhams behind him!” Abdullah ibn Umar replied: “Yet they did not leave him.”

Nafi narrated that Abdulah ibn Umar (radiallahu anhuma) said: “The best thing a man must cleanse is his tongue.”

Malik bin Anas Narrated that Ubaidullah, son of Abdullah bin Utba said: “Ikhlas (sincerity) was easily recognizable in Umar bin al-Khattab and in his son Abdullah ibn Umar and anyone could clearly recognize their birr (trueness to their Lord) in the way they spoke and in their actions.”

Adam bin Ali narrated that Abdullah ibn Umar (radiallahu anhuma) said: “On the Day of Judgment, a group of people will be called the ‘Deficient Ones.’ Someone asked: What does the ‘deficient ones’ mean?” Abdullah replied: “Such are the ones whose ablutions and prayers are inadequate through lack of concentration and hastiness.”

Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal narrated that Mujahid said: “I was walking with Abdullah ibn Umar and we passed by a ruin. Abdullah said to me, “Say, ‘O ruin, tell me, what did your people do?’” I turned to the ruin and said, ‘O ruin, tell me, what did your people do?’ A moment of silence passed, then Abdullah ibn Umar said, “They have gone, and these are the effect which they have left behind them!”

Mujahid narrated that Abdullah ibn Umar (radiallahu anhuma) said: “Today loyalty (mwalat) to people is centered exclusively around selfish wordly interests,a nd such politically motivated endorsements bring its people nothing but havoc.”

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated that Nafi said: “One time, Abdullah ibn Umar fell sick and I bought him a cluster of grapes for one dirham. As soon as I placed the grapes before him, a beggar knocked at the door, and Abdullah said to me: ‘Take these grapes and give them to that man.’ I said, ‘First take some of them!’ He replied, ‘No, give all of them to him.’ So I did, but I also went out after the beggar, I bought grapes back from him for one dirham, and I brought them back to Abdullah. The beggar who took the one dirham went away for a few moments, but shortly after that, he returned to the door and asked for something in charity. Again Abdullah ibn Umar said to me, ‘Give these grapes to the man at the door,’ and again I said, ‘Eat some at leaste, taste them!’ He insisted, “No. Give all of them to that man,’ and I did as he told me. Like that, for the third time–or perhaps the fourth time– I handed the grapes to the same beggar, and I further went after him and bought them back for one dirham, and everytime he took the money, he went away for a moment before he returned to the door and asked for something in charity. After the third or fourth time, I became upset, and I went after the beggar and I said to him, ‘Aren’t you ashamed of your actions?’ Finally, I bought the cluster of grapes from him for another dirham, and he agreed to leave, and at last, I brought the grapes to Abdullah ibn Umar who ate some.”
Mujahid narrated regarding Abdullah ibn Umar (radiallahu anhuma) that a young man stood up and asked God’s Messenger (salallahu alayhi wasalam): “O Messenger of Allah, who is the most diligent of believers?” He replied: “The one that remembers death most, and who is best prepared for it, such are the most diligent ones.”

(From Hilayah al-Awliya)

There are many more narrations on his generosity. Today we hesitate to give to the people on the street and so its amazing to see how stubborn and consistent Abdullah ibn Umar (radiallahu anhuma) was in his giving charity- more stubborn than even a beggar would be in asking for charity !!

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, Ameen.

Something my main man, Hasan from QuranJam.com put together a while back. I was meaning to do a post on this…

—-
Do you know the feeling? Are you content to simply complain, or do you want to help me do something about it?

“Yes! Finally!” you might be thinking, “Grab your torches, everybody! Down with the uncles!“

Wrong.

I’ve noticed that a lot of the uncles giving khutbahs have amazing, amazing potential. All they need to do is refine their technique of delivery a little and they’ll be giving some super awesome khutbahs, in sha Allah.

So instead of tearing down the uncles, we’re going to help them become better. All it’s going to take is a printer and a designated brother sitting in the first row during every jumuah at your masjid.

Bismi Allah,
Step 1: Print out the attached Word document. It’s a letter that will teach the khateeb how to give awesome khutbahs.
Step 2: Fold it (or put it in an envelope) and stash it in your pocket.
Step 3: Sit in the first row during the jumuah khutbah (if you’re a sister, you can give it to your brother/husband/father and have him sit in the front row).
Step 4: If you think the khateeb can benefit from the document, pull it out from your pocket and hand it to him after the prayer.
Step 5: Make dua that he benefits from your naseehah.

So who’s going to help me in this? If you’re down with, in sha Allah, printing out the document and using it at your next jumuah (and every jumuah thereafter, if you like), post here with a special dua for this success of this project.

Jazaakum Allahu khaira!

Download HERE

Taken from AlMaghrib Forums thread

Some other helpful links

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah

I had a discussion with a local hafiz after taraweeh about recitations of the Quran in prayer and also the adhaan. At first he thought I was referring to the psychological effect of the qirat on the listener, but I clarified- what I am looking at here is what the recitation suggests about the reciter.

What mood are they in? Are they mechanically reciting? Are they reciting with their whole soul and heart? Are they emotional? Why aren’t they emotional?

Especially in adhans, you hear desperation, depression, some adhans you hear a low self-confidence, and in the rare adhan you hear the majesty of Islam. I try hard to recall and memorize the adhans/recitations that provoke feelings of spiritual grandeur and glory- but they are so rare, I have heard maybe one or three in the past 3 years.

Is this a reflection of our state? Is the melancholy you hear in their voice from the inferiority complex among the believers? Or is it just the style and how they were taught?

Comparing it to the chants you hear from Christian monks that sound really grandiose, the adhan and qirat I think are over-emphasized among Muslims (everyone wants to be like Alafasy!) but they aren’t emphasized in the sense of conveying your heart and spiritual state in the recitation, if that makes any sense. I often wonder if perhaps, the recitation has a negative effect on the imaan of the Muslims. Yes, of course we know it can really boost our imaan, but if its in a very dreary voice, even if its with perfect tajwid, it can really drag some people down rather than inspire iman. Its an interesting notion so I wonder…

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

An email I got from the folks at Qurba…
—

Qurba Academy Presents…

Quran and Sunna: Knowing the Sources

This course unravels the meticulous history of Islam’s primary texts. Students will learn how the blood, sweat, and sacrifice of great scholars preserved this religion. By the end of this class, students will have the clarity to filter out fictitious claims and the confidence to live the Sunna with excellence.

You Will Learn…

• About the phenomenal and methodical task of compiling, transmitting, and preserving the Quran and Sunna
• How to have a living relationship with the most important book you’ll ever read
• The essence of the connection between the Quran and Sunna and how they form the bases for all of the Islamic sciences
• About the incredible men and women in history who struggled and laboured to preserve the sources of this religion accurately and authentically

Who Should Attend…

• Anyone who desires to be close to Allah Most High
• Anyone who aspires to follow the Prophetic example, peace and blessings upon him
• Anyone who intends to further study Islam and needs a solid foundation of the Islamic sciences
• Anyone who wants to have confidence and clarity about the most important texts in Islam

Topics Covered in this Course

1. Revelation
2. Compilation and Preservation of the Quran
3. The Quranic Message
4. Compilation and Preservation of the Sunna
5. The Message of the Sunna
6. The Relationship Between the Quran and Sunna
7. The Relation of the Primary Sources to the Islamic Science

Register Now! Limited Seats

Program: Essentials Certificate Program

Course: PRN1101 – Quran and Sunna – Knowing the Sources

Teacher: Shaykh Talal Ahdab

Course Format: In-class with supplementary online material

Date & Time: Saturday October 10 – 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday October 11 – 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Location: Ryerson University
Price: $89 until Eid, $99 thereafter

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah

I thought I would share this adkhar written by Imam an-Nawawi (rahimullah). Its made largely of adkhar from the Sunnah you can find in Hadith, some Quran, and some duas of Imam an-Nawawi’s writing. For those who don’t know Imam an-Nawawi (rahimullah) is the author of Riyadus Saliheen (ahadith which discusses the various moral and spiritual virtues in Islam) and the compiler of the 40 Hadith Nawawi (ahadith which discuss the core beliefs in Islam). He was a sage and a savant and the only similar work to this Wird is his book Al-Adkhaar (a compilation of the various dhikrs, duas, spiritual exercises he compiled) which has yet to be made accessible to  the English language.

You can download the image files here:

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

The last 10 nights of Ramadan are coming to a close so they should find you making lots of tahajjud, reciting lots of Quran, dhikr and duas. I am uploading this Wird now, because its a nice dhikr to do at night, especially when you get tired of doing your istighars, tahlils and run out of ideas as to what else to recite. Its beauty should get you moving again.

This video is a recitation of this Wird by Shaykh Abdullah al-Kadi

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, Ameen.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah

I will be posting some excerpts from this legendary book. You can find a few narrations from this awesome book online, here and there was a blog that posted some stuff, that I can’t find at the moment…will edit this when I find it.

They are very beneficial and inspirational- a little different because these are the accounts of the Salaf and other righteous people, so alhamdulillah, the benefit is, they serve as a bridge to the Sunnah- we see how those who came before us understood and implemented the Prophetic wisdom and can learn from that perspective. Its really amazing how differently they’re minds worked. I think learning from our pious predecessors is really overlooked and one reason why our communities struggle with tarbiya.

Umar bin al-Khattab (radiallahu anhu)

Ali bin Abi Talib (radiallahu anhu) once said: “We used to say that there is an angel that speaks with Umar’s (radiallahu anhu) tongue.” (Hilayah al-Awliya 3/64)

Al-Hassan (radiallahu anhu) narrated that Umar (radiallahu anhu) was once walking along with some of his companions when they passed by a trash dump. Umar stood there for a moment pondering, and his act disturbed his fellows. When he noticed that they were offended by the stench, he commented: “This is the world you care so much to hoard, and this is the outcome of what you trust most and rely upon for your needs!” (Hilayah al-Awliya 3/72)

Khalaf bin Hawshab (radiallahu anhu) narrated that Umar (radiallahu anhu) once said: “I pondered upon this subject and realized that if I desired comfort in this world, I would harm my lasting comfort in the hereafter, and if I desired the hereafter, I must renounce the comfort of this world, and hence, I decided to give up the ephemeral. Therefore, if you find the same, then it is surely better for you to endure a little discomfort in this life.” (Hilayah al-Awliya 3/79)

Sa’id bin Abu Burda (radiallahu anhu) narrated that Umar (radiallahu anhu) once worte a letter to his deputy in the North, Abu Musa al-Ashari (radiallahu anhu), and in closing, Umar (radiallahu anhu) said: “….Therefore, the happiest of governors (on the Day of Judgment) is one whose subjects were happy with him (in this world), and on that day, the most wretched of governors is one whose subjects have suffered under him in this world. Beware never to procrastinate or fail to serve the people. Otherwise, your deeds will fritter away and you will be like a cow, once it sees green pasture, it hastens to chomp on it to grow fatter, not realizing that once it becomes fat, it will be fit to slaughter.” (Hilayah al-Awliya 3/80)

Mujahid (radiallahu anhu) narrated that Umar (radiallahu anhu) said: “Patience is the healthiest ingredient of our life.” (Hilayah al-Awliya 3/82)

Hisham ibn al-Hassan (radiallahu anhu) said: “When Umar (radiallahu anhu) read a Quranic verse admonishing the people, he would suppress his emotions and gasp for breath, and he often erupted sobbing until he was nearly choked by his own tears, and sometimes, he even fell unconscious. When Umar (radiallahu anhu) recouped, he would constrain himself to the confines of his house for some days. People would think that he was ill, and they would go to visit with him and inquire about his death.”
(Hilayah al-Awliya 3/91)

Thabit bin al-Hajjaj (radiallahu anhu) narrated that he heard Umar (radiallahu anhu) admonishing the people in a sermon saying: “Weigh your actions before they are weighed, and reckon yourselves before you are reckoned, this will make it easier for you tomorrow. Adorn yourselves for the grand exhibition: ‘On that Day, you will be displayed for judgment, and all your secrets will be brought to light’ (Quran 69:18).
(Hilayah al-Awliya 3/98)

After reading all that…consider this…

After Umar’s (radiallahu anhu) passing away, al-Abbas bin Abdul Mutalib (radiallahu anhu) once said: “I was a neighbor of Umar bin al-Khattab (radiallahu anhu), I highly valued such a privilege, and I never thought that there is anyone better than him. His nights were spent in prayers, and during his days he fasted and served the people. After Umar’s (radiallahu anhu) death, I prayed to Allah to allow me to see him in a dream, and last night, I saw him in a dream, walking the marketplace of Madina, and he was wearing a very nice shawl. I bid him peace and he reciprocated. I then asked him, “How are you doing?” He replied, “Well.” I asked, “What did you find?” Umar (radiallahu anhu) replied, “My reckoning was just concluded. During its consideration, my stance was just about to be rent asunder had I not met a Merciful Lord.” (Hilayah al-Awliya 3/106)

What then is our situation…?

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, Ameen.

I haven’t updated regularly, and missed the last Soul Art post. I’ve been busy traveling, new experiences and meeting new people, making new contacts in the field of Islamic work, so not much has happened on here. Its Ramadan now so expect a slowdown because of lack of energy and because school is right around the corner.

I bought a pile of Islamic books this summer, have a few really great posts being written in my mind, and am considering becoming more professional, doing Islamic research, looking into getting published or wherever it goes. I am slowly shutting down my Dawud Israel Facebook account and shifting to my regular Facebook, (no more mystery I guess) so if you want to contact me, this blog or email is best- Facebook is more private now.

I request your duas because I think I really need them now with so much going on.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala rasulullah

And here is this weeks SOUL Art. More art will be posted weekly on Fridays.

Remember to email your art submissions to muslimology[@]gmail[dot]com. Just take a quick photo of it and send it out.

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala rasulullah

This is my new method for making dhikr. Its easier than using a complex counting system or tasbih (rosary beads) for lengthy dhikrs.

a modest hand counter for enumerating the endless blessings of Allah (i.e. dhikr!)

It might not be easy to find, but alhamdulillah, I found mine at an Islamic clothing store. It can be a little loud but you can muffle the sound. Often, no one notices even in public. My beads break all the time, so I figured a ‘modern’ (gasp!) solution need be in order. Alhamdulillah, hope everyone benefits.

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala rasulullah

You hear these following ayahs during Jumah and they are important.
Read more for details, but the meaning of these ayahs, as explained by Sh. Husain Abdul-Sattar, is if one is honest, truthful and clear in speech- Allah SWT will reform their deeds (straighten their deeds in another translation) and forgive them and grant them success. Essentially, what this means is if one is honest, Allah SWT will change a person so they no longer commit sins and their deeds are of a better nature. In other words, through the blessedness of the speaking truthful words, Allah SWT Himself will make you into a better human being, which is what the goal of tasawwuf and all the dhikr and ibadah we perform is!!

Therefore, it is important to always speak the truth, especially when it is hard to do so, and in doing so, Allah SWT will help us in our tazkya and spiritual development. This represents a CORE teaching in our religion!

Every jumu’ah we hear the khateeb read the verse:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا

Believers! Have conciousness of Allah and say ‘qawlan sadeeda‘ (33:70)

What is qawlan sadeeda?

سَدِيدًاis from Sadd: seen-daal-daal (س د د), which literally means wall, that has no space in it, or gaps or holes.

Qawlan Sadeeda is speech that has no ambiguity, it is clear, it is straight–like the wall, having no holes or gaps. ‘Tasdeedus Sahm‘ is a phrase which means to throw the arrow straight on the mark, when it reaches the bulls-eye; the arrow doesn’t go right or left. So sadeed refers to a speech that is to the point, clear, doesn’t go right or left–not mixed with exaggeration.
Qawlan Sadeeda gives a vast meaning:
1- a statement that is true
2- a statement that is proper and appropriate. It is possible you may say a 100% true statement but it’s not appropriate.

Say that which is in accordance to reality, it is not reduced, increased and it is accurate.

What is the benefit of having taqwa and saying qawlan sadeeda? The next verse says:

يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا

يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ He will reform your deeds. What does this mean? It means that Allah azza wa jal will accept  your deeds.

وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ And He will forgive your sins; Allah will cover and forgive your past sins, your future sins and those you do due to forgetfulness.

وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger:

فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا Then indeed he has attained the greatest success. Meaning he has attained his ultimate goal.

May Allah azza wa jal make us among those who say qawlan sadeeda and those who acheive the greatest success, Ameen.

Taken from Tayyibat Blog

Here are different ways to understand honesty, truthfulness and what qawlan sadeeda implies.

-honesty in thinking to bring about good thinking
-honesty in advice with sincerity
-honesty with your soul with islamic beliefs
-honesty with others in not being a hypocrite
-honesty in questions means good answers
-honesty in honoring a contract or covenant
-truthfulness in reciting the book of Allah- the truest words of all
-truthfulness in using the book of Allah for dawah and not using your own words
-truthfulness in saying dhikr, because dhikr is the most true thing
-truthfulness in saying kalimah which takes you to Jannah, just as all truthful words lead to somewhere, while lies are a dead-end
-truthfulness in your lifestyle and how you live to be true to the truth as a testimony to the veracity of the truth you live upon
-truthfulness being related to words of wisdom, Sunnah and Quran with accuracy
-truthfulness as being worried about your truthfulness as a sign of your being true to the truth
-truthfulness in being true not just to the words you are about to say, but the whether those words are true and fitting to the time, place, appropriateness, and to whom you are saying (think of ‘nasiha’- giving spiritual counsel advice)
-truthfulness in saying what is always best
-lying as a harm to others
-lying as a confusion
-lying as a distortion
-lying as a fib, inaccuracy, blurring
-lying as an equivocation
-lying as not speaking a truth earlier
-straightforward speech in being direct and clear
-straightforward speech in people understanding what you meant

-honesty is therefore a “process of being” because this has not just to do with the tongue but the mental tongue as well, the language is of supreme importance in all the social sciences and this is because it is tied to cognition and thinking and more importantly to all types of “transformational change”

-when one hears a foreign language, it is like seeing the outside architecture of a building, the sharpness and the softness, the speed and narrowness, the perceived intent, all from a lack of understanding of the nature of the language, but yet it tells us something, but when a person speaks that language it is as if they have entered that building and their familiarity with the inner design (etymology, word choice, patterns, ) is governed by their intellectual honesty- hence from here, they may see the sun setting when in fact it is rising because they have convinced themselves…language is like the needle of a compass while honesty is the field telling you which way is north.

And Allah is the Haqq- the TRUTH. What more needs to be said?

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala rasulullah

And here is this weeks SOUL Art. More art will be posted weekly on Fridays, its just this week I am traveling so got lagging behind!

Remember to email your art submissions to muslimology[@]gmail[dot]com. Just take a quick photo of it and send it out.

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruk wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

Just about any person is tied down to this rule of give and take, where you scratch my back and I scratch yours. Its a very basic idea and unless you are outright arrogant, you won’t reject it- even the simplest Muslim will accept this notion- and its how we are being suckered into losing our Islam.

Muslims are eternally in debt to the USA for keeping refugees and immigrants and they thus feel entitled to do as they please in your Muslim country- each immigrant thus is like a new satellite state (reverse of my initial ideas of America having to govern according to will of its immigrant’s countries in an absolute true democracy). “This person affects us so we can affect his country in return,” is what the reasoning of the American is, and the thinking is not, America deals with its international relations with the help of immigrants and their representation (which would be truer to the spirit of democracy).

This is like a daughter who leaves her love not marrying the person she loves, because of the wishes of her parents who gave her so much (raised her, took care of her, etc) and, the American Muslim can’t go against the USA which has given them so much, and by extension Muslim countries who are in debt to the USA for aid and arms and expertise, who have virtually never gone against the USA. Our very presence and enjoyment of the life in America means, we will never go against it, even if we know its hurting our Islam.

Example: Yahood in USA have re-payed this Favor by funding campaigns for certain senators and thus Israel feels it controls the USA, more so because America should have helped the Jews and saved them earlier in the Holocaust, but they didn’t.
Example: Hindus resent Muslims because Muslims historically have done more for India and made it glorious (Taj Mahal, the Mughals, etc) and thus the BJP (an Indian anti-Muslim political party) is a result of this resentful feeling of inferiority and disloyalty to not fulfilling the potential of this country.
Example: I’ve met Iraqis and other refugees who came to Canada only after they changed their religion from Islam to Christianity. Only after they gave up their religion were they allowed to flee their war-torn countries. Even more than that, when Muslim refugees arrive to Canada, they try to learn English and often the English teachers they run into end up being missionaries who try to convert them to Christianity.

Through this, by their (USA) mercies they tie you (Muslims) down- their helping you, means you can’t follow Islam, because in the view of the Americans: what has Islam done for you compared what the USA has done for you? They gave you food, money, shelter, status. Every American Muslim is almost no different than the dictators (puppets) of the Muslim world, who are powerless and have to give back to the Americans in one way or another. Now, unless you are very arrogant- you will be bound by this. If you are always taking from the Western life, then how will you be able to do anything that might appear to hurt the West (but really it doesn’t, because Islam is a mercy to all)? In this way, its how we have joined partners with Allah in our age.

Now, imagine a dinner guest who is given the best treatment and thinks its because of his own merit- because he is special, but in reality, it isn’t, he thus has to repay this by offering meals in his own place- no matter how poor he is and so you eat an American cheeseburger and must repay with your oil!

Obama is the living metaphor of this…USA brought a Muslim to Office, but Islam couldn’t maintain his faith and so he is a Christian, thus the message is clear: Allegiance to the USA is better than allegiance to Islam, and so it is fitting to serve the USA.

America is haughty as to its greatness and so is the American Muslim. Our Islamic projects in the West, imitate more the Western ideas thinking they’re distinctness with the American way gives them virtue over other Muslims, when in fact their is no reason for them to be treated any better than Muslims back home. You can think about our councils, the democracy of the mosques, etc. The only reason American Muslims and those in other Western countries, feel privileged is because they have in a sense made a bargain with the devil- only we didn’t realize when we came here, we are going to have to give up our Islam, bit by bit, generation by generation, until we lose it all. But we have to somehow re-pay the favor, and we will feel more obliged to repay it (dress, speak, think like them) unless we have no take in this lifestyle and willfully revoke the pleasures they have given us. Its like Musa alayhi salam, leaving the luxuries of living in Firawn’s palace, only to come and uproot the Egyptians- its not easy to have that much courage, and even then Musa needs Harun’s help (alayhim salam).

Conclusion

The system is set up to reach these inevitable moral conclusions, so even if you are pious and religious, you cannot go against the system as it is–it thus paralyzes any notion of rebellion or Islamic renewal and so we are left powerless, except to appeal to the democratic mechanisms such as voting or protest.

We have to repay this favor/debt and in doing so may disappear or we could make this place our own (like Habasha- Islamic Abyssinia) OR else all of us leave so they have no right or feel no entitlement to attack our lands and even if we weren’t here in the West, then they would hate on Muslims regardless.

In a sense, we have already payed this deb, by having Muslim men and women, fight for Canadian, or American, or British armies, now and in the past. Perhaps, if we demand some respect for this sacrifice our communities have made for their home countries, we will receive our fair share of rights and respect.

We can see this today with Pakistan today- they want USA’s help in waging the USA’s war but want sovereignty as well, yet sooner or later the USA will dictate entirely what to do to Pakistan, and then to other Muslim countries, to an even greater degree.

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah wa salat wa salam ala rasulullah

And here is this weeks SOUL Art. I meant to post earlier, so my apologies. More art will be posted weekly on Fridays.

Remember to email your art submissions to muslimology[@]gmail[dot]com. Just take a quick photo of it and send it out.

From my main man Sajid.

A cool piece from Ali Hasnain. Remember this whenever people argue about these things.

That’s all for this week folks. Feel free to spread the love…

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruk wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

What more can I say? I’ve had this video for a few years and it still gets me teary every time…just the first 3 minutes.

Too much. I’m crying already as I post this.
Go and make dua to Allah for al-Aqsa.
Spread it around…

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah

The focus of this article is reading the meaning of the Quran- the translation and the meaning of it. Reciting the Quran is important, but it is not separate from reading the meaning- rather it adds to the meaning of the Quran. The goal here is to really come to grips with the meaning of the Quran and its universal message. Its important to be very, very personal with it.

I can’t remember where I read this method of reading the Quran, but its very effective. When you read the Quran and you read the meaning of the verses, you often don’t quite understand it or it doesn’t strike you very hard. Its not uncommon and perhaps its why Muslims tend to focus on the recitation more than anything else. But if you try this method, you will feel the Quran pierce your heart in a very striking manner.

First, you read the meaning of the Quran alongside the recitation. Say it out loud. Do this for any section of the Quran.

Now, return to the beginning of that portion of the Quran, recite it and read outloud the meaning. But this time, do it as if you were hearing it from the Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam himself. Now, you will feel it. If you don’t, I advise you to read the Seerah and the Hadiths of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, envisioning him and increasing your love of him, so you can truly connect with the Quran. You will hopefully feel a fraction of the delight and amazement the Sahabas felt when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam recited the Quran to them.

What was the Akhlaaq (manner) of the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasalam)?
kana khuluqu al- Quran (his manner was the Quran)
-Hadith via Aisha (radiallahu anhu)

After this you can advance to hearing the Quran, its meaning and recitation, as if you were hearing it from angel Jibreel alayhi salam. And at this you will feel even more joy and a greater weight of its truth, perhaps a fraction of how Nabi Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam felt at its first revelation. And from there, move to reciting Quran and reading its meaning as if you are hearing it from Allah subhana wa ta’ala Himself, as the first time it was being spoken throughout the universe- and then you will feel the weight and power of it, perhaps a fraction of the qudraat, close to how Allah intended. In sha Allah, you will benefit and you will be continually amazed.

afala yatadabaru al-Quran
Do they not then think deeply on the Quran…
(47:24)

Imam Ahmad rahimullah was known to go through the Quran cover to cover in Ramadan, not just reciting but silently reading its meaning. This is an excellent practice, especially in Ramadan and its something I try to do as well. The more one reads the meaning of the Quran, the more they will develop their own skills and methods for reading it for maximum benefit. One other technique I use is to read a few pages- stop, re-read them, take a short break and come back, review and then continue reading. Its like when it rains, the first few drops you don’t feel it, but then when more drops start falling, you come to the realize it’s raining. I also don’t hesitate to write in the margins, underline ayahs, use a highlighter and jote down next to the ayah, what I felt it meant or how it affected something or relates to something. In this way, I create memories with the Quran, and since we tend to experience things over and over again, it adds to the maw’ida (admonition) of the Quran, giving it a quality that is not set or defined to the present, but also to my past- my very personal past- effectively strengthening how I relate to the Quran. I get a real connection with the verses, and since on Yawmul Qiyamah, we will read the Kitabum Marqum- the books which will detail our lives and our deeds- I want the Scripture of my life to resemble the Book of Allah.

The Quran translation I use, which in my opinion is the best.
Quran Made Easy by Mufti Afzal Hoosen Elias

The more we read the Quran the more we come to notice something we hadn’t noticed prior. Or you find the Quran speaking to something in your life. As if the Book is alive and speaking to you in the way a living human being would.

wa kazalika awhayna ilayka ruhun
Indeed, We have revealed to you Ruh (Soul)

Its important to realize when you read and open the Quran it is as if you are speaking to a soul- just as each of us have souls. But the description of soul, is important because our souls are created from the the breath of Allah, yet the Book of Allah is the Words of Allah, so the relation between breath and word is very close. Ruh, or soul, has an added meaning to it and that is it implies a higher degree of sincerity- Muslims always speak to each other about “being real with each other,” so when you think the Quran is Ruh-  realize it is never being superficial or fake with you, anything that is written in there has a meaning to every nook and cranny in your life. Imagine the Quran was a person you spoke to, in conversation and it spoke its verses, and you realizing the status of the Quran, have to understand what it means. If you were visited by a king or someone great who is now in the grave, it would not compare to the humility and intense focus you should have in approaching the Quran.

Allah sent down the Qur’an as an explanation for all things (tibyan li kulli shay)

Lastly, when you read the meaning of the Quran, do not think of it as narrow and limited. There is no room for reductionism in Islam. Think of the Quran as wide and expansive- like the countless waves on the oceans, as the scholars have put it. It is a revelation to all the worlds. So when you read an ayah, you can imagine or wonder at the context. Perhaps when Allah revealed, “Innal insana lafi khusr” (verily, man is in loss) that perhaps Allah looked at the Earth at that time, and saw some fellow with a broken heart, a baby dying or a lost love or a slave losing his freedom or the loss of youth, but then again, these occurrences happen irrespective of time or place in the world. Or perhaps another example, when we read:

And if We willed We could surely take away that which We have revealed to you by inspiration (i.e. this Quran). Then you would find no protector for you against Us in that respect. Except as a Mercy from your Lord. Verily! His Grace unto you (O Muhammad SAW) is ever great. (17:86-87)

I read this and thought what it meant. Why would Allah mention this? But then I recalled that before the end of time, the Quran would be taken away from humanity. And sure enough, I looked up the Tafsir Ibn Kathir, and found the following commentary on this verse: Ibn Mas`ud said, “A red wind will come to the people, meaning at the end of time, from the direction of Syria, and there will be nothing left in a man’s Mushaf (copy of the Qur’an) or in his heart, not even one Ayah.” One can imagine how the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and the Sahabas felt at this ayah- that eventually, no trace of their life’s work would remain on this Earth and that one day, the Quran will vanish. We should therefore, not hesitate or be afraid to even open the Quran and ponder on it. Have the strength to do so and make firm intention now, before it leaves this world.
Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala rasulullah

In many ways this list is my own understanding limited as it is and I will in sha Allah in the future write on some of these topics.

Theological, Tafsir, Hadith and Explanation, Aqeedah, Qira’at, Fiqh (and its Usool),  Tasawwuf, Islamic-Sociological (like Ibn Khaldun), Islamic-Psychological (Sufi concepts), Islamic-Historiography, Metaphysical, Narratives, Hagiography, Moral tales, Poetry, Allegorical (understanding literal aspects of Islam allegorically for lessons), Calligraphy

-mainly not utilitarian but more otherworldly and not from this world. Islamic in nature, insofar as they are solely for Muslims and not for non-Muslims, unless exaggerated.

Branches of Knowledge whose Islamization or study and research or perspective could possibly benefit Muslims (especially considering our current situation) and brief explanations of how so…

Social Psychology (how and why Muslims interact, how this affects Muslim interaction with non-Muslim, what role Islamic values of sincerity, mercy play in social interaction, conflict resolution, and how Islam satisfies the human condition, inferiority complexes among Muslims, backbiting, tale bearing, ego issues, gender relations and conflicts)

Conflict Psychology (war psychology and psychological effect of certain weapons and forms of warfare, what could be called “sloppy” warfare which maximizes innocent casualty lost vs. developing “accurate” warfare which minimize innocent casualty lost, especially in lieu of terrorism and suicide bombings; Islam demands mercy even in warfare, preserving life is essential to the spread of the Quranic message; warfare in Islam is discouraged, but when it happens it is meant to be instructive, not destructive- controlled, not chaotic)

Neurology/Neuroscience (related to tazkiya, tasawwuf, how to keep steadfast on good and how to understand the quality of good thought, related to ideas of “khatira” (passing ideas coming from Allah) and Quranic discussion of “nasiya” in Surah al-Alaq, study of human consciousness compared with metaphors of “heart” and “soul” in Islam, jahiliyyah and ignorance related to correlation in intelligence or contemplation, tadabbur, tafakkur, muraqabah, tahannuth, creativity in performing good deeds or creating harm, the manifestation of “spiritual openings” or “lights”
An example of this sort of thinking is in my previous post Divine Context: How the Akhirah (Hereafter) Can be Felt in this Dunya (World)

Phenomenology?

The “Physics”/”Chemistry”/”Biology” of Mental Thought (how thoughts come about, thinking processes related to tarbiya, combined or radicalized, exaggerated and confused, thought grounded in reality and not unrealistic ideal visions, how certain notions can pollute and diverge thinking processes and give birth to strange ideas, why certain ideas dominate, why the mind clings to certain ideas, how ideas are “felt” or not felt, ‘describability’ or putting things into words, what things can’t be put into words or require more “distillation” (why and how?) (Some people used to listen to Imam ash-Shafi’i not because of his religious teaching, but because of his precise and well-put use of language- which points to the power of his intellect and thinking process)

Epigram-ology- the study of epigrams, quotes and sayings; an interdisciplinary science or in some respects ultra-disciplinary because these phrases can apply to many disciplines, Quranic verses and hadiths can be illuminated, elaborated and explain the wisdom in Islam via these quotes that reflect life experiences;

The study of Metaphors, related to the above; metaphors as tools of describing or teaching tools, especially in lieu of the usage of metaphors in the Quran and Sunnah

Film theory (how Islamic narrative, literature, Quranic techniques and ideas can be used to formulate films conducive to the Islamic cause)

Methods of filming/photographing/recording jinns

Jinn-Human relations?

Quantum Physics (quantum entanglement, time-space discussions, and how many of the ideas of quantum physics are manifest in miracles of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and Sahabas)

Points to note:

-Some of these I only possess a passing knowledge of, so perhaps they have already been elaborated on, but I simply haven’t heard about them nor have I learned enough. However, some of these are my own ideas.

-One of my friends put it nicely…“The end of physics is the beginning of philosophy,“ and I said to him, “The end of philosophy is the beginning of psychology.”

Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah

Some readings that made me step back and think a little…I read a lot more and like to think I am smarter than what this blog portrays, so hopefully in the future, I will post more in terms of notes and excerpts. This is VERY long but I felt it was very beneficial from people such as William C. Chittick, Dr. Sherman Jackson, Seyyid Hossein Nasr, and Sh. Abdullah Adhami.

All of these come from sister Nisa78’s blog. I found it a while back and had it saved, because I knew it contained a lot of goodies, but only went through it lately. There were a few other good blogs I had discovered with rich thought, but they seem to have vanished from the online world.

Reading the World

Long before writing was invented, human beings read thier world. They interpreted their dreams and the flights of birds. They read the intestines of sacrificial animals and the memories of their ancestors. They read the things that surprised them, or the things that reminded them of something else. Most of all, they read in the places where there were holes — spaces — gaps. They filled up the blanks of the universe, as though they were pages, with writing. Leonardo advised aspiring artists to “discove” the pictures to be found in the cracks in walls; Chinese sages were conceived as their mothers stepped into the footprints of unicorns; all of us make up our lives out of the cracks in the walls of our past memories and the unicorn footprints of our future. The making of a life is similar to the making of a text. We live by reading our own stories[...].

Lynda Sexon

Islamic Intellectuals? (Discussion on the New Gods Muslims worship)

It appears to me, as an outside observer, that the thinking of most Muslim intellectuals is not determined by Islamic principles and Islamic understanding, but by habits of mind learned unconsciously in grammar school and high school and then confirmed and solidified by university training. Such people may act like Muslims, but they think like doctors, engineers, sociologists, and political scientists.

It is naive to imagine that one can learn how to think Islamically simply by attending lectures once a week or by reading a few books written by contemporary Muslim leaders, or by studying the Qur’«n, or by saying one’s prayers and having “firm faith.” In the traditional Islamic world, the great thinkers and intellectuals spent their whole lives searching for knowledge and deepening their understanding. The Islamic intellectual heritage is extraordinarily rich. Hundreds of thousands of books were written, and in modern times the majority of even the important books are not available, because they have never been printed. Those that have been printed are rarely read by Muslim intellectuals, and those few that have been translated from Arabic and Persian into English and other modern languages have, by and large, been badly translated, so little guidance will be found in the translations.

I do not mean to suggest that it would be necessary to read all the great books of the intellectual tradition in their original languages in order to think Islamically. If modern-day Muslims could read one of these important books, even in translation, and understand it, their thinking would be deeply effected. However, the only way to understand such books is to prepare oneself for understanding, and that demands dedication, study, and training. This cannot be done on the basis of a modern university education, unless, perhaps, one has devoted it to the Islamic tradition (I say “perhaps” because many Muslims and non-Muslims with Ph-D in Islamic Studies cannot read and understand the great books of the intellectual heritage).

…

The Gods of Modernity

The information and habits of mind that are imparted by modernity are not congruent with Islamic learning. Perhaps the best way to demonstrate this concisely is to reflect on the characteristics of modernity—by which I mean the thinking and norms of the “global culture” in which we live today. It should be obvious that whatever characterizes modernity, it is not tawÁâd, the first principle of Islamic thinking. Rather, it is fair to say that modernity is characterized by the opposite of tawÁâd. One could call this shirk or “associating others with God.” But for most Muslims, the word shirk is too emotionally charged to be of much help in the discussion. Moreover, they have lost touch with what it really means, because they are unacquainted with the Islamic intellectual tradition, where tawÁâd and shirk are analyzed and explained. So let me call the characteristic trait of modernity “takthâr,” which is the literal opposite of tawÁâd. TawÁâd means to make things one, and, in the religious context, it means “asserting that God is one.” Takthâr mean to make things many, and in this context I understand it to mean “asserting that the gods are many.”

Modern times and modern thought lack a single center, a single orientation, a single goal, any single purpose at all. Modernity has no common principle or guideline. In other words, there is no single “god”—since a god is what gives meaning and orientation to life. A god is what you serve. The modern world serves many, many gods. Through an ever-intensifying process of takthâr, the gods have been multiplied beyond count, and people worship whatever god appeals to them, usually several at once.

The truth of my assertion becomes obvious if we compare the intellectual history of the West and Islamic civilization. Up until recent times, Islamic thought was characterized by a tendency toward unity, harmony, integration, and synthesis. The great Muslim thinkers were masters of many disciplines, but they looked upon all of them as branches of a single tree, the tree of tawÁâd. There was never any contradiction between studying astronomy and zoology, or physics and ethics, or mathematics and law, or mysticism and logic. Everything was governed by the same principles, because everything fell under God’s all-encompassing reality.

The history of Western thought is characterized by the opposite tendency. Although there was a great deal of unitarian thinking in the medieval period, from the Middle Ages onward there has been constantly increasing dispersion and multiplicity. “Renaissance men” could know a great deal about all the sciences and at the same time have a unifying vision. But nowadays, everyone is an expert in some tiny field of specialization, and “information” increases exponentially. The result is mutual incomprehension and universal disharmony. It is impossible to establish any unity of knowledge, and no real communication takes place among the specialists in different disciplines, or even among specialists in different subfields of the same discipline. In short, people in the modern world have no unifying principles, and the result is an ever-increasing multiplicity of goals and desires, an ever-intensifying chaos.

Despite the chaos, everyone has gods that he or she worships. No one can survive in an absolute vacuum, with no goal, no significance, no meaning, no orientation. The gods people worship are those points of reference that give meaning and context to their lives. The difference between traditional objects of worship and modern objects of worship is that in modernity, it is almost impossible to subordinate all the minor gods to a supreme god, and when this is done, the supreme god is generally one that has been manufactured by ideologies. It is certainly not the God of tawÁâd, who negates the reality of all other gods. However, it may well be a blatant imitation of the God of tawÁâd, especially when religion enters into the domain of politics.

The gods in the world of takthâr are legion. To mention the more important ones would be to list the defining myths and ideologies of modern times—evolution, progress, science, medicine, nationalism, socialism, democracy, Marxism, freedom, equality. But perhaps the most dangerous of the gods are those that are the most difficult to recognize for what they are, because we in the modern world take them for granted and look upon them much as we look upon the air that we breathe. Let me list the most common of these gods by their seemingly innocuous names: basic need, care, communication, consumption, development, education, energy, exchange, factor, future, growth, identity, information, living standard, management, model, modernization, planning, production, progress, project, raw material, relationship, resource, role, service, sexuality, solution, system, welfare, work. These are some, but not all, of the ninety-nine most beautiful gods of modernity, and reciting their names is the dhikr of modern man.

Anyone who wants an analysis and explanation of the nature of these gods should refer to the book Plastic Words by the German linguist, Uwe Poerksen. The subtitle is more instructive as to what the book is all about: The Tyranny of a Modular Language. Poerksen explains how the modern use of language—a use that achieved dominance after the Second World War—has resulted in the production of a group of words that have turned into the most destructive tyrants the world has ever seen. He does not call them “gods,” because he is linguist and has no apparent interest in theology. Nevertheless, he does give them the label “tyrant,” and this is a good translation for the Qur’«nic divine name, al-jabb«r. When this name is applied to God, it means that God has absolute controlling power over creation. “Tyranny” becomes a bad thing when it is ascribed to creatures, because it indicates that they have usurped God’s power and authority. In the case of the plastic words, the usurpation has taken place at the hands of certain words that are used to shape discussion of societal goals.

As Poerksen points out, these tyrannical words have at least thirty common characteristics. The most important of these is that they have no definition, though they do have an aura of goodness and beneficence about them. In linguistic terms, this is to say that such words have no “denotation,” but they do have many “connotations.” There is no such thing as “care” or “welfare” or “standard of living,” but these words suggest many good things to most people. They are abstract terms that seem to be scientific, so they carry an aura of authority in a world in which science is one of the most important of the supreme gods.

Each of these words turns something indefinable into a limitless ideal. By making the ideal limitless, the word awakens unlimited needs in people, and once these needs are awakened, they appear to be self-evident. The Qur’«n says that God is the rich, and that people are the poor toward God. In other words, people have no real need except toward God. But nowadays, people feel need toward meaningless concepts, and they think that they must have them. These empty idols have become the objects of people’s devotion and worship.

The plastic words give great power to those who speak on their behalf. Anyone who uses these words—care, communication, consumption, information, development—gains prestige, because he speaks for god and truth, and this forces other people to keep silent. After all, we think, only a complete idiot would object to care and development. Everyone must follow those whose only concern is to care for us and to help us develop.

The mujtahids who speak for these mini-gods are, of course, the “experts.” Each of the plastic words sets up an ideal and encourages us to think that only the experts can achieve it, so we must entrust our lives to them. We must follow the authority of the scientific mujtahids, who lay down shariahs for our health, our welfare, and our education. People treat the pronouncements of the experts as fatw«s. If the experts reach consensus (ijm«‘) that we must destroy a village as a sacrificial offering to the god “development,” we have no choice but to follow their authority. The mujtahids know best.

Each of the plastic words makes other words appear backwards and out-of-date. We can be proud of worshipping these gods, and all of our friends and colleagues will consider us quite enlightened for reciting the proper dhikrs and du‘«’s. Those who still take the old God seriously can cover up this embarrassing fact by worshipping the new gods along with Him. And obviously, many people who continue to claim to worship the old-fashioned God twist His teachings so that He also seems to be telling us to serve “care, communication, consumption, identity, information, living standard, management, resource . . .” — the dhikr is well enough known.

Because the plastic gods have no denotations, all those who believe in them are able to understand them in terms of the connotations that appeal to then and then convince themselves that they are serving the basic need that is stated in the very name of the god, because, after all, it is a self-evident need. We are poor toward it and we must serve it. It is obvious to everyone that these gods are worthy of devotion. Religious people will have no trouble giving a religious color to these tyrants. In the name of the plastic gods, people of good will join together to transform the world, with no understanding that they are serving man-made idols, idols that, as the Qur’«n puts it, “your own hands have wrought.”

The topic of false gods is vast, especially nowadays, when more false gods exist than were ever found in the past. The Qur’«n tells us that every prophet came with the message of tawÁâd, and that God sent a prophet to every community. Every community of the past had its own version of tawÁâd, even if people sometimes fell into shirk because of ignorance and forgetfulness. But in modern society, there are nothing but the gods of takthâr, and these gods, by definition, leave no room for tawÁâd.

Understanding the nature of false gods has always been central to the intellectual sciences, but this cannot be the concern of the transmitted sciences. One cannot accept that “There is no god but God” simply on the basis of taqlâd. The statement must be understood for people to have true faith in it, even if their understanding is far from perfect. Hence most of the Islamic intellectual tradition has been concerned with clarifying and explaining the objects of faith. What is it that Muslims have faith in? How are they to understand these objects? Why should they have faith in them?

The first of the Islamic objects of faith is God, then angels, prophets, the Last Day, and the “measuring out, the good of it and the evil of it” (al-qadri khayrihâ wa sharrihâ). In discussing God and the other objects of faith, it is important to explain not only they are, but also what they are not. When people do not know what God is and when they do not know that it is easy to fall into the habit of worshipping false gods, then they will have no protection against the takthâr of the modern world, the multiplicity of gods that modern ways of thinking demand that they serve.

What is striking about contemporary Islam’s encounter with modernity is that Muslims lack the intellectual preparation to deal with the situation. Muslim intellectuals—with a few honorable exceptions—do not question the legitimacy of the modern gods. Rather, they debate about the best way to serve the new tyrants. In other words, they think that Islamic society must be modified and adapted to follow the standards set by modernity, standards that are built on the basis of takthâr. This is to say that innumerable modern-day Muslims are forever looking for the best ways to adapt Islam to shirk.

Many Muslims today recognize that the West has paid too high a price for modernization and secularization. They see that various social crises have arisen in all modernized societies, and they understand that these crises are somehow connected with the loss of the religious traditions and the devaluation of ethical and moral guidelines. But many of these same people tell us that Islam is different. Islam can adopt the technology and the know-how—the “progress,” the “development,” the “expertise”— while preserving Islam’s moral and spiritual strength and thereby avoiding the social disintegration of the West. In other words, they think, Muslims can forget tawÁâd, embark on a course of takthâr, and suffer no negative consequences.

The fact that so many people think this way and do not recognize the absurdity of their position shows that they have lost the vision of tawÁâd that used to give life to Islamic thinking. They cannot see that everything is interrelated, and they fail to understand that the worship of false gods necessarily entails the dissolution of every sort of order—the corruption not only of individuals and society, but also of the natural world. In other words, when people refuse to serve God as He has asked them to serve Him, they cannot fulfill the functions for which He has created them. The net result is that our world becomes ever more chaotic. A significant Qur’«nic verse here is this: “Corruption has appeared in the land and the sea because of what the hands of people have earned” (30: 41). When people follow the gods of takthâr, corruption can only increase, and it will end up by destroying the natural world just as it is destroying society. “Corruption” (fas«d), after all, is defined as the lack of “wholesomeness” (Äal«Á), and wholesomeness is wholeness, health, balance, harmony, coherence, order, integration, and unity, all of which are established through tawÁâd or “making things one.”

Attitudinal Obstacles

The second sort of obstacle preventing the recovery of the intellectual heritage can be discerned on the societal level in the attitudes and habits of mind that have been adopted by modern-day Muslims. These result from the loss of intellectual independence and have become embodied in the institutions and structures of contemporary society. I will not attempt to go into details. Instead let me suggest that these obstacles become manifest in various currents that are not difficult to see, such as the politicization of the community, monolithic interpretations of Islamic teachings, and blind acceptance of the teachings of contemporary Muslim leaders (in other words taqlâd where there should be taÁqâq). Perhaps the broadest and most pernicious of these obstacles, however, is the general attitude that one might call “anti-traditionalism.”

Although Islam, like other religions, is built on tradition—the sum total of the transmitted and intellectual heritages—many Muslims see no contradiction between believing in the gods of modernity and accepting the authority of the Qur’«n and the Sunnah. In order to do this, however, they need to ignore thirteen hundred years of Islamic intellectual history and pretend that no one needs the help of the great thinkers of the past to understand and interpret the Qur’«n and the Sunnah.

We need to keep in mind that if there is any universally accepted dogma in the modern world, it is the rejection of tradition. The great prophets of modernity—Descartes, Rousseau, Marx, Freud—followed a variety of gods, but they all agreed that the old gods were no longer of any use. In the Islamic view, God’s prophets share tawÁâd. In contrast, the modern prophets share the rejection of tawÁâd and the assertion of takthâr. One can only reject God’s unity by inventing other gods to replace Him.

In traditional Islamic terms, God is qadâm,” ancient” or “eternal.” God has always been and always will be. In modernity, the gods are new. To stay new, they have to be changed or modified frequently. The new is always to be preferred over the old, which is “outmoded” and “backwards.” Science is always making new discoveries, and technology is constantly offering new inventions that all of us quickly think we need. Anything that is not in the process of renewal is thought to be dead.

One name for this god of newness is “originality.” He rules by ordaining new styles and models, and his priests are found everywhere, especially in the domains of advertising and mass indoctrination. Thus we have the fashion mujtahids who tell women what to wear and who change their fatw«s every year. Originality’s priests also exercise authority in the world of art. Or take the modern university, where many professors adopt the latest intellectual styles as soon as they arrive on the scene. In much of the modern university, as in women’s fashion, Paris rules.

The greatest danger of anti-traditionalism for modern Muslims is that they have accepted this god—like so many others—without giving any thought to what they are doing. Hence they think that for thirteen hundred years, Muslims had nothing to say. They want to retain their Muslim identity, but they imagine that in order to do this, it is sufficient to keep their allegiance to the Qur’«n and the Sunnah, blithely ignoring the great interpreters of the tradition over the centuries.

If people think they no longer need the grand interpreters, this seems to be because they believe in the gods of progress, science, and development. They tell us that today we know so much more about the world than those people of olden times, because we have science. People who think this way usually know nothing about science except what they are taught by the media, and they certainly know nothing about the Islamic intellectual tradition. They are blind obedientalists on the intellectual level, even though taqlâd is absurd in such matters. What is worse, this is a selective taqlâd. They will only accept the intellectual authority of the “scientists” and the “experts,” not that of the great Muslim thinkers of the past. If Einstein said it, it must be true, but if Ghazz«lâ or Mull« Âadr« said it, it is “unscientific”—which is to say that it is false.

If such people really knew something about the intellectual roots and bases of science and theology, they would know that science has nothing to say to theology, but theology has plenty to say to science. The reason for this is that theology is rooted in tawÁâd, and hence it can look down from above and discern the interconnectedness of all things. But science is rooted in takthâr, so it is stuck to the level of multiplicity—the lowest domain of reality—and it can only dissect this multiplicity and rearrange it endlessly. Even when it is able to gain a certain overview of interconnections, it does this without being able to explain how it can do so or what the ultimate significance of these interconnections may be. By its own premises, science is banned from the invisible domains—what the Qur’«n calls ghayb. If it has nothing to say about angels and spirits, which are sometimes called the “relative ghayb,” it has even less to say about God, the “absolute ghayb.” In contrast, the Islamic intellectual tradition is rooted in knowledge of God, and thereby it also acquires various modalities of knowing His creation. These are rooted in absolute truth and in certainty, unlike modern disciplines, which are cut off from the Absolute. Only this sort of traditional knowledge can re– establish human connections with the divine.

Finally, let me suggest that the most basic problem of modern Islam is that Muslims suffer from what has traditionally been called “compound ignorance,” jahl murakkab. “Ignorance” is not to know. “Compound ignorance” is not to know that you do not know. Too many Muslims do not know what the Islamic tradition is, they do not know how to think Islamically, and they do not know that they do not know. The first step in curing ignorance is to recognize that one does not know. Once people recognize their own ignorance, they can go off in “search of knowledge” (Çalab al-‘ilm)— which, as everyone knows, “is incumbent on every Muslim,” and indeed, one would think, on every human being. No recovery of the intellectual tradition is possible until individuals take this step for themselves. The tradition will never be recovered through taqlâd or by community action, only by the dedication of individuals, through their own, personal taÁqâq. Governments and committees cannot begin to solve the problem, because they start from the wrong end. Understanding cannot be imposed or legislated, it can only grow up from the heart.

The Prophet said, “Wisdom is the believer’s lost camel. Wherever he finds it, he recognizes it.” People today do not know what wisdom is, and still less do they know that it belongs to them by right. Until they recognize this, they will never know that their camel has been lost. They will think that in any case, camels are no longer of any use, since cars, airplanes, and computers will take them wherever they want to go. It is a tragedy when people have no idea that the only way to cross the desert of modernity without danger is by the camel of wisdom.

http://www.allamaiqbal.com/

Source

http://nisa78.blogspot.com/2008/03/can-islamic-intellectual-heritage-be.html

Satan and Sharp Edges- how he fools us

There is a traditional Islamic saying according to which Satan hates sharp points and edges. This old adage contains a most profound truth, which applies directly to the present-day situation. The Devil, being everywhere, manifests his influence by dulling all sharp points and edges which are accessible to him, so that sharp distinctions disappear in the milieu dominated by his influence. The edges of doctrines become corroded and their sharp form gradually fades away. Truth and error become ever more confused and even sacred rites and doctrinal formulations, which are the most precious gifts to God to man, become hazy and indefinite as a result of this corroding influence which makes everything appear indistinct and ambiguous.

To disuses the challenge of the modern world to Islam require, therefore, that this haze be dispelled through a rigorous application of intellectual discernment based ultimately upon the shahadah, whose first stroke when written in Arabic is, in fact, in the form of a sword. This word must be used to break the false idols of the new age of ignorance, idols which so many Muslim accept without even bothering to question their nature. It must be used to cut away and remove all the false ideas and ‘isms’ that clutter the mind of Modernized Muslims. It must help to chisel the soul of the contemporary Muslim from an amorphous mass into a sharp crystal which glows in the Divine Light, for a crystal glows precisely because of its shapely defined edges.

Source

Meanings of the word “Belief” Present and in the Quran

“In its original meaning, then, “belief” is an act rather than a subjective state of mind but, in relation to modern usage, it seems reasonable to ask whether the distinction the author makes between “belief” and “faith” is valid. The blight of subjectivism has affected all the terms employed in religious discourse. Faith, belief, thought have all been cut loose from the notion of ascertainable objective truth; they have been reduced to a matter of current intellectual fashions and personal feelings. “I believe in God” has come perilously close to meaning, I feel there must be a God but, of course, I don’t know”.”

“The Muslim however might say that faith is an acknowledgement of the truth, belief adherence to the truth, and thought validated only in so far as it reflects the truth.”

“Believing”, says the author, has come to mean that “an opinion is held about which the person who holds it…. leaves theoretically unresolved the question of its objective intellectual validity”. Such a notion is, he points out, entirely foreign to the Muslim’s perception of the Qur’an, and he adds that the idea that religious people are expected to “believe” this or that is “a modern aberration”. The very notion of “belief” as it is now understood is, he says, entirely absent from the Qur’an, whereas words for knowing are ‘frequent and emphatic”. A mu’min is not a “believer”, but someone who makes an act of faith, and faith “is something that people do more than something that people have”. His definition of kufr is certainly to the point; it is not – he says – “unbelief” but, rather, “refusal”, even “a spitting in Allah’s face when He speaks out of His infinite authority and vast compassion… It is man’s negative response to this spectacular divine initiative”. When the Muslim makes the Shahada, he is not making an affirmation of belief. He is bearing witness, “corroborating an observable objective fact”. The response of the “Yes-sayer” to the truth is not “belief” but “recognition”.

-Gai Eaton

Source

Knowledge as a Path to God

I would therefore like to reaffirm that since we believe that God is the Embodiment and Fountainhead of all Absolute and Perfect Knowledge, a person with the maximum of learning is closest to God.

Every time we acquire new knowledge or make a fresh discovery we tear down a curtain of ignorance between us and The Creator and thus move a little close to the Fountainhead.

Therefore the only road to God is the path of knowledge, in the pursuit of which one should spend the whole of this eartly life.

Imperfection is the destiny of human knowledge as perfection belongs only to God. Any human being who considered himself perfect has only shut himself from acquisition of more knowledge and has thus become intellectually stagnant.

The glory of humanity lies in a constant and unquenchable thirst to seek wider horizons of knowledge and discovery in a ceaseless endeavour to create a better world.

Yours sincerely,
X

Source

Self-determination and Self-defition

one can live with a lot of broken rules of shari’ah. But what repentance can there be from a broken soul or psyche?

Self- definition: defining for oneself who one is and which actions are consistent with one’s choice of self-hood.

Self- determination: how to gain the requisite control or influence over the social and political institution that affects ones life.

Self-definition <—-> self- determination.

Goal of self definition: to affirm ones subjectivity vis-à-vis the world around one and to gain public recognition for one’s subjectivity chosen self.

“double-consciousness,” i.e., the seemingly inescapable tendency to look at oneself through the eyes of some other, to “measure one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt…”

“In a real sense, the future of Islam in America will depend not on whether Muslims can arrive at an understanding of scripture and tradition that allows for home-mortgages or inheritance between Muslims and non-Muslims, but on whether that understanding will liberate the Muslim cultural imagination and allow it come into its own, here in America For the fact is – and every honest Muslim knows it – that one can live with a lot of broken rules of shari’ah. But what repentance can there be from a broken soul or psyche? And how can the latter be avoided if the world outside the masjid reflect nothing of the Muslim’s thoughts and creative spirit? If Muslims are to establish a real existence here in America, one that will enable them not only to consume but to shape American reality, the Muslim cultural imagination will have to be liberated. Once this is done, Muslims will be able to move beyond the relatively safe arena of sports (Hakeem Olajuwan, and until recently, Mahmud ‘Abd al-Ra’uf, etc.) into those of literature, poetry music, fashion design, comedy, interior decorating, etc., just as has existed throughout Islamic history, and just as exists in virtually every Muslim country in the world!”
Muslims, Islamic Law and Public Policy in the United States

By Sherman A. Jackson

Source

Laziness in Islam

bismillahi al-rahman al-rahim

Laziness, or lethargy can come from running low on “spiritual reserves,”from being in uninspiring settings (tell me about that) — but, you know,I really believe that for the (mu`min) the center of tranquility, the (sakina),the inspiration, all of that, is within. I know it is very hard — but (by the grace and mercy of Allah (subhanahu wa ta’aala), it is in there).Sometimes what appears to be laziness could also be misinterpreted”burnout” or exhaustion because we’re too hard on ourselves. May Allah(jalla thana`uhu) bless us with vision and wisdom to see the difference.The du`a that’s specifically against laziness is the “Sahih” of Imam Bukhari(rahimahullah) on the authority of (sayyiduna)

Anas ibn Malik (radiyallahu’anhu):
“… Allahumma inni a’outhu bika {you know this part}mina al-hammi wa al-hazan, {from anxiety and sadness}
wa al-’ajzi wa al-kasal,* {and inability and laziness}
wa dhala’i al-dayni, {and the burden of debt}
wa ghalabati al-rijal …” {and the “humiliation” of men}*

The word (‘ajz) is not just inability or incapacity. It indicates a certain “lack” to act that comes from (inner) weakness. As in the hadith of Tirmidhi (rahimahullah), our beloved messenger (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said: “al-kayyisu man dana nafsahu wa ‘amila lima ba’da al-maout. wa al-['ajizu] man atba’a nafsahu hawaha, wa tamanna ‘ala Allahi al-amani.” – - the intelligent or, vigilant servant is ever blameful of himself, and works for what comes after death; the ['ajiz] is the one who lets himself follow its whim, and then wishes for goodthings from Allah. Notice how the one who “follows his whim” is attributed to “weakness.”

Abu al-Hasan al-Mada`ini related the following (du’a):
“Allahumma la takilna ila anfusina fa na’jaz, wa la ilan-naasi fa nadi’.” — Oh Allah! do not leave us to our own selves for we would weaken. And, do not leave us to the whims of people for we would be lost.” When One is always concerned with how people think, that would ultimately affect her sincerity.(sayyiduna) “umar (radiyallahu ‘anhu) said: “Whoever purifieshis intention to be sincere to Allah (subhanahu wa ta’aala), Allah would take care of what would be between him and people.”

This is reminiscent of the (hadith) of Zayd ibn Aslam (rahimahullah)that I related to you from the “Muwatta`” where he said: “Fear Allah (have “taqwa”), and people would respect (or, have an affinity toward) you — even if they hated to.”(‘ajz) comes from being low on spiritual reserves and from the (ghaflah) — or, absent-mindedness, that comes from being content with little deeds. al-imam al-Hasan al-Basri (rahimahullah) said: “the righteous ’salaf’ were as fearful of their good deeds being squandered or not being accepted as the present generation is certain that their neglect would be forgiven.” Please remember that al-Hasan passed away 110 A.H.

In this capacity, Rabi’ah al-Qaysiyah al-’Adawiayh (rahimahallah)said: “We need to repent to Allah (ta’aala) for the way that we repent to Him.” In this capacity, (sayyiduna) Sa’id ibn al-Jubair (radiyallahu ‘anhu) said: “The reward of a good deed, is a good deed after it. The ‘reward’ or, (jazaa`) of a bad deed is a bad deed after it. May Allah (‘azza wa jall) save us from (ghaflah) here, and humiliation in the (akhira) — amin.(‘ajz) is also synonymous to (dha’f), as in sura al-nisa`: “wa khuliqa al-insanu [dha'ifan].” Some scholars of language distinguish between (dha’f) — with a (fatha); and (dhu’f) — with a dhamma. The former is weakness in body or in intellect or opinion; the latter is weakness in body only. In surat Rum, Allah (jalla thana`uhu) said: “He created you from [dha'f], and provided you with strength after it …”The word (kasal) implies a certain “heaviness” (or, tathaaqul) to do something, rather than inability. Since the (‘ajz) is the more complex inner dynamic associated with defeatism, we are taught to seek refuge from it first, because it is the inner weakness that leads to outer laziness and lethargy. [likewise, we are taught to seek refuge from anxiety because it leads to sadness. . .]

Therefore, in the “Sunan” of Abu Dawud (rahimahullah), our beloved messenger (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said: “. . . Allah judges for ['ajz], so be “mentally vigilent” – - ‘alayka bi al-kays – - and if something overwhlems or overcomes you, then say: ‘hasbiyallahu wa ni’ma al-wakil’.”Allah (jalla thana`uhu) describing the believers who were tested (in al-’imran): “fa ma wahanu lima asabahum fi sabili Allahi wa ma [dha'ufu] wa ma istakanu…” — and they did not “act weak” in the face of what befell them in the path of Allah, and they neither exhibited (inner) weakness, nor acted as if humiliated…” Our beloved messenger (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) warns: “He is not among us — i.e. does not embody our (adab), who willingly agrees to humiliate himself, without being coersed.”When this happens on a communal level, you have a prevalent (wahn), or defeatism. It means “weakness of the sort that no longer enables its bearer to stay ‘upright’.”

And, so Allah (jallah thana`uhu) gives the believers the proper perspective and focus in surat al-’imran: “wa la [tahinu] wa la tahzanu wa antum al-a’laouna,” — do not become “weak,” do not grieve, for you will be dominant (i.e. high) — with the catch, however, “in kuntum mu`minin,” — (if) you would be believers. Surrender to Allah (‘azza wa jall) first, and you rise, you transcend the need for anything, truly. This yearning to be with Allah (jalla thana`uhu) is what begets the inner (sakina) referred to in the beginning. Yahya ibn Mu’adh (rahimahullah) said: “The servant who is ‘aware’ of Allah (ta’aala) leaves this world not having done enough of two things: crying over himself — and yearning to be closer to His Lord (subhaanahu wa ta’aala).” May Allah grant us awareness.

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Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.