۞ يَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلْأَهِلَّةِ ۖ قُلْ هِىَ مَوَٰقِيتُ لِلنَّاسِ وَٱلْحَجِّ ۗ وَلَيْسَ ٱلْبِرُّ بِأَن تَأْتُوا۟ ٱلْبُيُوتَ مِن ظُهُورِهَا وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱلْبِرَّ مَنِ ٱتَّقَىٰ ۗ وَأْتُوا۟ ٱلْبُيُوتَ مِنْ أَبْوَٰبِهَا ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ “They ask you ˹O Prophet˺ about the phases of the moon. Say, ‘They are a means for people to determine time and pilgrimage.’ […]
Category Archives: Blog
18
Sep
Sep
A recent article written by Emma Green in The New Yorker explores the underworld of secret marriages among American Muslim college students. Needless to say, it had quite the ripple effect in various Muslim social media circles discussing the crisis. Reading the article, I found myself smelling a familiar scent in its tone that got […]
13
Apr
Apr
One of the early memories I have studying Fiqh (Islamic law) that made an impression on me was during the section on prayer while travelling. My teacher, Ustadh Adel, noted that if the conditions are met to shorten the prayer, it’s Sunnah to do so, and praying the full version performed by a resident is […]
01
Jan
Jan
I read a post by my dear brother Mazen Atassi, a naturopathic doctor in the US, addressing the place of Vitalism in Islam. He took issue with my characterization of Vitalism as a repackaging of pantheism and paganism in Islamic medicine. Although he and I disagree on some fundamental issues, we agree on an essential […]
27
Dec
Dec
From time to time I engage with a subject that creates some unrest with a cohort of Muslims who feel like I’m attacking them. As Allah ﷻ is my witness, I only mean to benefit my Muslim brothers and sisters, strengthen our community and prevent harm from entering our practices. At the last Al-Madina Institute’s […]
24
Dec
Dec
I noticed that some readers of my recent posts insist on misreading them. Nowhere do I deny the spiritual dimension or that the reality of the human being goes far beyond what the materialist conception wants to assert. I also don’t demand that the soul be measured under a microscope. As I said in my […]
22
Dec
Dec
A couple of things to highlight about “Islamic” medicine: 1. The historical record of Islamic medicine doesn’t refer to the practice being rooted in religious teachings. In fact, most physicians in the Islamic civilization were not even Muslim or Arab for that matter. Ibn Sina was a Persian Muslim. Abu Bakr ar-Rāzī was a Persian […]
20
May
May
In a recent paper, George Vithoulkas argues that “homeopathy is not a therapeutic approach suited for a modern ‘developed’ society, that it will never be widely practiced in our contemporary world, and that it will never become truly adopted by medical schools”. The reason for this according to Vithoulkas is that we live in a […]
28
Apr
Apr
In every field of human intellectual endeavour one is bound to find a disagreement between experts. As individuals, we’re all subject to limits in our knowledge and experience. This is a proposition most of us don’t find difficulty acknowledging and accepting. What’s more challenging for us to accept is that our limits of knowledge and […]
22
Apr
Apr
We live in the age of the online Wild Wild West, where anyone can produce anything about any subject and share it in a way that can reach millions in a very short amount of time and have people assume a level of conviction about it that rivals the most sectarian and militant of believers. […]
23
Mar
Mar
This is a recitation of a wird (litany) to recite during a pandemic as recommended by Shaykh Abdallah Bin Bayyah (text of the wird included below). Pandemics are not new. Humanity has faced several in the past, the most recent of which was the Spanish Flu. However, given our modern advancements in early detection, increased […]
12
Jan
Jan
We live in precarious times with environmental, economic, and military threats, compounded by sociocultural changes happening at a speed that would make the grieving mother laugh, the pregnant woman miscarry, and the bald man turn gray. All this stems from a loss of objective morality and a reorientation away from the Sacred. In his text […]
13
Oct
Oct
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, theology is defined as “the study of religious faith, practice, and experience: especially the study of God and God’s relation to the world.” The term originally comes from the Greek theos, i.e., God, and logos, i.e., reason. As a subject, it deals with matters concerning the nature of God, the essence of what […]
01
Aug
Aug
We have made you [believers] into a just community, so that you may bear witness [to the truth] before others and so that the Messenger may bear witness [to it] before you. We only made the direction the one you used to face [Prophet] in order to distinguish those who follow the Messenger from those […]
17
Apr
Apr
A version of this article originally appeared in Healing Hearts يا خير من دفنت في الترب أعظمه *** فطاب من طيبهن القاع والأكم نفسي الفداء لقبر أنت ساكنه *** فيه العفاف وفيه الجود والكرم أنت الحبيب الذي ترجى شفاعته *** عند الصراط إذا ما زلت القدم لولاك ما خلقت شمس ولا قمر *** ولا سماء […]
14
Apr
Apr
There are many Muslim converts in the West who leave Islam on a daily basis for various reasons. Sometimes it is the lack of education, while other times it is the nostalgia for their pre-Islamic lifestyle and friends. But there are times that a legitimate doubt about the validity of Islam itself enters the heart, […]
30
Mar
Mar
The subject of the status of women in Islam is one that captivates minds today to an extent that makes it difficult to appreciate how historically recent this obsession really is. This begs the question to what extent is it an artifact of the currently prevailing values of Western feminist thought and inherited colonialist narratives […]
26
May
May
No part of the body has received attention from the Beloved ﷺ to warn us about as much as the tongue. Yet, it seems that for most of us there is no part of the body we pay less attention to than our tongues. And in spite of the damage we inflict upon ourselves and others […]
16
May
May
This article originally appeared in ImanWire The popular conception of religion seems to be that of a set of rules and regulations that one adheres to. It is a handbook of what to do and what not to do without much attention given to what it all means and what it is about. For many Muslims, […]
18
Apr
Apr
This article originally appeared in ImanWire One of the most profound experiences I have ever had was participating in the Deen Intensive’s Rihla program that took place in Spain in the summer of 2010. I had the blessing of attending the Rihla for two more years after that in Turkey. But the impact of my time in […]
18
Feb
Feb
This article originally appeared in Middle East Eye In a recent article for The Atlantic, Graeme Wood takes great pains and goes to considerable lengths in explaining what the Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (ISIS), as an organisation really wants. In summary, Wood’s position is that a proper understanding of ISIS needs […]
26
Dec
Dec
This article originally appeared in ImanWire One of the yearly rituals our Muslim community engages in is the debate about whether it is permissible for one to wish a Merry Christmas to Christians or not. What follows is not to engage in the specifics of the debate. Of course this is another contentious issue in which […]
07
Nov
Nov
This article originally appeared in Middle East Eye In the midst of the ongoing discussions about the link between Islam and violence, and all the different “Islams” considered, one uncomfortable yet fundamental question remains unanswered: Is a Muslim allowed in principle to be violent, should the context justify such behaviour? Based on the discourse as […]
19
Apr
Apr
This article appeared originally in Al Jazeera English Sorry to ruin this, but when you read poetry by Jalal al-Din Rumi or any other Sufi figure’s poems, the wine is not literal, and Layla is not actually a woman. It is quite a depressing realization to witness great Sufis such as Rumi become reduced to drunkards […]
14
Apr
Apr
Ever since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, a number of myths in the Zionist propaganda have been exposed one after another. At first, analysts were tackling one or two myths at a time. Then came articles refuting five Israeli talking points on Gaza, including the claim that Hamas provoked Israel by firing their rockets, […]
26
Mar
Mar
Looking at how Saudis have become regular punching bags for not only Western media, but also for Muslims who want to be perceived in a certain way by Western societies, it behooves us to ask why that is. Very few people go through the numbers and dig up statistics to bolster their anti-Saudi rhetoric. Given […]
11
Dec
Dec
This article originally appeared in ImanWire Imam Abū Hāmid Al-Ghazzāli in his Deliverance from Error talks about having investigated all the intellectual discourses in order to find certainty. The only discourse he couldn’t intellectually comprehend was that of the Sufīs. He read their books and tried to figure it out, but eventually acknowledged that this was […]
04
Sep
Sep
Our modern culture has embraced mockery of anything and everything to the extent that nothing is off limits as the idea of the Sacred has by and large been discarded. The elders, parents, teachers, religion, prophets, and even God Himself have all become regulars on comedy sketches on television and many comedy acts. Mockery has […]
25
Aug
Aug
“They said, ‘Shu’ayb, does your prayer tell you that we should abandon what our forefathers worshipped and refrain from doing whatever we please with our own property? Indeed you are a tolerant and sensible man.’ He answered, ‘My people, can you not see? What if I am acting on clear evidence from my Lord? He […]
06
Jul
Jul
“The most dangerous prison is the one where you can’t see the bars.” Dr. Tariq Ramadan These are confusing times. A short reflection on what one stands for and what they believe in is bound to generate a self-induced state of anxiety. This is especially the case for many of those raised in traditional households […]
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