Ritual acts of worship in Islam are intimately linked with natural phenomena, and with the current reliance upon technology, many have created an artificial division that has resulted in the deprivation of the spiritual dimension of these rituals. This bonus episode features a Friday khutba delivered on the first Friday after Ramadan 1439/2018 was concluded […]
Tag Archives: God
29
Jan
Jan
In this wide-ranging “Listener Interactions” episode, I cover a diverse array of subjects, including questions about education, career choices, marriage, Muslims doing yoga, and reconciling God’s attributes as the Merciful and the Just with eternal damnation in Hell.
26
Dec
Dec
In his book The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, the American Christian theologian and philosopher David Bentley Hart provides an account for what traditional theology has put forth on what the term God means and what it entails. It is interesting to note that this work can arguably be considered to be more directed at […]
21
May
May
Our modern age is one purported to elevate rationality above everything and everyone. Religious belief is considered a deficiency in reasoning capacity, and the education system promotes this idea most strongly at the college/university level. It is practically taken for granted that for one to have an objective about a religion, they must be an […]
05
Oct
Oct
One of the most often cited reasons for leaving religion appeals to science. More specifically, Pew Research Center reports that many American “nones” lost their faith after they went away to college and learned about evolution. Contrary to the fields of physics and chemistry, biology stands apart in its impact on religious belief. This may […]
11
Aug
Aug
The following is an excerpt from Islam Between East and West by ‘Alija ‘Ali Izetbegović (1925–2003), which was first published in 1984. I shared a previous excerpt here titled The Meaning of Humanism. The best remark that can be made about this book is one that I came across in a review posted on Amazon in 2011 by Julia Simpson: […]
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 […]
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 […]