Desire and Love in Marriage
I want to begin by trying to explain to you the difference between desire (hawa) and love (mahabba). Desire is something that happens to you; you are passive before it; it arises; it gets you; it seems strong and you seem weak. It is aroused by…
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Reflections on Education
The importance of religion to Muslims means, an emphasis on Arabic and Qur’anic studies; and the importance of earning their livelihood, means they have instead, to learn English, which is the only medium Western learning could be studied.
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Advice to women travelling for `umrah
Women, generally, have always been easy targets of abuse and harassment by misguided, predatory men and hence it has rarely been safe for them to travel alone. That is why the Prophet advised that women when travelling in a potentially unsafe…
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Surah al-Tatfif
Woe unto the mean-hearted – those who, when they take the measure from people, strive to have it full, and when they measure for them, strive to make it short. Although some translations render mutaffifin as fraudsters…
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Surah Nuh
This surah is a condensed overview of the themes found in more extended narration elsewhere in the Qur’an, of the story of Nuh `alayhi s-salam, notably Surah Hud. As always in the Qur’an, the focus on certain elements…
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Surah Al-`Imran
The longer surahs at the beginning of the received text of the Qur’an have a complex arrangement of passages because they are simultaneously addressing three major concerns of the Qur’an, and the focus of attention alternates between these concerns.
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Not being able to take a bath after menstruation
If a woman’s menstruation stops while she is at work or travelling and she is not able in that situation to take a bath (ghusl), is she allowed to miss the obligatory prayers (i.e. defer them until she can take a bath)?
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Those eligible for Zakah
Who should I pay my zakah to in the West? The qualification in the question, “in the West”, does not have much significance for the answer, except that in the West, Muslims however numerous, do not (or do not yet) organise the collection and expenditure of zakah as a state function.
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