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…
Notes on Surah al-Shu’ara’
This surah addresses the intense anxiety that God’s Messenger, salla l-lahu `alayhiwa-sallam, suffered on account of the negative responses he got when he conveyed to the people the message God had commanded him to convey. It seems that he blamed…
Thematic Overview: Surah Al ‘Imran
The tried and tested way of teaching the Qur’an is to work through it verse by verse, striving to deepen our experience of the words of God, and to improve conscience and practice of the religion. That said, there is also some merit in stepping back…
How to Motivate yourself for Study
Eating is possible but difficult and unpleasant when you have no appetite. Similarly, study is difficult and unpleasant when you have no curiosity and no puzzlement in respect of what you intend to study. Curiosity and being puzzled constitute…
Islamic Law and Water
Water is the basis of life on earth in all its forms. It is a resource as essential as light and air. The spoiling of this resource, or the restriction or abuse of access to it, at the least harms life and, in the extreme, threatens its continuance.
The Right Pathway to Studying Ḥadīth
They asked: Why is it that you vociferously denounce the manner of teaching the noble Prophetic ḥadīth in most of the religious seminaries today? I replied: Yes, as a matter of fact, I do criticise this approach quite heavily…
Silence
قالوا: أخبرنا عن الكلام والصمت أيهما أفضل؟ قلت: الصمت أفضل إلا إذا لم تجدوا مناصا من الكلام الذي فيه خير ونفع، فإن الصمت وقاية ضد ورطات يوقع الإنسان فيها لسانه إيقاعا، يغرُّه النطق وتحريك شفتيه غافلا عن يوم تخمد فيه الحركات، ويختم فيه على الأفواه،ويحاسب فيه على كل ما نطق به من دقيق وجليل حسابا عسيرا غير يسير
Some Reflections on ‘Aqidah
A creed is a special kind of formal statement of religious belief or collection of such statements. A very good and justly famous creed among the Sunnis is the document known as al-‘Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah. I will be discussing it at some length.