Fasting six days of Shawwal
Your question was: How important is fasting six days in Shawwal? My response: Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, may Allah be pleased with him, reported from Allah’s Messenger, peace be upon him, that he said: “For one who observed the fast of Ramadan…
read more
Religious emotion and self-knowledge
People often confuse the intensity of an experience or feeling with the reality and authenticity of that experience or feeling. This applies very much to religious and devotional exercises. Both these can induce states of minds like…
read more
Manners in Islam
There is no rigid definition; it is relative to time and place and occasion. Nevertheless, we can apply a couple of test questions that, I find, always give a pretty good indication of what the level should be. First, I ask: am I behaving like this…
read more
The Jumu’ah Khutbah in Non-Arabic
I once entered a mosque in Oxford with some Arab friends of mine to perform Jumu’ah prayer at its beginning time. The Imam, as is the practice followed in non-Arab countries, was preaching to the people in his native language.
read more
Shaykh Akram Nadwi on Sahih Muslim
In our social media age, where “great scholar” is perhaps recklessly applied, Shaykh Akram Nadwi stands forth as arguably the leading traditional Islamic scholar in the West whose high repute is matched by his excellent published works…
read more
Who really are the ones possessed by evil jinn?
The worst and the lowest of human effort is the effort of those who seek out fellow-human beings in desperate need – it may be grave sickness, dire poverty or ignorance – and exploit that need to extort money from them and enjoy dominance over them.
read more
Why study the Sirah?
Muslims, following the meaning of the word muslim, are those who have surrendered and accepted peace with God. If they have really done that, if they have really accepted the terms of their surrender, Muslims should also be striving to become believers…
read more
Non-Muslim Festivals
Muslims have responsibilities that are specific to them as Muslims and responsibilities that they share in common with all human beings. Among the latter are responsibilities related to the preservation of one’s life and health and general prosperity…
read more