Tagheyyur.

This is a companion piece to the previous blog I wrote, called: British Muslims & their Strategies for Living in the UK (which can be read here ). Here, I will discuss a few of the principles which ought to animate our engagement with wider society and our fellow citizens; and how, in the time honoured tradition of Abrahamic monotheism, we are called upon to hold a mirror up to society and help steer it away from self-harm. One Qur’anic verse is particularly telling on this point, for it says: Thus have We made you a middle nation, that you may be witnesses over mankind and that the Messenger may be a witness over you. [2:143] Thus this ‘community of the middle way’, distant from all types of extremism; this ‘best part of everything,’ 1 has been tasked with the burden of being witnesses over mankind: witnesses to the truth of God’s Prophets and to the monotheistic message they each came with, and witnesses to the truth that a life lived in hedonistic pursuits w

Ibn Rajab writes (in verse form): ♦ ‘O you who were not content to sin just in Rajab; But disobeyed your Lord, even in Sha‘ban. The fasting month has come now to shade you, Turn it not into a month of sinfulness too. Recite the Qur’an and glorify God, diligently; For it is the month of glorification and Qur’an. Deny bodily appetites, seeking salvation through it; For soon bodies shall be consumed by the Fire. How many you knew who fasted previously: From among family, neighbours and brothers. Death obliterated them, leaving you to live on; How close are the the living to those who are dead. You take pride in your  ‘ Id clothes, cut to fit; Yet the morrow they will be your burial shrouds! Until when will man dwell in his place of dwelling? Knowing his ultimate abode is the grave.’ 1 ≈ 1.  Lata’if al-Ma‘arif  (Riyadh: Dar Ibn Khuzaymah, 2007), 351-2.

  The following piece was first published on this blog, on 28th August, 2012. It  has been edited and republished at  www.islamicate.co.uk  and reposted here with kind permission. There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self,’ said Aldous Huxley, the English novelist best known for his dystopian novel,  Brave New World. In his exploration of the dilemmas confronting modern man – the rise of capitalism, the dehumanising demands of technology and progress and the cult of self-worship and instant gratification – Huxley hits on many truisms in his chilling forecasts to the modern world. This month will see Muslims the world over observe the fasts of Ramadan. Ramadan, essentially, is the month in which believers are required to buckle down more consciously and improve their own ‘corner of the universe.’ The month is marked by heightened religious observance and also a keener sense of social cohesion, and provides a powerful e

By Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (db) Extracted from The Month of Rajab, Part 1 & Part 2 Rajab is the seventh month in the Islamic lunar calendar. This month was regarded as one of the sacred months (Al-Ashhur-al-hurum) in which battles were prohibited in the days of the Holy Prophet صلي الله عليه وسلم  . It is also deemed to be a prelude to the month of Ramadan, because the month Ramadan follows it after the intervening month of Sha’ban. Therefore, when the Holy Prophet صلي الله عليه وسلم  sighted the moon of Rajab, he used to pray Allah in the following words: اللهم بارك لنا في رجب وشعبان وبلغنا رمضان O Allah, make the months of Rajab and Sha’ban blessed for us, and let us reach the month of Ramadan (i.e. prolong our life upto Ramadan, so that we may benefit from its merits and blessings). Although the month of Rajab has aforesaid merits, yet no specific way of worship has been prescribed by the Shari’ah in this month. However, some people have invented some special r

The current state of our planet is one wherein there is huge imbalance and pollution; where the equilibrium of our Earth has been greatly corrupted. Armed conflicts and wars are increasing across the globe; the economies of an ever-increasing number of countries are in meltdown as global capitalism spirals out of control; and we continue to inch ever closer to environmental destruction, to a point where it could be beyond repair. Modern man, instead of being a caretaker of the earth, has become its most deadly predator: damaging the planet, devouring its natural resources and destroying his fellow man! The Qur’an says: Corruption has appeared on land and on sea for what men’s hands have earned, that He may make them taste a part of that which they have done, so that they may repent. [30:41] Corruption (fasad, in Arabic) is defined as: khuruj al-shay’ ‘ani’l-i‘tidal – “A thing leaving a balanced state.”1 In other words, corruption is when something has become ruined, contaminate

My teacher wrote the article Election Replay and a point from it struck me peculiar. source " Throughout the past, almost every major contestant has been resorting to some show of force for intimidating their opponents during the elections. Since everybody was involved, it was very easy to blame the political culture of the country and to say  that a nation like Pakistan could not have true democracy; that this is the best which we can get.This sentiment has been reflected in the life and work of those intellectuals who have been supporting various political leaders as champions of democracy without asking those leaders to refrain from un-democratic measures for seizing and holding power." So I was thinking that what made those people think that the nation i.e. we are worthy of such lowly practice and I drew two conclusions: I think, we the nation led them to believe that by behaving in this particular manner. You may call it my naivete that those intellectuals

[The following is the transcript from the video khutbah of Shaykh Yasir Qadhi on the Syrian crisis.  The transcript includes slight modifications for the sake of readability and clarity.] Part 1 My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, one of the very few lands that our Prophet   has mentioned in numerous traditions, and in fact even before him, Allāh  has mentioned by reference in the Qur'ān is the land of Shām, which is now the land of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Filistīne.  This land clearly our tradition, our religion has emphasized it like no other land after the land of Ḥijāz.  There is no question that Mecca and Madīnah, the land of Ḥijāz, is the most sacred land on earth, but after the Ḥijāz comes the land of Syria. Allāh  Himself praises it in the Qur'ān in the beginning of Sūrat'l-Isrā' when He says, “masjid'l-Aqṣa, the land that We have blessed around it.”  Allāh  says that masjid'l-Aqṣa is holy, and not just the masjid but the land around the

Rachel Corrie , beautiful soul, born in Olympia, Washington was no ordinary child, no ordinary 23 year old student and no ordinary human being. And people, who are extraordinary, never die. They live for ever in the hearts and minds of their followers. They give direction to many and because of them, hope never dies. Because of such crazy and courageous, the ugliness of injustices is exposed. Her 5th grade speech ‘I am here because I care’ revealed no small dreams. At such a tender age, she talked of the oppressed, the poor and hungry and resolved to eradicate the ugly realities by the year 2000. As a student, she was different and wanted to explore the world especially after 9/11, year 2001. Ditching a beautiful and colourful American dream which she could have lived like many of her age, she travelled thousands of miles to Gaza to act as a human shield, where mercy and humanity is butchered every day and night, where men, women and children are murdered as a part of ethnic clea

A Person Disenthralled from Fear How might a man or woman actually act if s/he were truly emancipated from fear?   Is this even imaginable?  How might this manifest as solidarity, equality, and freedom?   What might this look like, in the everyday concrete world?   What might it look like, in the world, if, as Allama Iqbal has shared, people were to discover God in themselves?   What sorts of so-called personal qualities would appear as a result of a new actualization of Tauheed?  What qualities would (naturally) manifest through/across humanity as a result of a living Tauheed?    What I offer here are some ideas - certainly not definitive - as an example of what this might look like.  I also offer this as a follow-up on the excellent post by Noor.   I can offer only what my thimble-of-a-mind can comprehend of this potential range of possibilities and human evolution.   As I share this, I ask that the reader to not put a limit on any of this, remembering Iqbal’s empha