Tagheyyur.

It is a common notion that Quaid-e-Azam united Muslims of India but it is hardly ever acknowledged that the Muslims of India were an organic entity and it was growing on its own terms especially after 1857. This aspect is discussed in depth in my teacher's book "Azaadi" in which he describes painstakingly how Muslim Nation evolved and Pakistan came into being. I am by no means diminishing Quaid's role in freedom movement, no. What I mean to highlight is the Muslims of India had developed their intuition and they were growing onto that. Quaid himself always believed that the people had bestowed the power upon him and not vice versa. He acknowledged this principle number of times. For example, when he was proposing the 14 points for Muslim League he clearly conveyed that these are only suggestions based upon numerous meetings with different minority groups within India and it is unto these groups whether they accept them or reject them.  Here, in below responses al...

[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 l...

Why did Iqbal have to propose a "reconstruction" of religious thought when he wrote his  The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam? Could it be that he perceived well the locus in need of this reconstruction and precisely how the reconstruction needed to occur?  I would argue yes to both points.    In Iqbal's,  The Book of Slavery  (part of his  Persian Psalms , 1927), he wrote: "The fetters are not on feet, but on the heart and soul; this is indeed a very intriguing situation." In The Book of Slavery, Iqbal appears to have been anticipating a situation with which many Muslims in the world today resonate.  In his own day, Iqbal saw firsthand the political slavery associated with the colonizers.  He also believed that this political slavery was influencing, and enervating toward, religious beliefs and faith.  It is this that could be termed Iqbal's concept of the religion of slaves.   Iqbal, applying his deep psychologic...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayj1UGoGOzo&feature=g-user-u  (video lecture) Lessons from the video: Do not follow blindly (in religion). Also, do not follow (in religion) what you don't know. Don't just rely on heresay. do your research too.  Do not be quick in giving fatwa. Keep the consequences of your words in your mind and be careful what you say. Our Deen has logic. It's not baseless.  Pursue knowledge. There's no enough amount of knowledge.  After gaining knowledge, do not become arrogant. Know your status. Do not show-off your knowledge.  Remember when a tree bears fruit it's branches come down. When you learn knowledge, it bears fruits and so you should be down-to-earth.  Respect the people of knowledge. (any kind of knowledge.)  Humility goes hand in hand with knowledge.