Category: Islam

  • Life’s Lessons

    Our life’s experiences don’t always leave a sweet after taste, but it always strengthens our senses to appreciate so much that the less-trialled may take for granted. I sometimes come across individuals that are matured well beyond their years, and my thoughts are usually ambivalent about their state.

    Do I feel happy for them that they have acquired an appreciation for life at such a tender age, or do I decry the hardships and struggles that they were already exposed to whilst others their age were pre-occupied with petty decisions about social circles and fashion fads?

    Perhaps they’re not at such a tender age after all. Perhaps society has, in its insatiable self-loathing and insecurity, stripped our youth of their maturity and instead caused children to appear as sensual adults. We’ve robbed them of their sense of wholesomeness and modesty and replaced it with an angst that even we don’t know how to unravel.

    Of all the teenagers and young adults that I’ve encountered in my life, the ones with the most grave misgivings about life were either spiritually void, or subscribed to a spiritual code out of fear or obligation, rather than conviction, which I guess leaves them spiritually void anyway. Spirituality is constantly being attacked out of sheer ignorance with science being presented as a dismal substitute.

    It’s just sad.

  • Scholarly Debates Gone Wrong

    Here’s a very interesting article that a sister shared with me today. It provides some much needed context on the four madhabs. However, the most interesting part for me was the extended debates at the end of the article in the comments section. A few really important points that I liked are quoted below:Imam Al Qurtubi mentions towards the end of his commentary on these verses in hisAl Jami’ Li Ah’kam Al Qur’an:

    These people claiming to be fixing the conditions are only assuming so, while in reality they’re sowing corruption. Furthermore, the people of meaning say: “whoever makes a claim has lied”, which is true.

    Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah had put it during the 2011 Deen Intensive Rihla in Turkey:

    The crisis of the Muslim community is a crisis of adab, i.e. a crisis of character and manners

    It’s narrated that a man came to Imam Malik and was trying to argue about a certain matter. Imam Malik quickly responded with:

    As for me, I’m in a state of certainty from my Lord about what I’m doing. As for you, you’re in doubt, so go find someone else in doubt like yourself to argue with

     

    Scholarly Debates Gone Wrong

  • And when the ignorant (mockingly) address them, they merely say: “Peace”.

    Qur’an (25:63)

  • The best of kings are at the doors of scholars, and the worst of scholars are at the doors of kings.

  • Withdraw from the opinions of people and seek to find the beauty in it all by exploring the truth yourself. If we allow the opinions and tainted excesses of others to shape our thinking, it is inevitable that we will feel suffocated and disheartened because excess goes against our nature, whereas what Allah has deemed fit for us is closest to our nature. Excess in anything, good or bad, will lead to more harm than good. Therefore, choose a path of moderation and awareness. 

    Don’t be tainted by man and assume that they are a reflection of Allah. That is a flawed perspective on which to approach life. Instead, reflect on Allah and see the true nature of man. The more you seek closeness to Allah, the greater your success at understanding man. The more you understand man, the greater your appreciation of the magnificence of Allah. 

  • The believers, both men and women, are allies of one another. They enjoin good, forbid evil, establish Prayer, pay Zakah, and obey Allah and His Messenger. Surely Allah will show mercy to them. Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise

    Qur’an – 9:71

  • Simple Challenge of an Average Muslim

    Many years ago I relocated from Johannesburg to Cape Town for a work contract. On my arrival in Cape Town, I found a place to stay in a predominantly non-Muslim neighbourhood since it was close to the office, and there were mosques within driving  distance. This was before the time of magnetometers in mobile phones, and I didn’t have a compass of my own yet either. So I used the rudimentary method of finding the direction of the Qibla relative to the position of the sun.

    I stood in my living room, plotted the path of the setting sun with my left hand, held my right arm out in front of me perpendicular to the position of the sun, and adjusted it slightly to the right to cater for the average of seven degrees east of north for the direction of the Qibla in South Africa. Seemed simple enough, so I performed my salaah at home facing this direction. I recall clearly using the gap between two mountains (Lion’s Head and Table Mountain) to note the position of the sun.

    Over the next few days, I found myself inclined to shift my direction to the right whilst performing salaah. Each time I completed my salaah, I felt a strong urge to move the prayer mat which I did. After about three or four days, this feeling settled, with my prayer mat now almost thirty degrees further to the right than where I had originally started. 

    That weekend I made a point of getting myself a decent compass. So I bought one in the Suunto range, which according to a friend that is an avid hiker, was a good choice. Upon using it to confirm my direction for the Qibla, I discovered that it was indeed in the direction I stopped at after moving my mat based on that feeling I had, and not the direction I had originally calculated with my arms. That moment was a truly memorable one for me. As simple as it was, it made me feel connected with Allah in a way I had never imagined. I felt guided. It felt good. 

    Later that year, as the seasons changed, I noticed that the sun didn’t set in the same spot as it did when I first moved into that apartment. I suddenly realised how little I knew of the wonders of nature, and how vague the statement is regarding the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. I guess more accurately, it generally rises in an easterly direction and sets in a generally westerly direction. 🙂