Virtuous Reality
Who sits this side of the computer terminal, tapping out words that shoot out across the web? Nobody knows. Nobody knows if the author is a believer or a doubter, the pious or a sinner, the learned or the ignorant, a guide, the guided, the misguided or a misguider. Nobody knows if the author is [...]
Hold fast to the rope of Allah
Hold fast to the rope of Allah and never take your faith for granted. These are not empty words. I have passed through those phases of great despair — despair at my own propensity to overwhelm myself with the same sins over and over — when a voice from within whispers, “There is no hope [...]
Growing up
Last night on our return from an adoption seminar in London we dropped into West Ealing mosque to perform Maghrib before our not-too-long journey back to our green and pleasant valley out west. As I stood within in the midst of that diverse tribe — a mini united nations — I found myself thinking this: [...]
Fitna
Two or three years ago in one very insignificant corner of the internet, a huge argument broke out between proponents of vaguely different interpretations of Islam, between brothers if you will. To the casual observer, such as myself peering in, it seemed like a skirmish on the border. But its effect on others was catastrophic. [...]
Amnesia
During the last football World Cup, my wife and I were invited to attend a small gathering hosted by some friends in their home. Although we knew them to be Shia Muslims (Shi’atu Ali), we quite gladly accepted their invitation so as not to break their hearts. So it was that we found ourselves in [...]
Glad tidings
Once there was a writer who benefitted friends and strangers alike. On the world-wide-web there were pages that touched the hearts of those seeking truth and offered a helping hand to the new wayfarers upon a path towards God. For the insignificant ones the writer was a blessing, conveying a message of peace and hope, [...]
Google Maps
The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline being developed by the Asian Development Bank. If the project is successful, the pipeline will transport Caspian Sea natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India. The 1,040 mile pipeline will run from Turkmenistan’s Dauletabad gas field to Afghanistan. From there it [...]
Women and Children
As sections of the media and governments worldwide congratulate themselves for telling Israel off for shooting civilians on the Mavi Maramara earlier this week, I am struck by the absolute lack of outrage at that hideous by-product of America’s robotic assassinations: the incidental deaths of women and children. In the course of the war on [...]
