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Sometimes I cannot help being suspicious of Damascene Conversions. Of course God can change all hearts, I remind myself, from the most wicked to the most gentle. And indeed in the story of the Muslim faith there is ample evidence of this. Amongst the greatest personalities of Islam are those who were once its greatest [...]

May God preserve us from fame, celebrity and great acclaim. May He protect us from the attention-seeking ego, from the lust for admiration, from inflated self-regard. If one day we should state our intention to head for the hills and disappear, may our words be true. Let not the lusts of the narcissistic self drive [...]

Alhamdulilah for that winter’s day I acted a fool and received my dressing down. Alhamdulilah for that pang of pain in my heart that followed when I read the respondent’s words and realised what I had done. Alhamdulilah for my Lord’s humbling me that day, reminding me of my lowliness. Alhamdulilah for the reminder that [...]

What do people think of when they hear the words of Surah al-Ankabut, ‘Do the people think that they will be left to say, “We believe” and will not be tested?’ Does it conjure up pictures of war, famine, abject poverty, homelessness and flooding? Do we imagine the shaking of the earth, columns of refugees [...]