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My hosting for this website expires in two weeks time and while renewing it will not break the bank, I do wonder whether I ought to let it lapse. An argument once put to me for continuing to publish my thoughts was that the Internet is the one platform of mass communication that Muslims have [...]

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 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 [...]

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. [...]

In 1996 I wrote a novel entitled The Beauty of the Lion. From a literary point of view, it was a disaster, but for me as the writer it was remarkably influential. There was nothing remarkable about the book itself, except for its particularly sloppy style and poor punctuation. Indeed, I suppose the same story [...]

You never know which intermediary will bring you guidance. I arrived back from work at quarter to seven this evening, parking up carefully because we’ve had a scattering of snow that has since turned to ice. Closing the front door behind me, I headed straight for the kitchen to turn the boiler up and put [...]

Allah has never failed me, but I have failed myself. I have witnessed His signs over and over, yet still I stumble and fall. There was a period earlier this year when my wife and I frequently felt dizzy and sickly, which we attributed in the end—rightly or wrongly—to not having eaten meat for quite [...]