The past century has witnessed such extreme violence, with 160 million people killed in war, that our leaders are incapable of taking a stance based on morality. 70 million people were killed over six years during World War II alone, around 60% of whom were civilians. 900,000 people were killed during Rwanda’s civil war in …
Social media might represent the greatest driver to true democracy, but without without a moral basis which causes individuals to act with integrity and honesty, it is just as likely to lead to anarchic chaos.
Last year, photos of the 2012 Istanbul Eurasia Marathon were shared all over the the internet amidst claims that they represented mass anti-government protests. These claims were easily debunked, but others based on traffic accidents and earlier incidents were more difficult to verify and separate from genuine news. In every conflict there is truth, truth …
Proof that the pen is mightier than the sword: Government immediately utterly condemns an MP’s tweet, but refuses to condemn shelling of hospitals and hundreds of missile strikes on family homes. No nation would accept missiles raining down on them, they say (drone strikes on Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia don’t count). So we refuse to …
Last week, while our eyes were turned away, 700 people were killed in Syria over a 48 hour period. But amidst 160,000 dead, such horrific figures no longer mean anything. We have lost our humanity.
The world is too emotionally terrifying today, too draining and too frightening. Politicians, militants and social commentators alike want to divide us into groups, into us and them, to turn us on each other, to score points, to take sides, to have compassion for some and hatred for others. Today the news is of the …
Every time there is an enquiry into how abusers were able to get away with their abuse for so long and why those who were abused were ignored, the state proudly proclaims: “Never again will we blame the victims for the crimes perpetuated against them.” And yet here we are, witnessing the lives of innocents …
‘Israel has no civilians,’ says a friend: ‘all Israelis are soldiers, waiting to be called up.’ What, not even a 10 year old girl on her way to school or an old man in a care home? To me, this sounds more like the sunnah of the Irgun gang than the noble deen I follow, which emphasises …
“Serve God and associate nothing with Him; and do good: to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are near, neighbours who are strangers, the companion by your side, the traveler, and what your right hands possess: For God does not love not the arrogant, the boastful.” — Qur’an 4:36
“Those who are merciful will be shown mercy by the Merciful. Be merciful to those on the earth and the One above the heavens will have mercy upon you. The womb is derived from the Merciful, so whoever keeps relations with his family then God will keep relations with him, and whoever abandons his family …
The past few weeks have revealed the astounding wisdom of the traditional teachings of faith — that salutary advice found in pearls like the Letter of James of the Christian corpus and in the traditions of the Prophet of Islam alike. Advice like ‘do not act on your anger’: that the strong man is not …
With false piety, the rich and powerful trample on the poor and weak, and proclaim it a victory for civilisation.
The wise man builds his house upon rock. Jesus cured lepers; he didn’t assist them to die.
An oft-repeated phrase during our short-lived English khutbahs was, “May Allah give us the tawfiq to know Islam,” and every time I heard it I wished he had said, “May Allah give us the tawfiq to know Him.” The emphasis is always on the transport, never on the destination.
