The so-called crisis in Muslim leadership is nothing new. It is cyclical. Ten years ago it was the turn of the followers of the celebrity sheikhs of the Levant. A decade earlier witnessed the demise of the Salafi mission in North America. The characters change, but the same broad storyline recurs: charismatic figures are granted …
It is of course true that in modern times absolutely everything can be faked. Photos can be faked, video can be faked, audio can be faked, testimony can be faked, hmm, probably even memories can be faked. And while advances in forensic investigation techniques enable experts to detect and highlight fakery, the masses are still easily …
It is true that they attack our faith because of our stupidity. Normal people would respond: “Then I shall stop being stupid!” But not us; we say: “Because they attack us, we must continue being stupid and never give up our resolve to be stupid.” Because, somehow, we have stupidly convinced ourselves that stupidity is …
They say, ‘This is a clear attack on our scholars, designed to undermine the faith of the masses.’ But in reality, most of these men and women who apparently represent us are simply people who have put themselves forward for the role.
If the godfather falls, it will be the domino. He is only the tree that hides the forest.
Once again, Miqdaad Versi reports another successful complaint, in getting the BBC to change what he says was a wholly inappropriate image of young Muslim girls learning to read Arabic chosen to illustrate an article about child marriage.
When you make your heroes more than men, you lose the ability to hold them to account. Don’t do it. Worship your Lord, and leave men to be falible men.
If you’re going to email me to tell me something I’m doing is not from the Sunnah, you should at least use a communication method from the Sunnah, such as despatching personal messengers on horseback to deliver the message on a piece of parchment inscribed in non-vowelled Arabic to emphasise the point.
As I continued my battle with the triffids in the garden this evening, this question occurred to me… do brambles have rampant long thorny branches to protect their fruit, or do they have fruit to protect their rampant thorny growth? In short, does the bramble come in peace, or is it an expansionist warrior, offering …
All of a sudden, I find that I have transformed from participant to mere observer.
They criticise their government morning, noon and night… but as soon as a foreigner joins them… all of a sudden they are massive patriots, mortally offended by the slightest criticism. Do not speak freely if your value your freedom. Nationalism teaches you that you’re great because you happened to be born somewhere and not somewhere …
We are the great unjust. The masses of us have absolutely no interest in verifying the information we receive: everything is taken on trust, making complete mockery of our claim to have the best system for verification in the world. Look at us. We marvel at the science of isnad. We celebrate the great muhadith …
Before all the world we have demonstrated that we do not stand with the poor, the oppressed, the victim, the persecuted. We stand with the strong, the successful, the powerful, the famous. Yes, even as they claim victimisation for themselves. Such is the cult of celebrity and power.
Truth is not part of the defence: I have seen this now frequently. Whenever I interact, sharing a word of truth — a fact, undeniably true — my comments are immediately deleted and marked as spam. But I don’t deal in spam or trollary despised. I simply set out what is known. But truth is …
I am one of those exceedingly annoying people who, when presented with a collection of photos (especially concerning an incendiary issue), insists on running them through a reverse image search to check that they really are what the person posting them claims them to be. It may be an obsessive compulsive disorder, or it may …
