According to legend, it was King David who chose Mount Moriah as the site for a future temple in ancient times. It was here that Abraham was supposed to have been to sacrifice his beloved son.
“We can bomb the world to pieces, but we cannot bomb it into peace. Power to the peaceful.” M Franti, Bomb the World
Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but righteousness is to believe in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets and to give wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask for help, and for …
Our eldest now petitions us daily for a smartphone. After all, she says, all her friends have one. Suddenly, I am an old fogey. What on earth do you need a phone for?
For the majority of my life, I have been driven and dominated by my lower self. If others knew all that I have done and what I hide inside, they would disown me. I disown myself. All I have to hold onto now is hope in the mercy of my Lord. “And who despairs of …
Air pollution in India’s capital is known to be generally more than 20 times the World Health Organization’s safe limit. The population struggles to breathe at the best of times, without the added catastrophe of a new wave of Covid-19. The spectre of mass cremation can only make matters worse. Environment and health go hand …
Investing in the latest emerging market and economic miracle? Ethical engagement, please. Foreign investors don’t have a great record with direct investment in emerging markets. All too often, it is a highly exploitative relationship, demanding cheap labour, easy access and complete disregard to ethical and environmental concerns. Two decades ago, the Asian Tigers. A decade …
“You’re a Muhammadan!” Well, I follow the Muhammadan way, so I suppose I am. “You’re an Islamist!” Well, Islam is my religion, so perhaps I am. “You’re a Quranist!” Well, the Quran is our holy book, so maybe I am. Evangelicals, politicians, even sectarian devotees… they all want to pigeonhole us with labels of their …
Be content with what you have. You never know what blessing will come your way, nor when they come, nor where they come from. God will provide, whether through unexpected gifts or self-seeded plants in the garden. Daily, Allah will surprise you. One day you may think to yourself, “I should get myself a something …
The Muslim faithful of old used to shun the limelight and, if they feared they were becoming famous, would abandon their circles altogether, to wander off in search of obscurity.
Yes, so I very nearly took my website down once more, after reading yet another scholarly polemic against we common ignoramuses. Nearly, I say, because as I was pondering the intricacies, this thought occurred to me: how do I know that the sources and arguments deployed to silence all critics are in fact authentic? Hmm, …
Will nobody say something to the scholars, preachers and callers of YouTube, demanding that they abandon their risible antics? Here one clown, preaching his own peculiar wisdom, and here another firing back with a refutation. Here a pair of clowns, jumping up and down with glee. Here another clown reproaching them. So many clowns, expertly …
Does it not occur to you who benefits from the lies you forward, over and over, now translated into Arabic, Turkish, Urdu, Malay? Who benefits if the health system of your home nation is overwhelmed, wave after wave? Certainly not the residents of those nations, who you unwittingly encourage to shun preventative practices. Do you …
Dear soul, Once more, it is the week before Ramadan, where by tradition the scheming nafs will summon ideas and plans from deep within, intent on knocking us off course. Be vigilant. Do not succumb to those whispers from within, calling us back. For a few months we have been moderately successful in taming those …
If your spiritual companions demand that you oppress others, I’d dare surmise that they are not spiritual at all. If those professing to have reached a high station arrogate to themselves permission to do what has been clearly prohibited, I would dare surmise that they have reached no such station at all. Don’t abdicate personal …
