This the deen I love. The practical faith real to me.
I don’t have the stamina of my pious brethren in faith, who stand their nights in prayer. My Ramadan is characterised by working days fasting, and evenings nursing the headache that’s accompanied me for weeks. It wasn’t always so. In the early years, I’d be breaking my fast at work, then returning home for an …
When a theology of liberation for the poor and oppressed is coopted by the rich and powerful, only disaster lies ahead. Watch as a movement for social justice transforms into a tool for suppression and control. The polar opposite of all it first stood for. Don’t read tradition through the lens of imperialism. View it …
Do good people pass over the way because of how we behave? If they do, we should make this dua: Our Lord, do not make us a trial for those who disbelieve, and forgive us, our Lord. Surely you are the mighty, the wise. Quran 60:5 May good people be sent guides who truly embody the light …
Have you seen the one who denies the Recompense? That is the one who repulses the orphan, and does not encourage the feeding of the poor. So woe to those who pray, yet are unmindful of their prayers; those who show off, and refuse to give simple assistance. Quran 107 Be heretics for the truth. …
Where are the helpers of our era, who will fling open their doors to welcome those emigrating in fear? Instead, they respond with arguments contrary to the Quran and sunna, demanding a desperate people stay in harm’s way, lest they lose their lands forever. If their Book asks them, “Is God’s earth not spacious enough …
Back in the day, we began our journey to God by meditating on a short collection of narrations, which seemed to encapsulate the intent of our faith. How do people commence today? With weird YouTube videos delivered by raucus influencers, yet to tame even their own egos? Or with a crash course in the cause …
When I listen to this gentleman, I feel a great sense of hope. If I lived near Cambridge, I’d make a regular pilgrimage to that place of prayer.
Rays of the same lamp; shared wisdom.
Sometimes I fear that the mosque could be the worst possible place a new believer could visit for their soul. On Friday I spotted a fresh-faced Englishman wander in with one of our elder statesmen — this one over fifty years a Muslim at this point. Perhaps it was the young man’s first visit. Certainly, …
Dear Right Honourable, You won’t remember me, but I remember you. I used to sit on your left in our Politics tutorials at college — both literally and metaphorically. When I saw you speaking in Parliament recently, I recognised you instantly, despite the passage of thirty years. Occasionally we would spar in our tutorials. Supposedly, …
You recognise the truth, but you fear the reaction of your family, community or peers. I’m sorry to say this, but you’re just going to have to be brave. My parents were Christian clergy, while various relatives were fervent missionaries. My wife had to face her brothers who were all staunch secularists, rabidly opposed to …
These people have it.
It is pure delusion to consider yourself a true believer, and all others misguided. Even more so if your doing so is nothing more than giving allegiance to a particular community, or a set of teachers, or a label you assign yourself. And hold firmly to the rope of God all together and do not …
