Author: LivingforIslam

THE UK GOVERNMENT’S decision to ban fast-food advertising is unlikely to solve the problem of obesity. Reduced exposure may help at the margins, but it does not confront the deeper contradiction: a system that depends on excess while attempting to limit it. Little plasters cannot resolve structural contradictions. Britain’s economic framework still prioritises profit over … Continue reading Obesity Is Not Just a Choice: Rethinking Health Through Islam

YESTERDAY’S US MILITARY operation in Venezuela, culminating in the removal of President Nicolás Maduro to face charges in New York, has exposed a long-standing contradiction at the heart of Western international law. The United States and its allies frequently invoke a so-called “rules-based international order” to discipline weaker states. Yet their own conduct repeatedly violates … Continue reading When Law Follows Power: Lessons from Venezuela

Five days without a phone not by choice, but by decree. A number lost somewhere between renewal and return, a quiet disconnection.  I still touch the internet at home, at work but everywhere else there is nothing.  And SubḥānAllāh, I didn’t know absence could feel like this.  No buzzing pocket. No call pulling me out of my own thoughts. No urge to scroll my way out of stillness.  The road is just a road again. The … Continue reading Five Days Without a Phone

MANY MUSLIMS LIVING in the UK feel uneasy about citizenship. On paper, citizenship is described as equal and inclusive. In reality, it is difficult to attain, expensive, slow, and sometimes insecure. Even after naturalisation, there is a feeling that belonging remains conditional and can be taken away at any time. This feeling is not about … Continue reading Belonging, Difference, and Justice: What it Means to be a Citizen

RECENT DISCUSSIONS ABOUT a proposed International Stabilisation Force for Gaza have left many Muslims profoundly betrayed. Muslim-majority countries can coordinate when the framework is “regional security.” They can act when the language is diplomatic management. They can unite when told to by a superpower. But invoke the Qur’anic obligation to defend the ummah? Invoke Islamic … Continue reading Islam Commands Unity. The Nation-State Forbids It

MANY OF US instinctively see wealth as a blessing and poverty as a trial. We admire those with abundance and sympathise with those in need. Yet the Qur’an reminds us that both states are tests, ibtilā, from Allah. How we respond, whether in wealth or need, determines our true success. The Divine Equation of Ibtalā … Continue reading Understanding Wealth: It is a Test

MANY MUSLIMS LIVING in the West experience a quiet but persistent unease. Perhaps you have felt it yourself: a sense that something is fundamentally misaligned in how we are forced to relate to money, property, and economic life. Islam offers guidance for all aspects of life, including wealth and resources, yet the systems we depend … Continue reading Why We Feel Stuck: Insurance, Capitalism, and the Lost Islamic Vision

MY FATHER ONCE asked me to help prepare a surprise gift for my mother. He handed me some money and gave clear instructions. The purpose was fixed: the gift had to be meaningful and reach her hands at the right moment. I had possession of the money, but the decision of how it would be … Continue reading Understanding Wealth: It Belongs to Allah

THE WEIGHT OF suffering can feel unbearable. When we are carrying it, kindness and patience can become difficult, sometimes painfully so. Pain narrows our vision. It tempts us to withdraw, to lash out, to excuse small acts of harshness by the magnitude of what we ourselves are enduring. This is not a moral failure. It … Continue reading The Weight We Carry, the Choice We Make

MADINAH FACED ONE of its most perilous moments. Nearly ten thousand enemy fighters, Quraysh, Ghatafaan, and their allies, surrounded the city, determined to destroy the Muslim community. Hunger gnawed at the believers. Fear pressed on every side. And betrayal struck from within, as Banu Qurayzah broke their treaty, leaving the city exposed. Allah captures the … Continue reading Why Shura Is Not Democracy: A Lesson from Ahzab