SURAH ṬA HA opens with a striking reassurance: مَآ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكَ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ لِتَشْقَىٰٓ “We did not send down the Qur’an to you to cause you distress.” (Ṭā Hā 2) The word translated as “distress” is shaqāʾ (شقاء). The root (ش ق و) conveys a sense of wretchedness, suffering, distress, and the absence of blessing. The … Continue reading Seeing Revelation Through the Wrong Lens
THERE IS SOMETHING deeply moving about a spring garden. After months of cold, darkness, and bare branches, the earth suddenly begins to breathe again. Tiny green shoots push through the soil. Crocuses appear almost overnight. Hyacinths and daffodils take a little longer. Tulips come next and slowly unfold their colour toward the sky. Every morning … Continue reading From Green to Dust
SURAH AL KAHF is a sūrah about fitnah. It has four great narratives: the People of the Cave, the two garden-owners, Mūsā and Khiḍr, and Dhū l-Qarnayn. Each map onto a trial that the believer will face: the fitnah of faith, of wealth, of knowledge, of power. What connects all four stories is not that … Continue reading The Most Argumentative of All Things
BACK IN RAMADHAN, I mentioned a hadith. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Prophethood will remain among you as long as Allah wills.” Then, Allah will raise it up when He wills. Then, there will be Khilafah on the Prophetic method, and it will remain as long as Allah wills. Then, Allah will raise it … Continue reading Do Not Incline
WHAT DOES IT mean to really care about those around you? In Surah Al-Kahf, Allah records the Prophet’s ﷺ response to those who rejected the message. فَلَعَلَّكَ بَـٰخِعٌۭ نَّفْسَكَ عَلَىٰٓ ءَاثَـٰرِهِمْ إِن لَّمْ يُؤْمِنُوا۟ بِهَـٰذَا ٱلْحَدِيثِ أَسَفًا Perhaps you would destroy yourself in grief, upon their footsteps, if they do not believe in this discourse, … Continue reading Upon Their Footsteps
THERE IS AN āyah in Surah Ibrāhīm that was revealed for every age, including ours. وَبَرَزُوا۟ لِلَّهِ جَمِيعًۭا They will all be brought forth before Allah (Ibrahim 21) The scene is stark. Barazu; humanity in its entirety, exposed, stripped of image, status, and narrative. No filters. No branding. No audience. And then, in that exposure, … Continue reading Taba’an
THERE ARE VERSES of the Qurʾān that inform. Others that instruct. And then there are those that stop you. ٱقْرَأْ كِتَـٰبَكَ كَفَىٰ بِنَفْسِكَ ٱلْيَوْمَ عَلَيْكَ حَسِيبًۭا Read your record. You yourself are sufficient this Day as a reckoner against yourself. (al-Isra 14) Read it again. Not as a description of something distant, but as a … Continue reading Read Your Record
THERE ARE VERSES of the Qur’an that do not merely describe the afterlife, they reach into the present moment and do something to you. This is one of them: وَنَزَعْنَا مَا فِى صُدُورِهِم مِّنْ غِلٍّ إِخْوَٰنًا عَلَىٰ سُرُرٍۢ مُّتَقَـٰبِلِينَ And We will remove whatever is in their chests of resentment, [so they will be] brothers, … Continue reading What Gathers in the Chest
Living For Islam 