A RECENT PRESS release by Oxfam reports that billionaire wealth increased by $2 trillion in 2024, three times faster than in the previous year, while the number of people in poverty has hardly changed since 1990. The report reveals that contrary to common belief, much of billionaire wealth is unearned —60% comes from inheritance, monopolies, … Continue reading Islamic Economics: A Solution to Wealth Disparities
I TOOK MY elderly parents to the airport last night. They were not excited about the long trip ahead. I understood how they felt. Travelling long distances by road, rail, sea, and air has been made so easy with modern transport and mass tourism, that we may forget what a blessing it is and all … Continue reading The Traveller’s Plea: An Opportunity for Spiritual Connection
THERE IS TALK of a ceasefire to bring an end to the relentless genocide in Gaza that we have witnessed for the last 15 months. It is strange to think that the people who are now brokering a ceasefire (US and European nations, the Arab rulers, the Israelis, the Western institutes) are the same people … Continue reading A Ceasefire Will Not End Occupation
WHAT CAN WE learn from the fires ravaging Los Angeles? The arrogance of man It is easy for man to become arrogant about his position. He can send a man to the moon and create atom bombs that can vaporise other men in an instance. Yet despite all his material progress he stands unable to … Continue reading Reflections from the Los Angeles Fires
THE BRITISH ARE known for moaning about the weather. Certainly, in the last few days, Britain has been seized by intense cold causing all manner of disruptions But for the Believer, even the intense heat of summer or the fierce cold of winter is but a reminder about the akhirah. The Messenger ﷺ said: “In … Continue reading Cold Weather: Reminders About the Akhirah
ALLAH SAYS IN the oft quoted verse: لَآ إِكْرَاهَ فِى ٱلدِّينِ ۖ قَد تَّبَيَّنَ ٱلرُّشْدُ مِنَ ٱلْغَىِّ Let there be no compulsion in deen, for the truth stands out clearly from falsehood. (al-Baqarah 256) The obvious understanding of this is that we cannot force anyone to become a Muslim. The truth is clearly the truth … Continue reading ‘Let There be no Compulsion in Deen’: Individual and Ummatic Perspectives
UP AND DOWN the country, every single day there are charity fundraising events for our ummah in Gaza. Funds to buy the basics to live; food, milk, clothing, and shelter. This is a noble cause. But, if I were at one of these gatherings, I would want to say a few words. ‘My brothers and … Continue reading Charity vs Liberation: Changing the Solution for Gaza
THE STORY OF Musa (as) appears as scattered scenes throughout the Qur’an so it might not be clear where it starts and where it ends. It is easy to think that the story ends with Pharoah’s fall, a fitting end for a man considered to be the worst of all tyrants. But we forget that … Continue reading Beyond the Fall of Tyrants: A Lesson From the Story of Musa (as)
THE MESSENGER ﷺ SAID: ‘The most beloved of places to Allah are the masajid, and the most hated of places to Allah are the markets.’ (Muslim) Why would the marketplaces be the worst of places? It is not too difficult to work out. Buying and selling is a necessary part of life but in the … Continue reading When the Marketplace Becomes a Way of Life
THIS WEEK HAS been a week of illness for me. First the flu and then a bad back. The latter is an old problem with a slipped disc that has probably worsened with all the coughing and lying in bed. With its fast pace of life, the materialistic worldview views ill health negatively. We don’t … Continue reading Understanding Illness: A Spiritual Reflection
