“RELIGION IS JUST a bunch of rules that stop you from living your life. Real freedom means choosing everything for yourself.” It’s a view you hear constantly, and not just from critics of Islam. It’s baked into the assumptions of modern life. But does freedom really lead to a better life? The Oldest Deception This … Continue reading The Freedom Trap
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
MOST OF US do not struggle with knowing what is right. We struggle with actually doing it. We can be completely convinced something is true and still repeatedly act against it. Whilst this may ultimately be a sign of weakness or hypocrisy, in origin it is simply how human beings are made. Two Parts of … Continue reading The Gap Between Knowing and Doing
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 IS A SUBTLE literary pattern in Surah Hud that every person engaged in dawah work should know. As the surah moves through the missions of several prophets, something repeats with almost mechanical precision. Hud, Salih, Shuʿayb (upon them be peace) each begins their call with an identical sentence: يَـٰقَوْمِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنْ … Continue reading The Unchanging Word and the Changing Address
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
THERE IS SOMETHING that happens in certain forests across Britain at this time of year, not every forest, but those which are ancient and undisturbed. What was bare, dead soil transforms, day by day, into a sea of blue and purple stretching as far as the eye can see. The trees, still dark-branched, begin to … Continue reading Walking Through the Verse
