HOW CAN WE be united when we have so many differences? It’s a commonly expressed idea but one that is wrong on so many counts. Who says we need to be united on all matters? This is a strange notion that has entered our minds that to be united we must be united on all … Continue reading Understanding Unity: The Key to a Stronger Ummah
ALLAH INDICATES WHAT He wants us to achieve through fasting? He says: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ ‘O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become al-Muttaqun.’ (al-Baqarah 183) So fasting should … Continue reading Islam as a Complete Way of Life: The Role of Fasting and Taqwa
WILL WE EVER all start fasting and have Eid on the same days? Here in Britain, Ramadhan remains an annual reminder of our disunity as we find different communities starting and finishing on different days. Across the world we find countries that are literally next to each other beginning and ending on different days. Of … Continue reading One Moon, One Ummah: Reimagining Ramadhan Unity
US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has said that Gaza should come under US control and that it should be rebuilt as the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ whilst its people are permanently relocated to neighbouring countries. His words are both very ignorant and very arrogant. He is ignorant because he does not understand Islam and the … Continue reading Trump’s Plan for Gaza: Ignorant, Arrogant and Why it Will Fail
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
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
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
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)
RAJAB HAS COMMENCED. It is one of the 4 sacred months. In these months good actions have greater reward and evil is more sinful. إِنَّ عِدَّةَ ٱلشُّهُورِ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ٱثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْرًا فِى كِتَـٰبِ ٱللَّهِ يَوْمَ خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ مِنْهَآ أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمٌ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلدِّينُ ٱلْقَيِّمُ ۚ فَلَا تَظْلِمُوا۟ فِيهِنَّ أَنفُسَكُمْ ‘Indeed, the number of … Continue reading Rajab: A Sacred Month to Reflect and Prepare
DO YOU FEEL the pressure to buy things you don’t need, with money you don’t have, to please people you don’t like? Things we don’t need Whether it’s the latest gadget, clothes or accessories, have you noticed how we’re always told it’s so last year? It is not good enough, even though it perfectly meets … Continue reading Breaking Free from Consumerism: A Spiritual Perspective
Living For Islam 