Faith & Spirituality

Even if we are not on Hajj this year, our situation is no different. We navigate through the complexities of our daily life, immersed in the never-ending responsibilities of work and family, inundated with the intrusions of technology and social media into every minute of our lives, moving from place to place and idea to idea.

Those who were graced to sit and learn at the feet of Shaykh Taha Karaan soon realized: Our teachers are indeed Allah’s greatest means to call us to true life.

Protests have swept across the streets of America regarding the need for new policing measures after the brutal murder of George Floyd by officers of the Minneapolis Police Department. Indeed, the cries of Americans of varying racial and ethnic backgrounds reside in the reality that Floyd is but one of countless Black people who have been killed while unarmed by law enforcement.

Has fasting [fill in number] Ramaḍāns in my life changed me? If not, why? The answers to these twin questions are my most important pre-Ramaḍān preparation.

Is the coronavirus, in its deeper spiritual reality, a reflection of all we have crowned in our lives apart from Him? Is it not a message from Him to me? Is He not constricting through it every passageway, except the pathway to Him? If I cannot reach the Divine’s door now, in this trial, then when?

With so many secular based frames from the Right and the Left about what does and does not constitute a healthy expression of manhood, it is important for Muslims in the West to be grounded in the Islamic tradition about what constitutes healthy manhood while not taking others’ entire paradigms as our own.

Dr. Zainab Alwani discusses the transformative role of Prophet Muhammad as a murabbī, and presents the Prophet’s mission as a roadmap, a model that envisions a holistic relationship between the Qur’an and the Sunna as its final goal.

Dr. Zainab Alwani discusses the transformative role of Prophet Muhammad as a murabbī, and presents the Prophet’s mission as a roadmap, a model that envisions a holistic relationship between the Qur’an and the Sunna as its final goal.

“Sacred knowledge will not give itself to you until you give all of yourself to it.”

The joy of breaking of the daily fast (iftar) is aligned to the joy of breaking and parting with the fasting month of Ramadan through the Eid (Al-Fitr). This joy is found to be the very peace of our inherent, God-given nature (fitra).

In the wake of last Friday’s tragedy in New Zealand, we may find ourselves consumed by the images and the reporting, which then gives way to fears of future copycat attacks or reprisals. It is in such moments that each of us should look deeply at the significance of Jumu'ah and our central rites and traditions, as a way to connect us to the enduring reality of God.

The aspirant realizes that he cannot tame his nafs by himself. We must tame the horse of our nafs/self by holding onto its reins.