Faith & Spirituality

With the new year, my resolution is simple — be present. Whether at work, with my spouse and kids, or most importantly, with God and His Messenger ﷺ, I intend to focus on being present. Here are a few ideas for the new year to increase our presence.

Even as the celebrations of the Month of First Spring, Rabiul Awwal, inevitably pass, Allah has ensured that his ﷺ merciful-love will forever remain. For there is no end to the first spring. After Rabiul Awwal comes Rabiul Thani — the second spring. The first spring is his ﷺ birth into this world; the second is his birth into your heart.

We say the Salat Ibrahimiyya every day in prayer, but do we know what immense blessings and mercy it contains for us, the Ummah of the Best of Creation ﷺ?

Mercy is a guiding principle that Muslims should celebrate and seek to embody inside the month of Rabi’ al-Awwal, the month of the birth of our Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him and his family), as well as in the other months of the Islamic calendar.

The popular Arabic expression says, “Knowledge in childhood is like engraving on to stone” and if we want our children to remain strong and steadfast in faith amidst the currents and tides of life, we must engrave the best of teachings on their hearts.

This little known event gives us a glimpse into the leadership of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. He reaches forward to us today with lessons of the power of shared experience, the import of women in community, and the power of a show of strength.

What can you do if you feel your teen’s faith is slipping? Bring the beauty of the deen to life for them.

We want to be a beloved community in the eyes of American society, and that is an important and legitimate struggle, but our first priority, and sole concern really, is to be beloved in God’s eyes.

Zaynab the daughter of Fatiimah, shines out as a paragon of speaking truth to power in the aftermath of the tragic events of Karbala. Our Prophet and her grandfather advised us that the best form of struggle was "a word of truth in front of a tyrannical ruler".

Even though the Qur’an itself honors them, in an age of sectarianism, Muslims who seek to mention the Prophetic Household are accused of either deviancy or discord. As the gap between polarizing opposites widens, restoring the rightful place of Ahl-ul-Bayt in our discourse is the first step to help mediate these divisions. Shaykh Mokhtar Maghraoui contemplates on the spiritual path they took, and how it helps guide us to the most beautiful path of conduct.

Sayyidah Fatimah indeed is the most virtuous woman of the Ummah, it behooves Muslims to learn her characteristics and biography and to venerate her. Her illuminated personality should be loved as a sign of loving the one who loved her the most, the Prophet ﷺ.

The first ten days of Muharram should be used to draw closer to what is pleasing to Allah, renew our consciousness towards obeying Him and to avoid being agents of oppression.