Articles

Ramadan is the Muslim’s university.

Each week is like a full year. The first week you are a ‘fresher’ – getting the feel of the month and learning your way around. In the second week, as a sophomore, you are in the groove and feeling confident. The third week you are a junior of Ramadan; you may begin to tire and need to reach deeply into your core self for strength and stamina. The last week, as a senior, you are both ready to graduate and feeling like you are not ready to leave. Where did the time go?

The disruptive effects of Ramadan on our sleep pattern are well-known. Short-term spiritual adrenaline alone may help mitigate the effects briefly, but typically it is followed by a crash of fatigue, often at the times we want to be increasing our spiritual efforts. Persevering throughout the month requires us to take notice of our body’s needs so it can serve our spiritual needs better. Just as we should pay attention to when and how we consume in the month, we need to do the same with our sleep.

The mother of Moses/Musa represents one of the most dramatic characters in the Qur’an relating to the relationship between one’s child, faith in God and trust in the divine plan.

Manhood is helping to build institutions that do not alienate women from their God given rights per sacred law and to stand for their rights that were conferred by sacred law. If this manhood is not present in our community as we’d like it to be, the solution is to support Prophetic manhood that brings balance to the society and serves our community including womenfolk and children.

We are studying this language, selected by Allaah to be the means of communication of His final message, together as a family. We get to go home and practice together. We get to share insights from what we’ve learned and we get to do this with people and families from across the world that are all dedicated to internal change and emulation of the prophetic legacy in action and in speech.

The inevitability of the end of times, just like death, should not be a source of grief for Muslims. As we should know the signs of the coming of Imam al-Mahdi, it is also important for us to strive to be those of faith and justice so that if we live to see his appearance, he will recognize us to be among his followers.

The question is not whether God exists. The real question to ask is whether our worship will be directed towards God or towards idols of our own making.

Imagine growing up in a society where, throughout your childhood, the people you found most interesting, exciting, down-to-earth, and real (even if fictional), were almost never Muslim. When young people observe that there is no room for someone like them in the stories they love best, they begin to disassociate themselves from that marginalized identity.

The patience to bear difficulty is directly linked to maintaining an optimistic sense of hope for the future. But, what happens in those moments when we feel that hope is gone?

There is a different sort of love between people, that is often eclipsed by our talk and focus on romance. This is a quieter love, less exhilarating, but perhaps one of the best ingredients for a healthy and sound life — that is, love of one’s sister or brother in faith — the love between good friends, righteous companions, and those with whom we share this journey towards God. This is a meaningful and powerful relationship, the proof of which can be seen in how often it was talked about by our beloved Prophet ﷺ and his own deep and beautiful relationship with his companions.

Muslims in America need to visit West Africa. The roots of Islam in America come from those who were walked in the hot sun in chains over Benin, the Ivory Coast and Togo to Elmina Slave Castle and brought to America. My trip to Ghana coincided with Black History Month, carrying extra meaning for myself, considering the struggle that African Americans continue to endure in reclaiming our heritage, a heritage that was robbed from us.

I'll always be indebted to Imam Shafi — may God sanctify his soul — as the visit to him opened my heart to a way to love and remember the Prophet ﷺ.