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‘Dhikr’ in the light of the Qur’an
Ultimately, the Qur’an strives to cultivate a God-centric society, and though the Qur’an has mandated specific devotional rituals, such as Salah to accomplish this, concurrently it also directs mankind, as a general guideline, to always be conscious of God, in every scenario in their lives. Therefore, devotional rituals such as Salah, performing Hajj, even contemplating…
Adam Sayid
Is the Qur’an divinely protected!
I am going to be controversial as usual and challenge the authenticity of the popular belief and understanding amongst nearly all Muslims, that the Qur’an is protected from changes and corruption directly by divine intervention. The Qur’anic verse, “it is God who sent down this revelation, and it is God who safeguards it” (15:9), and…
Zakaah: the fallen ‘pillar’
Zakaah is one of the most fundamental principle of the Qur’an; it is the groundwork for a welfare system of a given society, organised and collected by the state as tariffs levied on surplus incomes, and not on savings as is the common understanding. Although this is practiced on some level by western nations, it…
My first experience of intra-bigotry
Most Muslims around me belong to the Sunni-Hanafi sect. However, they are further divided into mainly three types of Hanafis; Deobandi, Barelwi and Jamati. When I first started my journey into the world of theology I attended a Deobandi institute. However, I never saw myself constricted to only the Deobandi interpretation of the Hanafi school….
My little experiment on sectarianism
Sectarianism is so deep-rooted in certain individuals that anything coming from their opponents they would automatically reject. In-fact, rejecting without any level of evaluation simply because it is emanating from the opponent is itself a sign of suffering from deep sectarianism. Many years ago as a student of theology I found myself inadvertently amongst those…
Events should be understood from its own merit and timeframe
Recently I came across a historical movie called, ‘Bilal: A New Breed of Hero’. It is a 2015 3D computer-animated action-adventure film, produced by Barajoun Entertainment and co-directed by Khurram H. Alavi and Ayman Jamal. It has brilliantly captured the life of Bilal ibn Rabah and his struggle to emancipation from slavery, and the general…
I do not seek to convert
Just like the Qur’an, I do not view Islam as a narrow and proselytising faith, so, I do not seek to convert anyone to the organised religion widely known as ‘Islam’, with its various sects. I simply try to instruct and educate people towards an enlightenment and thus kindle a realisation within – the quintessential…
Use your intellect
Blind adherence overtime cripples rationality and the critical faculty, to the point where an individual fears the use of it. Hence it is observable that some people’s faculty of critical thinking is neglected for so long that they are afraid to use it anymore. What’s most unfortunate is that this is a learned characteristic reserved…
Muslims are stranded in deep sectarianism
Most Muslims will easily agree (at least those that are educated and/or living in the west) that sub-sects within Sunnism such as Deobandis, Barelwi, Jamati etc is clear sectarianism, but Sunnism has been romanticised so profoundly that they will not regard it as a sectarian divide; and so they will wear the Sunni badge proudly…
My wishes when my soul departs this world:
(i) I give full authorisation to the rightful authority to utilise any parts of my body that may save another life, either by way of organ transplantation or by contributing to science. (ii) No precious water should be wasted to wash the remains of my body that is to be buried, nor any trees cut…