Tag: Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

Book Reviews

Seerah Book Recommendations 2022

We are nearing the end of the blessed month of Rabi al-Awwal, the 3rd month in the Islamic calendar. This month has a special connection to the Noble Messenger of God ﷺ: both his arrival into and departure from this temporal world occurred in this month. Surely, it is most appropriate to devote ourselves to learning about the Beloved of God ﷺ in Rabi al-Awwal. The following compilation of English works on the Prophetic life and personality have been thoughtfully selected to help readers cultivate an intimate sense of knowledge and reverence for the Messenger ﷺ. Continue reading Seerah Book Recommendations 2022

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Verse & Prose

A Ballad for the Beloved, the Moon

Wander along the trail of submission, oh child of grief and loss.There you shall find what you seek most dear,engaged in remembering the Beloved: The Moon,who rose amongst the desert tribes,bathing the Arabian peninsula.The creation rejoiced as his light transpired,enveloped with the wisdom in Hira. Yet evil endures in the hearts of men,when the Self is crowned supreme.Thus the Moon was scorned in his call … Continue reading A Ballad for the Beloved, the Moon

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Theology

In the Aftermath of The Gorgeous Prophet

In our symposiums, time and time again, the Prophet’s events and the chronicle of his life-stories, life-battles, are documented before us. However, in terms of the outward, the visage, that is, the gorgeousness of the Prophet—I aim to elaborate his beauty. What was his height? The footprint? Hair? The palpable delight of his face? How may we understand them all? Continue reading In the Aftermath of The Gorgeous Prophet

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Philosophy

Logic as a Tool for Adab

There is something quite bizarre about walking into an Islamic studies lecture to hear figures of the past defined in modern terms. With ease, the figure of Rābi’ah al-’Adawiyyah is described not just as a Ṣūfī but someone who “emphasise[s] the autonomy and capacity to remain free of any male authority”; this definition is then over time translated to “a brave woman who fought against patriarchy and oppression from institutionalised orthodoxy” (a phrase I heard in a Harvard class). [1] Intuitively, one might feel a discomfort at hearing the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ described as a “feminist” simply because Islām’s denouncement of Jahili practices came to raise the status of women. Continue reading Logic as a Tool for Adab

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Theology

Parallels in Sacred Texts: A Closer Look at the Miracles of Jesus ﷺ and Muḥammad ﷺ

Throughout the world, children and adults alike eagerly await the advent of December every year. The season of happiness and joy, our Christian neighbors enjoy the spirit of Christmas by singing carols and reminding one another of the birth, teachings, parables, miracles and other stories related to the life of Jesus Christ ﷺ . Continue reading Parallels in Sacred Texts: A Closer Look at the Miracles of Jesus ﷺ and Muḥammad ﷺ

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Shorts

The Fountain of Youth

Across the ages, continents and sciences, Muslims, even teenage Muslims, contributed to the scholarly fabric that has been passed down to us from generation to generation.

‘Take advantage of your youth before your old age’. This statement of the Messenger ﷺ was not lost upon the Muslims of the past. Taking advantage of time and youth can be done in several ways. One of these ways is embedded in the culture of teaching and learning that permeates throughout the Islamic world. The contributions of scholars of the past in the Islamic world across the various religious and secular sciences are far too many to be enumerated. Such contributions and advances were only made possible by the underlying social infrastructure, intellectual meritocracy and collective social concern. Continue reading The Fountain of Youth

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Shorts

Menstruation and Worship

In recent years, this has been another rung of debate in Muslim women’s related issues – and events to talk about women’s spirituality whilst menstruating are plentiful especially in Ramadan. I was a panelist among other wonderful women this Ramadan for an event tackling the topic from multiple angles: fiqh (jurisprudence), a lack of proper understanding of ritual impurity away from negative cultural baggage, jahil (ignorant, foolish) behavior towards menstruating women, imposing secular notions of gender equality onto worship, separating the form of rituals from the spiritual, and the metaphysical from the physical. I want to offer my brief reflections on them one by one prior to circling back to the question posed above. Continue reading Menstruation and Worship

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Society & Culture

Islamophobic Narratives: Meccan and Medinan Resistance

The Kunta federation played an important political and economic role in Maghribi history. Shaykh Bāy al-Kuntī founded a great number of zawiyas (religious schools) and sent missionaries to preach Islam in the Middle Niger and Western Saharan regions. Bāy al-Kuntī called people to jihad against the carnal soul, which the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ designated the greater jihad, as well as the return to the fundamental sources of Islamic jurisprudence. He believed he was the mujaddid (one who brings renewal) of the thirteenth century whom Allah called upon to restore the umma to its glorious past not only in West Africa but throughout the whole Muslim world. [1] The wide range of territories that encompassed his influence is said to be the largest area ever to come under the wing of an African Muslim without military conquest.  Continue reading Islamophobic Narratives: Meccan and Medinan Resistance

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