With the advent of the Internet, unicode, “txt tlk,” and emoji have become standard in our day-to-day communication. We do not just write abbreviations like “LOL” with our hands, we say them out loud with our mouths. So much so, that the original phrase — laugh out loud — has been completely replaced with “LOL.” We abbreviate phrases like these for our personal convenience. “TTYL” … Continue reading The Importance of Utilizing Islamic Unicode
Khawla Nakata Kaori may not be known in the Muslim world at large, but her contributions to Islam in Japan and the Muslim community especially, cannot be understated. I, for one, personally benefited from her works and ideas, and the many who knew her were touched by her personality and intellectual grace. A dedicated Muslima to the promotion of ‘Ilm, she continued this effort up until her very last breath. It is my hope that Muslims around the world receive the opportunity to learn about another scholar of ours who often gets very little attention due to the obscurity surrounding Islam’s presence in East Asia. Continue reading Khawla Nakata Kaori, the First Japanese Female Muslim Scholar
As social media displays horrific visuals showing catastrophe in Gaza, the public is beginning to understand the extent of Israel’s barbaric aggression. This has led to the large number of human lives lost, and stripping of basic rights in the Old City of Jerusalem. Unfortunately, there remains a bleak sight in the future for Palestinians who notice no sign of it ending to this date. Continue reading Al Aqsa is The Heart of Every Muslim
One of the most common replies that anyone who expresses a call to Islamic morality receives is “you can’t impose your beliefs on others!” This accusation is way off base for a number of reasons. Continue reading Preaching, Morality, and Salvation
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
The first half of the twentieth century was a dark time for Muslims. The scientific and technical dominance of the Europeans allowed them to strengthen their already tight stranglehold over Muslims lands. This was especially true in North Africa and the Levant, where Britain and France, and to a lesser extent, Italy, competed for influence…There were men and women, as there always are, who resisted this occupation of their lands with whatever means they had at their disposal. Among these was a certain Druze Prince named Shakib Arslan, an eminent Islamic thinker and reformer. Continue reading Colonialism, Islamic Reformers, and the Late Ottoman Period
