MuslimMatters.org » Abu Aaliyah

Issues and Concerns

Abu Aaliyah — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:25:17 +0000

The first in a series of papers tackling a variety of issues and concerns. It includes: does the 73 sects hadith imply most Muslims will go to Hell? Being distinct from non-Muslims in dress. Can parents oblige their son to divorce his wife? Reciting Qur’an for the dead. 40 day retreats.

Download the PDF.

More Fish Please!

Abu Aaliyah — Tue, 20 May 2008 06:02:04 +0000

An American businessman was once standing on the jetty of a Mexican coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complemented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it had taken to catch them. The Mexican replied, ‘Only a little while.’ The American then inquired why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish. The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked, ‘But what do you do with the rest of your time?’ The Mexican said, ‘I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll in the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, Señor.’

The American scoffed, ‘I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York, where you would run your expanding enterprise.’

The Mexican fisherman asked, ‘But Señor, how long would this all take?’ To which the American replied, ‘Fifteen to twenty years.’

‘But what then, Señor?’ (more…)

The Immortal “If”: Musings on Rudyard Kipling’s Poem

Abu Aaliyah — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 04:56:31 +0000

Good poetry is, in a sense, timeless and immortal. This is not only because it is read by generation after generation of readers, but also because poems - unlike novels, essays or articles - tend to be felt, experienced, absorbed; and not just read for the sake of reading and finishing. A poem can, in the words of Robert Frost, deliver to the sensitive reader “an immortal wound” that one may never quite get over.

Rudyard Kipling’s poem, simply entitled If, ranks among the most popular pieces of poetry in Britain and enjoys widespread recognition. (more…)

Tawhid: Asserting God’s Unity

Abu Aaliyah — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 08:51:39 +0000

Tawhid (or Tawheed), often referred to as the “key to paradise”, is the core of Islam. This article discusses what Tawhid truly means and implies. It also explores whether or not whether there is any basis for dividing it into three categories, which some allege was first done by Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimullah).

Was it Ibn Taymiyyah’s concoction? Is this division an innovation?

Read the discussion here: tawhid.pdf

British Muslims & their Leadership

Abu Aaliyah — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:54:54 +0000

John Donne, the seventeenth-century English poet and preacher, wrote in his Meditations: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” In these lines, Donne expresses a notion more apparent to us today in our globalised world than in the Jacobean age in which they were actualy penned: our interconnectedness with others. This, in turn, goes to highlight a quality so quintessential to human nature: our need and our interdependency on others. One of the most famous descriptions about Man describes him as a ‘social animal’. That is to say, it is part of his nature to form groups and communities and to live in a social set-up or society.

(more…)

What of Those Whom Islam Does Not Reach?

Abu Aaliyah — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:09:14 +0000

A translation of Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah’s answer to this question, which touches upon the following: Has Islam reached the entire humanity?

Click here to read more

Jihad al-Nafs: The Greater Struggle

Abu Aaliyah — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:00:38 +0000

What are the dimensions of jihad?

What is inner jihad?
Ibn Rajab on inner jihad.
One soul, three potentials?

Click here to learn more…

The Truth About Taqlid (Part 1)

Abu Aaliyah — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 15:10:21 +0000

This article addresses some fundamental questions, misconceptions, and “truths” about this often misunderstood and controversial issue of Taqlid, including:

The etymology, literal and religious meaning of Taqlid
Is taqlid “blind following”and is there a “prescribed” taqlid?
The conundrum and Ghazalian metaphor.
Where is Taqlid allowed and what does “Ittiba” really mean?
Is there Ijma’ on Taqlid, and which type of it?
Were Ibn Baz, al-Uthaymin, al-Albani “anti-taqlid”?
Give me some proof:
- Taqlid in hadith authentication.
- Should we be asking for proofs?
What for the layman?
Is it allowed for a person to give a ruling while he is unlearned, even of the Arabic language?

Read and download here: The Truth About Taqlid-Part 1 (PDF)

Related Posts:

Role Models, Respect and … Flopping Plants?

Abu Aaliyah — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:05:17 +0000

“Manners maketh man,” insisted William of Wykeham, the fourteenth century English churchman and Chancellor of England to Richard II. So significant is this wisdom that it was adopted as the official motto for Winchester College, Oxford; reflecting the ethos envisioned for its students and pupils. For more than half a millennium it has served as a reminder that a person’s real worth is to be measured, not by the outward or accidental circumstances of birth and fortune, nor by the mere acquisition of higher learning, but by ethical existence and moral achievements.

Glitches on the Magic Roundabout

The recent inquest into last September’s shooting of Manchester teenager Jessie James, for refusing to be part of a gang, has once again spotlighted the issue of gang culture, youth behaviour, and the need for positive role models for young people.1 We must, of course, as social commentators point out, avoid reducing complex issues to simplistic solutions. We should recognize that the absence of role models is just one dimension in a complicated matrix of problems. Young people today, for instance, must navigate their way through an array of malign social and commercial influences: record producers, film makers, video-game manufacturers and advertisers glamorizing guns, violence, and the culture of hyper-individualism in their pursuit for ever more profits.

Education is another problem, with many blaming (more…)

The Three R’s of Ramadan

Abu Aaliyah — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 08:04:22 +0000

“There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self,” wrote Aldous Huxley, the English novelist best known for his dystopian novel, Brave New World. In his exploration of the dilemmas confronting twentieth century man - the rise of capitalism, the dehumanising demands of technology and progress, the worship of consumerism, the culture of instant gratification - Huxley hits on many truisms in his chilling forecasts to the modern world. At the heart of Huxley’s critique of modernity is his notion of the “revaluation of values:” that the modern world was radically altering established norms and standards for the worse. He envisioned that as the world gets more technologically savvy, it would begin to lose its human face. Many have since argued that the Huxlian nightmare is not so very distant.

The Crescent is Coming

This week will see Muslims the world over commence Ramadan, the month of fasting. Ramadan, essentially, is the month in which the faithful are required to buckle down more consciously and improve their own ‘corner of the universe.’ The month is characterized by heightened religious observance and a keener sense of social cohesion, and provides a powerful energy for transformation. As the month progresses, many Muslims, repentant for the ills and misdeeds of their past, resolve never to return to such ways again. “Thus,” says Shalabi, “men, women, and whole societies purify themselves during this month that becomes the turning point of the year; and, for many people, it is (more…)