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This past week, after nearly six years away from public speaking, I finally returned to the minbar and delivered a khutbah.  I had stopped giving khutbahs for a variety of reasons, one of which was because of an imām in one of our communities who so strongly emphasized the weight ... Read More »

The four imams -- the leading scholars who founded the four canonical schools of Islamic Law -- never allowed past disagreements to cause them to disparage or raise suspicions about the people of an earlier generation who held divergent views. Likewise, they never called for an inquest of their contemporaries who disagreed with them and they never got involved in their affairs except in a positive way. Read More »

So if you hadn't noticed, there was this little ruckus a couple of weeks ago about some Cricket World Cup, specifically the India vs Pakistan match. My fellow co-workers stayed up all night watching the game, as did many of my fellow MM compatriots. I had a good friend who remotely (from the US) manages a team in India tell me that 15 of his team members called in Friday to inform him that they all would be having a family emergency...on Monday. Read More »

Following events in Tunisia and Egypt, groups in the Bay Area organized a Day of Solidarity with Egypt and Tunisia Rally. Read More »

When an organization chooses a business model and others disagree with it to the point of backbiting the individuals behind the organization, questioning their intentions, and mocking them explicitly or implicitly on a regular basis, I have a problem with them. Whenever I encounter these types of individuals, I consider them to be plague-carrying zombies, out to eat the flesh of others, as well as spread their disease to them. Give them a chance, and they'll probably eat your flesh as well when you turn your back on them (pun intended). I have three ways of dealing with these iman-draining freak shows... Read More »

A recap of the final days of IlmSummit including reflections on the comedy night event, Baba Ali and Shaykh Yaser Birjas dropped by, and the khatirah critiques. Read More »

Each year, Shaykh Yasir adds a new wrinkle to Ilm Summit to "raise the bar" so to speak. This year was no different, except instead of inviting speakers that could tell us all about speaking to the media if in the unlikely event it were to happen or how to speak in a of roundtable discussion that the media was watching and the FBI would be a part of, we were now in the midst of it. Read More »

I know a lot of you feel compelled to try to lose some weight now because you'll be fasting, and what better time to lose weight than when you're not eating, right? All wrong. Ramadan is not the time for changing your physical fitness habits. Your focus and priority is 'ibadah, not fat loss. Read More »

A frazzled, home-schooling mother of three, Olivia Kompier has been known to lose her temper when she's well-nourished, but even more so when she's dehydrated or hungry. That's why the prospect of giving up routine meals during the daylight hours of Ramadan doesn't daunt the Muslim convert as much as ... Read More »

This was the day, the moment I had been waiting for all my life. I had read his books, listened to him on CD and cassette, and finally, it was time to learn directly from Shaykh Jamaal Zarabozo, alhamdulillaah. Shaykh Yasir introduced his teacher and when I heard him speak, with the gentleness that he had in his voice, I knew I seriously loved him for the sake of Allah. Read More »