A very special guest came and has now sadly departed from us. We tried our best to prepare for it with sincere intentions. We tried our best to honour our guest by performing the fasts, doing extra worship and tried to change our behaviour. We even tried to impress upon it by thinking about others and gave in charity and invited family and friends for Iftar.

Whoever fasts the month of Ramadan, faithfully and optimistically seeking reward shall have all his previous sins pardoned, ﴾whoever stands the night of Qadr, with conviction and due anticipation of reward, shall have his previous sins forgiven﴿.

But what has this special guest left for us that we are able to carry its sweet fragrances for the rest of the year? Continue reading Never say farewell

Tariq Ramadan, Islamic scholar, a professor at several universities including Oxford in England – was sacked this week by a Dutch university and as  advisor on integration to the City of Rotterdam. His crime was hosting a show on the Iranian channel Press TV. The university claimed that appearing on the Iranian television show was endorsing the policies of the Iranian regime.

So how does someone who is so highly regarded, appointed for two separate posts in the Netherlands, suddenly become ‘irreconcilable’? Of course, the issue is a lot more deeper than merely appearing on Press TV. Continue reading Sacking of Ramadan – a deeper problem

Yes Ramadan is at our doorstep. Only 10 days or so to go before we are in what is known in the Islamic calendar as the best of months, in which there is even a night better than a thousand months.

Indeed it was in this month that God, in His infinite mercy decided to send the His eternal Speech, His guidance to humanity: the Qur’an. So what will we get out of it this time? Continue reading What will you plan this Ramadan?

I visited Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina, recently to attend a conference on faith based organisations and civil actions. Organised by the Centre for Advanced Studies, qantara.de, NAHLAA and the European Muslim Network in association with the International University of Sarajevo – it was a unique opportunity to share our experiences on this topic. Here is a summary of my contribution:

One of the most important challenges of the day is how we make our faith or our deen relevant to contemporary society. Recently we saw some of the Far Right groups gain support in the European elections and various Muslim organisations tried to mobilise the Muslim electorate to participate in the elections.

So we have to ask at this very important juncture: what is the role of faith based organisations in civil action? Continue reading Faith and Civil Action

Poetry is one of oldest languages known to man. So much can be expressed with few words – that is the power of poetry. From ancient Egypt to early Greek and Roman times, poetry has been used as a way of remembering oral history, genealogy, and even law.

Poetry, and discussions of it, has a long history, Aristotle’s Poetics, focused on the use of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy.

Known as jaahili poetry, the pre-Islamic era in Arabia was known for its love for poetry as an art form that distinguished a man for his eloquence (faseeh) and of course as a form of entertainment. The Prophet is known to have loved poetry and has even encouraged the use of it to propagate his message. For example, Prophet Muhammad tells us: “God is beautiful and He loves beauty.” Poetry is that expression of beauty – appreciating and loving God’s creation. Indeed, as the Prophet taught his companions – “In some poetry there is wisdom.” Continue reading Poetry – reclaiming a beautiful language

I had to return home today from work – having fallen ill. Nothing serious – just the old flu that’s going around (God knows best). Having spent most of the day in bed – I started thinking…

An illness – big or small is difficult. We are all going through times of difficulties. On a global level we recently watched the horrors of the war on Gaza; the ongoing war in Iraq, with the death toll rising by the day and then Afghanistan. And then there’s the recent shootings in Pakistan; the attack on Mumbai; deteriorating humanitarian situation in Darfur; and the military crisis in Bangladesh.

On the home-front (if there is such a thing in the global village) we have our own problems with the ‘credit crunch’ and the financial ‘meltdown’ – job losses, anxiety over what will happen next.

It is at these times we may ask: why do these things happen? How do we look at these things? What do we do? Continue reading In times of difficulties