926.    (As mentioned) The major places of transmission of Islam were from Arabia, to Iran/Iraq, then to Egypt/Syria. Consider that when Napoleon invaded Egypt he killed off many Azhari scholars; the French knew that by killing off the scholars the country (and its Islamic character) would be ruined.

Comment: The same can be said about the transmission of the Islamic tradition to the Indian Subcontinent, West Africa, Indonesia, etc.; the non-Muslims knew and know that if they can take over the land (and more importantly the minds) of the Muslims, then the Islamic character of the land will be changed considerably, and reverting it back to a holistic Islamic society will be very difficult.

927.    (As mentioned) Note that historically the Eastern/Orthodox Christians had closer ties with Muslims than they had even with Western/Latin Christians, evidenced for example in the time of Salahuddin (RA) and some of the Crusades, and how the relationships between the Muslims, the Latin Christians, and the Eastern Christians played out in these conflicts.

928.    Consider that the Makkan period not only had descriptions of the Hereafter (as it was being revealed in the Qur’an) but it also had lots of moral enticing of the believers towards good actions (the laws proper came later in Madinah of course, but the seed was being planted from the Makkan period itself through many different methods).

929.    (As mentioned) The Arabs first transmitted Islam orally, this was the best suited method for them. Then the Persian Muslim ‘Ulamaa who came later added on to this with their scholarship, and this period of growth was better for them and their own style with regards to acquiring, transmitting and storing knowledge.

930.    (As was mentioned) People might ask that why the existence of witches in Islam is highlighted in our primary texts. Well, in the pre-Islamic times and afterwards also, women are seen as having a stronger connection with the spiritual realm, in both its good aspects and its evil aspects, witchcraft being one of the evil matters.

931.    (As mentioned) Al-Khannas is the Big Shaytan (Iblees) himself, in his quality of withdrawing and being clandestine in his Waswasa (whispering).

932.    There is ‘Ayn al-Hasad (Jealousy) and ‘Ayn al-Ta’ajjub (Conceit) and both have a negative effect as far as the evil glance is concerned.

Comment: Many of us Muslims will be aware of a jealous evil eye, but may not know or understand the graveness of how conceit and overpraise (without mentioning the Favors of Allah upon one) can also negatively bring about evil consequences.

933.    Hassan ibn Thabit (RAA) was actually paid by the disbelievers to write degrading poems about the Prophet (ﷺ), but one glance at his (ﷺ) face and he became Muslim on the spot. This is due to the effect of the purity of heart meeting absolute truth without barriers.

934.    (As mentioned) What is the Istighfaar of a Prophet (Alayhi as-Salaam)? It is for not being able to praise Allah as He (Exalted be He) praises Himself.

Comment: This is one of the answers given by our Ulamaa’, with other possibilities being mentioned as well when Prophets (Alayhim as-Salaam) are shown in the primary texts seeking forgiveness from Allah.

935.    Every easy way out in Islamic practice is in fact a trap or a trick of Satan. This is because Allah’s Orders always have some Kulfah [weightiness in fulfilling them] – thus, to constantly seek a way out is an implicit denial of this reality.

Comment: Related to this is the other trick of Satan, of making one believe every moment of Islamic practice should be accompanied with lights of spirituality and spiritual vistas – the truth is, such openings may or may not occur; in fact there is nothing strange if one has no uplifting spiritual experience even once in their lives, and the lack of spiritual openings would not lift the obligations at all.

936.    (As mentioned) Teaching the information related to Islam is important, but the formal Isnad and the seriousness to teach Islam should also be there; as an example, there are to be no “Mickey Mouse” type videos on how to do Wudhu, or other similar things that are used and are cool in teaching general history, law, physics, etc. But for Islam, these types of cheeky videos are very, very inappropriate, since Islam is unlike any other topic.

Comment: Related to this, are the comments from some of our teachers, that certain Islamic disciplines and their teaching (like Qur’an memorization) are associated with a certain type of “harshness” – this is not a justification of abuse or violence, but pointing out how the Islamic discipline is in its nature, as noted by Ulamaa’ across the centuries.

937.    Many times Muslims in the West may say they need to reach out to the black community, but here is the issue, the Blacks are already part of the Muslim community, so it seems these blind spots have been artificially tacked onto the mentality of many Muslims.

The same goes for white Muslims in certain parts of the world, many a times some may ask the white European when they converted to Islam, but it may be that their families and towns had converted centuries ago. So these types of simplistic categorizations of Muslims should be overcome in our mentalities.

938.    In societies not in a state of war, most violent acts are crimes of opportunity or passion. This is one reason why calling certain crimes committed in Muslim lands as “honor crimes” or “honor killings” is so inappropriate – there is “honor”, “passion”, and “shame” involved in many horrendous crimes committed all over the world, there is no logical reason to specify Muslim societies as the ones in which “honor” is singled out.

939.    The Adab was learnt by the Sahabah (RAA) from the Prophet (ﷺ) without him necessarily having to separately teach them formally. This is important, since the spiritual reality in his (ﷺ) presence is something that cannot be achieved by our teachers today, thus the need for a formal separate field for spirituality, for Adab, etc. It is just like the teaching and categorization of the Arabic language, or Fiqh, and so on. These are not innovations (Bid’ah, in the negative sense), rather if anything they are necessary in order to further the cause of Islamic knowledge, its preservation and diffusion.

940.    One difficult thing is turning to Allah in times of difficulty if one is unaccustomed to turning to Him in times of ease; one might turn to Allah yet in blameworthy despondence about the situation, or even “blaming” Allah. This is because, during his normal times of ease, the person may not have turned to Allah, nor understood important matters about the Qadar of Allah even in an abstract sense. Thus in times of difficulty he might despair or even utter words of disbelief (may Allah save us).

941.    Heedlessness and being inattentive is indicated by the term Ghaflah in Arabic, and is very much disliked in Islam; yet is it not strange that today most people can’t even work or study without distractions?

942.    If there is any overarching worldview we Muslims are to operate under, it is an Islamic spiritual determinism, not a modern materialist or economic one.

943.    (As was mentioned) People who know Islam through the Prophet (ﷺ) don’t leave Islam; those who don’t learn Islam in this way unfortunately have a greater chance of leaving it later on.

Comment: This is a general rule known through observation. Of course, we never want anyone to leave Islam, but the comment above is for general awareness and to make Muslims (born Muslims and converts) acknowledge the very high status of the Prophet (ﷺ) and the connection we must maintain with him (ﷺ).

944.    (As mentioned) The Prophet (ﷺ) had room in his heart not only for his bitter enemies but also for his bitter and effective enemies like Abu Sufyan and Khalid bin al-Walid, who later on converted to Islam and become from among the Companions (RAA).

945.    When national interests are supremely important, something as abominable as false-flag operations become permissible (and this is not only a theory, it has happened a number of times in human history, with multiple nations on all sides of the ideological spectrums).

Comment: The main issue is not that evil was committed, but that ‘national interest’ was the supreme paramount goal, and their “Shariah” could be changed in any way whatsoever to accommodate this primary goal.

946.    (As was mentioned) Be careful of ‘demanding justice now’, see what Allah has done to Arab Spring countries (for sure, things were not good, but now aspects of Allah’s Jalaal that people should be asking protection from have descended upon people).

Importantly, if someone says that no, we can demand exact full justice (even for Divine justice to manifest in this world) and ask for protection from the evil aspects, the truth is this: it might be that the evil resides within the masses of people themselves and has been tolerated and has germinated within the society for decades and decades – their bad rulers were somewhat of a manifestation of this, but the land had seen only small glimpses of injustice; but if the masses demand more and more true exact justice in this world, more of their demands might get answered, and they will not like the consequences.

Rather, at all times, we must ask for Allah’s Mercy. It is worth remembering the Hadith where the Prophet (ﷺ) himself says that his (ﷺ) entering the Paradise is only by Allah encompassing him (ﷺ) with His Mercy.

947.    (As mentioned) The Bible mentioned the seed of Abraham (Alayhi as-Salaam) being given the land between the Nile and Euphrates. The interesting point is that the Adhan is today being given in all cities and villages in this area of the Earth.

948.    The message of Islam is to convert first, then purification of the heart can start after the conversion.

Comment: None will be so pious that they can give proper justice to Allah and to His religion of Islam, yet the whole world has been commanded to follow Allah and His Messenger (ﷺ).

949.    (As mentioned) There is the opinion that all sins are major sins since there is the facet of disregarding Allah’s Orders, which is a big intentional blot on a person’s record.

950.    (As mentioned) The Yad of Allah (يد الله) is directly involved for only a few things: The ‘Arsh, the Jannah, the Pen, and Adam (Alayhi as-Salaam) (i.e. these things, including Adam (Alayhi as-Salaam) are special creations, regardless of what evolutionary theory may say).