1051.        We should remember that when one becomes a Muslim, brotherhood with other Muslims is not a choice, it is part of Islam just like Prayers, Hajj, Fasting, etc.

1052.        We Muslims should have the level-headedness to look at events in the world and see how we can direct them towards a path broadly beneficial to us, rather than make only on the spot Halal and Haram pronouncements concerning situations imposed upon us from the outside.

1053.        Hip-hop popularized the concept of looking different and going against the normative culture. While the Muslims are against a lot of hip-hop culture, yet this zeal to be what one is (and not be afraid of normative modern non-Muslim opinion) is important for us to consider while living in the modern world.

1054.        It is strange that some Pan-Africanists say they want Islamic and Arabic out of the African picture. To this it is said: Well, ALL Native African languages pre-colonial period were written in Arabic script; so if you throw this out, then you only have African people through the lens of European scripts, narrations and lenses.

1055.        Consider how the current technopoly is dumbing us – yes, they call it progress, but it is in fact enslaving our cognitive abilities to a great degree. The impact this is having on the society at large cannot be overlooked, especially since the legacy ‘institutions of progress’ are in fact antiquated and cannot deal with the commotion and social-toxicity being wrought by  technology/ the technopoly.

1056.        People are at times intimidated to be around those they know are better than them, so they hang around those worse than them in order to aggrandize their egos; but no, if you are not praying properly don’t hang around the drug-dealer or the lazy person, but rather around the practicing brother, it will improve you and kill your ego.

1057.        (As mentioned) The Muslims had the trivium and quadrivium, studying abstract sciences like Logic, Rhetoric, Grammar and their physical applications like Astronomy, Geometry, Mathematics, etc.

1058.        Why is it portrayed as if the Muslim Ummah has to be in extremes only? Is it that the choices before us are either “ISIS” on the one hand or shameless perennialism on the other?

This is ridiculous, one does not need to believe in the correctness of other religions in order to not attack them physically – and often proper physical punishment within the ambit of the Shariah (even up to death) is meted out to Muslims, so the two are not necessarily related. (This is just one small example, there are many others which can be given in the same vein).

1059.        The Prophet (ﷺ) and the Companions (RAA) as a matter of course used to invite people to their homes, basically every day. But today, due to Takallufaat (artificial constraints and airs), this has been lost – we have to encourage the society to think that if someone comes over, they eat what the household would normally eat.

1060.        There are so many instances nowadays of Muslims breaking our promises due to a better perceived result in the future. So how on Earth do we complain about non-Muslim powers and institutions breaking their promises with Muslims and oppressing us, if they (non-Muslims) see the breaking of such promises as beneficial to their own future position? Plus, they see Muslims not as trustworthy as we should be, so how do we expect them to respect us and our Islamic rules?

1061.        Sometimes, the society is like the Titanic – even if it is on a wrong course it cannot be corrected easily; but, there also exist small boats that can change course easily, and these are like the individuals who make Tawbah (repentance) and rectify themselves.

1062.        (As mentioned) We can internalize the Makkan period without having to resort to pacifism – it can be assertive non-violence. Very important to note this, since the Makkan period was not a time of non-violent pacifism nor was it allowed (in the Divine Master Plan) for this situation to run on for years and generations on end.

1063.        Makaarim al-Akhlaaq (Noble Character) is something ALL Prophets (Alayhim as-Salaam) had brought, and our Prophet (ﷺ) perfected its teaching, as per the famous narrations.

1064.        The advice given is not to be surprised when this Dunya disappoints us, since it is only manifesting qualities germane and innate to it, nothing else (it is displaying its ephemeral and disappointing character).

1065.        Cheating used to be only a low-achiever issue, but now it is the high achievers who cheat, why is that? Because their environment pushes them, telling them that competition is so hard, they have to get an A+ no matter what the situation, and knock others down in the process, whether it is in academics, sports, etc.

1066.        (As mentioned) If the child ignores the parents and stays with peers it is not because the child is independent, rather the child has shifted his mental/emotional dependence from his parents to his peers.

1067.        The elements (that is, the people) of all civilizations which lasted a long time sought to perpetuate their legacies after death; the secularist civilizations in a sense try to do this as well but are constrained in that their overall vision will be contradicted by the vision of the elements making up the polity (for example, for secularism it may progress in an economic sense, but at the same time truncate its spiritual progress in order to achieve an economic progress. Same with race-relations, one race may be “sacrificed” in favor of a perceived secular, national goal; thus, conflict within these secularist lands is inevitable one way or the other).

1068.        Islamic culture, like other cultures, was durable since it was able to forge and maintain bonds across generations. But today, what is necessary in order to maintain this, like respect for elders, has been disregarded.

1069.        One way that secular polities try to indelibly inscribe their imprint upon all is to push upwards their own abstract transgenerational links, while trying to breach those of traditional religions like Islam. The Muslim should never be unmindful of this overall goal of the secular polity.

1070.        Scholars have derived from the texts that Satan has snouts that he puts into the hearts of every person.

1071.        In our tradition it is reported that ‘Isa (Alayhi as-Salaam) said that he could heal the leper, the blind, and bring the dead to life, but he could not heal Jahl Murakkab (this is how bad this condition of compound, self-conceited ignorance is).

1072.        Jahl Murakkab also points towards those people who think they know but they do not know – they are extremely, extremely dangerous to the human civilization, and within Islamic polities have caused much trouble throughout the centuries.

1073.        One may be a seeker of knowledge even at 60 or 70 years of age; examples in simpler societies are there of very old men sitting with children, learning the Deen.

1074.        One can ask what is the real difference between stripping non-violent extremists of citizenship and the punishment of exile for heretics in the past – because let us be honest, the legal, formal basis for rights in this world is citizenship, if that is removed and no other country grants citizen-status on that person, then one is basically exiled in no-man’s land, either conceptually and more often than not physically as well.

1075.        The Prophet’s (ﷺ) treatment of Ibn Salul even up to his Janazah was such that the rest of the hypocrites eventually became proper Muslims.