1101.    (As mentioned) There are tyrant rulers and oppressed subjects/citizens, but there may also be good rulers and tyrannical subjects/citizens, like what the Qur’an mentions of Ya’juj and Ma’juj.

1102.    (A warning given): How is it that in this environment of hostility against Muslims in the West, some people are still inconsiderate when it comes to parking their cars for attending the prayers? Look, it is not like they cannot change the law and prohibit the Muslims from holding Jumuah prayers, if our presence is seen as too disturbing to their social order, so watch out, because such acts really, really have no connection with Islam, yet Islam and Muslims will be stamped for such actions of callous disregard for the law, laziness, etc.

1103.    We have to consider the Shaytan and his view about splitting couples being the greatest evil his minions can inflict on people, and how this plays into today’s world-order where the traditional couple is seen as backward, barbaric even.

1104.    We should resist the urge of (what is said) “You are what you feel!” This is why people think they are gay even with one incident of urge and nothing else in their lives, or they talk about being a recovering alcoholic even 30 or 40 years after giving up the drink, etc. That is, they dwell on having had a bad thought or done a bad action a long time ago and think this defines their identity.

1105.    If we are so adamant in saying that Muslims are exactly like others in basically everything, then why should an objective person even consider becoming a Muslim, and/or why should a Muslim remain a Muslim, if his beliefs, his history, culture, laws are exactly the same as that of the others? Of course, this premise is deeply flawed, and this analysis reveals one of its most conspicuous faults.

1106.    There are 3 characteristics of people: Desire, Anger, and Fear. They are to be tempered with Patience, Justice and Courage.

1107.    We Muslims have sadly become “politically sensitive” as to when and under which circumstances we point out good or evil. If it is politically advantageous for us to promote a good or warn against an evil done to someone then yes we try to march, organize petitions, etc. But when applied to other situations, not much concern is there. This, even though the Ayah talks about al-Maruf and al-Munkar as categories beyond what affects us parochially. Otherwise as per the Hadith, the punishment of Allah is about to descend upon us – this should lead us to think about what is happening in the Muslim world and whether Muslims are at all consistent in enjoining good and forbidding evil.

1108.    The hedonistic disbelievers have this world as their Jannah, and they will fight tooth and nail for it, in order to do whatever they want in this world. This is a crucial point to keep in mind when we discuss religious matters with them, or when we are forced to reply to some aspect of Islam they find distasteful or shocking. (That is, the main paradigm they are operating under is that this world is all there is or will ever be, and we Muslims are simply stopping them from achieving the maximum objectives within this temporal realm- they understand we are an enemy to this conception, but this view of theirs often escapes our understanding, and we think simple apologetics will melt every problem away).

1109.    With regards to the Black Muslims and Arab Muslims living in Western settings, some people may try to say that: Look, we are the Arab Muslims, we are the true personification of Islam, let us forget about these Black Muslims and try to get acceptance into the mainstream by saying that the ‘Immigrant Arab/Pakistani Muslim’ is the face of Islam in the Western context. This is merely a politically lazy game, and one that will eventually fail for all Muslims.

1110.    The Prophetic way was to spread peace and avoid argumentation between people as much as possible, even if it meant giving up a part of one’s rights (like the famous Hadith where ½ of the money lent to someone was voided in order to quash the dispute once and for all).

1111.    Consider that even the Western civil rights movements traditionally had a close connection with religion. Without room for spirituality in many of the organizations and institutions of the world, a lot will be lost automatically (because a human is just another ‘primate’ in the naturalist non-religious view, full stop-thus there is no reason why respect and dignity should be there for this ‘primate’, rather than what is practicable to apply in any given situation, and what can be done under the excuse of practicality).

1112.    (As mentioned) In this age of scientific development and progress how is it that one can find hundreds of millions who are overfed and also other hundreds of millions who are underfed? Well, the economy, of course! These economic realities cannot be undone by science or technological progress; in fact, science, technology and “progress” might exacerbate these problems.

1113.    Some people say it is an alarmist thing to point out, but many of our modern foods are changing our bodies, our spiritual intake capacity, even gender recognition within ourselves, and civilizations may fall by the wayside due to the consumption of unhealthy processed foods.

1114.    So, Muslims are asked to apologize for actions of other Muslims. Yet consider that, rarely do you see a secularist of one nation-state asked to apologize for the actions of his own secular nation, let alone those of other secular nations, even less what those nations (his own or others) may have done in the past – even though all of these are within the purview of the process of secularization, democracy, constitutional law as practically implemented, and so forth.

1115.    Look and see that even gyms are today based on an industrial and economic model, so much so that even unhealthy products are sold in gyms – what an oxymoron! (besides, the temperament of the individual is almost never properly considered in these gym settings, which obviously it should be).

1116.    At times, those who leave Islam do so due to studying things by themselves. So it may be that Ahadith books are randomly picked up and read haphazardly (or rather their basic translations are read), and if someone advises them they say go away, and unfortunately Shaytan prods them on, as they are now alone and unwilling to take sound advice from more knowledgeable Muslims.

1117.    (As was mentioned): Vegetarianism is a fad among some Muslims, yet it leads to an imbalance in the holistic body of a Muslim, just as being a full carnivore does lead to its own imbalances.

1118.    (As mentioned) Sugar (white refined sugar) is more addictive, perhaps more harmful, than even cocaine.

1119.    A person in debt is not free in their minds, since there is a specific stress and a putting down of one’s self due to the tension of debt- something well known to the creditor sharks.

1120.    We should be wary of integrating Western medicine with Islamic traditional medicine, one of the reasons being that in Western medicine the form is in fact based on an industrial model- here people are treated like machines, if something goes wrong, the idea is that it can be fixed in that “interchangeable part”.

1121.    The truth is that in today’s world order, the Muslim body-politic and the Islamic teachings are so diffused and “democratized” that a person can be a random non-Muslim today, take the Shahadah tomorrow (i.e. formally embrace Islam), and put a suicide belt on the next day, just based on his zeal and passion for Islam.

An important question would be: Am I responsible for this last decision? No, and definitely much less than those who actively sought to make Islam a free-for-all, seeing that this liberty would water down and eventually break up Islamic orthodoxy in the long run. Crucially, they celebrated this, as if it was some sort of intellectual nirvana which Islam and all its adherents had to undergo before Islam would be considered as truly rational and worthy of acceptability.

1122.    (As mentioned) Fear is the emotion that leads quickest to action, even though its effects are not long-lasting. This is seen in the Qur’an in its various Verses about Hellfire, Punishments, etc., these Verses are crucial in making many people convert to Islam and initially act upon the Deen. Of course, later on many other Verses and teachings of Islam lead the Muslims to an even stronger belief and commitment towards Islam.

1123.    (As mentioned) There is a distinction between types of lights, Anwar al-Usool that just stop at the heart and Anwar ad-Dukhul that enter inside the heart, and both give their own types of benefits.

1124.    The scholars of Hadith sought to minimize the number of persons in their chains, but those of Tazkiyya sought to have more persons in their chains, so as to have more conduits of Barakah from themselves to the Prophet (ﷺ).

1125.    In the story of Ibn Masood’s (RAA) conversion to Islam we see honesty, seeking knowledge and discipline (great qualities that he was always characterized by).