576.    As was said by certain people, if one has nothing (a principle) to die for, one has nothing to live for. It is not sufficient that one simply dies for one’s country -patriotism pure and simple- without a deeply-held basis. (Because at the end, it is tautological to die solely for the piece of land under your feet, it does not have any abstract ideals associated with it.)

577.    For a number of believers, death is difficult, since Allah wishes to fully cleanse them and raise their status. And the opposite is the case with the disbeliever at times, Allah may wish to give him all the comforts and ease in this world, to make him suffer fully in the Hereafter. Continue reading →

551.    Courage is to expose one’s self to danger but at the proper time, when one must do something in order to avert harm to Islam, to his family, to his Muslim brethren, etc. It is not simply a wild entering into the fray for the purpose of saying one is brave.

552.    One courageous deed is to say that we have to work on our Nafs (inner, lower self), that we have to carry out the internal Jihad. Many will say there is need for the external, physical Jihad against the enemy, but will never say they need to work on their inner selves. Continue reading →

526.    The details are different from what we find in other religions, yet it should be noted that in Islam it is indeed Allah, through His Mercy, who liberates and redeems us. Note this is also not in the Christian sense, where logical impossibilities are called upon in order to say this redemption has occurred or can occur for the individual, and where strange notions of personal liberty have been formulated, giving rise then to many conceptual problems in the assessment of religion in the modern world. Continue reading →

Random Thoughts and Notes: Serial Arrangement # 1-500

Thoughts/Notes # 1-25                      Thoughts/Notes # 26-50 Continue reading →

501.    An interesting interpretation of current events: It seems the purposeful and over-the-top insulting of the Prophet (ﷺ) often done as publicly as possible by some of our enemies in our faces, is a secular adaptation of some Christians’ attempts at intentionally obtaining “martyrdom through persecution” for their beliefs and practices, as seen from the time of Early Christianity onwards. Continue reading →

476.    An admonishment: We should take a lesson from all people who have strong beliefs- they are relentless in trying to voice their opinions about such beliefs, to let others know about these beliefs, and to change the geopolitical landscape towards the principles they believe in. They do not simply keep it to themselves; in their understanding, they are doing ‘Amr bil Ma’ruf and Nahy ‘anil Munkar’ – enjoining the ‘good’ and forbidding the ‘evil’ (so what is our problem in doing this based on the truth and correct principles which Islam has provided us with?) Continue reading →

451.    See how the early Muslims trusted Allah with every single material issue of theirs. But today we have much more money, yet (for example) many look for answers regarding the permissibly of putting their money in (explicitly) usury-bearing accounts. Ok, we know there is the legal aspect, but we should inquire, how come this became a question to begin with? Well, because many might not trust that Allah will provide for then, and have attached themselves so much to the world that they sincerely think they should turn to the doubtful or forbidden matters in order to merely survive. Continue reading →

426.    In previous eras of Islam, it was the case that everyone, scholars and laymen alike, would memorize the 40 Ahadeeth of an-Nawawi, and this was considered part of their normal education.

427.    An important maxim: “Ma’ani Qabla al-Mabaani”. One should build meaning and have clear purpose before constructing the physical buildings. Continue reading →

401.    An issue we must pay attention to is the “conflict of interest” between the conclusion that the miraculousness of the Qur’an would have on one accepting this statement, and the previously held beliefs of those who are talking about this matter. We normally hear of the alleged ‘bias’ that we Muslims have when talking about the Qur’an as the revelation from Allah, but we should also pay attention to those from the non-Muslim side who while assessing the Qur’an, would not utter the full impact that the Qur’an had on them in all its aspects. Continue reading →