April 27, 2020 The Islamic intellectual tradition places great value the concept of intention. Acts, as all Muslims will know, are judged according to their intentions — to the point that often, if intention is absent, then acts of worship are invalid, or at least bereft of reward. There’s an additional element to this, however: if […]
March 16, 2020 “Where are you planning on visiting in the State of Israel?” The truth was, I wasn’t planning on visiting anywhere in the State of Israel – at least, as described in international law. But somehow, I didn’t think the Israeli border officer was going to be particularly cooperative if I pointed out we […]
December 16, 2019 “What would you do to get the hate out of politics?” a British citizen asked Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn a week before the Dec. 12 U.K. election, during a BBC debate. It was a legitimate question to put to both of them, as the leaders of the two major British national […]
October 2, 2019 Some fourteen centuries ago, the grandson of the last Prophet of Islam, Husayn, was killed at Karbala, in modern Iraq. Muslims around the world will mark the murder of him and his followers, recalling his struggle against a tyrannical ruler. His sacrifice continues to inspire Muslims worldwide, who hold him up as […]
July 22, 2019 In their personal lives, are Muslims required to perform taqlid [practice by way of imitation] of only one madhhab [school of law]? If not, when can they go out of the one that they have studied or practiced? Different ulama [scholars] in different madhhabs [schools of law] have different considerations and principles […]
June 20, 2019 It was an anniversary that passed much of the world by. Last month marked the fiftieth anniversary of the arrest of a South African anti-apartheid activist who was reportedly killed, following months of torture, at the hands of the authorities. His name was Abdullah Haron, and he was a Muslim religious leader […]