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Do All Values Deserve Respect?
Category: Society & Politics We don’t beg the West to respect our values, nor will we ever respect values based in moral degeneracy nor the disturbing sexual corruption they practice. For that reason, it is no victory to tell them “Just as we respect your values, you must respect ours.” In reality, we only respect…
The Ruling of Peaceful Demonstrations
Category: Fiqh / Society & Politics All praise is due to Allāh for His immense grace. Blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allāh, his wives, and his offspring. The following is in response to a questioner who asked about the ruling of peaceful demonstrations: ones in which no weapons are drawn, no blood…
Advice to Preachers Who Have Been Made Famous by the Masses
Be honest with yourselves and recognize that your popularity might just be Allāh the Exalted allowing you to dig yourselves a deeper hole! Do not think that it is a sign your deeds are accepted, as some common people may say. Do not forget that the popularity of most artists — be they musicians, actors,…
On Open and Closed Societies
Category: Belief / Society & Politics Exposing some forms of misguidance requires nothing more than publicizing them, because their falsehood is that clear. Disciplined openness (which respects the boundaries of the Sharī`ah) prevents these beliefs from spreading under the cover of darkness. This is why bāṭinī groups, which conceal their false doctrines, are only able…
On Realism
Category: Society & Politics I. What is Realism? Realism does not mean giving in to the pressures of reality. Giving in would entail surrendering and losing the spirit of struggle. Realism simply means responding to the obligations that the existing reality imposes on us. ِA distinction must be drawn between giving in to reality and…
When Changing Circumstances Require a Change in Approach
Category: Society & Politics When the Truce of Ḥudaybiyyah took place, `Umar bin al-Khaṭṭāb strongly opposed it. He went so far as to consider it a form of accepting humiliation. He felt this way because it represented a significant shift in approach, from one of struggle and warfare to one of truce and peace. This…
A Wave of Change
Category: Society & Politics When a wave of change begins, corrupt people ride it in order to spread corruption, and upright people ride it in order to spread good. Refraining from engagement with it is the biggest gift that the upright can give to the corrupt, because this allows the corrupt to monopolize the wave.…
Aid Your Brother, Whether He Be the Oppressed or the Oppressor
Category: Qur’an & Hadith / Society & Politics Consider how the Prophet ﷺ explained the Jāhilī expression, “Aid your brother, whether he be the oppressed or the oppressor.” His explanation shows that corrections should not be held back by mere words or superficial appearances. Instead, they should emphasize true meanings and realities. It also shows…
The Reformer (Muṣliḥ) and Patience
Categories: Spirituality / Society & Politics When the Companions of the Cave (Asḥāb al-Kahf) fled from their people, they said, “Our Master! Grant us mercy from Yourself, and make easy for us the right course in our situation” (Qur’ān, Al-Kahf 10). The right course for them was to sleep for three hundred years! This is…
Is This the Path of the Reformer?
Category: Spirituality / Society & Politics Walk in the shade and repeat what everyone is saying. Don’t ever oppose the status quo. Do this and everyone will accept you, but you will never be a reformer (muṣliḥ). As for the prophets, peace be upon them—they walked upon the coals of reformers. They openly declared forgotten…
Baghdādī is Dead, but His Ideology Lives
Category: Belief / Society & Politics / History & Biography The pseudo-caliph of Da’esh (ISIS) has died, carrying with him the burden of the blood that he shed, the honor of the people whom he violated, and the great damage that he caused to the image of Islām. However, the incubator for his ideology remains.…
Piety is Only Part of the Story
Category: Belief / Society & Politics / History & Biography Let me tell you the story of a man, a worshiper from the generation of the Tābi`īn. He was an austere ascetic who abstained from the luxuries of this world. He openly commanded good and forbade evil. He spoke the truth plainly in front of…
Applying the Sharī`ah’s Rulings: Gradually or All at Once?
Category: Fiqh / Society & Politics When we insist that not forbidding an evil can be obligatory if forbidding it will lead to a greater evil, we are not doing away with the obligation of prohibiting evil. We are, in fact, applying the legal principle: “The greater of two harms should be averted through the…
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