AS BELIEVERS, WE ARE not meant to see politics as merely the playing-out of the various interests of people vis-a-via one another. Rather, we must see it more so as the playing out of the af‘al al-rabb – the divine acts (lit. "acts of the Lord") – in human society. Without trying to understand what…
The World Gets Topsy-Turvier: Signs of the End Days [2/2]
One of the main themes that runs through hadiths about the End Days is how good will be considered as being bad; and visa versa, how trustworthiness and honesty shall disappear, how the worthless will be raised to positions of rank and respect, and how there will be an increase in disobedience and widespread violation of rights (kathrat al-‘uquq…
The World Gets Topsy-Turvier: Signs of the End Days [1/2]
The Hour is drawing near and the moon has been cleft in two, declares the Qur'an [54:1] In another of its many eschatological verses, it says: They ask you about the Hour. Say: 'Knowledge of it is but with Allah. What will make you aware of it? It maybe that the Hour is near.' [33:63] The Prophet, peace be…
Political Violence & the End Days
One of the enormous achievements of our Prophet, peace be upon him, is that in less than twenty years he managed to bring law and order to a land that had hitherto been plagued with lawlessness and the absence of any political organisation whatsoever. In the event of a crime or injustice being committed, the norm was for…