While describing the ordeal endured by Imam Malik in which he was severely beaten, to the extent that 'his arm was wrenched out of its socket and a huge injustice had been perpetrated against him. Yet, by God, Malik didn't cease to be held in high esteem,'1 Imam al-Dhahabi wrote the following: 'This is the…
On Narcissism: My Oh My! It’s Just Me, Me, Me & I, I, I
Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy upon him, wrote: وَلْيَحْذَرْ كُلَّ الْحَذَرِ مِنْ طُغْيَانِ ’أَنَا‘ ، وَ’لِي‘، وَ’عِنْدِي‘، فَإِنَّ هَذِهِ الْأَلْفَاظَ الثَّلَاثَةَ ابْتُلِيَ بِهَا إِبْلِيسُ وَفِرْعَوْن، وَقارُوْن، (فَأَنَا خَيْرٌ مِنْهُ) لِإِبْلِيسَ، وَ (لِي مُلْكُ مِصْرَ) لِفِرْعَوْن، وَ (إِنَّمَا أُوتِيتُهُ عَلَى عِلْمٍ عِنْدِي) لِقارُوْن. وَأَحْسَنُ مَا وُضِعَتْ ’أَنَا‘ فِي قَوْلِ الْعَبْدِ: أَنَا الْعَبْدُ الْمُذْنِبُ ، الْمُخْطِئُ،…
Sacred Tranquility in Our Age of Angst & Anxiety
The main thrust of this piece is a short discussion from Imam Ibn al-Qayyim concerning how his shaykh, Ibn Taymiyyah, would recite the six "Verses of Tranquility" in the Qur'an whenever he would feel under pressure or find himself in straightened circumstances. Ibn al-Qayyim writes that when he tried this spiritual remedy for himself, he too…
Anxiety, Liquid Modernity & the Assault on Our Primordiality
THE MODERN WORLD IS RADICALLY different to anything and everything that has gone before it. Defining what modernity actually is tends to be elusive, even to philosophers and to those in the social sciences. But it does have certain traits. Modernity – this ‘brilliant series of distractions,’ as it’s been called – is the great…
Spirit of Hope: God Knows Us and Understands Us
Three core ingredients go into making up the religion of Islam. And they are expressed in three simple words: iman - the “faith” or “belief” one must have in God, His Prophets, as well as in the Afterlife; islam - outward “submission” to God in terms of such things like prayer, pilgrimage or moral uprightness;…