The Humble I

Over the years, I’ve had a number of requests and suggestions about making a list of the Q&A content on the blog, so as to make it more user friendly. Finally, here is that list of Questions & Answers that have been directly or indirectly responded to on this site. And whilst, over the years, I have answered a number of queries sent to me, the blog is by no means meant to be a fatwa site, and I am far from being a qualified mufti. That said, when I do respond to a question or issue of concern, it tends to be a fairly thorough reply, in contrast to a short, sharp one. The listing is alphabetical. [Last Updated: 028/06/2020]

• 5 Cornerstones of Islam’s Bigger Picture

• 7 Principles of Sacred Marriage in Islam

• 7 Rights of the Heart: What Are They?

• 9-5 Job: Is That Part of Being in “Allah’s Path”?

• 10 Ways to Nurture Love of God

• 15th Night of Sha‘ban: Is Marking it Out as a Special Night an Innovation?

• 4o Day Spiritual Retreat: Does Its Have a Basis in Islam?

• A Brief Word On Sufis, Sufism & Spiritual Wayfaring

• About Politics, Justice & Peace on Earth: Jesus and the Anti-Christ

• ‘Aqidah Comes First: Doesn’t It?

• Answering the Question of Science & Meaning?

• Are Good Deeds Alone Enough for Salvation?

• Are We Amusing Our Hearts to Death?

• Are We Becoming Bored of God?

• Are We Letting Time Whizz Right Past Us?

• Are We Progressing or Drifting Dangerously Downstream?

• Are You Living an Unexamined Life?

• Are You on the Path of Knowing, Doing & Becoming?

• Are You Seeking with the Seekers or Sleeping with the Sleepers?

• Between the Errors of Scholars & Bigoted Followers

• Big Brother: Who Watches Who?

• British Muslims & their Strategies for Living in the UK

• British Muslims, Racism & Do Black Lives Matter?

• Can You Find Spirituality in the Shopping Mall?

• Conspiracy Theories: Do You See Shadows At Every Turn?

• Convert or Revert?

• Created in God’s Image: What Does that Mean?

• Critical Thinking in Islam: What Are the Principles & Hurdles?

• Dhikr Repetition: Is it Allowed?

• Did Abu Hurayrah Have Secret Spiritual Knowledge?

• Divorcing One’s Wife at the Behest of Parents.

• Do We Muslims Have the Right to Not Pray, Fast or Wear Hijab?

• Do We Recognise the Role & Value of Muslim Teachers?

• Doctrine of the Divine Attributes

• Does Allah Love Everyone?

• Doing Good for God or for Reward from God?

• Egos, Earrings & Atomic Bombs: What of Hiroshima?

• Fatwas: Do They Change With Time and Place?

• Gender Relations: Beards, Hijabs & Body Language.

• Grief & Loss: How to Cope With Life’s Pitiless Storms?

• Hajj: What is its Spiritual Significance?

• How Best to Keep Strife Out of Our Life?

• How Can Hearts Be Softened?

• How Can We Wean Ourselves Off the Dunya?

• How States Seek to Domesticate Muslim Scholars?

• How the Qur’an Justifies Itself?

• How to Attain Sacred Tranquility in Our Age of Distress & Anxiety?

• How to Attain Worldly Detachment & the Love of God?

• How to Be the Best of Muslims, Not the Worst?

• How to Get to Know God?

• How to Know Your Soul & Grow Your Soul?

• How to Nurture Presence of Heart With God?

• How to Practically Learn Fiqh?

• Insulting Islam: What Should Our Response Be?

• Is Din Private ‘Religion & Is Iman Blind ‘Faith’?

• Is Imitation of Non-Muslims & their Festivals Forbidden?

• Is Islam the Only Valid Path to God?

• Is Islam Rational or Does It Seek to Stifle Rationality?

• Is the Goal of the Shari‘ah Justice or Equality?

– Islam’s Earth Ethics: Are We Healers or Corrupters?

– Islam’s Rational Monotheism in a Nutshell.

– Isn’t Loving God Enough to Make One a Believer?

• Jihad & Martyrdom, War & Peace

• Joining Feet to Feet in Prayer: Is it a Sunnah?

• Justice, Equality, Feminism: What is the Quranic View?

• Kalam & the Hanbalis: Is It Really Relevant Today?

• Khawarij Ideology, ISIS Savagery [1]

• Khawarij Ideology, ISIS Savagery [2]

• Knowing Qualified Scholars from Cowboy Speakers

• Life’s Trials & Tragedies: What is the Meaning Behind Them?

• Male Lust, Female Forms & the Forbidden Gaze

• Ma‘rifah: Getting to Know God

• Modern Pursuit of Happiness or Chasing Your Own Tail?

• Modernity’s Juggernaut: How Should Muslims Best Tackle It?

• Moonsighting: Global or Local, Observation or Calculation?

• Music & Dancing in Islam: On the “Happy Muslim” Video.

• Muslim Scholars Must Learn to be Macro Thinkers: Why?

• Pitfalls of the Practicing Muslim

• Political Violence & the End Days

• Politics of Idolatry, Beware!

• Proofs for the Existence of God [1]

• Proofs for the Existence of God [2]

• Pseudo-Scholars & Half-Baked Knowledge: What Are The Signs?

• Questions on Modern Muslimness

• Question on Women & Mosques: Misogyny to Misrepresentation

• Reading the Qur’an for the Deceased: Is it Allowed?

• Reason, Revelation, Religion: How Do They Fit Together?

• Sacred Knowledge: How to Seek It & Be Saved By It?

• Salafis, Ash‘aris & Fossilised Theologies

• Scholars, Speakers & the Culture of Edu-Tainment

• Science & the Qur’an: Are They a Match Made in Heaven?

• Science: Does it Point Towards God or Atheism?

• Seventy-Three Sects in Islam: Are Most of the Ummah Deviant?

• Should I Stop Making Dhikr If My Heart Isn’t In It?

• Signs of the End Days [1]

• Signs of the End Days [2]

• Sincerity: How to Empty the Heart for God?

• Study Guide to Hanbali Fiqh

• Takfir: Its Dangers & Rules

• Taking Money for Da‘wah & Teaching Religion: Is It Lawful?

• Taqlid & Madhhabs [1]

• Taqlid & Madhhabs [2]

• Tawhid: What Is It & What Are Its Degrees?

• Texting, Tweeting & Speaking: What Are the Islamic Guidelines?

• Terrorism is to Jihad as Adultery is to Marriage

– The Four Imams: Did They Forbid Even the Layman from Taqlid?

• The Greater Jihad: Is it Just a Myth?

• The Obligatory Spiritual Journey: What Does It Entail?

• Traipse Through Tafsir, Or Simply Ponder the Qur’an?

• Tyrannical Rulers & the Islamic Rules for Revolutions

• Was the Universe Expecting Us?

• Western Muslims: Prophetically-Inspired Voices of Dissent

• What Are Islam’s Five Big Questions of Life?

• What Are the Basic Rules for Religious Activism?

• What Are the Consequences of an Unjust Socio-Political Order?

• What Are the Rewards of Non-Muslim Doers of Good in the Afterlife?

• What Are the Rights of Brotherhood?

• What Are the Rules for Rukhsah – Following Shari‘ah Concessions?

• What Are the Seven Rights of the Prophet?

• What Constitutes Legitimate Islamic Learning?

• What Does Islam Really Mean By Worship?

• What is the Difference Between Being Patient and Being Complacent?

• What is the Golden Rule for Muslim Activists?

• What is the Soul of Islam?

• What is the Ultimate Fate of Good Non-Muslims in the Hereafter?

• What of Those to Whom Islam Doesn’t Reach?

• What Now After Ramadan?

• When Will Allah’s Help Come?

• When Will Our Lands Return to Us?

• “Where it Not for You, I Would Not Have Created Creation.” Is This Hadith Authentic?

• While We Question Charlie Hebdo, Lets Questions Ourselves Too!

• Who Are Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama‘ah?

• Who Are the Guardians of Sacred Knowledge & Spiritual Growth?

• Why Did Adam Eat from the Tree of Immortality?

• Why People Choose Atheism?

• Zakat: Helping the Needy at Home or Just Abroad?