Imam Malik was once urged by ‘Abd Allah al-‘Umari - who was given to much worldly detachment (zuhd) - that he ought to devote far more time to spiritual seclusion and to other personal acts of piety. Imam Malik wrote a letter of courtesy to him, offering this piece of wisdom: إِنَّ الـلَّـهَ تـعـالَـى قَـسَّـمَ…
40 Day Spiritual Retreat: Does It Have a Basis in Islam?
In Islam, is there any significance to the period of forty days? Why do certain people insist on going into spiritual retreats for this length of time? Some allude to the verse: And when We appointed for Moses forty nights [Qur'an 2:51], saying that it points to the importance and justification of a forty day spiritual retreat. What,…
Golden Chains, Blessed Names
Imam Muslim records the following hadith in his esteemed Sahih, no.2880: Sufyan b. 'Uyaynah narrates from al-Zuhri; from 'Urwah; from Zaynab b. Umm Salamah; from Habibah; from Umm Habibah; from Zaynab b. Jahsh that the Prophet, peace be upon him, woke-up from his sleep and exclaimed: 'La ilaha illa'Llah! Woe be to the Arabs for an evil that…
The Four Imams: Did They Forbid the Layman from Taqlid?
Let me clarify two issues before I explain the point of this post. The first issue that needs clarifying is: what is taqlid? The second one is: who are the Four Imams? [1] As an Arabic word, taqlid stems from qallada, meaning: 'To place a collar (qiladah) around the neck.'1 It is called this because the person who does taqlid, the muqallid, entrusts his affair…