Last summer, I was honored to be invited to an Iftar dinner — the meal to break the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan — hosted by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. The guests consisted of many high ranking government officials, including a large number of Muslim government employees. These Muslim [...]
Before I genuinely began to cultivate and nurture my relationship with God, I regarded the five daily prayers that Islam enjoins on believers as laborious. It seemed impractical to expect that I would be able to stop what I was doing during my busy work schedule to take time out and pray. Working as a [...]
On Sunday 6th November, it will be the Great Feast of Islam and Muslims (Eid al-Adha) symbolizing the culmination of the pilgrimage to Mecca; a few days of light, fraternity and love intended to symbolize meditation, a return back to the Creator, blessings and prayers for peace. Yet, we are observing that this noblest of [...]
Reflections On the Holy Month As the Holy Month of Ramadan draws to an end, it is now time to reflect on what we have learnt in the last 4 weeks, individually and collectively, where each and every one of us have been honoured students attending the ‘school of profound spirituality’ being inspired by the [...]
Many of us spend a good portion of our Ramadan nights with our hands raised in du`a’ (supplication), listening to the heart-felt words of our imam or shaykh calling on Allah in the witr prayer. For those of us who don’t speak Arabic, it is a time when we often long to understand the meaning of the words [...]
It is as simple as it could get,although many of us like to confuse the world around us,with philosophical and scientific detail ,often leaving us with quite a big question mark. God created this universe, nature and finally us. The angels were however the first to question Him and were puzzled at God’s wacky idea, [...]
Imam Al Ghazali said : “None shall be prosperous except he who follows the prosperous people before him.” You will have to accompany the righteous companions of the Prophet (PBUH) or read about them, if you wish to be prosperous. We must try our best to find out about our virtues – the goodness of [...]
Ramadan is round the corner, what Ramadan resolutions are you going to take to make serious and lasting change in your life? How can you maximise on gains from fasting especially what practical steps are you going to take? What serious plans are you making? For Muslims this month signifies the greatest event that took [...]
All of us are on a journey. Though our methods of transportation maybe different, we are all travelers on the same path towards spiritual enlightenment and happiness. The ultimate and most difficult lesson to learn on this journey is to understand our destination. For those of you who have read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, [...]
We are all travellers on the same path, struggling to seek Allah’s pleasure. The price to acquire the traits of self control, serenity, awareness of the other, respect for the fellow and tenderness is a permanent personal battle against our innermost evil desires. Death, life, experiences, ordeals, pain, solitude, joy and happiness, are so many [...]
