Distancing ourselves from radicalism; Nidal Hasan is not a “hero”

As most of you have probably been seeing in the news lately, the situation regarding the shooting at the Fort Hood Military base has just ramped up to another level. It has been reported that Major Nidal was in contact with Anwar al-Awlaki, a figure who is regarded as being unorthodox and extreme in his views regarding many contemporary issues by the scholars of ahlus sunnah wal-jama’a (the Four Mathahib). Awlaki is quoted as saying, “Nidal Hassan is a hero. He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people.”

For an update on the situation take a look at these links:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091110/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_fort_hood_…

http://freedomeden.blogspot.com/2009/11/anwar-al-awlaki.html

My dear brothers and sisters, as American Muslims, we must openly and actively distance ourselves from such extreme statements and radical beliefs. Although Anwar Awlaki was a well-known lecturer and imam in the past, he now holds many views that are not in line with orthodox Islamic scholarship. Directly responding to calling Nidal Hasan “a hero,” it should be understood that there is no vigilante jihad in Islam. Some one cannot just pick arms and decide that he is going to take on an entire army base or take out as many people as he can. Such actions are in contradiction with the opinions of the four schools of law, and are, in fact, in clear contradiction of common sense.

While my statements might be repetitive and redundant to many of you, I felt the need to write this, because Anwar Awlaki is a prolific lecturer and he has created for himself a large fan base, BUT his opinions are not ones that are legitimate or amongst those that we should even associate with Islam.

Now Awlaki’s statements that, “The American Muslims who condemned his actions have committed treason against the Muslim Ummah and have fallen into hypocrisy,” proves his extremism and provides further reason to not give any credence his statements or his press releases. There is a well known hadith to the effect that, “Whoever calls his brother a kafir, the statement is either true or it returns to him.” With this hadith in mind, we should all be careful of labeling one another hypocrites or traitors. Accusations against the Muslims and people of knowledge and those of leadership was also something that was a trade mark of radical Islamic sects such as the Khawarij and their splinter groups of centuries past. During the time Imam Ali khalifah, a group of Muslims declared the Imam and any one who supported him Kafirs, because of a religious verdict that Imam Ali gave. But how can it be that some one who spent basically his entire life with the Prophet and married his daughter be a disbeliever in Islam? Doesn’t make sense does it? So how can an entire body of scholars — of whom the Prophet said, “The scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets” — be traitors to Islam? The thought, much the less such statements are completely inane.

To avoid circumstances such as these, we, as American Muslims, need to educate ourselves, purify our hearts, strengthen our iman and bolster our states of mind against extreme ideas, unfounded enmity (anger for other than Allah’s sake) and radical actions such as these — and then, of course, share and propagate it to others, the Prophet (saw) said at his farewell pilgrimage, “Those who are here should convey this message to those who are not. It might be that those who hear it later will understand it better.” Our religion has such rich legacy and immense intellectual heritage… and when someone does something like this in the name of Islam… it’s so sad and it just really proves the point that we have become ignorant of the true spirit of Islam, one of tolerance, peace of mind, poignancy and practicality.

It also needs to stressed that this path of calling Muslims hypocrites and traitors is quite dangerous:

During the time Imam Ali khalifah, a group of Muslims declared the Imam, and any one who supported him, Kafirs, because of a religious verdict that Imam Ali gave. Now, how can it be that some one who spent basically his entire life with the Prophet (saw), beleived in him, learned from him, supported him in battles — all in addition to marrying his daughter — be a disbeliever in Islam? Doesn’t make sense, does it? So how can an entire body of scholars — of whom the Prophet said, “The scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets” — be traitors to Islam? The thought, much the less such statements are completely inane.

Our belevod Prophet (saw) told as well, “Beware of extremism in religion.” This warning from him (saw) also brings to mind an account of the Prophet’s encounter with an early kharijite (yes! in the time of the Prophet.) I’ll paraphrase: After a battle the Prophet (saw) was attempting to split up the war booties. A man then came to the Prophet (saw) and yelled “‘Adil ya rasool’Allah!” (Be just! Oh Prophet of Allah!) The Prophet then responded, “If I’m not going to be just, then who is going to be just?” The Prophet then (responding to a request by Umar al-Faarooq to kill him) said, there will come from the progeny of that man a people whose Qur’an will be better than your Qur’an, their prayer will be longer than yours but the recitation will not go past their throats (i.e. it will not effect their hearts). The Prophet also added “There situation is like an arrow that hits its target but passes through it.”

In this eye-opening hadith, the Prophet sums up the condition that we can refer to as extremism in religion, that is going beyond just bounds and worshiping only insofar as the outward, mechanical aspects of our religion are fulfilled. But why do we pray? Why do we fast? Why do we recite Qur’an? First and foremost, it’s for God’s sake and intertwined in that its for our own purification and spiritual upliftment. This tough, stern, militaristic approach to Islam is not of the religion itself; just like the arrow that past through its target, this worship dwells in some other ether realm, of which Allah only knows it benefit and its actually reality.

So we need to be really careful who we take our knowledge from, and remember that if we don’t know, we must refer the matters back to Ahl al-dhikr, i.e. those scholars of Allah’s remembrance, not a individual figure who has on more than one occasion declared that the scholars of the ummah are hypocrites and traitors.

Getting two days out of one!

When I was student at the University of Florida, one of the my main complaints was that I never had enough time. Not enough time to sleep, to study, to hangout with friends and to do all that I wanted to. After a while, I started to think, why do I feel so pressed? “I was really busy in high school as well,” I used to think to myself, “but I always had time for my studies and other leisure activities. So what’s the different now?”

After a while, I realized that the problem rooted in the lack of structure in my days in comparison with when I was in high school. As we all know, in high school you have to be in class at a set time in the mourning and you leave in the afternoon. In college, sometimes my classes didn’t start until the afternoon, and guess what filled that time? Yep, it was sleep. But even though I recognized this blaring differences, for my sophomore and junior years in college, I did little to counteract it. Al-hamdullilah, in my senior year in college I began to work against it. I began starting my day earlier, studying in the morning, doing chores and completing my duties for Islam on Campus, all in the morning. After only a few days, I felt so much more energized, refreshed and I began not feeling so pressed for time any more.

I knew all along that starting day my after Fajr was a Sunnah of the Prophet (saw), but I mostly forgot the benefits behind why the Prophet instructed this. But, now, after listening to a lecture by Shaikh Hussein ‘Abdel-Sattar, I was reminded of the vast blessings that come from taking care of our dealings after Fajr.

First and foremost, Allah’s Messenger (saw) said that Allah sends the rizq (sustenance) down after Fajr. The term “sustenance” might sound abstract, so what can it mean? Rizq can largely encompass any means by which we survive, obtain food, money, clothes or the like. Shaikh Hussein mentioned that for students this can mean blessings in our studies.

So getting back to the title of this blog post, how do we get two days out of one, right? For this Shaikh Hussein, mentioned a story in which he met some students of knowledge, who had been studying Arabic for only one year, but they had become fluent enough to be reading classical texts in Arabic! Just for a frame of reference, I have studied Arabic for the past four years at the U of F, and I still find difficulty in getting through the classical Arabic texts. What was going on was that these students were implementing a Prophetic practice; they were starting their day after Fajr, continuing up until Dhuhr and afterwards they would take what we would refer to today as a “power nap,” a quick rest of about 30 minutes to refresh themselves, and they would resume their day after that. As the Shaikh points out, there is on average 8 hours between Fajr prayer and Dhuhr prayer, and roughly another 8 between Dhuhr and Asr, so if we implement the Prophetic practice we’re — by our standards today — completing one day in the morning, refreshing ourselves after Thuhr and starting a new day when we wake up! Imagine all we could get done if we just implemented this age old practice!

As Muslims, we must be careful with our time, using it wisely. As Allah states in the Qur’an, “We didn’t create man except for worship.” And in Surat al-Asr, “By the passage of time. Verily man is in a state of loss. Except those who believe, do good deeds and recommend others to do good and to be patient.” How we can do any of this if we’re sleeping 12 hours day?

May Allah allow us and give us the ability to keep this blessed Sunnah alive.

The lecture which I referenced can be found here: http://www.sacredlearning.org/general_talks.htm. Do a search for “Etiquettes of Sleep” and you should find it.

From Fawakih; Avoiding Extremism: keeping the three-pronged approach fresh in our minds (Part 2)

As Muslims, if we reflect upon the other world religions, we can still see semblances of truth in all of them. From Judaism, to Christianity, to even Hinduism, there is some pure aspects to all these religions. And assuming that these religions were once completely pure, where did they go wrong? What happened?

Although we could take all three religions, I’ll take the former two as an example of how extremism can completely derail a religion, and, later, insha’Allah, we’ll see how Allah built Islam with (through his Prophet) mechanisms to act as a hedge against such effects in His religion.

No other religion has had more prophets from Allah than Judaism. But, as history would witness, the Children of Israel put many of their prophets through trials and hardship. They were undoubtedly favored by Allah, but they became extreme in their view of this blessing, and began to think that they were special regardless of religiosity in front of God. So their extremism manifested itself in an overbearing pride that they were never able to overcome. This extreme hubris and istikbar (pride, wanting to dominate) over their prophets eventually bled into their dealings with Allah’s final prophet to them, Jesus (pbuh). They denied his prophethood, insulted him, slandered his mother and plotted against him in conjunction with the Roman overlords. On the other side of the spectrum, some of the followers of Jesus attributed things to him that either gross exaggerations or falsehoods made up by people who didn’t understand the essence of his message. So, in comparison with the Jews, Jesus’ followers took the other extreme: they went beyond the conventional bounds of respect for a prophet and elevated Jesus to being the literal son of God, with some even claiming that Jesus was God incarnate.

But, al-hamdulillah, Islam was revealed as a religion of the middle path or moderation. Muslims don’t deny Jesus’s prophethood or disrespect him, but we don’t elevate him above what Allah ordained either. We say that Jesus (pbuh) was an honored prophet and the messiah, and that he will return at the end of time to purify the Earth from the Dajjal.

The above comparison with Judaism and Christianity only encompasses one aspect of the moderation that can be observed in Islam. The religion of Allah also demands moderation from it’s followers in all forms of worship — that is, Islam requires that there be a balance between studying/learning, praying, and eventually calling or reminding others of their duty toward Allah.

In my previous blog post I mentioned the first stage revelation, and the account of how Allah commanded the Prophet to recite in the name of his Lord. The events immediately following the Prophet’s momentous encounter with Angel Gabriel comprises, as Imam Maged described it, the activist aspect of Islam. As the Sahabi Jabir bin ‘Abdullah Al-Ansari recounts, after the initial revelation (‘Iqra) there was a fatra (break) in Gabriel’s visits to the Prophet. Then one day, while the Prophet was walking he heard a voice from the heavens, it was Gabriel sitting on a chair in the sky. The Prophet was shocked. And, in a startled state, he immediately rushed home and told his wife to wrap him up in blankets. Soon thereafter Allah revealed to him the following verses, “Yaa ayhal mudathir. Qum fa’anthir. Wa rabbukka fakabbir. Wa thyaabaka fatahhir.” (‘O you, covered in your cloak, arise and warn, thy Lord magnify, thy clothes purify.”)

Among the lessons that we can take from this account is that Islam was initially revealed in stages, not all at one time. A characteristic of revelation is that it’s so immense that the human being would not be able to bare the pressure of handling it all of it at one time. A poignant example that this principle can be applied to in our time is when some one converts to Islam. There have been cases that I’ve witnessed that a person just made his testification of faith and someone was already in his face telling him to change his name! We need to be gentle with converts; accepting Islam can be an emotional and stressful experience. Putting everything on a convert right as he enters the Fold is simply unfair and unpractical.

Now, as Imam Maged was saying, this verse substantiates the fact that Muslims must call to good, forbid evil and remind others of Allah and their purpose of creation. This Dawah (calling) is required of every Muslim, regardless of their level of religiosity. Here in America, Muslims have an ample opportunity to present Islam in the most appropriate manner, and there are numerous organizations that a Muslim can become involved with to fulfill this obligation.

And although a person might feel content with his or her level of knowledge of the religion, not teaching, reminding, and calling people to Islam can have disastrous consequences. There is a hadith that compares a hypothetical interaction (or non-interaction) between people who know and those who are ignorant. The hadith states (and I’ll paraphrase for brevity), that the people of understanding and the ignorant are like travelers on a boat. The people of understanding are satisfied with the knowledge have, so they are on top of the boat and getting water and sustenance when they need it from their surroundings. But the ignorant people reside at the bottom of the boat, and they need water (knowledge), but instead of asking the people of understanding to give them water, they say we just put a hole in the bottom of the boat and get our own water! Moral of the story: we are all on one ship. If it sinks, we all sink, regardless of who’s fault it is.

So, to summarize my last two blog posts and Imam Maged’s delineation of a lesson we can take from the beginning of revelation, we need to learn, study and seek knowledge and after gaining understanding we must also inform others about Islam and be activists in the society around us.

Gems from Fawakih: Applying Islam’s three-pronged approach (Part 1: Recite!)

Similar to every part of the Prophet’s life, the beginning of revelation to the Prophet (saw) is something that every Muslim should study in-depth and learn from. It’s also essential that Muslims reflect upon the enormity and gravity of the event. Imagine two of Allah’s best creation meeting, conversing, interacting, marking the beginning of the most blessed years that would ever be seen on earth. Focus on the meaning of what would take place after this meeting. Think about what that meeting means for us, and every Muslim who would be given the ability to testify to the oneness of Allah and practice the Religion of the Prophets, al-Islam (peace, submission, tranquility; (fulfillment our purpose for creation.) This should be our point of departure whenever discussing or taking any lessons from this meeting of incalculable proportions.

Now picture: While the Prophet visits the Cave of Hira to escape the hustle and bustle of an unjust, polytheistic Arabian society:
The Angel Gabriel comes to the Prophet and hugs him tightly (until he (pbuh)) felt like he was going to break), then Gabriel lets go and commands the Prophet, “Iqra!” (Recite!). The Prophet replies, “Ana lustu biqari’” (I’m not a reciter). Gabriel then hugs and shouts the command again, “Iqra!” The Prophet replies once again, “Ana lustu biqari’” The process commences for a third time, but differently: “Iqra’! bismi rabbika aladhy khalaq. Khalaq al-insana min ‘alaq. Iqra’ wa rabbuka al-akram aladhy ‘alama bil-qalam. Alama al-insan ma lem ya’lam.” (Recite! By the name of your lord who created. He who created man from a (clinging thing). Recite and your Lord is the most generous, the one who taught man what he knew not.”

At Fawakih, Imam Maged told the story in such a way that it really induced goose-bumps. But the awe-inspiring nature of the story was only the tip of the iceberg for Imam Maged. He then went on to extrapolate from this story was only one part (of three) in the series of major, over-arching commands to the Prophet (pbuh). With Iqra’ being the command for the Prophet to learn his Lord’s words. In Islam, a person cannot truly worship God without some rudimentary understanding or their Lord and his religion. So here, Allah is implicitly telling the Prophet to learn; learn the Blessed Speech of your Lord!

Imam Maged began to penetrate our (students at Fawakih) hearts even further as he delved into what this meant for us, everyday Muslims. By analogy, Allah is commanding every Muslim who follows the Prophet to the last day to also learn the Divine Speech, and by extension, the Sunnah — the manners, speech, and all ways of the Prophet. **Beneficial tangent: When ‘Aisha was asked about the nature of the Prophet, she summed up his character as a Qur’an walking! Subhan’Allah! **

But as mentioned previously, there are also two other aspects to Islam that are integral for every Muslim. And Subhan’Allah, they both have their own corresponding Surahs as well! How simple, but beautiful has Allah made his Religion?

“Afa la ta’qiloon” (Do you not reflect?)

Fawakih Images in Focus: The Essentiality of Arabic

It’s often said that the more knowledgeable a scholar becomes the more humble he or she gets. I’ve heard this effect compared to a fruit-bearing tree. As the fruit ripen, they weigh down the tree’s branches, almost as if they are prostrating before Allah.

After the first week at the Fawakih Qur’anic Arabic Intensive, I can say first-hand that the little I’ve study so far has really opened my eyes to the depth of the Arabic language and its Peak of Eloquence, al-Qur’an. Of course everyone knows that seekers of ‘Ilm often spend years in this pursuit, but when you observe the material that is out there, it can be overwhelming; minus all the Islamic sciences developed out of it, the language of the Qur’an — its vocabulary, grammar, morphology and rhetoric — is an ocean…

But, as my dear Shaykh Hamza said yesterday in class, “No pain, no gain.” And this gain, i.e. acquisition of the Arabic language, is integral to anyone who seeks to comprehend and experience the miracle of the Qur’an, approach the ahadith appropriately, and to access the classical texts of Islam.

Experiencing the miracle of the Qur’an, as described by Shaykh Hamza, is a feeling of incapacitation, or, in simpler terms, “the wow effect” after observing something that’s humanly impossible. The Shaykh gave an apt analogy regarding the eloquence of the Qur’an and the debilitating effect it had on the Arab poets in competition with one another: Imagine a track star setting the record for the 100 meter dash in 9.4 seconds, and then some one (a more eloquent poet) setting the record at 8.9 seconds. Then, a little while later, a man who never had any training as a track runner, comes and sets the record (the eloquence of the Qur’an) in 4 seconds! If we can grasp this analogy, then we can begin to perceive the ever-living miracle of the Qur’an.

Given, “the Arabic Ocean” can seem a bit overwhelming, but it’s a must for us to struggle and navigate it’s waters. Because without knowledge of the Arabic language, we can not access the Qur’an, ahadith, usul fiqh or any of the uloom al-deen (sciences of the religion) in the way they were meant to be understood. So, for all intents and purposes, if we lose Arabic, we lose Islam.

And although learning Arabic is a long journey for some, there are often captivating spectacles that Allah rewards us with on our voyage to proficiency. For a non-Arab like myself, I always considered it a great blessing that I could follow along with the Qur’an and ruminate about the imagery that Allah put forth therein. And, not to mention, our endearment in this way is also a means of worshiping Allah in itself and gaining proximity to him; and it’s said that when one goes out in search of knowledge all of the malookh (creation) make dua for the seeker.

I know, though, that knowing some vocabulary and verb forms are just the tip of the iceberg. Insha’Allah, this Fawakih program will be a bridge to future studies for me.

A best friend we often forget

The other day i was thinking about some of my really good friends and memorable times that I had with them in the past. Instances where they supported me when I needed help, laughed with me, and had unforgettable moments — whether they be as simple as lifting weights together or playing basketball. I also thought how I should really talk to them more often and keep in touch with them.

A little later — with those same thoughts fresh in mind — I was struck by a simple fact: no one is closer to me, has done more for me, or been around longer with me, than Allah. As our Lord (swt) says in the Qur’an: “It was he who created man, and We know What suggestions his soul makes to him: for We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.” (Surah Qaf: 16)

So while I should pick up a phone and call my friends to catch-up and what-not, establishing a firm, tangible relationship with Allah is far more important.

So to extend my thoughts to our situation as Muslims today, we need to pray and do it consistently and thus establish a firm connection with Allah, because he’s the most deserving of our attention, he’s the closest to us, and he has done the most for us throughout our lives. There’s a saying in Arabic that if we attempted to enumerate all of Allah’s blessings on us, then we would surely lose count. And the benefits of having a close relationship with Allah, cannot be compared to those that we get from our friends, themselves servants of Allah. Having our duas answered, maintaing piece of mind in a crazy world, and the preservation of a dignified state of iman.

May Allah grant us the ability to gain closer spiritual proximity to Him and to be considered among His friends, ameen.

Al-Kahf Part 2:”No knowledge did they have of such a thing”

In the opening verses of Surah al-Kahf, Allah (swt) makes a delineation of a great part of what the Qur’an emphasizes:

(1) All praise is do to Allah who has sent down his book to His servant (Muhammad) and placed it in no crookedness.
(2) It was made straight to warn of a severe punishment from Him, and to give glad tidings to the believers who do righteous deeds that they shall have a fair reward.
(3) They shall abide therein forever.
(4) And to warn those who say Allah has begotten a son.
(5) No knowledge did they have of such a thing. Mighty is the word that comes out of their mouths. They utter nothing but a lie.

Subhan’Allah, from the beginning verse, Allah gets straight to the point, confirming that this book is from Him and it contains in it no flaws, errors or contradictions, therefore there should be no doubt, second thoughts or hesitance in accepting the Qur’an and implementing it in totality.

A clear warning to mankind, the Qur’an makes it clear that our Lord is one and any partnership, lineage or any other form of shirk (polytheism) are all falsehoods, made-up sayings of men who have no true knowledge. Of course, through exegesis, we know that this part is a sort of “call out” to Christians who attribute Jesus with being divine. And when we take the time to match up the historical Jesus (even accounts from the Bible itself) with the one that many Christians purport today we see vast discrepancies. One main example that I love to cite in my discussions with Christians is that NO WHERE in the Bible does Jesus say he is God or does he say that people should worship or even praise him in any way. On the contrary, Jesus makes a clear distinction between himself and God — and in addition to this, the widely accepted notion (by Christians) of the Trinity is not mentioned anywhere therein either. Here Allah’s words should really come alive in our minds: “No knowledge did they have of such a thing.” So in other words, these notions are simply the made-up, non-sensical guesses of a people who had no understanding.

Allah also says, “Mighty is the word that they utter.” As a former Christian, for me, this verse is very profound. When I was a believer in the divinity of Jesus, it (his divinity) was something that was so imbued in my heart that it was one of the main reasons for my delay in accepting Islam. Though it was only for a couple of days, there was so much confusion in my heart that it led to a great deal of anxiety for me. BUT, now, after being Muslim for almost six years, just the thought of God having a human son is so foreign and strange that I sub-conscientiously ask myself how anyone could even utter, much less widely espouse such a thing. Extremely ironic, I know. A SIDE NOTE: It is said that the heavens and the earth shriek when this saying is uttered, i.e. Allah begot a son.

Whether we were born Muslim or converted later, we should count our blessings from Allah that he allowed us to be free from
realm of such beliefs and transgressions — things that will
undoubtedly lead to hell fire — against his majesty, to the
bound-less domain of his mercy, for forgiveness and, by his permission, eventual entrance into his paradise.

For knowledge we should make an about-face

The outline is now in place, from now I’ll set the pace…

Okay, enough random rhyming; now a random thought:
It’s always amazing to be around those who have more knowledge than you. Average conversations with scholars become an oppurtunity to learn something about fiqh, tafseer OR just stuff of benefit in general.

***************

Our first session, the etiquette of seeking knowledge, was really a tone setter for the entire program. Sheikh Hamza Karamali, our teacher for that session, quoted a brilliant hadith which summarized the blessing and honor that we have here as students seeking knowledge.

The Hadith in full: It is related from Abu Waqid al-Laythi that once when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sitting in the mosque with some people, three people arrived. Two of them came up to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the other left. The two stood before the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. One of them saw a place in the gathering and sat in it. Another sat behind the assembly. The third turned around and left. When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, finished, he said, “Shall I tell you about those three people? One of them betook himself to Allah and so Allah took him in His mercy. The second was shy to vause overcrowding and so Allah was shy with him [so He would not punish him]. The other turned away, so Allah turned away [His mercy] from him.”

Sheikh Karamali then went on to add that — by extention — we, students at Fawakih, must choose which of the categories we want to be. Will we be like the first man by being attentive in class, respecting the knowledge and the knowledge giver? Or will we slide down to the second tier of Muslims who are just here passively or because they feel some sort of underlying allegiance toward Allah and His religion? Or, and may Allah keep me out of this group, we will we be of those who don’t even have any shame by not paying attention, taking Islamic scholarship lightly and not doing our outside-of-class assignments? This a hadith for me, as student here, to think about and take seriously, first and foremost…

But, as Muslims, we all need to take a lesson from this hadith. We need to grasp all opportunities that appear in front of us to gain knowledge about this religion. And when these opportunities manifest we need to be attentive and receptive to the content. Although we all have worldly responsibilities, we also have our primary reason for why we were created, i.e. worshipping Allah. And knowledge is an essential factor in fulfilling that obligation.

Thoughts on the first day at Fawakih, every thing’s a go for tomorrow

So I just arrived in Indianapolis today for the start of the Fawakih Qur’anic Arabic Intensive. I wanted to write a quick blog entry to reflect upon the first day here. This was the first verse that came to mind:

“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full Knowledge and is well-acquainted (with all things).” (Surah 49, Verse 13).

So, Al-hamdullilah, although the main reason I came to this program was to devote a month to study, it’s always refreshing to meet some new brothers from around the country who are serious about seeking knowledge as well. And, may God be praised, we have a variety of backgrounds, and I can tell it’s going to be interesting getting to know them over the course of this month…

We all met Shaykh Hamza Karamali today. Masha’Allah, he seems like a very humble and knowledge Imam — and a great Qur’an reciter to boot.

Not much more to write for now. Program starts 10 a.m. sharp tomorrow. I’ll have more to write about then.

A reminder for me first: My intentions of this blog

Although they ALL should, some narrations from the Prophet stick with me far more than others. Among these ahadith that have been basically imprinted into my psyche — and I’ll paraphrase — that among the people in the hell fire are those who call to good things but don’t do those righteous things themselves. Keeping this hadith in mind, I decided to write this:

Though I originally started this blog for a class that I was taking in my junior year at the University of Florida, I decided to keep on writing to share my thoughts and reflections on anything from religion to politics to spontaneous current events.

Lately, though, I have been writing mainly on Islam for various reasons. First and foremost — before I say why I have been focusing on Islam for the last couple months — this blog is a a projection of ideals that I try to follow the best I can. So although I write a lot on Islam, I’m not going to make it seem or try to prop myself up as a scholar or a student of knowledge. I am very much a laymen. I am in a constant struggle to stay on the straight path just like many of my fellow Muslim brother and sisters.

Now, as to why I have been focusing on the deen in my recent posts: my writings give me a reason to reflect on Islam more than I normally would, and as I mentioned before, they provide an outlet for me to express my thoughts. So these two things, which are directly proportional, provide me a reason to keep on writing.

Now, even though it sound greedy and self-centered, this blog for me first. …

After that, if Allah (swt) blesses this blog with a few readers, and allows my writing to act as a mudhkar (reminder) for other Muslims, then al-Hamdullilah (may God be praised).