Articles

Abdullah bin Hamid Ali comments on the hadith of the Prophet, "Do Not Be Angry", with advice on how to control our anger.

Every day we hear about the plight of our planet Earth. Most of us feel helpless; either we don’t see the relevance given our privileged lives, or, on the other hand, we make pledges that we often don’t really follow through with. Perhaps it is time to start small and be resolved. At 8.30 pm on Saturday the 29th of March 2014, hundreds of millions of people across the globe will switch off the lights in homes and businesses for one hour – Earth Hour. This hour is the world’s largest unified public environmental action, acknowledging how each of us can take deliberate action to benefit the planet in the year ahead.

The question of Qur'anic interpretation is at the heart of any juristic interpretation. Some questions have been debated throughout Islamic history, while others, are a product of the unique circumstances that face the Muslim-American community in the twenty-first century. Who possesses the authority to interpret the Qur’an? What are the limits of Qur'anic interpretation? If the Qur’an is universal, then how do its interpretations continue to be relevant for every age and society? When there is a multiplicity of interpretations, how do we determine which interpretation best reflects God’s intention?

Reima Yosif comments on Surah Al-Baqarah and applying our own personal standards on others. If God does not burden us beyond our capacity, why do we burden others beyond theirs?

The puzzling question that often comes to mind is, if God is merciful, more than a mother to her child, then how can He punish anyone, believer or nonbeliever, of His creation? How can He promise hellfire to those who disbelieve?

Whether it is International Women’s Day or a Women’s History Month, we respect the customs of our land to share beneficial stories of encouragement and this story is about one courageous woman of deep religious and spiritual commitment and character, like our mothers Sarah and Hagar. She exemplifies for us all, both male and female, how to move from fear to hope, migration to stabilization, and affirmation to grace.

In 2003, I led a delegation of women from the United States to Afghanistan to celebrate International Women’s Day in Kabul. There was a remarkable air of excitement and discussion about the potential advancements Afghanistan could make towards gender equality. Fast forward to over ten years later and the conversation is dramatically different

When someone accepts Islam we often feel happiness for the person. Once someone is a Muslim however, we often times do not have that same feeling of joy when that person appears to be elevated by God in a more meaningful connection to Him or His Prophet.

Time has value, hence the phrase time is money. There is a common shared knowledge among self-aware beings that this abode, this station, and this world, is temporal. The way of life for a Muslim is one that necessarily makes its adherents aware of the value of time, as believers bow and prostrate to their Creator five times a day.

There is something sticky about human-to-human. In this day and age of Youtube, podcasts, and other forms of electronic communications, many of us are turning to technology for our spiritual development. But it can’t be stated enough that face-to-face human interaction is the ultimate form of learning.

Although we cannot control the judgments others may make of us based solely on our appearance, we can try to control the way we perceive and judge others. Ultimately our goal is to not focus on the things we see with our eyes, but to focus on the realities that we perceive with our hearts.

NASA announced this week the discovery of 715 new planets. This discovery, along with modern theoretical physics, may now shed light on a Qur'anic commentary from Ibn Abbas fifteen hundred years ago.