During my travels overseas, especially Lefke, and also some personal experiences I had with people, it is one of the most amazing facts that the banner of Islam today is being raised high by those whom we call reverts. It is quite true that these people have reverted back to the state in which they were born. This is a state of Fitrah. All people are born with this; a state in which they accept the unity of God. This means that when they recite Shahadah after having gone through a period in their lives of disbelief or another religion, then such recital is in fact a reversion back to their previous pure state. One is always amazed at the teachings of Islam on these matters, teachings which always prove beyond a shadow of a doubt the truth of this religion. Islam teaches that when non-Muslims recite Shahadah, all their

On Sunday afternoon, 1st May 2011, I listened to four of our ladies delivering small talks on Islam. I could hardly believe the display of capability that I witnessed. I was a lecturer in Didactics at the university and so I understand a little bit about delivering talks or lectures or whatever the case might be. This was my work. I sat in awe because these ladies, untrained in the field of Didactics, were displaying many of the principles that I taught my students. I felt intensely proud of them. Unfortunately, as usual, a number of murids did not turn up. Some had good reasons and some had none. I have always been of the opinion that Allah (ﷻ) has given something special to women, because of their womenhood. Most women do not realize this. They think that they are bringing satisfaction to their Lord by spending a large part

One of the most striking statements made by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) is: “I have come to perfect human behaviour.” An examination of his (ﷺ) life, and of his (ﷺ) teachings, indicate that he (ﷺ) was referring to all forms of human behaviour. It must be understood that all the behaviour of Muslims has its origins in the Shariah or the Divine teachings. I do not know if there is anything that we do, or if there is any relationship that we establish that falls outside the realm of the Shariah. I do not think so. Even the drinking of a glass of water, or the way one dresses, have their origins in what Allah (ﷻ) or His Messenger (ﷺ) teach. This is a remarkable thing, and so those who glibly say that Islam is a way of life, are in fact speaking the truth. They should mean, and

Many of us, if not all of us, came into this Tariqah with major baggage of sins and indiscretion that we had generated over the years. In many cases, there has not been consistent sincere repentance for all our bad deeds, and there were also no sincere apologies to Allah (ﷻ) for what we had done, and a promise that we will not do that again. To ask for repentance and to promise not to repeat the sin are two essential elements in a process of appealing to one’s Lord, to wipe one’s Record clear. There must also be, of course, as I have written in a previous letter, the understanding that repentance erases the contents of one’s Book. This is perhaps one of the major graces that Allah (ﷻ) has granted us. He has provided us with a means of cleaning our Books. Sometimes, because of the communities in

There is deep gratitude in many of us for the fact that Allah (ﷻ) has turned us in His direction. Although we say, as we understand, that we have turned in His direction, it is not so. The understanding is that every single event and every single movement in all of creation are as our Lord has decreed, and as He has put into operation. This is difficult for us to understand, because we see ourselves as makers of our own personal history, and we also see ourselves as making our personal decisions. This is as it appears, but it is not as it is. So when, for example, we say that we have turned in our Lord’s direction, we in fact mean that Allah (ﷻ) has turned us towards Him, in order to satisfy our spiritual needs. Allah (ﷻ) decides as he wishes and turns into His direction those

I have written so many letters on our women folk and sometimes I receive pro-male emails from persons who believe all kinds of strange things about the genders. I have said on numerous occasions and I want to say again, if we know the standing of women in the “eyes” of our Lord, we will kiss their feet every day. We have been made to believe by male scholars that women are the “weaker” sex or the “other gender” or even the “disposable” gender. If one examines the history of Islam and the role of women in different disciplines of knowledge, we would talk otherwise. Again, if we examine the history of Islam, especially the initial period, we will see the role of women in teaching the transmissions of Prophetic Traditions, the keeping of the first Mushaf, and in major intellectual developments. The many women of Madinah especially, were great

Some time ago (May 2011), I read the story of Sayyiduna Uthman (r.a.) and how he was killed. My heart sank. I could not understand how Muslims, even some who had met Nabi Muhammad (ﷺ) or had met those who had met him (ﷺ), could allow or could be part of an act that brought major Divine dissatisfaction on the Muslim community. His death just a few years after the demise of Nabi Muhammad (ﷺ), was perhaps one of the most despicable actions in the history of our religion. He was well over eighty at the time, and his blood spilled from his wounds onto the pages of the Qur’an he was reciting. Even up to today, one cannot understand this action against him. One cannot understand, whatever the reasons might be, that a few individuals could take it upon themselves to pass sentence of death on him and to

Every now and then one hears or reads about scathing attacks against the Awliya’ of Allah (ﷻ). In many cases, as in a recent case on one of the radio stations, there is very little understanding of the sources and the nature of what Awliya’ say. It is for this reason that over the centuries some of our greatest scholars, such as Imams Ghazali, Ibn Arabi and Rumi, for example, have been declared outside the pale of Islam. Their writings were misunderstood. In fact those who criticize them have almost no understanding of what we call internal knowledge. We always have to go to the Qur’an to solve our problems. When Nabi Musa (a.s.), the representative of the Divine Law at the time, met Sayyiduna Khidr (r.a.), one who had received knowledge from his Lord’s Presence; it was a meeting of the exponents of external knowledge (Nabi Musa (a.s.)) and

Sometimes our hearts are filled with matters, which make us cry, and other times, they are filled with matters, which we wish to share with others. Both the tears and the knowledge, in a sense, have their origins in the heart, as we understand. We do not always know what it was that caused the tears to originate in the hearts, neither do we know the origin of the knowledge that fills the hearts. There are times when there is a deep desire to have knowledge from the Presence of Allah (ﷻ), but this is only a desire. In reality, it is only for very special servants that Allah (ﷻ) grants that kind of knowledge. It is strange that one of the greatest Messengers, Nabi Musa (a.s.) who was called Kalimullah, because he was able to engage in conversation with his Lord, did not receive the grace of knowledge from

All of us are very minute particles in the cosmos. This vast creation of our Lord is so enormous that to talk of ends or beginnings is playing games. Its vastness just stretches and stretches, appearing almost endless. Somewhere on one of its smallest planets in one of its smallest solar systems in this universe, we are situated. In relation to the vastness of the cosmos or all of the universes or whatever you want to call them, we are so insignificant; perhaps the most insignificant creation, as we understand. But, in all of this – we do not know what happens in most of the rest of the creation – Allah (ﷻ) appears to have focused on this planet, in some way that we do not understand. It is one of those unbelievable mysteries of our Lord’s creation that He (ﷻ) has given special attention to planet Earth or