Today (21 March 2012) is what is called Human Rights Day in South Africa. It is difficult to define what those in authority mean by this, because the vast majority of people in this country do not have the implementation in their lives of rights covering their sustenance, their health and education, their safety and security, and so many other things. In fact, when it comes to human rights then this country is still in the Dark Ages. I am mentioning this to you not because I am interested in the political games that are being played in the country but because as Muslims we should be very concerned that all people receive enough sustenance, have access to the best kind of education and health care and can live in safety and have job and environmental security. This should be our concern. But this concern is perhaps at the very

The story of creation as we find in the Qur’an and the Prophetic Traditions, provides us with so many lessons about ourselves. After Allah Almighty had created Nabi Adam (a.s.), He instructed the angels to perform a prostration of respect for this new creation. Iblis, who was the head of the jinn, was also told to prostrate. There is no clarity as to whether all the jinn and whatever else existed of heavenly creatures, if there are any, were also asked to prostrate. One may conclude that the call on Iblis to prostrate was part of the call to all of the jinn. But this is only what one can conclude. There is no clarity on these matters. In this call by Allah Almighty for the heavenly creations to prostrate to Nabi Adam (a.s.) lies a major lesson with regard to obedience to, and respect for Allah Almighty. Iblis refused

Our Lord has granted us, and by this I mean all of humanity, special graces through certain individuals on whom He has placed exclusive blessings. Here and there amongst all of humanity a special light shines on through the hearts of certain people, of both genders. They are His Friends. I have read somewhere, I think by Imam Rumi, that if one wishes to be with Allah Almighty, one should be with His Friends. The intensity of their piety and the very special connection with their Lord places us, through our association with them, in a certain sense, with our Lord. We are not them, because in terms of the Divine Decree they occupy a very special place in the “Divine Heart”, for want of a better formulation. Although we are not like them, through our association with them, they mirror to us the enormous possibility of being like them

Religion can be a very lucrative occupation. We have countless modern examples of how the commercialisation of religion fills the pockets of people. One of the writers in America, Upton Sinclair, called one of his books on the subject, The Profits of Religion. And so today many people in the religious worlds have become very rich, because of what they accrue from religion. Here in South Africa the same thing is happening. If one examines, very carefully, what is going on in the Hajj and meat scandals, then one will see the extent to which religious activities are being used to increase people’s bank accounts. I am telling you all of these because since the inception of this Tariqah I have tried very hard to protect our structures from the commercialisation of Islam. Because such commercialisation is generally pushed by different kinds of businesses, it is not always easy to

Allah Almighty has not created us with dual or multiple faces. He gave our original forefather one face, a face that always gave expression to how his heart felt. He did not give his face one appearance for some people and another appearance for other people. It was always the same face. In other words, what his face represented, was always he. The concept of the single face and its physical expression has come down to us till today. And so we do not adapt our faces according to circumstances or according to the people we are engaging with. This is so important for us to understand. People with single faces never have hidden agendas in their relationships with others. They are what they are, and so it is very easy to associate with them, to establish relationships with them and to work hand in hand with them. These people,

On Sunday (19 February 2012) our organisation had a Mawlud programme in Driftsands, not too far from Cape Town. This is not the first time that we’ve had a Mawlud there, but I mention this because our organisation has regular Mawluds in the townships. This is new in South Africa, because previously Mawluds were only held in what was called “Coloured” and “Indian” areas. So it is quite strange for people to go out to the townships and celebrate the birthday of Nabi Muhammad (ﷺ) with the people living there. It is especially strange, because it was not done like this before. We are people of little understanding, that is why we never celebrated the Messenger’s (ﷺ) birthday in the townships. It was believed although never said so, that his (ﷺ) birthday had to be celebrated among people who were not “Black”, because of historical reasons. This sounds very strange,

The month of Rabi-ul-Awwal is, of course, the month in which the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was born on the twelfth; so throughout the world people have been celebrating his birth. There were many heavenly signs associated with his birth but that is not what I want to talk about. Here in Cape Town in our Tariqah, we celebrate his coming onto the Dunya by constantly reciting Salawat on him privately, and in public. We recite Salawat on him after Jumu’ah on a Friday. In one of the Holy Traditions he said: “Recite considerable Salawat on me on the Day of Jumu’ah”. Of course, this Day of Jumu’ah stretches from Maghrib on what is called Thursday evening to Maghrib on what is called Friday evening. As is characteristic of the Muslim nation, the recital of the Salawat on the Day of Jumu’ah has divided us. There are major divisions within

On many occasions, especially when our movement goes through unnecessary trauma, I think of the spiritual development of each one of us. Wanting spiritual development was the reason for us coming together originally, and such development was the goal that each one of us reached out to. I’m positive that many of the murids have already achieved some success in reaching their goal. Others, not prepared to comprehend properly the patterns of behaviour in spirituality, continue to slip and stumble, despite what is taught to them. I have warned on many occasions about the difficulty of this path, especially about how we have to behave when it comes to stresses in relationships. I cannot over-emphasise the importance of this. Once, Mawlana was very upset with me because I didn’t wish him to kiss my hand. He became very angry and stepped back from me. I left his room traumatised because