The –onomy of the oikos –onomy is, of course, from nomos – which, as much as it is law, is custom. Astronomy is thus the observation of the customary behaviour of the heavenly bodies. It became a regular science with Isaac Newton and others who expressed that customary behaviour in terms of the mathematical relations …
Category Archives: Blogroll
Bits and pieces, parts and wholes
“The piece [das Stück] is something other than the part [der Teil]. The part shares itself with parts in a whole. It takes part in the whole, belongs to it. The piece on the contrary is separated and indeed, as the piece, is even isolated from the other pieces. It never shares itself with these …
Khutbah Eid al-Fitr – Norbury Park, London – 2024
The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Qur’an was sent down as guidance for mankind, with Clear Signs containing guidance and discrimination. Any of you who are resident for the month should fast it. But any of you who are ill or on a journey should fast a number of other days. …
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Americanism
My oh my, America! Not so much a place but a state of mind – manifest destiny perhaps, something that everyone on both sides of that deeply divided psychic condition subscribes to, whether explicitly or implicitly – and because of the looking glass world in which we live, much of the world too has …
Unity and Equality
Unrecognised powerful religious forces are at work in the world, particularly the “modern” world. The first, particularly for Americans who religiously and sanctimoniously export it, is equality: “all men are created equal”, which is patently false. Neither by genetic nor familial inheritance is it true, nor in terms of wealth and social advantage is this …
Ian Dallas – a victim of tadlees?
Allah, exalted is He, commands gratitude towards parents after gratitude to Himself. But the teacher is the ‘parent’ about whom Imam al-Ghazali remarked, may Allah be pleased with him, that whereas biological parents save one from the fires of this world such a teacher saves one from the Fire of the next world.
A little ‘asabiyya
Ibn Khaldun noted a historical pattern. A group arises because of what he called ‘asabiyya (esprit de corps being an unsatisfying translation that will do for now), that binding force comprising various elements such as kinship and religion. With their rise, they bring about royal power from within themselves. In the case of the Muslims …
Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace
I det vi sang i dag, peges vi på centraliteten af Allahs Sendebud, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, og at vi må overveje ham og hans rolle i tilværelsen. Jeg ønsker at fremdrage et enkelt aspekt, som er implicit i hans sirah, men som sjældent bliver ekspliciteret: blandt sendebudene, fred være med …
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Vær Hans wali
I begyndelsen En og ingen anden. Profeten, fred og nåde være med ham, sagde: “Allah var, og der var intet med ham.” Den Ene skabte alle modsætningerne: himmel og jord, mand og kvinde, positiv og negativ og så videre, eller vi kan også sige Yin og Yang. En grundlæggende modsætning er mellem slaven, altså dig …
Academia
When thoughtful Greeks experienced distress at the disorder within and the warfare between their societies, some of them, such as Socrates, Plato and others, began to question its causes and then to enquire as to the right way to live as individuals and in societies. It was for this reason that Plato established the Academy. …