Praise – from Ibn Juzayy’s Tafseer

Hamd (praise) is more general and inclusive than shukr (thanks or gratitude), because thanks and gratitude are only a recompense for a favour, whereas hamd is both a recompense like thanks and is also spontaneous praise.

Similarly, shukr may be more general and inclusive than hamd, because praise is expressed by the tongue, and thanks is expressed by tongue, heart and limbs.

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Is’af al-Mubatta fi Rijal al-Muwatta – Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti

Our shaykh the learned scholar and Hafidh of the age, Jalal ad-Din al-Asyuti ash-Shafi’i, may Allah make spacious his allotted period, says:

Praise belongs to Allah for His universal bounty, and blessings and peace upon our master Muhammad and his family and companions with the purest of blessings and most complete grantings of peace. This is a subtle composition of biographical notices of narrators mentioned in the Muwatta of Imam Malik which is revised and exactly defined more than other books composed about that for whoever can see. I have named it Is’af al-Mubatta’ bi rijal al-Muwatta.

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Mahabbah – Love of Allah by Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi

Mahabbah – Love of Allah
“But those who have iman have greater love for Allah.” (S?rat al-Baqarah: 165)
Know that the slave’s love of his Lord has two degrees: first, the love of the generality which no mu’min is without, and which is incumbent, and second, the love of the elite which only the Lordly men of knowledge and pure awliy?’ have, and which is the highest of all the stations, and the goal of all goals, because all the other stations of the ??li??n such as fear, hope, reliance etc., are based on the portions of the self. Do you not see that the fearful person only fears for himself, and that the hopeful person only hopes for benefit to himself, contrary to love which is for the sake of the Beloved and is thus not something given in exchange for something else (mu‘?wa?ah).
Know that the cause for the love of Allah is knowledge (ma‘rifah) of Him, so that love strengthens in proportion to the strength of the knowledge and weakens in proportion to the weakness of the knowledge, because what requires love is one of two things, which if united in a person from among the creation of Allah, exalted is He, has attained the furthest limit of perfection. The first requirement is goodness and beauty, and the second is excellent good behaviour (i?s?n) and liberal generosity (ijm?l). As for beauty it is loveable intrinsically because man necessarily loves everything he reckons beautiful, and ijm?l is like the beauty of Allah in His far-reaching wisdom and His wonderful doings, and His beautiful attributes whose lights shine out, which induce wonder in intellects and stir the hearts. The beauty of Allah is only grasped by inner sight (ba??rah) not by sight (ba?ar).
As for good treatment (i?s?n) hearts have been created loving whoever treats them well, and Allahs’ good treatment of His slaves is uninterrupted and His blessings to them are both inward and outward, “If you tried to number Allah’s blessings, you could never count them” (S?rah Ibr?h?m: 34). It is enough for you that He treats both the obedient and the disobedient well, and the mu’min and the k?fir. Every good treatment ascribed to someone else is in reality from Him, and He alone is deserving of love.
Know that when love is firmly established in the heart, its traces manifest on the limbs, such as in earnest obedience and being actively engaged in serving Him, eager to earn His good pleasure, enjoying intimate discourse with Him, being satisfied with His decree, yearning to meet Him, intimacy with His remembrance, feeling averse to other than Him, fleeing from people, isolating oneself in seclusion, the world leaving the heart, loving everyone whom Allah loves and preferring them over others. Al-??rith al-Mu??sib? said, “Love is your surrendering yourself to the Beloved entirely, and then your preferring Him to your self and your spirit, then your being in accord with him secretly and outwardly, and then your knowledge of your own shortcomings in your love of Him.”
“But those who have iman have greater love for Allah.” (Surat al-Baqarah: 165)
Know that the slave’s love of his Lord has two degrees: first, the love of the generality which no mu’min is without, and which is incumbent, and second, the love of the elite which only the Lordly men of knowledge and pure awliya’ have, and which is the highest of all the stations, and the goal of all goals, because all the other stations of the salihun such as fear, hope, reliance etc., are based on the portions of the self. Do you not see that the fearful person only fears for himself, and that the hopeful person only hopes for benefit to himself, contrary to love which is for the sake of the Beloved and is thus not something given in exchange for something else (mu‘awadah). Continue reading “Mahabbah – Love of Allah by Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi”

The Party’s Over

This article was written during the unfolding scandals involving the banking collapse, then the exposure of British Parliamentarians’ dipping their hands in the till and finally the revelation, that came as a surprise to no one, that journalists on a certain major newspaper regularly flouted law and decency to spy on large numbers of people in order to get their stories.

What is it about this phrase? It is dour and kill-joy, and it is grey-suited. It is adult in that sort of grey manner that we recognise as responsible, even if we also know that it is precisely such people who are responsible for the destruction of much of the biosphere. So when it is grey-suited killjoys who tell us that the party is over, then we must ask ourselves some serious questions.

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An Open Letter to the Muslim Council of Britain

This open letter was occasioned by the action of the MCB in co-operating with leading British figures of the Jewish and Christian religions to denounce the ‘usury’ practised by banks as the RBS. See this report in the Guardian.

Dear Brothers,

As-salamu alaikum,

First of all, I would like to congratulate you for having restored the word usury in public discourse. Even though the entire earth is under a deluge of usury it is still regarded as a crime by Muslims, as it used to be by Christians and Jews, and it is well that the concept is in use pejoratively again. This is an important achievement.

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The Dallas Institute

The Dallas InstituteThe Dallas Institute was founded in 2004 by a group of European Muslim scholars and teachers committed to offering higher education to our youth, an education aimed at forging a generation of leaders trained to understand the world situation and equipped with the necessary knowledge to play active roles in transforming society by restoring high and noble values.

The Dallas Institute is offering an intense nine month course of study in the following subjects:

Geopolitics – The study of events on differing terrains and in different countries, the causes of crises and the inter-relationship of local events.

Biopolitics – The study of the causes and connections by which individuals have historically imposed themselves on, altered or dominated event

Classical Roman Studies – The study that gives access to the foundations of Western political thought and leads to a classical political training

Islamic Knowledge – The Arabic language, Fiqh, Aqidah and Sirah.

Language studies – Urdu, English and Chinese.

Media studies – The study of diverse methods for the dissemination of ‘messages’ such as book publishing, the internet, film, radio and TV.

The course begins on the 15th of February, 2010.

For more information, download The Dallas Institute Prospectus or contact us at The Ihsan Mosque for more information.

Forord til Den Gavmilde Qur’an – en fremlægning af de tre første suraer

Med disse tre suraer indleder vi vor fremlægning af Den Gavmilde Qur’an til Danmarks befolkning i sikker overbevisning om, at den vil blive mødt af de mest positive og åbne sind. Sandheden er, at dette arbejde skulle have været udført for længst. Lige siden Søren Kierkegaard i sine sidste år kaldte på en tilbagevenden til Jesus’ virkelige lære, er behovet for at bringe dansk levevis tilbage til et åndeligt grundlag kun vokset.  Continue reading “Forord til Den Gavmilde Qur’an – en fremlægning af de tre første suraer”