One day I was giving a lesson to my students. The topic was envy (ḥasad), and I wanted its evil reality to be impressed upon their hearts and minds. Dry admonition alone seldom leaves an impact. So, I began with a story: It is said that a fox once lost its tail. When it came… Continue reading The Tale of the Fox’s Tail is False
Folding of Space and Time
ʿAllāmah ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Shaʿrānī reports in Lawāqiḥ al-anwār fī ṭabaqāt al-akhyār that his own shaykh, ʿAlī al-Khawwāṣ, would be seen at the time of ẓuhr in his shop in Miṣr (Cairo). Yet no one ever saw him perform the prayer there. When asked why he did not pray ẓuhr, he would remain silent. Later, however,… Continue reading Folding of Space and Time
Why do you use your mind?
It was a blessed Friday morning, 21 Ṣafar 1447 AH, when we set out at nine o’clock on the train bound for al-Madīnah al-Ṭayyibah. Those moments carried within them a spiritual attraction, as though every particle of the air was infused with luminous fragrance, and an unseen elation spread across the heart and mind. Among… Continue reading Why do you use your mind?
Principles of Discussion
The fundamental principle of research and scholarly discourse is to understand correctly the relationship between language and meaning. In any investigation or intellectual debate, the first step is to recognise clearly that the word and its meaning are not one and the same. When we utter a word, it does not in itself contain the… Continue reading Principles of Discussion
The Eyes Were Made to See You
Eyes behold the speck of dust, the towering mountains, the towns and the wastelands, the moon and the stars, the dazzling radiance of the sun – yet they find no contentment, nor is their wonder ever exhausted. The heavens are a relentless adversary, the earth is the dwelling place of strangers, the whole world is… Continue reading The Eyes Were Made to See You
Then What?
You wish to be wealthy and well-off—trading, earning, planting, harvesting, storing money—captivated by the blossom of this world, content with its adornments, immersed in its pursuit to the utmost degree. You rush to pleasures and comforts, favouring the company of bad companions, moving from one amusement and pastime to another. You aspire to strength and… Continue reading Then What?
Beyond States and Stations
The travellers upon the ṭarīqah take pleasure in discussing such states as constriction and expansion, grief and joy, awe and intimacy, intoxication and sobriety, ecstasy and quenching, effacement and affirmation, variability and steadiness, and the like. They deem these states and fluctuations to be their ultimate aim. How limited in capacity are those beginners who… Continue reading Beyond States and Stations
You Can Build the Taj Mahal, but Not the Kaʿbah
It was a Friday — the blessed moment of the fourteenth of Ṣafar, 1447 AH — when our feet touched the soil of Jeddah, and it was inscribed upon the Preserved Tablet of time that a caravan was setting out towards its true homeland. Before the hour was complete, the caravan’s direction turned towards Makkah.… Continue reading You Can Build the Taj Mahal, but Not the Kaʿbah
The Help of Allah Cannot Be Compared to the Help of Man
Today, the world feels foreign to the Muslim. It seems as though he is a resident of a forsaken land. His boat has broken upon the flowing stream; he is battered by the waves of a storm, helpless and far from the shore, witnessing his own sinking with no one to save him. His garden… Continue reading The Help of Allah Cannot Be Compared to the Help of Man
Do Not Cling to the Fading Light of Yesterday
Every day, the sun rises upon the horizon in its full splendour, and then gradually sets, disappearing into the folds of night. Yet, that very sun returns each morning with fresh light, renewed life, and revived hope. This immutable law of nature delivers to us a timeless message: every sunset is not an end, but… Continue reading Do Not Cling to the Fading Light of Yesterday