The Meaning of La Ilaha Illa Allah: An Annotated Translation of Imam al-Zarkashi’s Treatise on the Islamic Testimony of Faith
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Hindutva and Anti-Muslim Violence: How to Navigate Hindu Supremacy
Safa AhmedHindutva does not only harm Muslims in India; it has found resonance in diasporic communities, involves itself in transnational repression, and openly pledges its allegiance to other far-right movements. Its supporters amplify Zionist propaganda that enables Israel’s genocide in Palestine, provide...
The Divine Wisdom Behind the Pairing of Allah's Names in the Qur'an
Jinan Yousef“Allah has ninety-nine names. Whoever preserves (ahsaha or hafidhaha) them will enter Paradise.” Such was the teaching of the Prophet ﷺ. Many of us have heard this hadith, but fewer of us have internalized the true scope of its meaning. To preserve Allah’s names is not simply to memorize them—it is...
Love and Hate for God’s Sake: Revisiting the Doctrine of al-Wala’ wal-Bara’
Dr. Hatem al-HajProperly reconciling commitment to God and compassion for man is among the most pressing needs of today’s world. It is no secret that Muslims’ relationship with the “other” (including fellow believers of other theological orientations) has become such a major trial for many—particularly those...
Marriage and Gender Roles in Islam: Beyond Rights and Duties
Dr. Tesneem AlkiekOver the past two centuries, Muslim societies confronted what often felt like insurmountable trials: from colonial domination and military defeat to political fragmentation and institutional decay. And yet, even as the Western world began to stagger under the recoil of the very ideologies it...
Virtues of Surah al-Baqara: Healing and Protection in the Qur’an’s Longest Chapter
Sh. Suleiman HaniOne night, standing underneath the vast stretch of the starry sky, Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr found himself reciting Surah al-Baqara. His horse, tied beside him, suddenly grew agitated. When Ibn Ḥuḍayr paused his recitation, the horse fell silent. He resumed his recitation, only for the horse to again become...
Surah al-Fatiha’s Benefits and Virtues: The Greatest Surah in the Qur’an
Sh. Suleiman HaniSurah al-Fatiha is the greatest surah in the Qur’an, the foundation of Islam, the summary of truth, a healing for illnesses, a comfort for worries, a protection, and a fortress. Surah Al-Fatiha is an unrivaled divine revelation to the final nation, recited at least seventeen times a day by Muslims...
Jealousy for Faith and the Ummah: Developing a Gheerah Mindset | Blog
Dr. Samir Sweida-MetwallyThis essay explores the global protests against the genocide in Palestine, emphasizing that Muslim advocacy should go beyond reactive measures. It calls for anchoring actions in an Islamic framework centered on gheerah—a concept of protective jealousy that fosters solidarity and purpose. By...
Breaking Free: Unshackling the Muslim Mind from Secular Thought and Reestablishing the Islamic Personality
Daniyah HanniniYou do you.You’re the captain of your own ship.My body, my choice. These and similar platitudes have embedded themselves in both modern vernacular and the individual psyche. Charles Taylor has described our time as an “age of authenticity,” defined by the moral imperative to “find yourself, realize...
Does Thanksgiving Make a Mockery of Gratitude? | Blog
Tom FacchineI don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but I do believe in giving thanks. Gratitude is one of those values that is as close to a universal value that we have. I certainly have not seen any culture actively encourage entitlement. But the trouble with even universal values is that, when kept vague, apparent...
How Muhammad ﷺ Confronted Hate and Became The Most Influential Person in History
Sh. Mohammad ElshinawyIn the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful To delegitimize the Messenger ﷺ is to call into question the entire message. During his time, the Meccans called him a poet, a magician, and a madman, among other names. Today, he is insulted with other labels. But perhaps the most...
Jealousy for Faith and the Ummah: Developing a Gheerah Mindset | Blog
Dr. Samir Sweida-MetwallyThis essay explores the global protests against the genocide in Palestine, emphasizing that Muslim advocacy should go beyond reactive measures. It calls for anchoring actions in an Islamic framework centered on gheerah—a concept of protective jealousy that fosters solidarity and purpose. By...
Breaking Free: Unshackling the Muslim Mind from Secular Thought and Reestablishing the Islamic Personality
Daniyah HanniniYou do you.You’re the captain of your own ship.My body, my choice. These and similar platitudes have embedded themselves in both modern vernacular and the individual psyche. Charles Taylor has described our time as an “age of authenticity,” defined by the moral imperative to “find yourself, realize...
Does Thanksgiving Make a Mockery of Gratitude? | Blog
Tom FacchineI don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but I do believe in giving thanks. Gratitude is one of those values that is as close to a universal value that we have. I certainly have not seen any culture actively encourage entitlement. But the trouble with even universal values is that, when kept vague, apparent...
With elections nearing in the United States, individuals in the Muslim community are offering their views on who to vote for or whether we should vote at all. Given the backdrop of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the US’s direct role therein, the stakes seem particularly high, and Muslims are...
How Muhammad ﷺ Confronted Hate and Became The Most Influential Person in History
Sh. Mohammad ElshinawyIn the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful To delegitimize the Messenger ﷺ is to call into question the entire message. During his time, the Meccans called him a poet, a magician, and a madman, among other names. Today, he is insulted with other labels. But perhaps the most...
Al-Ghazali and the Golden Rule: Ethics of Reciprocity in the Works of a Muslim Sage
Anonymous Guest Author
The golden rule (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”) has become an important focal point in modern interfaith dialogue with Muslims. As an ethical concept, it can be transferred more or less intact between different religions and philosophies, with or without the authority of...
Is Islam a Conquest Ideology? On Jihad, War, & Peace
Surkheel Sharif
Does the construct of jihad equate to ‘perpetual war’ in Islam’s grand political scheme? And was the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ mostly about blood and gore and body counts? These are the core issues addressed here. Muslim scholars have long identified two types of jihad (lit. “striving” in...
Shame, Morality, and Emotions: Understanding the Prophetic Model of Intelligence
Mikaeel Ahmed Smith
The Prophetic model of intellect or ʿaql is a combination of divinely inspired moral intelligence and emotional intelligence. A complete moral education strives to perfect one’s moral identity by focusing on five areas: (1) moral compass development; (2) moral sensitivity calibration; (3) moral...
It’s Okay Not to Know God’s Plan
Dr. Edward Omar Moad
It is okay not to know why God does what He does. In fact, it is not our business. Our business is to know what God asks us to do, and then to do it. How do we know what God wants us to do? Certainly not by figuring out why He does what He does, and then calculating from that baseless speculation....
The Ethical Worldview of the Qur'an
Dr. Yasien Mohamed
A worldview is a comprehensive philosophical view of the world we live in and interact with and it encompasses all aspects of reality, physical and metaphysical. A worldview represents one’s most fundamental beliefs and assumptions about the universe one inhabits. It is the perspective from which...
Al-Ghazali and the Golden Rule: Ethics of Reciprocity in the Works of a Muslim Sage
Anonymous Guest Author
The golden rule (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”) has become an important focal point in modern interfaith dialogue with Muslims. As an ethical concept, it can be transferred more or less intact between different religions and philosophies, with or without the authority of...
Is Islam a Conquest Ideology? On Jihad, War, & Peace
Surkheel Sharif
Does the construct of jihad equate to ‘perpetual war’ in Islam’s grand political scheme? And was the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ mostly about blood and gore and body counts? These are the core issues addressed here. Muslim scholars have long identified two types of jihad (lit. “striving” in...
Shame, Morality, and Emotions: Understanding the Prophetic Model of Intelligence
Mikaeel Ahmed Smith
The Prophetic model of intellect or ʿaql is a combination of divinely inspired moral intelligence and emotional intelligence. A complete moral education strives to perfect one’s moral identity by focusing on five areas: (1) moral compass development; (2) moral sensitivity calibration; (3) moral...
It’s Okay Not to Know God’s Plan
Dr. Edward Omar Moad
It is okay not to know why God does what He does. In fact, it is not our business. Our business is to know what God asks us to do, and then to do it. How do we know what God wants us to do? Certainly not by figuring out why He does what He does, and then calculating from that baseless speculation....
The Ethical Worldview of the Qur'an
Dr. Yasien Mohamed
A worldview is a comprehensive philosophical view of the world we live in and interact with and it encompasses all aspects of reality, physical and metaphysical. A worldview represents one’s most fundamental beliefs and assumptions about the universe one inhabits. It is the perspective from which...
From Gaza to Islam: Understanding the Qur'an's Transformative Power
Roohi Tahir
Amid the devastating genocide raging through Gaza, from the rubble emerges an indestructible light that has captivated the hearts of people across the world—the faith and resilience of the people of Gaza. This isn’t the first war. Sadly, this also isn’t the first time that ethnic cleansing of an...
Is Islam Antisemitic? Analyzing the Hadith About Jews, the Dajjal and the End of Times Prophecy
Anonymous Guest Author
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Grantor of Mercy How an end times prophecy was manipulated by anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hatemongers A Jordanian cleric visiting Canada recently misleadingly cited a hadith without context or explanation, which rightly triggered condemnations from the...
Are All Religions the Same? Islam and the False Promise of Perennialism
Tom Facchine
Martin Lings the perennialist Most English-speaking Muslims are familiar with the biography of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ written by Martin Lings, entitled Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources. A staple of book clubs, this book has rightly earned high praise for its readability, erudition,...
"Be a Man!" Constructing Prophetic Masculinity
Yahya Ibrahim
“Be a man, stop this crying right this minute!” These words are familiar to most adult men today as a part of their upbringing, irrespective of their heritage. Undoubtedly, the conceptualization of “manliness” has always been dependent on context. But it seems always to be relevant, whether to...
Abrogated Rulings in the Qur’an: Discerning their Divine Wisdom
Anonymous Guest Author
Abrogation in the Qur’an refers to the phenomenon of a later verse changing or altering a ruling established by a verse revealed earlier, either in whole or in part. Later scholars developed diverging technical definitions of abrogation that differed slightly from the linguistic usage of earlier...
