Author Archives: Faraz Sheikh

What is important here is to decide what i am going to mean by “aamanna bihi” generally rendered “we believe in it”. what does it mean to say that? is the Quran asking me to believe in something that I do not understand? is it asking me to not try to interpret and understand? iContinue reading “3:7 “we find safety with it””

what is the truth about the people of pharoh? and their killing the sons while leaving the women alive? what is the terrible suffering here that the people of pharoh inflict upon me and how is it also a trial from God? what is the parting of the sea and how does God save meContinue reading “2:49-50”

I get shocked everyday. People are not bothered to find out if any given claim in some supposed revelation is true or not. They don’t celebrate the realization of truth like it was a light that took them out of some darkness. Instead, they want religion! They are interested in religious debates and doctrines andContinue reading “true or not”

chapter 66 is puzzling at first sight, especially if the sight is tainted with baseless assumptions that whatever it said is a report of some historical event that must have happened, an assumption that whether or not i find here any truth that guides me, i am still going to just accept it as GodsContinue reading “my attempts at peace and my real friends – 66:1”

This is what verse 10 of chapter 22 claims: “This is an outcome of what your hands have sent – for, God does not do wrong (zulm) to His creatures” The verses claim that human beings suffer in hellfire because of what they do, not because God is punishing them unjustly. but even a childContinue reading “22:9-10”

it is both simple and complicated. how much should i work? should i enjoy it? what if i dont? work a lot? just enough? not at all? is there a passion so strong that if i were to find and follow it, i would (like the cliche says), not have to work a single dayContinue reading “labor”

No matter how much you tell a child, “Dont worry, when your parents die, they will go to God/heaven and you will see them again and live with them forever!”, it doesn’t quite cut it. It doesn’t lessen his dread of ‘losing’ his loved ones because in the mind of the child (and adult childrenContinue reading “face of God”

It is curious that verses in the Quran mentions human and rocks/stones as fuel for hell (2:24). Rocks, solid bodies of matter: they do not understand, feel or think as far as I can tell. Things of the same kind, for the same reason, it seems, should merit hell. I therefore think about how humanContinue reading “humans, rocks & destroyed bodies”

It is feb 9th 2023 today. An earthquake hit southeast Turkey and northern Syria and other places on Feb 6th. Thousands died and many more are injured and even more are affected by widespread death and destruction and suffering. I am affected. Sadenned. I wish it didn’t happen. I hope it doesn’t happen to meContinue reading “of earthquakes and revelation”

I realized something today..again…and i thought i’ll write it down..again..there are probably other blog entries where i have said this in different ways perhaps..and i have come to realize what i am about to say by what the Quran teaches..but let me just say it here without going to verses… ideas and claims are trueContinue reading “the truth about “dont judge me””

إِنَّ عِدَّةَ ٱلشُّهُورِ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ٱثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْرًا فِى كِتَـٰبِ ٱللَّهِ يَوْمَ خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ مِنْهَآ أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمٌ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلدِّينُ ٱلْقَيِّمُ فَلَا تَظْلِمُوا۟ فِيهِنَّ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَقَـٰتِلُوا۟ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ كَآفَّةً كَمَا يُقَـٰتِلُونَكُمْ كَآفَّةً وَٱعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ I may be wrong but I think If you read the existing english translations of this verse (and this is true of so so many other verses…perhaps even all the verses) and if you come to this verse with assumptions about who you are and aren’t, and why you are reading the verse, andContinue reading “9:36”

ibada or what is called worship..what is it? kufr or what is called denial or unbelief (and the disbelievers)…what is it? who are they? i should look at my life to understand what my maker means when he tells me to say ‘o deniers..i do not worship what you worship..’ in this, i assume, isContinue reading “109-1”

some will say “one is distracted by the life of this world…by work, by family..by this or that…and therefore we have prayer to bring us back to god…”.they want false living (not living in God’s name) to be remedied by prayer and true worship..few times a day one will turn to god, they imagine, andContinue reading “false living and true worship”

Yes, there is always context – some conception of the whole or of the broader picture within which i exist at a given moment and in which I feel and think and experience something and encounter the world or some event or person and respond to it…but what this context is, is a matter ofContinue reading “choosing my context”

People sometimes say, ‘its good to keep death in mind…’. its depressing..its meant to make people realize that they are transient beings and will die someday..its meant to be a ‘reality check’…but it is half true only…one sees death all around and everyday and one seeks guidance from one’s maker about this…the claim in 67:2Continue reading “67:2 He made death and life…”

if i wasn’t careful, the people of lower, material life would have me feel that drinking a glass of tap water in my apartment is less potentially sacred than drinking from some sacred water well in some sacred land..that my soul’s thirst will be quenched when i visit such and such a place and thatContinue reading “wastelands”

Sometime I find myself in a place, a condition, which I find acceptable and nice – i am healthy, my loved ones are healthy, life is okay by and large, things are ok. they may even be really great sometimes. laughter and enjoyment. things to look forward to. life can be such that one doesContinue reading “my most remotely acceptable things”

There is nothing in this world, this lower realm, that does not indicate some reality that must already exist in the higher realm since this realm cannot exist, my reason says, without being given existence. The reality of things must exist in the permanent realm, with the source of all things and which must beContinue reading “helplessness of the oppressed”

let me say at the start, I celebrate what you may not and I do not celebrate what you may. قَالَ عِيسَى ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ ٱللَّهُمَّ رَبَّنَآ أَنزِلْ عَلَيْنَا مَآئِدَةًۭ مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ تَكُونُ لَنَا عِيدًۭا لِّأَوَّلِنَا وَءَاخِرِنَا وَءَايَةًۭ مِّنكَ ۖ وَٱرْزُقْنَا وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ ٱلرَّٰزِقِينَ Said Jesus, the son of Mary: ‘O God, our Sustainer! Send downContinue reading “5:114”

When I begin with the assumption, and it can only be an assumption until I could see its truth and it becomes truth for me, that my maker and the one who gives me my reason, my sense of right and wrong, my feelings, my agreeableness and disagreeableness towards or about something, is speaking toContinue reading “the illogic/dishonesty of the ethical”

One travels with purpose when one travels towards an end that one has not yet attained but that one seeks and finds beloved. What I love is perfection, to be in a state that my heart feels everything is perfect as it is, even the imperfections make perfect sense. I want perfection of meaning. IfContinue reading “Subhan Allah (God’s is perfection)”

When my maker says that something is written or determined for me (or for those who are safe and therefore for me insofar as I too want to be among the ones who are referred to as safe), I can either assume this claim to be true without knowing it is true (which is whatContinue reading “written/determined for you (“kutiba alaykum…”) 2:178-179″

25:41 وَإِذَا رَأَوْكَ إِن يَتَّخِذُونَكَ إِلَّا هُزُوًا أَهَـٰذَا ٱلَّذِى بَعَثَ ٱللَّهُ رَسُولًا Hence, whenever they consider you, they but make you a target of mockery “Is this the one whom God sent as rasul?  30:10 ثُمَّ كَانَ عَـٰقِبَةَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسَـٰٓـُٔوا۟ ٱلسُّوٓأَىٰٓ أَن كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ وَكَانُوا۟ بِهَا يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ And then, evil is the end of those who do evil by giving the lie to signs of God and deriding them 36:30 يَـٰحَسْرَةً عَلَى ٱلْعِبَادِ مَا يَأْتِيهِم مِّن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا كَانُوا۟ بِهِۦ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ OH, THE REGRETS that slavesContinue reading “signs, rasul, mockery”

Revelation should, and does, gives clues to readers about what they should seek and find in revelation. It gives clues about how I might be guided in my interpretation of its claims. Very plainly, I put it like this to myself: If I cannot ask and answer the question: “Is that true?” about a verse,Continue reading “2:26”

What do i do with what i have such that it would be excellent or beautiful to do? has something excellent been done to me by my maker so that i too would do it? how is my doing it likened to his doing it? Here is a thought: He has made known to meContinue reading “28:77”

“who wants to live forever? who wants eternity?” they say. “life has its miseries, even if minor ones, and to be eternally afflicted by them would be no fun at all. and even the good things in life seem to not be so good as to be desired eternally. wouldn’t one get bored? whats theContinue reading “eternity”

perversity has many faces. one of its faces is the pleasure a fallen person feels when someone making an effort not to fall, falls…the [first] fallen person is vindicated. the effort to remain standing proved unsuccessful and inadequate. falling is okay and perhaps inevitable. to be a fallen person is okay. no regret is necessary,Continue reading “perversity”

So many folks in my world say, ‘i dont believe in God.’ mostly, i console myself by reminding myself that i likely do not know what they mean by believing or by god nor they what i may mean by the same. were it not for this consolation, i would find it compelling to thinkContinue reading ““i dont believe in God””

In the garden of God’s presence, it is Him one speaks about – the one who is beloved and praised, to whom belongs all that exists. in His mention, one is found and all else is found and all speech that is not His mention is idle talk for it does not reach its aim,Continue reading “88:10-11”

no concept, on its own, has a single, fixed, agreeable or disagreeable quality. i need to ask “as what” or “with what meaning” do i consider a concept. Ease, ‘as a sort of mud’ in which i get stuck and am thus unable to move towards something else, something i feel the need to moveContinue reading “ease”

We all know that truth is praised, admired, wanted and loved. when they find it in them, with them, around them, they associate with it, are drawn to it. Those who find satisfaction of heart in truth and its glorification and realization don’t defile it by directing praise to themselves on account of their proximityContinue reading “Praise be to truth”

Its as uncomplicated as wanting to see ones loved ones again. to find a one to whom one can entrust the life and wellbeing of ones loved ones (including oneself) is in finding safety with that other life, lasting and without death. so that one could say ( and mean) and feel in ones heart,Continue reading “Wal yawmil Aakhiri”

the warmth people seek to attain or maintain by adopting the practices and perspectives of others, so that they would feel (the warmth) of being a part of some “we” is often the heat that comes from the melting of truth, a heat whose origin and end is, for me, hell

the taking of pleasure “in something higher” is tied to relinquishing a pleasure in something, by reason of something else being higher, lower. I can take pleasure in X. period. But if i come to realize that there are two kinds, not one kind, of pleasure to be had – lets say a physical pleasureContinue reading “the flesh of swine”

Prostrating, for the soul, must be to something inviolable. Turning to the One who has no flaw, no death, no limit to his compassion, whose absolute and absolute compassion is inviolable turns the direction in which one prostrates ones body an inviolable place of prostration, a masjid al haram. If Wherever I turn is HisContinue reading “Masjid al haram”

It baffles me when I think about it – who made the one who made me? How did the first life, the first consciousness arise? Where did that something that is not nothing come from? How could there be something, the something I call a maker or creator or God? Could it be that thereContinue reading “Maker”

When I see dawn being broken by Him, when I see him bringing light after he had brought darkness of the night, I think of all the darknesses of my life – my losses and fears and worries – and I see that the truth of these darknesses, the truth of being made helpless andContinue reading “From dark to light”

everyone always has something to say. when i talk about what helps me, i can be talking to others with things to say about what i say. this is when what i say partially falls on infertile ground and helps only me. or those who hear me are not looking to say something about whatContinue reading “i have something to say vs. i need help from my maker”

Meaning, in this world, is attached to matter but it is not matter itself. Meaning is what is indicated by matter or by relations involving material beings. revelation, i need to decide, is going to either speak to me about matter or about meaning. In a sense, it always speaks about matter, something i canContinue reading “meaning and matter”

Two elephantine things have so far become clear to me: my elephantine desires ( intense and powerful, immovable and irresistible) and my assumption about my elephantine powers and abilities (and equally huge trust in them) to bring about desired outcomes that can fulfill me and make me content. In both cases, I found myself beatenContinue reading “People of the elephant”

This post is not a direct engagement with a quranic verse but an observation. It seems to me that, for better or worse, a person who wants to inspire others to be grateful or wants to convince others of the value and truth of gratitude to God has to be a person who others seeContinue reading “Struggle and inspiration”

I just got news that the mother of a childhood friend of mine, a woman i knew as a loving aunt back in my school years, passed away. The whatasapp announcement in the friend’s group started..”guys..terrible news..” and it was followed by responses of “i am so sorry..”, “holy shit”, “terrible news”..” i am soContinue reading “a mother’s death”

I want my meaning and I want it now. And if I don’t find it immediately, I readily abandon my concern for truth and accept some kind of meaning to avoid being in a state of deprivation, ignorance and frustration and, perhaps most importantly, from fear of being alone (as if feeling confused and leftContinue reading “Haste & reflecting on Signs”

There is in me a potential, a freedom to be exercised. In the name of this freedom, itself a sign of the utter unconstrained freedom of my maker, I always have the option to reject, in at least my own mind or heart, a thing or deny it my assent. This option to reject, toContinue reading “reason because neccessary is nothing”

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ جَاؤُوا بِالْإِفْكِ عُصْبَةٌ مِّنكُمْ لَا تَحْسَبُوهُ شَرًّا لَّكُم بَلْ هُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مِّنْهُم مَّا اكْتَسَبَ مِنَ الْإِثْمِ وَالَّذِي تَوَلَّى كِبْرَهُ مِنْهُمْ لَهُ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ Indeed those who come forth with a baseless lie or accusation (against others) are many among you; they dont think it is bad for them. they thinkContinue reading “lies that deprive me of truth”

A recent fruitful intellectual exchange had me thinking again about the notion of a “good habit”. For some time now, “good habit” has been an oxymoron for me. It still is. Good for me is that which, in my eyes, comes as bestowal from my maker and sustainer as a sign that takes me backContinue reading “good or habit”

I am about to embark on an engagement with Surah al-Nur. I think it is important for me to revisit some of my basic assumptions to remind myself what I understand my concerns to be as I turn to revelation, what I take to be revelation’s nature and purpose and what meanings I take particularContinue reading “Revisiting basic assumptions – a preamble to reflections on sura al-nur”

On my own, I seek refuge from what I think is harmful and dangerous, disagreeable or hideous, cruel, unjust and the like. I don’t want to be touched by harm or pain, grief and despair, death and illness, from ignorance and poverty and so on. These are what I would say (or something like these)Continue reading “seeking refuge from what? 113:2”

The most bizzare example for me of people speaking in the most spiritual and rational manner about the prayer times – how each time is a time when God manifests his power in a most clear and unique way, justifying that human beings respond by prostration to such majesty – and then the same peopleContinue reading “combining prayers?”

يُسَبِّحُ لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ الْمَلِكِ الْقُدُّوسِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَكِيمِ هُوَ الَّذِي بَعَثَ فِي الْأُمِّيِّينَ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَإِن كَانُوا مِن قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ 62:1-2 Nothing around me gives me the comforting impression that they are in control of their existence so that I could countContinue reading “what is all this?”

Praise is due to the lord/sustainer of the realms… because there isn’t much praiseworthy about the sustainer of just the one realm that i can know..i couldn’t give praise to the life i see/know if the one by whose life anything was alive here was not also the sustainer with whom was life that iContinue reading “‘alameen [worlds/realms etc]”

هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ He is the One who sent His messenger with guidance and the truthful obligation/debt, so that it prevails over all obligations/debts however hateful this may be to those who associate or give a share [to something or someone as the one toContinue reading “9:33…associator’s hate”

How can I praise God? The one who speaks in the Quran. Lets back up. Do I want to experience life and the world in such a way that it makes me praise whoever who made it and gave it to me and who is doing it (because i see things can’t make themselves andContinue reading “praising God”

It is very human (with all the ‘I can decide to give meaning to things’ ego-centrism included) to say that a ‘messenger of God’ was someone of great moral character. It is the urge people have to extol, morally, their favorite person. It’s what one would like to do, for instance, for one’s father orContinue reading “Human view vs. revelation’s guidance”

Here, today I say this about the above: if I am my owner or if I am a being of nature (even if I say I have a creator or God), then my wants and desires are just delusional and pathetic wishes of a needy/greedy impotent and wretched being. If I own myself in additionContinue reading “Your God is One God”

مَا كَانَ اِبۡرٰهِيۡمُ يَهُوۡدِيًّا وَّلَا نَصۡرَانِيًّا وَّ لٰكِنۡ كَانَ حَنِيۡفًا مُّسۡلِمًا ؕ وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الۡمُشۡرِكِيۡنَ “Ibrahim was neither Jewish nor Christian; rather he was constantly turning away (from seeing things as sources of their own existence while surrendering/submitting (all things to the One source) and he was not amongst those who see things as sourcesContinue reading “what i am doing not who i am”

the desire and pursuit of endless pleasure, without restraint or limit, is one way to desribe a hedonist attitude. this hedonism fails when endless pleasure is denied (in experience, in memory and in thought and anticipation of the future) unless it is replaced or substituted by what is better than it (another verse in theContinue reading “my successful hedonism”

A Lord who wants to replace my mindless way of being the world with an awareness that things are happening at His command, by His power and will, by His wisdom and mercy, can and does tell me that he is Lord of the place of the rising of the sun – the east. AndContinue reading “Rabb al-mashriqayn (two places of sunrise)”

The question that I think this chapter is asking me to answer is this: Do i want to be with those I love and with whom I find joy and enjoyment? [my answer here is yes!] And do I think that I can fulfill this need and desire of my soul in the conditions IContinue reading “the easier accounting, chapter 84”

a hand that remains empty even after taking hold of something is free from the blemish of denying the thing (and the one whose hand it is) a (re)turn to their source – such a hand is empty because it sends forth whatever love/desire grasped so all beloveds/desired may remain found and not be lost.Continue reading “the unblemished hand of moses, 20:22”

anyone who uses the term revelation for something and then ties it to any particular religion, identity, social imaginary, historical context, linguistic scheme of representation, discursive tradition etc etc (fill in your favorite and most theoretically sophisticated, academic buzzword), is not talking about revelation as what it would be for a human being who looksContinue reading “revelation”

When i reflect and if it is truth that i find, i am like the fallen who has stood up… i am either fallen or standing. i move from an understanding of being fallen and wounded to being healed and joyous. this is my experience as a human being who goes to his maker withContinue reading “when i reflect, i find truth..or i dont”

it matters whether i go to the quran with questions about the religion of islam or i go to it with questions about the meaning of things and of my life (and concern about not having gotten it right). any number of teachers, living and dead, claim they will teach you the real/pure and theContinue reading “it matters”

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ قِيلَ لَهُمْ كُفُّواْ أَيْدِيَكُمْ وَأَقِيمُواْ الصَّلاَةَ وَآتُواْ الزَّكَاةَ فَلَمَّا كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقِتَالُ إِذَا فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَخْشَوْنَ النَّاسَ كَخَشْيَةِ اللّهِ أَوْ أَشَدَّ خَشْيَةً وَقَالُواْ رَبَّنَا لِمَ كَتَبْتَ عَلَيْنَا الْقِتَالَ لَوْلا أَخَّرْتَنَا إِلَى أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ قُلْ مَتَاعُالدُّنْيَا قَلِيلٌ وَالآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لِّمَنِ اتَّقَى وَلاَ تُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلاً “Have you not seen/considered the ones…” If myContinue reading “awareness of the source & higher/lasting existence 4:77”

Due apologies but you will have to look up the verses yourself. To me, and I say this for the 70th time or have been saying it for 40 days (i.e. ever so often), revelation, if true in its claims, reveals. It claims to describe me and my world in a way that is betterContinue reading “64:5-8 bashar or messenger?”

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِذَا جَاءكَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ يُبَايِعْنَكَ عَلَى أَن لَّا يُشْرِكْنَ بِاللَّهِ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَسْرِقْنَ وَلَا يَزْنِينَ وَلَا يَقْتُلْنَ أَوْلَادَهُنَّ وَلَا يَأْتِينَ بِبُهْتَانٍ يَفْتَرِينَهُ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِنَّ وَأَرْجُلِهِنَّ وَلَا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ فَبَايِعْهُنَّ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُنَّ اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ My interpretive translation. I am well aware of the assumptions I am making about how IContinue reading “signs of being with the caller unto God”

The Quran claims that there is some kind of beautiful or excellent example for me in Ibrahim and “those with him” [note its not therefore Ibrahim as an individual that is exemplary but an attitude that is common between him and those ‘with him’]. This attitude is described in verse 4. Is this verse tellingContinue reading “Am I looking for an example? 60:4-9”

When revelation tells me what some people say, it also tells me why they say those words and what results obtain as a result – so that i may see if those words represent my attitude and thus my condition..so that i may be able to choose differently and get to a different outcome. considerContinue reading “what does god mean by this example/mathal?”

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا عَدُوِّي وَعَدُوَّكُمْ أَوْلِيَاء تُلْقُونَ إِلَيْهِم بِالْمَوَدَّةِ وَقَدْ كَفَرُوا بِمَا جَاءكُم مِّنَ الْحَقِّ يُخْرِجُونَ الرَّسُولَ وَإِيَّاكُمْ أَن تُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ رَبِّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ خَرَجْتُمْ جِهَادًا فِي سَبِيلِي وَابْتِغَاء مَرْضَاتِي تُسِرُّونَ إِلَيْهِم بِالْمَوَدَّةِ وَأَنَا أَعْلَمُ بِمَا أَخْفَيْتُمْ وَمَا أَعْلَنتُمْ وَمَن يَفْعَلْهُ مِنكُمْ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ سَوَاء السَّبِيلِ O you who feel secure [doContinue reading “where am I safe? 60:1”

لِلْفُقَرَاء الْمُهَاجِرِينَ الَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا مِن دِيارِهِمْ وَأَمْوَالِهِمْ يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانًا وَيَنصُرُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ أُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الصَّادِقُونَ for the poor among those who break away and go forth: those who have been driven from their homes and their possessions, seeking favor from God and His approval/acceptance, and who help God and His Apostle: it isContinue reading “homeless and penniless 59:8”

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ أُوتُواْ الْكِتَابَ آمِنُواْ بِمَا نَزَّلْنَا مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا مَعَكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن نَّطْمِسَ وُجُوهًا فَنَرُدَّهَا عَلَى أَدْبَارِهَا أَوْ نَلْعَنَهُمْ كَمَا لَعَنَّا أَصْحَابَ السَّبْتِ وَكَانَ أَمْرُ اللّهِ مَفْعُولاً O you who have been granted the book, be safe on account of what send down, [such that] there is confirmation of the truth of allContinue reading “O those who are given the book… (4:47)”

“The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization, intellectualization and the disenchantment of the world…” said Weber in the beginning of the 20th century. Many today think that he was correct in this claim. People today speak of disenchantment and possible re-enchantment of the world. Weber puts rationalization, intellectualization and disenchantment in one box.Continue reading “no to rational sacrifice, no to “enchantment””

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ لِيَصُدُّواْ عَن سَبِيلِ اللّهِ فَسَيُنفِقُونَهَا ثُمَّ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسْرَةً ثُمَّ يُغْلَبُونَ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ إِلَى جَهَنَّمَ يُحْشَرُونَ Behold, those who cover up are spending their properties in order to turn away from the path of God; and they will go on spending them until they become a regret for them; andContinue reading “ill-spending property”

وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَى وَإِن تَدْعُ مُثْقَلَةٌ إِلَى حِمْلِهَا لَا يُحْمَلْ مِنْهُ شَيْءٌ وَلَوْ كَانَ ذَا قُرْبَى إِنَّمَا تُنذِرُ الَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُم بِالغَيْبِ وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَمَن تَزَكَّى فَإِنَّمَا يَتَزَكَّى لِنَفْسِهِ وَإِلَى اللَّهِ الْمَصِيرُ (35:18) AND NO BEARER of burdens bears another’s burden; and if one weighed down by his load calls to help him carry it,Continue reading “whose burden is it? 35:18”

Whatever I see that I need and then see that it is not in my control, it takes a life of its own in my eyes. It scares me. I don’t know what will happen to it, or because of it, to me. I fear things will go wrong. I will get hurt. Someone IContinue reading “afraid 27:10-11”

وَمِن كُلِّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ And in everything have We created pairs, so that you might find/remember (Me, your Lord) It is an act of mercy and wisdom that associates, in my mind, smoke with fire. When i see smoke, I can be, mercifully, alerted to the possibility of fire. This pairing, this association,Continue reading “beauty of/in the pair”

أَجَعَلْتُمْ سِقَايَةَ الْحَاجِّ وَعِمَارَةَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ كَمَنْ آمَنَ بِاللّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَجَاهَدَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ لاَ يَسْتَوُونَ عِندَ اللّهِ وَاللّهُ لاَ يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ Do you, perchance, regard the giving of water to pilgrims and the tending of the sacred place of prostration as being equal to one who finds safety with God and theContinue reading ““serving people” as god”

وَتَفَقَّدَ الطَّيْرَ فَقَالَ مَا لِيَ لَا أَرَى الْهُدْهُدَ أَمْ كَانَ مِنَ الْغَائِبِينَ And he tried to find the [particular] bird; and so he said: What is it with me? I do not see the hudhud? Is it among those that disappear/are absent/lost/not to be found? لَأُعَذِّبَنَّهُ عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا أَوْ لَأَذْبَحَنَّهُ أَوْ لَيَأْتِيَنِّي بِسُلْطَانٍ مُّبِينٍ IContinue reading “overcoming self-harm and finding peace II 27:20-44”

Now remember this: i am the one in need of guidance because i am hurting. the “guidance” is, the Quran claims, is the messenger’s perspective that, again the Quran claims, I need to have/follow to stop hurting myself and to find peace and security. Solomon is the messenger here. Where is Solomon? It is aContinue reading “overcoming self-harm and finding peace I 27:20-44”

my blog is not my search for subtlety and originality. it is not my goal to find an obscure, novel reading of some text. my goal here is to return myself to freedom, to liberate myself from my unfounded worries, to find the meaning of my life and the meaning of reality, to find truthContinue reading “let it be known”

what is my proper end or goal as a human being? how can be sure that it is my real goal or purpose? I expect whoever made me in the way that he did, i expect whoever made the world as he did, to respond to me. I want him to tell me why iContinue reading “the earth, the self and the heavens are witnesses 51:15-23”

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلاَّ بِلِسَانِ قَوْمِهِ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَهُمْ فَيُضِلُّ اللّهُ مَن يَشَاء وَيَهْدِي مَن يَشَاء وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ AND we did not send one of the messengers otherwise than in the language of his people, so that he might make clear unto them;  but God misguides whom He wills and [then] guides him that willsContinue reading “an issue of note 14:4-5”

Boredom is a euphemism for intense discontentment with whatever one sought joy and contentment (aware or unaware) FROM but failed to find it therein/therewith to one’s contentment. This failure to provide satisfaction is a feature of those objects of our hopes and adoration (my life, my achievements, my friends, my understanding, my travels etc) that,Continue reading “offerings”

Perhaps I should start by saying this: what burdens I bear when I imagine/dream that I have to give of myself (i am “sacrificing”), my love, my time, my energy, my compassion to the world!!! The poverty and death demand and solicit from me, without waiting for me to choose, indignation and sadness. Beauty solicitsContinue reading ““do what you are instructed/commanded to do” (37:99-111)”

So says the Quran. Not for me to repeat it without trying to understand the truth, the reminder, in it. I can’t be reminded of what I do not already know and I don’t need to be reminded of something that is neither true nor beautiful. So my first response to such a claim “asContinue reading “guide us to the sirat-al-mustaqim”

“God guides whomever He wills towards the path that human beings can walk steadfastly (without wronging themselves and without losing their heart’s peace etc) When I feed my child, when I want to feed my child, when i find myself wanting that my child is fed, when I find in me a “will to feed”Continue reading “10:25 (a supplicant’s will is the answerer’s willing)”

Ideology does not need to be affirmed or demonstrated as being “true” in order for a human being to pledge loyalty to it. One is loyal to an ideology in proportion to one’s intensity and zeal for it. No conviction about the truth of ideological claims is needed to ground one’s endorsement of the ideology.Continue reading “ideology vs. conviction”

48:1-2 إِنَّا فَتَحْنَا لَكَ فَتْحًا مُّبِينًا VERILY We have opened for you an opening manifest/clear لِيَغْفِرَ لَكَ اللَّهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِن ذَنبِكَ وَمَا تَأَخَّرَ وَيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكَ وَيَهْدِيَكَ صِرَاطًا مُّسْتَقِيمًا so that God might erases/covers the wrongs of your past and that come after, and complete his blessing on you and (thus) guide you onto aContinue reading “enclosed in incompleteness & its wrongs”

If a person does not have an interest in finding out what the maker has to say about how to understand reality, what to think, how to feel, what meaning to give to things, how to respond to what “is”, then I do not have an interest in what this person has to say. BecauseContinue reading “what the maker says, not what you say”

Although I have discussed some of what I say here in my first blog “Before Revelation I”, I just read a quote from Camut and felt the urge to share it here. I find it expressing an important truth about the human being, that resonates with what I read in the Quran. “Weariness comes atContinue reading “Weariness & consciousness”

56:58-74 أَفَرَأَيْتُم مَّا تُمْنُونَHave you ever considered that which you emit?  أَأَنتُمْ تَخْلُقُونَهُ أَمْ نَحْنُ الْخَالِقُونَ Is it you who create it – or are We the source of its creation? (asad) نَحْنُ قَدَّرْنَا بَيْنَكُمُ الْمَوْتَ وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمَسْبُوقِينَ We have [indeed] decreed that death shall be among you: but there is nothing to prevent Us Continue reading “Science, naturalism and divine guidance”

قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّنَا أَنزِلْ عَلَيْنَا مَآئِدَةً مِّنَ السَّمَاء تَكُونُ لَنَا عِيداً لِّأَوَّلِنَا وَآخِرِنَا وَآيَةً مِّنكَ وَارْزُقْنَا وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ الرَّازِقِينَ Said Jesus, the son of Mary: “O God, our Sustainer! Send down upon us table [of provisions] from heaven: make it an ever-recurring thing [Eid] for us – for the first and theContinue reading “The recurring feast”

So in my view, the “masjid” I read about in the Quran is not a physical building built with someone’s money or endowment and then run by some leadership or caretakers and where people get on pulpits to talk at others and where people gather to enjoy community and where “knowledge” is imparted by “scholars/ulama”Continue reading “remembering God in congregation (fi yawm al-jumua)”

30:39 says, وَمَا آتَيْتُم مِّن رِّبًا لِّيَرْبُوَ فِي أَمْوَالِ النَّاسِ فَلَا يَرْبُو عِندَ اللَّهِ وَمَا آتَيْتُم مِّن زَكَاةٍ تُرِيدُونَ وَجْهَ اللَّهِ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُضْعِفُونَ And whatever “extra/additional” you give so that it might increase through people’s possessions brings no increase with God whereas what you give of purification, seeking God’s countenance, it is they who get theContinue reading “riba/increase that is not a purifying exchange”

Is there a moment of reckoning, a gathering of “criminals”, a heavy burden? Am I going to see myself confined to a life with a time-stamp of a few years (how do these years feel to me? long?) and what or who makes me feel that my life has a time-stamp and an expiration date?Continue reading “20:99-103 [the tragedy of the proverbial starving saying to food: touch me not!]”

5:6 يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلاةِ فاغْسِلُواْ وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُواْ بِرُؤُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى الْكَعْبَينِ وَإِن كُنتُمْ جُنُبًا فَاطَّهَّرُواْ وَإِن كُنتُم مَّرْضَى أَوْ عَلَى سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَاء أَحَدٌ مَّنكُم مِّنَ الْغَائِطِ أَوْ لاَمَسْتُمُ النِّسَاء فَلَمْ تَجِدُواْ مَاء فَتَيَمَّمُواْ صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَامْسَحُواْ بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُم مِّنْهُ مَا يُرِيدُ اللّهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْ حَرَجٍContinue reading “the truth of ghusl/tahara for me”

Consider the following verses. As I understand them, they describe my reality and the choice that is good for me to make. The choice here is a fundamental one, a choice about which attitude or perspective I will have as I approach anything that I am inclined to approach or that appears attractive for anyContinue reading “all that glitters…is God”

3:102 يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلاَ تَمُوتُنَّ إِلاَّ وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ O you who have attained security! Be conscious of God with all the consciousness that is due to Him, and do not die except that you are surrendering 3:84-85 قُلْ آمَنَّا بِاللّهِ وَمَا أُنزِلَ عَلَيْنَا وَمَا أُنزِلَ عَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَقَContinue reading “surrender that is light from my Lord”

إِذَا وَقَعَتِ الْوَاقِعَةُ When occurred the occurrence لَيْسَ لِوَقْعَتِهَا كَاذِبَةٌ There was not, of its occurrence, any denying خَافِضَةٌ رَّافِعَةٌ abasing, elevating إِذَا رُجَّتِ الْأَرْضُ رَجًّا When the earth is shaken with a severe shaking وَبُسَّتِ الْجِبَالُ بَسًّا And the mountains shattered into shards فَكَانَتْ هَبَاء مُّنبَثًّا so that they become as scat­tered dust  وَكُنتُمْContinue reading “Surah 56:1-7 – the occurrence”