Author Archives: Faraz Sheikh

وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلاَّ تُقْسِطُواْ فِي الْيَتَامَى فَانكِحُواْ مَا طَابَ لَكُم مِّنَ النِّسَاء مَثْنَى وَثُلاَثَ وَرُبَاعَ فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلاَّ تَعْدِلُواْ فَوَاحِدَةً أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَلاَّ تَعُولُواْ And if you have reason to fear that you might not act equitably towards orphans, then marry what is agreeable or likeable to you from women, twoContinue reading “Surah al-nisa III (updated so posting again)”

A short methodological point/reminder before we begin. People sometimes rely on “history” to make sense of “hard” verses of the Quran, thinking this is the solution to their disturbance about verses of the Quran. In so doing, they make divine speech distant and irrelevant to them. They lose a consistent approach to making sense ofContinue reading “surah al-nisa II (finding the One in exchanges & relationships)”

I find that chapter 32 of the Quran starts in an interesting way. It starts by telling that the sustainer of all realms is sending this book down and it is the truth even as some may have doubts about what it says. The truth of the message, it is suggested, ought to put theContinue reading “six ayyam & the meeting with my Sustainer: Surah Sajdah I”

Who or what is my Pharoh? What detains and enslaves me? What seas drown me? What kind of loyalty and what vision of strength and power enchants me and makes me feel secure? Can I count on my powers, my leaders, my knowledge, my tradition, my “joining forces against some common enemy” to provide meContinue reading “If Musa & Isa are messengers, bani Israel is me”

28:88 وَلَا تَدْعُ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَهًا آخَرَ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ كُلُّ شَيْءٍ هَالِكٌ إِلَّا وَجْهَهُ لَهُ الْحُكْمُ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ and dont call upon any other deity side by side with God. There is no deity save Him. Everything is bound to perish, save His face. With Him rests all determinations and unto Him you areContinue reading “worship of beings & the practice of “no-deity””

What is the wrong and what is right? What is a transgression? Who does it harm? What is a crime? What is a “sin”? I can either listen to others or I can ask my maker. I am never was satisfied with what people say about such things. They sometimes speak on God’s behalf: GodContinue reading “Wrongdoing”

The Quran mentions hell a lot – as unbearable fire, a terrible place where one neither dies nor lives, a painful destination/abode for the wrongdoers and so on. It is a place that is, par excellence, the place a human being like me, one who is averse to pain and suffering and who loves pleasureContinue reading “Hell & Paradise I”

The truth of the matter is, either I eat and breathe as an adorer of the One who is giving me life and sustenance or I am reduced to animalistic enjoyment of the food and my life itself, a decision that is absurd and hurtful to the heart and mind in light of the limitedContinue reading “Enjoyment and the notion of “blessing””

I understand from the Quran that I get from it what I ask for and I ask for what I need to understand and I need to understand only that which I can acknowledge I don’t already understand and acknowledging I don’t understand is like acknowledging one does not see what one wants to seeContinue reading “Is zeal/reverence enough? (13:19 & 25:72-73)”

The “Hard but barren” Rock vs. the “ Receptive & Firmly Responsive and fruitful Garden” I read 2:264-265 and here is what was given to me: My maker uses a pair of easily understandable yet profound metaphors to help me understand that the glorious, divine qualities that rain down on me and strike me allContinue reading “Rock or Fruit-bearing Garden?”

To say that a child can be a Muslim child, a Christian child, a Hindu child etc etc. – this is speech devoid of meaning and yet so common in our world. It is mostly atheists and anti-religious folks who rightly note that to speak of children or anyone having this or that religion byContinue reading “Religious Identities & labels”

In this blog post, I want to share what I understand as guidance and truth in some verses related to what is called fasting, and which I call abstention because I do not take it to be some kind of legal or ritual duty. I take it to be a truth claim about my realityContinue reading “Abstaining, being aware of the bestower & gratitude”

Loss is mine. I know it like the back of my hand. I find myself in loss. No amount of cheap optimism and self-care positivity (even if temporarily numbing and soothing) helps me resolve the problem of loss, mine and everything else’s. Security and perfection and lasting compassion and abundance are what I seek andContinue reading “loss & security – Surah al-asr”

I am excited and pleased to share with you the signs I am given to contemplate, and the meaning and guidance I receive from my maker, in a chapter of the Quran called surah al-nisa. This is the first in a series of perhaps hundreds of blog posts that I would need to go throughContinue reading “Surah al-Nisa I”

This post, perhaps a bit more than others, is a “to whom it may concern.” I am going to enumerate the points that are relevant here. To have security about the existence of something is not the same as knowing what that thing is. In this post, I am going to focus on how IContinue reading “from existence of purpose to purpose of existence”

What is evil? So much seems to be and feels like evil. When I read the Quran and think that the creator of this universe is asking me to seek refuge with him from the evil of what he has created, I find myself puzzled. Now I can, if i so choose (and so manyContinue reading “Refuge, Evil & Envy – chapter 113”

When I am engaging with my maker and seeking guidance from him, there aren’t any shallow and deep ends really. Concepts are connected and its only deep – Lord/sustainer, resurrection, angels, spirit. The order in which I present my engagements in this blog or in other blogs is not the same order in which IContinue reading “The night of power (Laylatul Qadar)”

This is a general, overall reflection on chapter 96 of the Quran. Not a verse by verse translation but an overall response to the signs mentioned therein. As someone made but so often not aware of his own contingent, created and dependent existence, I come to realize I am far…far from being able to meetContinue reading “Made from a clot”

(Read 2:284, 16:49, 4:131 and many others of similar nature. Then read 5:35-40 and if you want also read 2:85, 2:175, 3:177, 16:95 and 9:111) Two considerations that make sense to me: One, revelation from the maker of this universe should speak to my humanity. Material things are not, in themselves, valued by me asContinue reading “Ownership, theft and the cutting of hands”

These are big concepts. They are connected with much else in the Quran. What do they mean to me? Do I assume that I know what they are based on what I have heard from others or based on what people do? Or should I expect my maker to tell me their meaning? Should IContinue reading “salah and deen/din – 1”

The big deal with bismillah is that it demolishes, if and when I adopt it as a practice, a perspective, all the self-injuring prisons and groundless illusions that I take from others or that I have manufactured for myself in order to feel things are meaningful and everything is fine. It proposes a new perspective,Continue reading “What’s the big deal with ‘Bismillah’”

Dunya is not the entire reality of this world. Akhira is not some “otherworld” disconnected from the dunya. To see and approach the world in a certain way, enamored of its beauties as conveying no message or news about other than itself, makes it lowly (dunya) for me. So claims the Quran and, as IContinue reading “The Dunya/Akhira Conundrum”