Am I a Convert or a Revert?
I used to want to be called a ‘revert’ not a ‘convert’ to Islam, but stop the press, it is at last conclusive, I am actually a convert. I think the reasoning on this minor issue of semantics is probably widespread; I am unaware of another genuine argument beyond the one I am about to mention albeit weakly. Our beloved Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) told us in more than one hadīth about the fitrah that each person is born upon. One version goes, ‘Every child is born in a state of fitrah, and then his parents make him…
Elegy for the Nation: Rise and Fall
History teaches many things. Prominently, we might say that it teaches us that nations rise and fall. When nations fall, the prime cause, if indeed causes do exist in these realms, is not external conquest but internal corruption. We may object saying that we clearly see nations conquered by other nations, so surely this is ‘proof positive’ that nations do fall due to external conquest. I would respond that it is due to the very nature of internal corruption that external conquest becomes possible. This is of course a generalisation, but I think it one worth clinging to. The process…