Six lessons from the 2022 World Cup
This year's World Cup may be over, but Abid Akhtar has six incredible gems of knowledge from the Qur’ān and Sunnah that we can all benefit from!
Hero Worship: A Journey Between Rebellion and Depression
Hero worship – or at least the way we portray our historical figures – has been problematic, writes Dr Abid Mohammed. If we depict them as being superhuman individuals who never struggled in their lives, many Muslims will feel disconnected from their own heritage.
The Caliph & The Vaccine
Abid Mohammed gives us a surprising history of Muslims spearheading public immunisation, and how one Muslim Caliph in particular dealt with reluctance to vaccines in his time...
Islam is NOT Christianity
Islam is not Christianity "Oh, and I say it again, you've been had. You've been took. You've been hoodwinked. Bamboozled. Led astray. Run amok!" Indeed, we have brother Malcolm. In a famous ḥadīth, the Prophet Muḥammad (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) said, "Islām began strange, and it will become strange again just like it was at the beginning, so blessed are the strangers." In another narration, he (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) also said, "The religion began strange, and it will become strange again just like it was at the beginning, so blessed are the strangers who restore what the people…
Right to pray throughout the day: framing your argument for a Muslim prayer room
“But Muslims deserve a place to pray!” But that was not what the motion was about. The motion was about whether Muslims deserved their own prayer room as opposed to sharing a Multi-faith prayer room with members of other faiths. But the brother who decided to speak on behalf of the brothers and sisters on campus did not understand this. He had not read the motion properly, or even thought it through. Though he had assured me otherwise, it was clear he was unprepared. This was further made clear when he compared Muslims needing a prayer room to disabled people…
Don’t be an echo, find your voice
“The whole educational and professional training system is a very elaborate filter, which just weeds out people who are too independent, and who think for themselves, and who don't know how to be submissive, and so on -- because they're dysfunctional to the institutions.” - Noam Chomsky I was lost. University was nothing like what I was expecting it to be. I had dreams of an institution where students sincerely sought knowledge. A sanctuary where pupils were moulded into individuals who could see the world for what it is; an institution where men and women spent their days and nights…
A guide to talking about others
"He's a really nice guy": A guide to making compliments in the 21st century ʿUmar (raḍiy Allāhu ʿanhu) once asked about a man who had given testimony, wanting to find out whether anyone could vouch for him. A man said to him: "I will vouch for him, O' Commander of the Faithful'. So the Caliph preceded to ask him a series of questions: "Are you his neighbor?" The man said, "No." "Did you mix with him for a day and come to know his character?" Again, the man replied, "No." "Did you travel with him, for traveling and being away…
“But you don’t know her intentions!”
"But you don't know her intentions!": Before you respond, understand. "But you don't know her intentions!" the young man shouted from the audience. Indeed I did not. Though to be fair, neither did he. What really perplexed me however was what her intentions had to do with what I was talking about. In my speech about gender interactions on campus, I used the example of how we, Muslim or non-Muslim, naturally respect those who display modesty and show respect to others. And when individuals continuously and flagrantly cross the God-given guidelines that we have for gender interactions (not being in…
The truth about Sultan Aurangzeb
The Emperor Aurangzeb, who rose to the throne in the 17th Century as the sixth Mughal ruler over "India", is often painted as a vicious, religiously intolerant, minority-suppressing fanatic, whose only job was to demolish temples in favour of mosques, antagonise his father and brothers, and single-handedly bring down the once magnificent Mughal Empire. And yet, the reality of the situation is that this could not be further from the truth. Aurangzeb would often say about himself, "This weak old man, this shrunken helpless creature, is afflicted with a hundred maladies besides anxiety, but he has made patience his habit”.…