The Qur’ān’s miracle for non-Arabic speakers
How do I appreciate the miracle of the Qur’ān if I don’t speak Arabic? Most of what we know is based on the say so of others. This holds true for facts that we would never deny. For many of us these truths include the existence of Amazonian Indian tribes, photosynthesis, ultraviolet radiation, and bacteria. Let me elaborate further by using your mother as an example. How would you prove to me – a perfect stranger – that your mother did in fact give birth to you? As bizarre as this question sounds, it will help clarify a very important…
An Introduction to the Literary & Linguistic Excellence of the Qur’an
Abstract: Many historians, scholars, and writers do not contend that the Qur'an has had a huge impact on history - just as it does in global politics today, being an authority for billions of Muslims - and so the reason for this timeless influence should be understood. It is the purpose of this article to show how the Qur'an can be described as a new genre of speech and literary masterpiece. Rational arguments that substantiate this and the Qur'an's inimitability are presented by Muslims to argue the conclusiveness of their beliefs to a world in constant need of proof. This…
Ruling Between the People
The Islamic classical tradition has always viewed the Qur’an as a living, dynamic and intrusive text; tapping into the inner dispositions of man while simultaneously interacting with his political and social environment. The Qur’an, according to the classical tradition, is inescapably involved in the life of the believer seeking to impose its political and social framework on ‘al-naas’, meaning mankind. The Qur’an demands that its ahkam (laws and commands) are implemented and justly acted upon. This classical view can be found in the works of Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Ghazali, ibn Kathir, al-Qurtubi, Imam al-Shafi’i and many others. The Qur’an seems to…
Sarkozy’s Values & the Honour of Women
On the 22nd June 2009 French President Sarkozy announced that the Burqa is incongruous with French values. He said "In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity," Sarkozy continued "The burqa is not a religious sign, it's a sign of subservience." Despite Sarkozy’s political opportunism, his ideological contradictions expose his conscious ignorance, and some may say, out right hatred for the Islamic way of life. Sarkozy who advocates and propagates liberal secularism has forgotten his intellectual heritage. Liberal secularism rests upon the premise of individualism,…
A Note on Understanding Islam:Liberalism’s Origins & the Superimposition of a Specific European Experience
Having travelled to the America’s, Middle East and Europe, lecturing and debating on issues related to Islam, philosophy and politics, I have found a common trend when people try to understand Islam and its political authority. This common trend is the imposition of European history, intellectual development and religious experiences on the Islamic narrative. As a result of finding myself trying to deconstruct this common approach many times, I feel it is only wise to write some notes on how Liberal or European minds should seek to understand Islam and its political structures. One way of doing this is by…
Is Islamic Society Barbaric?
Having already discussed that Liberalism has caused social breakdown and that its political values are non-cohesive in that they neither facilitate social cohesion nor evoke ideas that construct positive behaviours. Since non-cohesive liberal values have directly contributed to social breakdown, the evident solution is to propagate cohesive values with the relevant social models and mechanisms to achieve a cohesive society. Although cohesive values are a fundamental feature of a cohesive society, they are inadequate if they do not sit within a workable social model. It is the scope of this essay to contrast the Liberalist and Islamic social model by…
Exposing Modernist Interpretations
The Islamic classical tradition has always viewed the Qur’an as a living, dynamic and intrusive text; tapping into the inner dispositions of man while simultaneously interacting with his political and social environment. The Qur’an, according to the classical tradition, is inescapably involved in the life of the believer seeking to impose its political and social framework on ‘al-naas’, meaning mankind. The Qur’an demands that its ahkam (laws and commands) are implemented and justly acted upon. This classical view can be found in the works of Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Ghazali, al-Razi, ibn Kathir, al-Qurtubi, Imam al-Shafi’i and many others. The Qur’an seems…
The Unique Literary Form of the Qur’an
Abstract: The inability of any person to produce anything like the Qur'an, due to its unique literary form is the essence of the Qur'anic miracle. A miracle is defined as "events which lie outside the productive capacity of nature". The argument posed by Muslim theologians and philosophers is that if, with the finite set of Arabic linguistic tools at humanity's disposal, there is no effective challenge; then providing a naturalistic explanation for the Qur'an's uniqueness is incoherent and does not explain its inimitability. This is because the natural capacity of the text producer, or author, is able to produce the…
Usury: The Forgotten Terrorism
Taken from a forthcoming magazine 'If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.' Hitler’s Henchman Joseph Goebbels 'See, in my line of work you…