A Conversation with Hamid Algar - Campus Watch
Shortly after September 11, 2001, professor of Persian and Islamic Studies Hamid Algar hailed a cab in downtown Berkeley. The cab driver was an Indian Sikh, wearing a turban. When Algar got into the cab, the driver said: “Sir, don’t worry, I’m not a Muslim.” Algar responded: “Don’t worry. I am a Muslim.” Both men laughed, but with the realization that the climate had changed for Muslims in the United States…
Postman - Speech - Informing Ourselves To Death
“…anyone who has studied the history of technology knows that technological change is always a Faustian bargain: Technology giveth and technology taketh away, and not always in equal measure. A new technology sometimes creates more than it destroys. Sometimes, it destroys more than it creates. But it is never one-sided.”
The Lost Tools of Learning: “The Lost Tools of Learning”
By Dorothy Sayers… one of the best articles on classical (or traditional) learning, its bases, and values.
Excellent… don’t miss the links, either.
Hayyamuni - They Drove Me Crazy In Love
They drove me crazy in love…
And busied me from all other
My soul is their’s,
Even if they turn away.
Losing the High Ground 0 DAWN - Mazdak; 24 July, 2004
Irfan Husain (Mamoo), saying it like it is.
“Last week, I saw a paragraph in a British newspaper that almost made me scream with rage: according to a wire service, a 14-year old Kashmiri girl’s ears, nose and tongue were sliced off by a militant separatist group because they suspected her of being a police informer.
What kind of people would inflict this kind of torture on a child? Nobody I know is capable of hurting an animal in this manner, leave alone a human being. I wonder what kind of pervert can deliberately take a knife to a little girl, and cause her such unbearable pain. Those responsible must be sadistic to a degree the rest of us can only imagine. “
Allah tells us in the Qur’an,
“O you who believe! Be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity, and let not hatred of any people seduce you that you deal not justly. Deal justly, that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is Informed of what you do.” [Qur’an, 5.8]
The Adornment of Faith
There is a beautiful supplication of the Beloved Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him, his family, wives, companions, and followers), in which he says,
اللهُمَّ زَيِّنّا بِزِينَة ِالإِيمانِ واجْعَلْنا هُداةً مُهْتَدِين
and made us of those who guide others and are themselves on guidance.”
[Related by Ahmad and Nasa’i; its chain of transmitters is reliable]
The science of love: is it just a matter of chemical addiction?
The Economist on love…
The Science of Love
However, we understand that Allah is the one who created all those chemicals, and the resultant love.
And we love Allah more than all fleeting things…
“Do they not understand?” the Qur’an asks…
The Reality of Love
Imam Bayhaqi relates in his Shu`ab al-Iman, one of the great works of Islam, that Yahya ibn Mu`adh al-Razi said,
“The reality of love is not to behold other than your Beloved; and not to see any other as your helper or assistant; and not to find sufficiency in any other from your Beloved.” [Bayhaqi, Shu`ab al-Iman, 1.370]
And Allah alone gives success.
In Defense of Memorization by Michael Knox Beran
“If there’s one thing progressive educators don’t like it’s rote learning…”
Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television: Technology not neutral
“… To speak of television as “neutral” and therefore subject to change is as absurd as speaking of the reform of a technology such as guns.”
Reviews of Jerry Mander’s “Four Arguments:”
http://www.netreach.net/~kaufman/Jerry.Mander.html
http://soulitude.net/fsuchmain.htm
Imam Zaid Shakir: Introduction to Following a Madhhab
An excellent lesson by Imam Zaid, explaining clearly the legal basis of following qualified scholarship, and how following such scholarship is in fact a means of following the sunna of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace).
Hosted at the Zaytuna Institute & Academy site’s multimedia section :
http://www.zaytuna.org/multimedia.html
And Allah alone gives success.
Intellectual Terrorism or Eradication of Innovation?
“Sidi Faraz… the children found this book just now, in the garbage dump behind the mosque,” Abu Anas (the muezzin of our local mosque) told me. “The book has your name written in it.”
After attending the Latifiyya dhikr gathering at the Zawiya here, I went to the mosque to pray Isha.
I had Sayyidi Ibn Ajiba’s work Sharh al-Mabahith al-Asliyya, a work on the science and practice of Sufism, with me. I put it on one of the heaters behind the prayer rows, and prayed. After prayer, I couldn’t find my book.
That is when Sidi Abu Anas (the muezzin) came and handed me my book…
It appears that one of those methodologically disinclined to Sufism decided to get rid of the book, to eradicate innovation from society.
May Allah guide hearts and minds to the ways of His Pleasure, on the footsteps of His Beloved Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him, his family, companions, and all followers).
Wisdom–Purity of the soul (Shaqiq al-Balkhi)
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
Shaqiq al-Balkhi said that one of the knowers of Allah said,
“Know that purity of state is only attained by the purity of one’s realization of four matters:
1. Knowing the Lord (Mighty and Exalted)
2. Knowing the lower self (nafs)
3. Knowing death
4. Knowing that which comes after death of promises and warnings.
This is because the one who knows their Lord (Most High) fulfills His rights. Whoever knows their lower self opposes it. Whoever knows death prepares for its coming. Whoever witnesses the promise of Allah (Most High) obeys His commands. And whoever witnesses His warnings avoids His prohibitions.
These matters are governed by three things:
1. Loyalty (wafa’)
2. Propriety (adab)
3. Dignified behavior (muru’a)
As for loyalty, it is to make one’s heart’s sole concern Allah’s Solitariness (fardaniyya), to remain firm upon beholding His Oneness (wahdaniyya), and to find intimacy in the light of His Firstness (awwaliyya).
As for propriety, it is to guard one’s movements and thoughts, to preserve one’s moments, and to leave the interdicted.
As for dignified behavior, it is to remain steadfast upon remembrance (dhikr) with purity, in word, deed, and intent; to protect oneself from prohibited and doubtful matters of the outward and inward; to hold fast to proper manners to be mindful of what is coming; and to make up anything missed, whether minor or major.
Whoever has all these traits will find the sweetness of union; will have avoided the pain of separation; and their heart will be ablaze with the fires of passion.”
(al-Wasiti, Majma` al-Ahbab Mukhtasar Hilyat al-Awliya’, 3.530)
A Poem by Sidi Azhar Usman - Subjective Substance - June 2004
A beautiful poem by a beautiful person.
DeenPort interviews Sidi Yahya Rhodus
An inspiring interview of an inspiring seeker of sacred knowledge.
Alternatives to Internet Explorer - CNET reviews
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is full of holes…
Get a safer browser. (Get Mozilla Firefox!)
Guardian daily comment | Fareena Alam - Take the honour out of killing
Another intelligent piece by Sr. Fareena Alam.
Sheikh Nuh writes,
“Sheikh ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghouri left this world on Tuesday 8 June 2004 in Damascus after a lifetime of serving Islam and Muslims. Thousands came to his funeral on Wednesday at the mosque of Sheikh Muhyiddin Ibn al-‘Arabi in the Salihiyya quarter. Among the people who prayed over him and buried him were those who knew him as a father, friend, religious scholar, teacher, mystical poet and vocalist, and Sufi sheikh. I knew him as the latter….”
This article is hosted in full on Islamica Magazine’s website (www.islamicamagazine.com), at:
Sheikh ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghouri: Light Upon Light in Damascus
Islamica Magazine is arguably the best Muslim magazine for thinking minds, and sets standards for excellence of content, style, and presentation.
And Allah alone gives success.
Allah honored the human being with the intellect to be able to distinguish truth from falsehood…
Critical thinking helps us distinguish…
Critical Thinking on the Web - Resources
Some Principles of Critical Thinking
Thinking Critically About Critical Thinking
“O passionate lover of the Chosen One,
Be of glad tidings and rejoice,
For the one who obeys the Chosen One
Their reward is Paradise.”
Also: Tala`a al-Badru `Alayna, Ya Man Lulabbi…
… in the Downloads section at: DeenPort (www.deenport.com)
We ask Allah to make our days rich with His obedience, and to increase love and desire of drawing closer to Him in our hearts, until we meet Him and He is pleased with us. Amin.
A lot of very good songs, of various types. In some other sections, there may be instruments or women singing qasidas–please delete such stuff.