Embrace the social teachings of Islam by rethinking modern individualism.
Embrace the social teachings of Islam by rethinking modern individualism.
Along with our Modern Questions, Grounded Answers series, the following articles shed light on various aspects of the Islamic worldview. These articles, along with the rest of Sila’s work, call on us to embrace the social teachings of Islam by examining how modern individualism has affected both major and minor-seeming aspects of our social ideas and interactions.
It’s still a few hours before any hint of twilight when my mother-in-law pulls herself up off the couch, murmuring with a sense of urgency, “I need to start getting the pakora batter ready for iftar.”
I still vividly remember the first night I spent by myself in the hospital after delivering my eldest son Shaan. The guests were gone for the day, the hallway lights
devotion noun: love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person or activity; religious worship or observance; profound dedication Devotion, and Its Fruits She would then spread the prayer-mat, a beautiful soft Persian
There are few religious scholars more well-known in the Muslim world than Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani. His expertise in fiqh and hadith, and in particular his specialization in Islamic Finance, allows him to serve as a distinguished member on numerous international bodies of Islamic law. For scholars of such caliber, one rarely if ever hears about the internal happenings of their domestic life. And due to the emphasis on the modest and hidden nature of a woman’s private sphere, one rarely hears directly from the female members of such religious households.
Empowerment is something desired by all who feel oppressed. If there is an overpowering force that is out to do us harm, we wish more than anything to overcome it. Contemporary common sense however teaches that there is one compelling force that we simply cannot overcome, and that is our own self (nafs). Desires, proclivities, and inclinations toward unwholesome, unseemly things are seen to be, at most, unfortunate. With mottos like “Just Do It!” having become part of the cultural fabric of contemporary society, it is easy to see why even those who wish to stop loving something ugly view the task as requiring Herculean effort.
The doorbell rang and my son Shaan, a 17-year-old high school junior, answered the door and welcomed his college-going friend Brian in to watch football with my husband Zeeshan and our other sons, 15-year-old Ameen and 10-year-old Raahim.
“My Companions are like the stars; follow whichever you like and you will be rightly guided.”
–the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Wherever there is a discrepancy in power, there exists the possibility of abuse. As Muslims, we believe this is true of every relationship between willful beings, except the relationship between God and His creation. He is Just, at the level of the absolute, and His Justice will absolutely be realized, if not on this worldly plane, then on that of the Next.
This tiny and beautifully produced book offers a simple yet powerful window into the sublime character of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
