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[Yusufali 97:1] We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power:[Yusufali 97:2] And what will explain to thee what the night of power is?[Yusufali 97:3] The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.[Yusufali 97:4] Therein come down the angels and the Spirit by Allah’s permission, on every errand:[Yusufali 97:5] Peace!…This until…

Steven Waldman makes an interesting point, quoting a hadith of the Prophet SAW, “Do not buy fish in the sea, for it is gharar .” and suggests that this could be applied to financial transactions like sub-prime mortgages. That’s a great tassavur (exegesis), one that I hadn’t heard before, but will certainly quote from now…

There are sometimes treasures to be found at Flickr. Look at this set of vintage photos from Ceylon from before the turn of the (previous) century. Modern Sri Lankans are casual, friendly, outgoing, and quick to smile, but these photos show a reservedness, almost noble air. For example: I’ve long marveled at the strength of…

A can of worms, indeed: ISLAMIC law has been officially adopted in Britain, with sharia courts given powers to rule on Muslim civil cases. The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence. Rulings issued by a network of…

If you think about it, the question of time and date is central to the daily religious routine of a muslim. We need to know when to pray five times a day, we need to know what time to start and begin our fasts, we need to know what days to start and end fasting.…

One of the oldest voices in the Islamsphere, Umm Zaid, has penned a courageous screed excoriating her fellow muslims to take a stand and do something (paraphrasing Todd Beamer, hero of Flight 93) about extremism and terrorism. I will not excerpt it, it deserves a full reading on its own. This is my response to…

The lighter side of Ramadan in the Arab world – soap operas: Ramadan translates into big bucks for Arab satellite channels. Millions of dollars are spent on special programming, much of it comparable to Western soap operas, to entertain the masses during their sunrise-to-sunset fasts. One program, the popular Syrian production “Baab El-Hara” — “The…

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the Gulf Coast region – especially my family there and all the friends I accumulated over the 9 years I spent living there before moving to Wisconsin in June 2007. It looks like Ike is going to hit Houston and Galveston hard: I pray that this…

My Beliefnet colleague Rod Dreher watched the Sarah Palin interview with Charlie Gibson and came away a bit less than impressed. He described her performance as “scripted and overprepared” which doesn’t bode well for assuring the independent vote that McCain must court to win. Personally, I haven’t watched the interview but I did read the…

It’s a shame that for many muslims, the anniversary of 9/11 is an occasion to retreat into a defensive posture, rather than stand proudly alongside our fellow Americans with head unbowed to the threat that faces us all. One of the reasons for this is the refrain often heard that muslims do not condemn terrorism,…
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