The Prophet ﷺ said: الْمُؤْمِنُ الْقَوِيُّ خَيْرٌ وَأَحَبُّ إِلَى اللَّهِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِ الضَّعِيفِ، وَفِي كُلٍّ خَيْرٌ “The strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, although there is good in both.”(Sahih Muslim) I would not limit “strong” here to somebody who is physically strong. There is strength of faith,…
Let me give you just a snapshot of some of the foods that have a particular place in the Quran and Sunnah. I cannot go into all their nutritional properties because we would be here all day, but there are a few that are worth looking at. Dates Dates are an obvious place to…
Hospitals – bimaristans There is another concept which is not directly tibb al-Nabawi, but I think it follows very naturally from this idea of holistic healing, and that is the bimaristan. Dr Rania Awaad has done a great deal of work recovering the history of these institutions. Bimaristans were hospitals in the Muslim world…
What is tibb al-nabawi? What do we actually mean by tibb al-nabawi, or prophetic medicine? There are detailed classical works devoted to the subject, and it can be approached as a field in its own right. But for the purposes of this discussion, I want to keep it practical. I am using the term…
Healing with the Quran and Sunnah I was looking recently at some of the Hikam, the aphorisms of Ibn Ataillah al-Iskandari, and one of them really stayed with me: من أشرقت بدايته أشرقت نهايته “Whoever has a luminous beginning will have a luminous end.”(Ibn Ataillah al-Iskandari, al-Hikam al-Ata’iyyah) I thought that was very powerful….
Today, a country of almost 260 million people, will celebrate independence. Pakistan is one year shy of 80. If Pakistan was a man, he would have grown ripe in years – silver-haired and wisened by life’s experience. Would his be face be wrinkled by all the worries of the difficult life he had led? Filled…
Being told that a loved one’s ventilator may be switched off is tough and daunting. No one envies the person who has to make such a decision, yet with the medical technology now available, it is a situation that many families find themselves facing. The Islamic ruling depends on why the ventilator is being withdrawn…
Seven prophetic instructions for a believer عن أبي ذَرٍّ الغِفاريِّ رضي الله عنه، قال: أمرَني خليلي ﷺ بسبع: ١-(أمرَني بحبِّ المساكينِ والدُّنوِّ منهُم. ٢-وأمرَني أن أنظرَ إلى مَن هو دُوني ولا أنظرَ إلى مَن هو فوقي. ٣-وأمرَني أن أصِلَ الرَّحِمَ وإن أدبَرَتْ. ٤-وأمرَني ألا أسألَ أحدًا شيئًا. ٥-وأمرَني أن أقولَ الحقَّ وإن كان مُرًّا. ٦-وأمرَني…
In general, zakat should not be used to pay a deceased person’s burial expenses directly, even if the deceased was zakat-eligible during their lifetime. The main reason is that most scholars stipulate that zakat must involve transferring ownership (tamlik) to a living recipient who is one of the eight categories mentioned in Surah al-Tawbah (9:60)….
The difference between conventional and Islamic mortgages For Muslims, one of the greatest financial challenges of our time, is purchasing a home without falling into riba (interest), which is strictly prohibited in Islam. Conventional mortgages are based on interest-bearing loans, while Islamic banks and financial institutions offer alternatives that aim to comply with Shariah. Among…
The Islamic Funeral prayer Salatul Janaza is performed in congregation to seek pardon for the deceased and all dead Muslims. It is Fard al Kifaya, a collective obligation upon Muslims, which means that at least one person from the community has to fulfil this obligation. As long as someone attends, it is accepted on behalf…
The ears are adorned by hearing the words of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. وَلاَ حَسَنٌ إِلاَّ سَمَاعُ حَدِيثِكُمْ …. مُشَافَهَةً يُمْلَى عَلَىَّ فَأَنْقُلُ “Nothing is truly beautiful except hearing your narrations firsthand — received directly from your lips, dictated to me, and then faithfully transmitted by me.” This is a verse from the poem…
Our Lord Almighty says in His Noble Book: وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ ۖ أَفَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ “And We created from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?” Surah al-Anbiya, 21:30 This is a fact that we see and recognise every day. Allah is the One who created water and sends water down…
Arabia Before Islam History is often shaped in places that few people expect. When people think of the great civilisations of the ancient world, they picture the temples of Egypt, the academies of Athens, the roads of Rome or the palaces of Persia. Rarely do they imagine the deserts of Arabia. To many of the powerful…
History remembers civilisations for what they leave behind. Ancient Egypt is remembered for its monuments. Greece for philosophy. Rome for law and engineering. China for its technological innovations. Islamic civilisation left a different kind of legacy. Over many centuries it became one of the world’s great centres of learning, scholarship, trade, architecture and scientific enquiry. From…