Imaan is beyond five pillars Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: لَا يَسْتَقِيمُ الْإِيمَانُ إِلَّا بِالْقَوْلِ، وَلَا يَسْتَقِيمُ الْإِيمَانُ وَالْقَوْلُ إِلَّا بِالْعَمَلِ، وَلَا يَسْتَقِيمُ الْإِيمَانُ وَالْقَوْلُ وَالْعَمَلُ إِلَّا بِنِيَّةٍ مُوَافِقَةٍ لِلسُّنَّةِ “A servant’s faith will not be upright until his heart is sound, and…
Guide on performing Umrah Umrah is a highly rewarded act of worship performed by entering the state of ihram, completing tawaf around the Kaʿbah, praying two rakʿahs, performing saʿi between Safa and Marwah, and finally trimming or shaving the hair. This guide is written to be practical, simple to follow, and based on mainstream Sunni…
It is a great honour to talk about the Prophet ﷺ and to learn from his seerah – his life and biography. Previously, we looked at why we study the seerah – what is the benefit and what is the connection between the life of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the Qur’an and our own reality. Though…
Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet ﷺ gave him seven pieces of advice: 1. He commanded me to love the poor and to keep close to them. 2. He commanded me to look at those who are below me (in worldly matters) and not to look at those…
Gratitude Ann enormous principle of wellbeing is gratitude. Allah says: لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ “If you are grateful, I will certainly give you more.”(Surah Ibrahim, 14:7) And Allah leaves that increase open. It may be an increase in the blessing itself, or in our ability to recognise it. Sometimes the circumstances have not changed at…
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…