11
Mar 2023
Acute regret Imagine you are in a dark cave filled with stones, and your friends urge you to pick up the stones and carry them back with you to the exit. You think they are foolish. Why would you want to burden yourself with heavy stones? You don’t want to waste your time and energy carrying these stones and you think your friends are foolish trying to carry heavy stones with them. You feel free and you have fun, laughing and chatting and making fun of them. Then light enters the cave......
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08
Jan 2023
Remembering Death The tenth and final chapter of The Forty Principles of the Faith is about death. Imam Ghazali chose to end his book, which is a summary of the great tome, Ihya Ulum ad-Din, with this topic. He mentions that the previous nine principles are not all on the same level. Some of them are sought as a bridge to another end, whereas some of them are sought as an end in themselves. The highest on the list are mahabba and rida – love and contentment, which are inseparable. Whoever loves......
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27
Nov 2022
Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him In Surat al Maidah, Allah Almighty says: قَالَ ٱللَّهُ هَٰذَا يَوۡمُ يَنفَعُ ٱلصَّٰدِقِينَ صِدۡقُهُمۡۚ لَهُمۡ جَنَّٰتٞ تَجۡرِي مِن تَحۡتِهَا ٱلۡأَنۡهَٰرُ خَٰلِدِينَ فِيهَآ أَبَدٗاۖ رَّضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنۡهُمۡ وَرَضُواْ عَنۡهُۚ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلۡفَوۡزُ ٱلۡعَظِيمُ Allah will say: “This is a Day on which the truthful will profit from their truth: theirs are Gardens under which rivers flow (in Paradise) – they shall abide therein forever. Allah is pleased with them and they with Him. That is the great success (Paradise). In Surat Tawbah,......
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19
Nov 2022
This is the last part of Ghazali’s chapter on love. He already mentioned that the senses are our gateway to pleasure and we love everything that is pleasurable to our senses. However there is something else we love, but that is not experienced through our senses and that is the love of Allah, which we experience in our heart. Allah stated in the Qurah that He did not create man and Jinn except to worship Him, liyabudun. Mujahid (the student of Ibn Abbas) said that to worship means to KNOW Allah (liyarifun)......
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13
Nov 2022
Why do we love the Prophet (peace be upon him)? Ghazali likes to link every topic to its roots to examine it. How do we develop love? Ghazali already mentioned that we find everything pleasurable to us beloved, while we find everything painful repulsive and abhorrent. Primarily we experience love through our senses and these cause us to respond positively every time our senses are pleased – be it by fragrance, or taste or touch or sight. These are all external stimuli but we also have in addition we have the internal......
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04
Nov 2022
Ghazali lived in 5th century Hijri and his book, Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, ‘The Forty Principles of the Religion,’ which he wrote before his death, is a summary of Ihya Ulumuddin (Revival of the Sciences of the Religion), and his life’s works and thoughts. In the last ten principles of the forty, he looks at good traits that we should adopt and nurture within ourselves. The first is tawbah (repentance); the second is khawf (fear) and the third is zuhd (asceticism), the fourth quality is sabr (patience). The fifth quality is......
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01
Oct 2022
Ghazali lived in 5th century Hijri and his book, Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, ‘The Forty Principles of the Religion,’ which he wrote before his death, is a summary of Ihya Ulumuddin (Revival of the Sciences of the Religion), and his life’s works and thoughts. In the last ten principles of the forty, he looks at good traits that we should adopt and nurture within ourselves. The first is tawbah (repentance); the second is khawf (fear) and the third is zuhd (asceticism), the fourth quality is sabr (patience). The fifth quality is......
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23
Sep 2022
The connect / disconnect between the heart and tongue Ghazali says intention is not determined by what you say, but by a deeper motivation. Simply verbalising something is not a true indication that you mean it. For instance saying ‘I intend to love someone or pay zakah’ does not move you to action. These are just words. An expression. Unless it is accompanied by the motivation to achieve that end. Though we are all familiar with the intention most people pronounce before praying, the motivation to pray precedes that uttering of words.......
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10
Sep 2022
Ghazali lived in 5th century Hijri and his book, Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, ‘The Forty Principles of the Religion,’ which he wrote before his death, is a summary of Ihya Ulumuddin (Revival of the Sciences of the Religion), and his life’s works and thoughts. In the last ten principles of the forty, he looks at good traits that we should adopt and nurture within ourselves. The first is tawbah (repentance); the second is khawf (fear) and the third is zuhd (asceticism), the fourth quality is sabr (patience). The fifth quality is......
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30
Aug 2022
Life is a journey to Allah which we do not pursue alone. We are not an island – we are surrounded by people, friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, those whom we employ and those we work for, and, fleetingly, those people we pass along the way. These interactions are fraught with a variety of emotions – currents of emotion bubble up inside us and at the same time, we are beset by various inner drives that Allah Almighty created within us, which we struggle to restrain. Ghazali gives twenty rules of how to......
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16
Jul 2022
Ghazali lived in 5th century Hijri and his book, Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, ‘The Forty Principles of the Religion,’ which he wrote before his death, is a summary of Ihya Ulumuddin, and his life’s works and thoughts. In the last ten principles of the forty, he looks at good traits. The first is tawbah. The second is khawf and the third is Zuhd. The fourth quality is sabr. Sabr helps us navigate our journey to Allah safely. Allah Almighty says: وَٱصْبِرُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ be patient. Indeed, Allah is......
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03
Jul 2022
Ghazali lived in 5th century Hijri and his book, Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, ‘The Forty Principles of the Religion,’ which he wrote before his death, is a summary of Ihya Ulumuddin, and his life’s works and thoughts. In the last ten principles of the forty, he looks at good traits. The first is tawbah. The second is khawf and the third is Zuhd. There is no good translation of the word zuhd, which is commonly translated as asceticism, so we will stick to zuhd. Recap Zuhd is about renouncing the dunya......
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26
Jun 2022
Ghazali lived in 5th century Hijri and his book, Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, ‘The Forty Principles of the Religion,’ which he wrote before his death, is a summary of Ihya Ulumuddin, and his life’s works and thoughts. In the last ten principles of the forty, he looks at good traits. The first is tawbah. The second is khawf and the third is Zuhd. There is no good translation of the word zuhd, which is commonly translated as asceticism , so we will stick to zuhd. Ghazali starts his chapter on zuhd......
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17
Jun 2022
In Surat Al Anfal, Allah Almighty said: يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْأَنفَالِ ۖ قُلِ الْأَنفَالُ لِلَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ ۖ فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَأَصْلِحُوا ذَاتَ بَيْنِكُمْ ۖ وَأَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ They ask you about the bounties. Say, “The bounties are for God and the Messenger, so be mindful of Allah and reconcile between yourselves and obey Allah and His Messenger, if you are believers. (8:1) إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ In Surat Hujurat, Allah Almighty said: The believers are brothers, so reconcile between your brothers, and remain conscious......
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16
Jun 2022
Ghazali lived in 5th century Hijri and his book, Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, ‘The Forty Principles of the Religion,’ which he wrote before his death, is a summary of Ihya Ulumuddin, and his life’s works and thoughts. In his last ten principles (good traits) out of the forty principles, he covers tawbah (repentance) first and then khawf (fear), explaining them from his own understanding. Ghazali quoted that only those who have knowledge truly fear Allah. They fear Him more than those who do not have knowledge. Only those fear Allah, from......
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