(To avoid confusion, it must be made clear that this has nothing to do with the ‘traditionalism’ of perennialists and esotericists.) Recognising the catastrophe of the age and its cause in the loss of the tradition, the issue is not a simple one of returning to the tradition or restoring it. One must recognise that …
Monthly Archives: May 2023
Unity and Equality
Unrecognised powerful religious forces are at work in the world, particularly the “modern” world. The first, particularly for Americans who religiously and sanctimoniously export it, is equality: “all men are created equal”, which is patently false. Neither by genetic nor familial inheritance is it true, nor in terms of wealth and social advantage is this …
Ian Dallas – a victim of tadlees?
Allah, exalted is He, commands gratitude towards parents after gratitude to Himself. But the teacher is the ‘parent’ about whom Imam al-Ghazali remarked, may Allah be pleased with him, that whereas biological parents save one from the fires of this world such a teacher saves one from the Fire of the next world.
A vignette
Allah, exalted is He, said in a famous hadith: “Do not abuse time, for I am time.” What Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi brought was a renewed relation to time. What made him a man of his time was that he was pre-eminently a man of the moment, intensely alert to it. That was because it …
A little ‘asabiyya
Ibn Khaldun noted a historical pattern. A group arises because of what he called ‘asabiyya (esprit de corps being an unsatisfying translation that will do for now), that binding force comprising various elements such as kinship and religion. With their rise, they bring about royal power from within themselves. In the case of the Muslims …
Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace
I det vi sang i dag, peges vi på centraliteten af Allahs Sendebud, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, og at vi må overveje ham og hans rolle i tilværelsen. Jeg ønsker at fremdrage et enkelt aspekt, som er implicit i hans sirah, men som sjældent bliver ekspliciteret: blandt sendebudene, fred være med …
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Mawlid Lolland 1444/2022
Der er egentlig ikke behov for en diskurs. Dette har været en aften med det, der kaldes samaa’ – som ikke er musik, men at lytte. Hele denne aften har været en undervisning. Allah talte til os i Surah Ya Sin, og store ‘ulama’ og shaykh’er talte til os i de qasidahs vi sang og …
Vær Hans wali
I begyndelsen En og ingen anden. Profeten, fred og nåde være med ham, sagde: “Allah var, og der var intet med ham.” Den Ene skabte alle modsætningerne: himmel og jord, mand og kvinde, positiv og negativ og så videre, eller vi kan også sige Yin og Yang. En grundlæggende modsætning er mellem slaven, altså dig …