The opposite of knowledge is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge. Ignorance which is recognized is a blessing because the person then seeks to dispel it by learning. But the illusion of knowledge produces arrogance which shuts the door to learning and greases the slide into Jahannam. As happened for the first time when Iblis, blinded by his own faulty logic based on his illusion of knowledge decided to defy Allahﷻ’s command. Imam Shaf’ee (RA) said, ‘It is possible to convince 70...

There are two ways to lead our lives. The way we want and the way Allahﷻ wants for us. Whichever way we choose, we will be held accountable for it when we die. The issue with living the way we want is that our knowledge is limited, and our desires rule us. The benefit of living the way Allahﷻ wants us to live is that He knows what is best for us and guides us to that and since the accounting is with Him, if we live by His way, that day will be a day of rejoicing. I remind you and myself that...

Every relationship in the world has two things associated with it; a benefit that we derive from it and a responsibility that we owe to it. Any relationship that does not benefit ceases to exist even if it began and carried on for a while. Very soon any intelligent person will realize that they are gaining nothing from the relationship and will move away from it. On the contrary, a relationship that is beneficial will attract you to itself, will be constantly strengthened and you happily...

Ramadan comes to help us to become Muttaqoon and become eligible for all the promises of Allahﷻ. That process begins with Istighfaar and Tawba. فَٱسْتَغْفِرُوهُ ثُمَّ تُوبُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِ إِنَّ رَبِّى قَرِيبٌ مُّجِيبٌ Hud 11: 61    So seek His forgiveness and turn to Him in repentance. Surely my Rabb is Ever Near, All-Responsive ˹to prayers˺.” Seeking forgiveness must be followed up with turning away from sin. We must change the basis of our choices keeping the Ridha...

The purpose of fasting is not to fast but to transform our lives and put ourselves on the path of success in this world and the next.  Ramadan comes to reset our standard, the criterion of what has value and what doesn’t. When we stay away from even the Halaal during the hours of daylight we are emphasizing for ourselves that what makes something good and valuable is not the thing itself but whether it pleases Allahﷻ or not. That is the meaning of Uboodiyah. The slave has no will of his own....

Ramadan is the month of self-reflection and introspection with the intention of getting our lives back on track. Our life is a journey which we hope will end in Jannah. Our parents Adam (AS) and Hawwa (AS) came from Jannah and when Allahﷻ sent them to the earth, He gave them the key to return home - Istighfaar. They said to Allahﷻ: قَالَا رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَآ أَنفُسَنَا وَإِن لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْخَـٰسِرِينَ A’araf 7: 23    They said, “Our...

My brothers and sisters, in another day or two we will enter Ramadan. The question I ask myself and you is, will we enter Ramadan or will we allow Ramadan to enter us? If we enter Ramadan then on the 1st of Shawwal, we will exit Ramadan. But if we allow the spirit of Ramadan, the spirit of absolute obedience to Allahﷻ in the way of Rasoolullahﷺ and concern for the Pleasure of Allahﷻ in all matters to enter our hearts and lives, then we can hope that this will transform us and make us true...

We hear this Ayah in every Jumu’ah Khutba in practically every masjid on the face of the earth. Let us focus on just two words in it – Al Adl wal Ihsaan. إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِٱلْعَدْلِ وَٱلْإِحْسَـٰنِ وَإِيتَآئِ ذِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ ٱلْفَحْشَآءِ وَٱلْمُنكَرِ وَٱلْبَغْىِ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ Nahl 16: 90   Indeed, Allah commands justice, and excellence (mercy, forgiveness) and courtesy to close relatives. He forbids indecency, wickedness, and...

Allahﷻ gave us a purpose of existence which is given to the highest in any society – to guide and show the way. This is the purpose that we inherited by being the followers of Rasoolullahﷺ – to give to the world. To give mankind a standard by which to live. To give it by living it ourselves and demonstrating it as Rasoolullahﷺ did. A ‘Standard’ is something to aspire to, to aim to reach, to benchmark and measure yourself against. A ‘Standard’ is a flag, high and alone on its staff,...

“Islam began as something strange, and it shall return to being something strange, so give glad tidings to the strangers.” Saheeh Hadeeth [Ibn Maajah, Kitaab al fitan 3986 Like most thinking Muslims of our time, over the last few years, I have also been thinking about the sad state that the Muslim Ummah finds itself in. Like lost sheep we are large in number but distracted, disconnected, and dispersed, prey to every passing wolf. All the power, authority, wealth and influence...

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well." - Ralph Waldo Emerson Jabir (R) reported: Rasoolullahﷺ said, “The best of people are those who are most beneficial to people.” I am not against happiness, and neither was Emerson. But happiness can be the result of very selfish and toxic behavior. People engaging in substance abuse or in backbiting or slandering,...

 بَدَأَ الإِسْلاَمُ غَرِيبًا وَسَيَعُودُ غَرِيبًا فَطُوبَى لِلْغُرَبَاءِ ‏‏ Abu Huraira (R) reported: Rasoolullahﷺ said, “Islam began as something strange, and it will return to being strange, so blessed are the strangers.” Ibn Majah (Kitab Al-Fitan) In a world based on oppression, courage is strange. In a world based on amassing personal wealth, charity is strange. In a world where net worth means dollars, net worth meaning character is strange. In a world ruled by merchants...

This Khutba is a summation of the 7 Khutab titled ‘The Way Forward’. Here, I am going to highlight the action points only. I will begin with my gift to you, which is my own motto: “I will not allow what is not in my control to prevent me from doing what is in my control.” This is based on the reality that when we stand before Allahﷻ, we will not be asked, ‘What happened?’ But we will be asked, ‘What did you do?’ Get ready for the long haul.This is a generational project so the sooner we start...

What distinguishes people who never experienced subjugation from those with a collective memory of empire and subjugation, is their willingness to speak up, fight for their rights and to pay for what they enjoy, while the others only complain but do nothing to change the situation. This is the ‘learned helplessness’ of people whose bodies are free, but minds remain enslaved. To own responsibility for our destiny, and work and pay for what is important is a sign of a free mind and emotional...

Most of us are historically illiterate and our cherry-picking approach to history ensures illiteracy. However, our lives won’t change until we learn lessons from history and break out of the vicious cycles that we are caught up in. We don’t learn the lessons because we can’t differentiate between critiquing and critical analysis and criticizing. We have no capacity to objectively analyze incidents in history without either hero-worshiping those involved or trashing them. People who don’t...

My brothers and sisters, in these series of my 7 – Khutab called, ‘The way forward’, I will try to define for you the problem that we Muslims face globally and to suggest the way forward to a solution. There are two critical things which you must remember as you listen to me. One, that we didn’t reach this state of being overnight. And therefore, neither is the solution going to work overnight. It is not magic. Second, the only way for the solution to work is if all of us commit to working...

If I must die,you must liveto tell my storyto sell my thingsto buy a piece of clothand some strings,(make it white with a long tail)so that a child, somewhere in Gazawhile looking heaven in the eyeawaiting his dad who left in a blaze–and bid no one farewellnot even to his fleshnot even to himself–sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up aboveand thinks for a moment an angel is therebringing back loveIf I must dielet it bring hopelet it be a taleLast poem of Refaat Alareer, academic, writer,...

History teaches one critical lesson: Only those who contribute are valued. Only they have leverage, are influential, and have power. Their religion or ethnicity doesn’t matter. What matters is their contribution to society on a local or global scale. The world works on one overarching principle: What’s in it for me? WiiFM. That’s how it was and that’s how it is. Our belief and personal acts of worship add value to us individually because if we work for the pleasure of Allahﷻ, He will reward...

Think long term. It is not about winning one conflict. It is about becoming influential and creating a situation where there are no more conflicts. It is about becoming influential where you can initiate and direct local and national policy. It is about being in positions where the decisions you take will positively impact people across the globe and become Sadaqa Jaariya for you. Let me mention for you just two such decisions the effects of which the world is feeling to this day. One was the...

In Sura Isra Allahﷻ mentioned two historic events. وَقَضَيْنَآ إِلَىٰ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ فِى ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ لَتُفْسِدُنَّ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَرَّتَيْنِ وَلَتَعْلُنَّ عُلُوًّا كَبِيرًا فَإِذَا جَآءَ وَعْدُ أُولَىٰهُمَا بَعَثْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ عِبَادًا لَّنَآ أُو۟لِى بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ فَجَاسُوا۟ خِلَـٰلَ ٱلدِّيَارِ وَكَانَ وَعْدًا مَّفْعُولًا ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَا لَكُمُ ٱلْكَرَّةَ عَلَيْهِمْ وَأَمْدَدْنَـٰكُم بِأَمْوَٰلٍ وَبَنِينَ وَجَعَلْنَـٰكُمْ أَكْثَرَ نَفِيرًا إِنْ...

I have a principle in life. “I will not allow what is not in my control to prevent me from doing what is in my control.” That is based on the reality that when we stand before Allahﷻ, we will not be asked, ‘What happened?’ But we will be asked, ‘What did you do?’ That means accepting that the only one in my control is myself. Nobody else. So, that is who I must focus on. Do what is in my control and not allow circumstances, media, people, or even my own feelings, to distract or discourage me...

 But We see with our eyes, but we understand with our hearts. That's called insight. That's why Allahﷻ said: Indeed, it is not the eyes that are blind, but it is the hearts in the chests that grow blind. Structures of this life don't show what's behind them in the Will of Allahﷻ. Like the story of Musa (AS) and Abdullah bin Zubair (RA). Or like the three stories of Musa and Khidhr (AS) that Allahﷻ told us about in Surah Al-Kahf. All of these as well as many others are apparently negative...

I remind you and myself that a fire can’t be extinguished by another fire but by pouring water over it. Violence does not end violence. It only increases it. As Muslims we are against all violence, no matter who does it. We condemn the actions of Hamas and all calls to violence. We follow the Qur’an which clearly advocates against violence and murder and says: مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَىٰ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ أَنَّهُۥ مَن قَتَلَ نَفْسًۢا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِى...

My brothers and sisters, the default setting for the Muslim is that he/she is a Wali of Allahﷻ. This is not my imagination but Allahﷻ stated that clearly in His Book and said: أَلَآ إِنَّ أَوْلِيَآءَ ٱللَّهِ لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَكَانُوا۟ يَتَّقُونَ لَهُمُ ٱلْبُشْرَىٰ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَفِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِكَلِمَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ ٱلْفَوْزُ ٱلْعَظِيمُ Yunus 10: 62-64    There will...