What is Sufism? Shadhili Tariqa – Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller

From Seeker’s Digest

Sufism is a knowledge through which one knows the states of the human soul, praiseworthy or blameworthy, how to
purify it from the blameworthy and ennoble it by acquiring the praiseworthy, and to journey and proceed to Allah Most High, fleeing unto Him. Its fruits are the heart’s development, knowledge of God through direct experience and ecstasy, salvation in the next world, triumph through gaining Allah’s pleasure, the attainment of eternal happiness, and illuminating and purifying the heart so that noble matters disclose themselves, extraordinary states are revealed,
and one perceives what the insight of others is blind to.

– Muhammad Amin Kurdi

Islam and the Race Question

From Mas’ud Ahmed Khan’s Home Page

Paul Hardy, M.A. (Oxon.) Ph.D (University of Chicago)

The racialized discourse prevalent in our own era has over the centuries proven alien to the societies which developed under the inspiration of Islam. Even more alien to those societies has been the tendency found in the West to articulate personal identity almost entirely in racial terms. For in racialized nations like the United States, Europe, South Africa or the Caribbean, appearance or physical attributes, such as hair, skin and bone structure, have been more consequential, more starkly invested with social signficance, than anything else such as family, wealth culture education or personal achievement.

Poverty is Also an Issue for Muslims

From Muslim American Society

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

By Ibrahim Abdil-Mu’id Ramey

MAS Freedom Civil and Human Rights Director

There were two bits of interesting economic news that surfaced this week. In one story, the late hotel magnate, Leona Helmsley, willed the sum of $12 million from her vast estate for the care of her beloved dog, named Trouble, while leaving absolutely nothing at all for two of her grandchildren.

The second, and much more relevant story, was a report that the poverty rate in America had declined, for the first time in the years of the Bush presidency, to a little more than 12 percent of the population. This means that, statistically, a little over 36 million people in America are classified as “poor”- that is, having less than $20,000 in income for a family of four persons.

Sheikh Fahd Al Kanderi Recites Surah Al Tawba

Uploaded by shaykha

Working Professionals Find Ways to Practice Muslim Faith

From Daily Herald

By Katherine Glover

When asked about the challenges of finding time at work to pray, Jamil Khourshad is dismissive of the difficulties created by the Muslim religion’s daily prayer times.

“If you have time to smoke a cigarette, if you have time to go the bathroom, you have time to pray,” said the downtown Chicago restaurateur. Praying takes only five minutes, he said, and although there are specific times for each of the five daily prayers — times that change throughout the year based on the position of the sun — being accurate to the minute is not essential.

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf on Women, Shari’ah and Islam

Uploaded by adilahmedibrahim

Quotations: The greatest good…

The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own. 

–  Benjamin Disraeli

A Common Word Between Us and You: Muslims Send Message of Peace to Christians

From The Official Website of A Common Word

To read the full version click here.

A Common Word between Us and You

(Summary and Abridgement)

Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of the world’s population. Without peace and justice between these two religious communities, there can be no meaningful peace in the world. The future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians.

‘Tis the Last Rose of Summer by Thomas Moore

‘TIS the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone ;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone ;
No flower of her kindred,
No rose-bud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
Or give sigh for sigh.

I’ll not leave thee, thou lone one !
To pine on the stem ;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I scatter
Thy leaves o’er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
And from Love’s shining circle
The gems drop away.
When true hearts lie wither’d,
And fond ones are flown,
Oh ! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone ?

Quotations: What a crazy world…

 

What a crazy world we live in! Trying to treat addiction as a legal problem, and trying to treat criminal misbehaviors using guns as a medical problem! Beam me up, Scotty. Ain’t no intelligent life down here. – Julie Cochrane