Yusuf Islam Quotes

We live in the age of Noah (a.s.) in the sense that a flood of distraction accosts us. It is a slow and subtle drowning. For those who notice it, they engage in the remembrance of God. The rites of worship and devotion to God's remembrance (dhikr) are planks of the ark. When Noah (a.s.) started to build his ark, his people mocked him and considered him a fool. But he kept building. He knew what was coming. And we know too.

The desired Islamic state might be likened to an orchard planted with olive and palm trees that will take a relatively long time to produce fruit.

To be calm when you've found something going on

Ibn Ata' Allah said: "God may open up for you the gates of obedience, but without opening up for you the gates of acceptance. On the other hand, He may Allow you to fall into disobedience which happens to lead you to the right path. DISOBEDIENCE that teaches you HUMILITY is better than PIETY that fills you with VANITY and ARROGANCE.

I am the slave of the Master of Prophets And my fealty to him has no beginning. I am a slave of his slave, and of his slave’s slave, And so forth endlessly, For I do not cease to approach the door Of his good pleasure among the beginners. I proclaim among people the teaching of his high attributes, And sing his praises among the poets. Perhaps he shall tell me: “You are a noted friend Of mine, a truly excellent beautifier of my tribute.” Yes, I would sacrifice my soul for the dust of his sanctuary. His favor should be that he accept my sacrifice. He has triumphed who ascribes himself to him! - Not that he needs such following, For he is not in need of creation at all, While they all need him without exception. He belongs to Allah alone, Whose purified servant he is, As his attributes and names have made manifest; And every single favor in creation comes from Allah To him, and from him to everything else.

And dispute ye not with the People of the Book, except with means better [than mere disputation], unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong [and injury]: but say, "We believe in the revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you; Our Allah and your Allah is one; and it is to Him we bow [in Islam].

From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen.

Happy will be those who take a lesson and warning from the mistakes and misfortunes of others and seek, nevertheless, to adopt the good they offer. Wisdom, wherever he finds it, it's a believer's goal, because he is more worthy of it than anyone else.

People say to you, 'you've changed', or something like that. Well, I hope, for the sake of God, that I have changed, because I don't want to be the same person all my life. I want to be growing, I want to be expanding. I want to be changing. Because animate things change, inanimate things don't change. Dead things don't change. And the heart should be alive, it should be changing, it should be moving, it should be growing and its knowledge should be expanding.

Manakah yang besar penderitaan kita dengan penderitaan Nabi Adam? Yang di dalam surga bersenang-senang dengan istrinya, lalu disuruh ke luar. Dan manakah yang susah penderitaan kita dengan penderitaan Nabi Nuh, yang menyeru umat kepada Islam, padahal anaknya sendiri tidak mau mengikuti? Sehingga seketika disuruh Tuhan segala ahli kerabatnya naik perahu, anak itu tidak ikut. Malah ikut karam dengam orang banyak di dalam gulungan banjir. Di hadapan matanya! Dan kemudian datang pula vonis Tuhan bahwa anak itu bukan keluarganya. Pernahkah kita lihat cobaan serupa yang ditanggung Ibrahim? Disuruh menyembelih anak untuk ujian, ke manakah dia lebih cinta, kepada Tuhannyakah atau kepada anaknya? Yakub dipisahkan dari Yusufnya. Yusuf diperdayakan seorang perempuan. Ayub ditimpa penyakit yang parah. Daud dan Sulaiman kena bermacam-macam fitnah. Demikian juga Zakaria dan Yahya. Yang memberikan jiwa mereka untuk korban keyakinan. Isa al-Masih pun demikian pula. Muhammad lebih-lebih lagi. Pernahkah mereka mengeluh? Tidak, karena mereka yakin bahwa kepercayaan kepada Tuhan menghendaki perjuangan dan keteguhan. Mereka tidak menuntut kemenangan lahir. Sebab mereka menang terus. Mereka memikul beban seberat itu, menjadi Rasul Allah, memikul perintah Tuhan karena cintakan manusia. Oleh karena itu mereka tempuh kesusahan, pertama membuktikan cinta akan Tuhan, kedua menggembleng batin, ketiga karna rahim yang sayang dan segenap umat.hal. 79

The lack of insight to reality, life and history as well as into God's ways, or sunan in His creation, some people will continue to seek or demand the impossible. They will imagine what does not or cannot happen, misunderstand occurrences and events, and interpret them on the basis of cherished illusions which in no way reflect God's sunan or the essence of Islamic law.

It is of the extraordinary insights of Imam Malik that the first section of his Muwatta', which precedes even the section on ritual purity, is on the times of the prayer. It is the times of prayer that obligate purity. Observing the times of prayer is the first thing we do when we wake and the last thing we do before retiring to bed; it is done in the middle of the day and in its decline. It is an unrelenting reminder of to whom we belong, why we are here, and where we are going.

Be you dust; or be you star To be what you must Just reach out for what you are

Isn’t it interesting, that a black man, who is a Muslim, and has the name ‘Muhammad’, is the most beloved athlete in the world?

Yusuf As’ar Yath’ar: the last Jewish king ever to rule in Arabia.

disagreement based on LEGITIMATE IJTIHAD which does not create DISCORD or DISUNITY is a BLESSING for the UMMAH and an enrichment of ISLAMIC JURISPRUDENCE. Objective disagreement in itself poses no threat if it is coupled with TOLERANCE and is free of FANATICISM, ACCUSATIONS, and NARROW-MINDEDNESS.

This is the difference between someone whose heart is purified and sound and one whose heart is impure and corrupt. Impure people oppress, and the pure-hearted not only forgive their oppressors, but elevate them in status and character. In order to purify ourselves, we must begin to recognize this truth. This is what this book is all about — a book of self-purification and a manual of liberation. If we work on our hearts, if we actually implement what is suggested here, we’ll begin to see changes in our lives, our condition, our society, and even within our own family dynamics. It is a blessing that we have this science of purification, a blessing that this teaching exists in the world today. What remains is for us to take these teachings seriously. Signs, Symptoms and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart. Translation and Commentary of Imam Mawlud's Matharat al-Qulub. Schaykh Hamza Yusuf. E-Book S. 10

كنت ستصنع العجب العجاب ، هيه ؟ مبشر لأوربا على غرار كولومبانوس المتحمس فياكر و سكوتوس كل على كرياس في الأعالي دلقا من كوزيهما ، يضحكان بلاتينيه صاخبة : Eugel Eugel ، خيرا عملت ! خيرا ما فعلت ! تتظاهر بالحديث بلكنة انجليزية مكسرة و أنت تجر شنطك ، شيال بثلاثة بنسات على طول رصيف نيوهافين الموحل . Comment ? . جلبت معك أسلايا نفسية : Le turtu ، و خمسة أعداد ممزقة من Pantalon Blanc et Culotte Rouge و برقية فرنسية زرقاء ، غرائب للفرجة . - الوالدة تحتضر إحضر والدك تعتقد العمة أنك قتلت أمك . لهذا لا تريدني أن . في صحة عمة ماليجـــان فهي تحرص على النظام و تعـرف قيمة الاحــــــترام فـي عـائــلة هانـيجــــــان

Exercise 1: Guarding the Prayer Once we are performing the five obligatory prayers with regularity, then it is certainly worth our efforts to begin increasing extra prayers- especially the late-night prayers (tahajjud). Late-night prayer is one of the defining qualities of a salih (righteous) person, also called a wali (friend of Allah). Regarding late-night prayers, Fudayl b. 'Iyyad said that if a man was unable to do them, it was due to his wrong actions during the day. May Allah make us befitting to stand before Him, here and in the hereafter. Agenda to Change our Condition, Hamza Yusuf & Zaid Shakir, S. 46

It is of the extraordinary insights of Imam Malik that the first section of his Muwatta'*, which precedes even the section on ritual purity, is on the times of the prayer. It is the times of prayer that obligate purity. Observing the times of prayer is the first thing we do when we wake and the last thing we do before retiring to bed; it is done in the middle of the day and in its decline. It is an unrelenting reminder of to whom we belong, why we are here, and where we are going.

Islam is not about equal right…it’s about fairness.

The words of the Quran all seemed strangely familiar yet so unlike anything I had ever read before,’ he told us. He embraced Islam in 1977, and changed his name to Yusuf, the Arabic for Joseph. ‘I identified with the story of Joseph in the Quran,’ he said. ‘His brothers sold him like goods in the market place.’ Yusuf felt the music business had treated him not like an artist but as a commodity.

Love stories abound in all cultures: Romeo and Juliet, Orpheus and Eurydice, Tristan and Isolde, and in the Middle East, we find the stories of Yusuf and Zuleika, and Majnûn and Laylá. The story of Majnûn and Layla- was (and still is) widely known throughout the Islamic world. However, in the hands of Persian Sûfî poets, the story became transformed into a symbol of the love of a human being for Allâh. In Sûfîsm, questing for Allâh is similar to the European Grail quest in which the Knight quests for a Chalice (the cup being a symbol of the female sexual organ). Laylá, in Arabic, comes from the word layl meaning 'night'. The association of the Divine Feminine with Darkness and the Night is ubiquitous.

The Afghanis converted from Buddhism and some of the greatest Muslims came out of that Buddhist tradition. In fact Balkh was a center for Buddhist logic and those logicians became Muslim and introduced interestingly enough into Islamic theology some Buddhist logical formations that dont exist in Greek logic. Greek logic does not have a "neither A nor B" type scenario whereas Nagarjunian logic which is Buddhist logic does. In traditional Islamic theology you have situations where they do have that "neither A nor B". [...] I can't say "definitely" but I really believe that it does come out of the influence that the Buddhist logicians had on Islam. I actually wrote a paper “how the Buddhists saved Islam” which was about that but somebody said [...] [do not submit it] as you will get too much flak. (audio)

apportionment in the world. Thus, one is opposing how God meted out sustenance in concord with His wisdom. Therefore, one must oppose his own ego's desires and seek treatment for this disease with the healing force of acceptance of the divine decree and prayer on behalf of one's enemies in a way that suppresses the ego [nafs].

On the Day of Judgment no one is safe save the one who returns to God with a pure heart. (Quran) Surely in the breasts of humanity is a lump of flesh, if sound then the whole body is sound, and if corrupt then the whole body is corrupt. Is it not the heart? (Prophet Muhammad ) Blessed are the pure at heart, for they shall see God. (Jesus )

Another woman, “whose face no one had ever seen outside the door of her house and who had never walked during the day in the city,”2 had torn off her headscarf, the better to reproach the king. Yusuf, in his fury, had ordered her daughter and granddaughter killed before her, their blood poured down her throat, and then her own head to be sent flying.

Es gibt keinen Platz für Hoffnungslosigkeit. Der Kampf geht weiter. Diese Welt war niemals dafür gedacht, um das Paradies zu sein. Gott hat die Welt erschaffen, damit du durch sie zu Gott finden mögest. Wenn du an Gott glaubst, dann wirst du für alle Bedrängnisse, die dir in diesem Leben widerfahren, am Tage des Jüngsten Gerichts die Belohnung dafür erhalten.

The onus is on us as a community to really put forward a different face for our religion, for our community, and for our Lord, and for our Prophet, peace be upon him, because it's really unacceptable that a religion with all of this beauty should be painted with such ugly strokes. So we're really here trying to paint a beautiful picture of our faith in action.

Vücudumuzdaki hücreler oksijene ihtiyaç duyarlar, bu yüzden nefes alırız ve nefesimiz kesilirse yaşayamayız. İşte bunun gibi, kalbin de teneffüse ihtiyacı vardır ve kalbin nefesi Allah'ı "anmaktan" başka bir şey değildir. O olmadan manevi kalp hayatta kalamaz. İşte vahyin ve kutsal metinlerin varlık sebebi de, bize kalplerimizin beslenmeye muhtaç olduğu gerçeğini hatırlatmaktır.

Dignity and honor are gifts: “[O God], You exalt whomever You will, and You debase whomever You will” (QURAN, 3:26). Proofs of this Divine law abound. There are many accounts, for example, of people who were once in positions of authority and wealth, who then find themselves paupers completely stripped of their former glory, reduced, in many instances, to wards of the state. God is powerful over all things, and all good, authority, and provision are in His hand, not ours.

According to one Islamic model, the soul has three stages. In the first seven years, it is known as the appetitive soul. The primary concerns of children in this stage are eating and wanting attention. The second stage is the next seven years, the age of anger, when kids react strongly to stimuli and are annoyed easily. The third is the rational stage, when reasoning and discernment reach their full capacity. ʿAlī ibn AbīṬālib encouraged parents to play with their children during the first stage, to indulge them, for they are discovering the world. They had been in a spiritual realm and have only recently entered the realm of the sensory. In the second stage, Imam ʿAlī counseled that parents should focus on training and discipline, for, in this stage, young people have a heightened capacity to receive and absorb information and thus learn new things. In the third stage, parents should befriend them and form a relationship that is amicable and full of kindness and companionship. After this, their children, now adults, should be set free.

لأننى أبغض البشر وأتألم لى ولهم، وتمور بداخلى مشاعر متنافرة فى فَوَران لا يهدأ ولا يلين، يتركنى مضعضع الروح هامد الجسد، أتراوح بين قاع اليأس وذروة البهجة، وأشاهد بعينٍ مفتوحة على اتساعها المطلق، فى دهشة فُجائية واستكانة لا مبالية. بين القهقهة والربت على الظهر والضّم إلى الصدر وقوقعة الجسد تعصر القلب والميت لا يرجع من مكانٍ ذهب إليه والحى لا يعود إلى ما كان عليه وكل شىء فى تبدّل وكل كاملٍ إلى نقصان وكل ناقصٍ إلى عدم وكل عدمٍ إلى لا شىء، أفهم كل شىء ولا أفهم شيئاً على الإطلاق، وكلّ ما يبدر منّى - فى الخفاء أو العلن - محض سخرية.

Every American should own a Koran. There are no excuses. Every day you can switch on the television or the radio or open a newspaper and hear or read pronouncements about what Islam is and“what the Koran says. Most of it is wrong—very wrong. You owe it to yourself, your family, and all the Americans killed on 9/11 and since to know the truth. Do not take anyone’s word for it. Find out for yourself by reading the actual Koran. One of the most reliable and recognized versions is the The Holy Qur’an: Text, Translation and Commentary translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. Once you have a Koran and start to read it, take care to note the enormous differences between the half reportedly communicated to Mohammed in the beginning in Mecca, when he was weak and without followers, and the latter half, allegedly written after he returned from Medina with thousands of followers, the leader of a mighty military force. It is the post-Medina chapters of the Koran that are naturally favored by groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. They are not in fact perverting religious texts but skillfully applying those alleged revelations that best support their cause.

Jesus, the son of Mary, peace be upon them, was accustomed to say, "O my God, surely I have entered into the morning unable to neither forestall what I fear nor hasten what I hope for. The whole affair is in another’s hand. I have arisen bound to my deeds. There is no one poorer than me. Do not make me the cause of my enemies being cursed, nor make me the reason any harm should come to a friend. Do not place tribulation in my spiritual path, nor empower anyone over me who shows me no mercy." "Walk on Water: The Wisdom of Jesus" From Traditional Arabic sources, translated by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf.

It was common among Muslim scholars to discuss the delicate balance between hope and fear. If one is overwhelmed with fear, he enters a psychological state of terror that leads to despair (ya’s)— that is, despair of God’s mercy. In the past, this religious illness was common, but it is less so today because, ironically, people are not as religious as they used to be. However, some of this is still found among certain strains of evangelical Christianity that emphasize Hellfire and eternal damnation. One sect believes that only 144,000 people will be saved based on its interpretation of a passage in the Book of Revelations. Nonetheless, an overabundance of hope is a disease that leads to complacency and dampens the aspiration to do good since salvation is something guaranteed (in one’s mind, that is). According to some Christian sects that believe in unconditional salvation, one can do whatever one wills (although he or she is encouraged to do good and avoid evil) and still be saved from Hell and gain entrance to Paradise. This is based on the belief that once one accepts Jesus a personal savior, there is nothing to fear about the Hereafter. Such religiosity can sow corruption because human beings simply cannot handle being assured of Paradise without deeds that warrant salvation. Too many will serve their passions like slaves and still consider themselves saved. In Islam, faith must be coupled with good works for one’s religion to be complete. This does not contradict the sound Islamic doctrine that “God’s grace alone saves us.” There is yet another kind of hope called umniyyah, which is blameworthy in Islam. Essentially, it is having hope but neglecting the means to achieve what one hopes for, which is often referred to as an “empty wish.” One hopes to become healthier, for example, but remains sedentary and is altogether careless about diet. To hope for the Hereafter but do nothing for it in terms of conduct and morality is also false hope.

The Prophet once said to his Companions, "Do you want to see a man of Paradise?" A man then passed by and the Prophet said, "That man is one of the people of Paradise." So a Companion of the Prophet decided to learn what it was about this man that earned him such a commendation from the Messenger of God . He spent time with this man and observed him closely. He noticed that he did not perform the Night Prayer vigil (Tahajjud) or anything extraordinary. He appeared to be an average man of Madinah. The Companion finally told the man what the Prophet had said about him and asked if he did anything special. And the man replied, "The only thing that I can think of, other than what everybody else does, is that I make sure that I never sleep with any rancor in my heart towards another." That was his secret.

Interestingly, the word munkasiran is translated as dejected, though literally it means broken. It conveys a sense of being humbled in the majestic presence of God. It refers to the awesome realization that each of us, at every moment, lives and acts before the august presence of the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the one God besides whom there is no power or might in all the universe. When one seriously reflects on God’s perfect watch over His creation, the countless blessings He sends down, and then considers the kind of deeds one brings before Him—what possible feelings can one generate except humility and degrees of shame? With these strong feelings, one implores God to change one’s state, make one’s desires consonant with His pleasure—giving up one’s designs for God’s designs. This is pure courtesy with respect to God, a requisite for spiritual purification.

The cure for hatred is straightforward. One should pray for the person toward whom he feels hatred; make specific supplication mentioning this person by name, asking God to give this person good things in this life and the next. When one does this with sincerity, hearts mend. If one truly wants to purify his or her heart and root out disease, there must be total sincerity and conviction that these cures are effective. Arguably, the disease of hatred is one of the most devastating forces in the world. But the force that is infinitely more powerful is love. Love is an attribute of God; hate is not. A name of God mentioned in the Quran is al-Wadud, the Loving one. Hate is the absence of love, and only through love can hatred be removed from the heart. In a profound and beautiful hadith, the Prophet said, "None of you has achieved faith until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.

Nach Sidi Ahmad Zarruq -möge Allah mit ihm zufrieden sein- Die Fundamente von unserem Weg sind 5: 1) die Achtsamkeit gegenüber Allah- nämlich privat und öffentlich; 2) die Befolgung der Sunnah in Worten und Taten; 3) die Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber der Akzeptanz oder Ablehnung durch andere; 4) die Zufriedenheit mit Allah in Zeiten von Bedrängnis und Erleichterung; und 5) die Zuwendung zu Allah bei Erfolg und im Elend. Die Achtsamkeit gegenüber Allah wird durch die Gewissenhaftigkeit und die Geradheit realisiert. Die Sunnah befolgt man durch Vorsicht und einem exzellenten Charakter. Die Gleichgültigkeit oder das Desinteresse bezüglich der Akzeptanz oder Ablehnung von anderen realisiert man mittels Geduld und Vertrauen. Die Zufriedenheit mit Allah in Zeiten von Bedrängnis und Erleichterung erlangt man durch die Zufriedenheit mit dem, was einem geboten wird und dem Überlassen seiner Angelegenheiten an Allah. Zu Allah wendet man sich, indem man Ihn preist und tiefe Dankbarkeit spürt während man Wohlstand genießt, wie auch durch das Zuflucht Suchen bei Allah in Zeiten des Elends.

The rejection of Western democracy derives from the same rejection of secularism but was further sharpened by the Saudi Arabian establishment’s aversion to democracy’s subversive streak and the threat it posed to the Saudi monarchy if unleashed. Saudi scholars such as Sheikh Bakr Ibn Abu Zaid consistently attacked democracy and the freedoms it flaunted as anti-Islamic. Mohammed Yusuf was heavily influenced by the writings of Saudi-based scholars such as Bakr Ibn Abu Zaid, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd-Allah Ibn Baaz (1910-99), and Sheikh Muhammad al-Amin ash Shanqiti (1907-73). As mentioned before, all of Yusuf’s opponents side-stepped the issue of democracy being un-Islamic, thereby making the issue appear incontestable or settled.

From the day I could talk, I was ordered to listen.

True freedom is doing what Allah wants which is the defintion of freedom in Islam. The 'Abdullah is the only real hur because he is a servant and a slave to Allah and not to creation. The one who is a slave to himself is not free and will never be free until he is freed of himself. And this is why in arabic language the word for freed slave is also the word for master: "Maula"; like we call Allah "Maulana". So the freed slave is the one who is the master of himself.

Food is not to enjoy. That's not the reason why you're eating it. That's why the Glutton eats. But someone who's serious about maintaining their health - they eat for health. We're literally digging our graves with our teeth.

The New Yorker (The New Yorker) - Clip This Article on Location 1510 | Added on Wednesday, June 10, 2015 5:42:23 PM FICTION THE DUNIAZáT BY SALMAN RUSHDIE   In the year 1195, the great philosopher Ibn Rushd, once the qadi , or judge, of Seville and most recently the personal physician to the Caliph Abu Yusuf Yaqub in his home town of Córdoba, was formally discredited and disgraced on account of his liberal ideas, which were unacceptable to the increasingly powerful Berber fanatics who were spreading like a pestilence across Arab Spain, and was sent to live in internal exile in the small village of Lucena, a village full of Jews who could no longer say they were Jews because they had been forced to convert to Islam. Ibn Rushd, a philosopher who was no longer permitted to expound his philosophy, all of whose writing had been banned and burned, felt instantly at home among the Jews who could not say they were Jews. He had been a favorite of the Caliph of the present ruling dynasty, the Almohads, but favorites go out of fashion, and Abu Yusuf Yaqub had allowed the fanatics to push the great commentator on Aristotle out of town. The philosopher who could not speak his philosophy lived on a narrow unpaved street in a humble house with small windows and was terribly oppressed by the absence of light. He set up a medical practice in Lucena, and his status as the ex-physician of the Caliph himself brought him patients; in addition, he used what assets he had to enter modestly into the horse trade, and also financed the making of tinajas , the large earthenware vessels, in which the Jews who were no longer Jews stored and sold olive oil and wine. One day soon after the beginning of his exile, a girl of perhaps sixteen summers appeared outside his door, smiling gently, not knocking or intruding on his thoughts in any way, and simply stood there waiting patiently until he became aware of her presence and invited her in. She told him that she was newly orphaned, that she had no source of income, but preferred not to work in the whorehouse, and that her name was Dunia, which did not sound like a Jewish name because she was not allowed to speak her Jewish name, and, because she was illiterate, she could not write it down. She told him that a traveller had suggested the name and said it was Greek and meant “the world,” and she had liked that idea. Ibn Rushd, the translator of Aristotle, did not quibble with her, knowing that it meant “the world” in enough tongues to make pedantry unnecessary. “Why have you named yourself after the world?” he asked her, and she replied, looking him in the eye as she spoke, “Because a world will flow from me and those who flow from me will spread across the world.” Being a man of reason, Ibn Rushd did not guess that the girl was a supernatural creature, a jinnia, of the tribe of female jinn: a grand princess of that tribe, on an earthly adventure, pursuing her fascination with human men in general and brilliant ones in particular.

Muslims pursued knowledge to the edges of the earth. Al-Biruni, the central Asian polymath, is arguably the world's first anthropologist. The great linguists of Iraq and Persia laid the foundations a thousand years ago for subjects only now coming to the forefront in language studies. Ibn Khaldun, who is considered the first true scientific historian, argued hundreds of years ago that history should be based upon facts and not myths or superstitions. The great psychologists of Islam known as the Sufis wrote treatise after treatise that rival the most advanced texts today on human psychology. The great ethicists and exegetes of Islam's past left tomes that fill countless shelves in the great libraries of the world, and many more of their texts remain in manuscript form. In the foreword of "Being Muslim. A Practical Guide" by Dr. Asad Tarsin.

The believers are described as people whose hearts are alive and full of light, while the scoffers are in darkness: Is one who was dead and then We revived [with faith] and made for him a light by which to walk among the people like one who is in darkness from which he cannot exit? (QURAN, 6:122). According to commentators of the Quran, the one who was dead refers to having a dead heart, which God revived with the light of guidance that one may walk straight and honorably among human beings. Also, the prophet Muhammad said, “The difference between the one who remembers God and one who does not is like the difference between the living and the dead.” In essence, the believer is someone whose heart is alive, while the disbeliever is someone whose heart is spiritually dead.

I don’t believe in any form of racism... I believe in Islam. I am a Muslim. — Malcolm X

Despite this historic influence, Sanusi (Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Sanusi) has elicited very little interest from Western scholars of Islam in the twentieth century. He is a striking example of just how dramatically the canon of Islamic religious thinkers has shifted in modern times. Up until the end of the nineteenth century, Sanusi was arguably a much more influential and mainstream figure in Sunni Islam than the fourteenth-century Hanbali purist Ibn Taymiyya. Today, Ibn Taymiyya is widely considered to have been a central figure in Islamic religious history, whereas Sanusi is little known even to specialists in Arabic and Islamic studies and often confused with the nineteenth century founder of the Sanusiyya Sufi order.

All religions are not equal in their capacity to mete out violence and genocidal hate. To say otherwise is to be hopelessly misguided or profoundly duplicitous. Two other popular deflections are 'But what about the crusades?' and 'But the Bible also has violent passages.' The crusades were a response to hundreds of years of Islamic aggression, and they took place within a very restricted time and place, nearly a millennium ago. As for the Bible, you can count on one hand the number of individuals who have used violent passages from Deuteronomy to justify act of terrorism in the twenty-first century. On the other hand, innumerable Jihadis around the world use Islamic doctrines to justify their violent actions. Scale matters. Another classic ploy used by apologists is the 'No True Scotsman' fallacy. This argues that entire Islamic countries, Islamic governments, and leading Islamic scholars are "fake" representations of the true faith. If you point to sharia law in Saudi Arabia, the retort is that this does not represent True Islam. Similarly, Iran's mullahs apparently do not represent True Islam. Osama Bin Laden was a "fake" Muslim. Other "fake" Muslims include Amin al-Husseini (the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who was on friendly terms with Adolf Hitler), Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi (arguably the leading Sunni theologian today), and Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (the late leader of ISIS).

Islam provides the method by which our hearts can become sound and safe again. This method has been the subject of brilliant and insightful scholarship for centuries in the Islamic tradition. One can say that Islam in essence is a program to restore purity and calm to the heart through the remembrance of God. This present text is based on the poem known as Maṭharat al-Qulūb (literally, Purification of the Hearts), which offers the means by which purification can be achieved. It is a treatise on the “alchemy of the hearts,” namely, a manual on how to transform the heart. It was written by a great scholar and saint, Shaykh Muhammad Mawlud al Ya’qubi al-Musawi al-Muratani, As his name indicates, he was from Mauritania in West Africa. He was a master of all the Islamic sciences, including the inward sciences of the heart. He stated that he wrote this poem because he observed the prevalence of diseased hearts. He saw students of religion spending their time learning abstract sciences that people were not really in need of, to the neglect of those sciences that pertain to what people are accountable for in the next life, namely, the spiritual condition of the heart, In one of his most cited statements, the Prophet said, “Actions are based upon intentions.” All deeds are thus valued according to the intentions behind them, and intentions emanate from the heart. So every action a person intends or performs is rooted in the heart. Imam Mawlud realized that the weakness of society was a matter of weakness of character in the heart, Imam Mawlud based his text on many previous illustrious works, especially Imam al-Ghazali’s great Ihya’ Ulum alDin (The Revivification of the Sciences of the Religion). Each of the 40 books of Ihya‘ Ulum al-Din is basically about rectifying the human heart. If we examine the trials and tribulations, wars and other conflicts, every act of injustice all over earth, we’ll find they are rooted in human hearts.

Crying out and complaining to Allâh does not mean that a person has no patience. In the Qur’ân, we find Ya‘qûb (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ) saying: “My course is comely patience (sabrun jamîl)” (Yûsuf 12:83), but his love and longing for his lost son Yûsuf made him say: “How great is my grief for Yûsuf” (Yûsuf 12:83). Sabrun jamîl refers to patience with no complaint to other people. Complaining to Allâh does not cancel out patience, as Ya‘qûb said: “I only complain of my distraction and anguish to Allâh” (Yûsuf 12:86).

Kalp, huzurlu olmak için tasarlanmıştır, ki bu hale ancak Allah'ı zikrederek erişilir: "Bilesiniz ki kalpler ancak Allah'ı anmakla huzura kavuşur." (Rad suresi,28)

İnsanlar arasında en yüksek dereceliler, hiçbir şeyin kendilerini Allah'ı anmaktan alıkoyamadığı kimselerdir. "Onlar ayakta dururken, otururken, yanları üzerine yatarken Allah'ı zikredenlerdir.

البحر سلطانية حساء شمس السادسة صباحا ليمونة صفراء يعصرها الرب أتذوق حموضتها في القاع.

Peygamber efendimiz "Lezzetleri yok eden ölümü sıkça hatırlayınız" buyurmuştur. Ölüm tefekkürü, kalbi boş işlerden temizleyen manevi bir egzersizdir.

Kalpteki hastaıkların birçoğunun kökeni, yakîn eksikliğine ve Allah'a güvenmemeye dayanır.

İşte bu hal, değişmeyen bir gerçeğin etrafında şekillenir: Ne yaparsak yapalım Allah'ın bizi gördüğünün farkında olmak. Bu farkındalığı beslemek, insanı Hakk'ı gücendirecek ve edebe aykırı işler yapmaktan alıkoyar. İşte nebevi terbiyenin asaleti buradan gelir.

İnsan, Allah'ın kullarından hiçbir şey talep etmemelidir. Eğer bir şey isteyecekse göklerin ve yerin Rabbi olan Allah'tan istemelidir.

Boş arayışlar insan ruhunu yıpratır. İnsanları memnun etmek ve onların sevgi, takdir ve onaylarını almak için uğraşan kişi kendini yorar.

بالأمس القريب كانت لي رؤية شبه واضحة للعالم، الآن انعدمت الرؤية، وأصاب الدماغ تشوّش نهاية الإرسال، وأصبحت الأشياء والمشاعر والأطياف والصور زئبقية، حتى أنا، ما روحي إلا شلال من الزئبق الحزين.

Hz İsa şöyle der: "Kendini yüceltenler alçaltılır, kendini alçaltanlar ise yüceltilir

Allah seni bir zarara uğratırsa onu Kendisinden başka giderecek yoktur ve eğer sana bir hayır verirse bilesin ki O, her şeye kâdirdir" (En'am,17) Şunu bil ki, eğer bütün insanlar sana faydalı olmak için bir araya toplanacak olsalar Allah'ın senin için yazmış olduğundan başka bir şeyle fayda sağlayamazlar. Eğer sana zarar vermek için bir araya toplanacak olsalar Allah'ın snein aleyhine yazmış olduğu şeyden başkasıyla sana zarar veremezler" buyurmuştur.

İçten yapılan bir dua çok güçlü bir silahtır ve Allah, yalnızca Kendisine yalvaranları asla geri çevirmez.

Hz Ali, "insalar uykudadır, öldüklerinde uyanırlar" buyurmuştur.

İnsan, "Yapacağım işe başkaları ne der?" diye kaygılandıkça, Allah'ın hidayetiyle arasındaki perde kalınlaşır.

Kalbini canlandırmak isteyen kimse, ona Rabbiyle sessiz karanlıkta vakit geçirme imkanı vermelidir, iki rekat dahi olsa.

Öyle ya; kıtlık olmasaydı, Yusuf'u kuyuya atıp unutan kardeşleri ne Mısır'a varacaklardı ne kötülük ettikleri Yusuf'u kendilerine iyilik ederken bulacaklardı. Kıtlık, kardeşleri hem Yusuf'un yitik yüzüyle hem nefislerinin kötülüğü isteyen yüzüyle yüzleştirmişti. Kıtlık olmasaydı, biz de kardeşleri olarak, kötülüğe iyilikle karşılık verenlerden biri olarak bulamayacaktık Yusuf'u. Kıtlık, kötülüğe iyilikle karşılık vermenin kötülüğe kötülük yapmak olduğunu öğretti bize. Kriz olmasaydı, Yusuf'a tuzak kuran kardeşlerinin ayakları Mısır'da hazırlanmış tanelerinin tuzağına dolanmayacaktı, istiğfar ve af dileme yolları hep kapalı kalacaktı. Kriz, bizi "tuzak kuranların en hayırlısı" Rabb-i Rahîmimizle tanıştırdı. Kriz olmasaydı, Yusuf'u sözüm ona "kurda kaptıran" kardeşlerinin ne Yusuf'a "Şüphe yok, Allah seni bize üstün kıldı..." dedirten pişmanlığını, ne Yusuf'un kardeşlerine "Bugün size kınama yok..." deme âlicenaplığını zamanın perdesinde seyredebilecektik. Kriz, bizi af dilemek ve affetmek gibi zorlu yokuşlarda yeniden sınadı. Kriz olmasaydı, ne Yusuf'un zinadan kaçıp zindana razı oluşu -Züleyha'nın itirafıyla- açığa çıkacaktı, ne de Yusuf'un gömleği kardeşleriyle babasına gidip Yakub'un (as) gözleri açılacaktı. Kriz, hem iftira perdesini yırttı, hem umut penceresini açtı.

Bizler dünyada kaybettiğimiz anda Allah'ı kazanırız. Dünyanın kapılarının kapandığı yerde cennet kapıları açılır. Bütün peygamberler bu hikmeti kendi hayatlarıyla bize göstermişlerdir; kayıp kazancımız, hiçlik sermayemiz, fakr onurumuzdur. Yaşamak zorunda kaldıkları zorlukların zirveye ulaştığı anda Allah'u Teala nebilerini en büyük ilahi ihsanlarıyla mükafatlandırmıştır. Onların sabrı, tahammülü derecesinde yardımını, himayesini yollamıştır. Hz. Yusuf (as) kuyunun karanlığından kurtulmuş ve Mısır'ın azizi olmuştur. Hz. İbrahim (as) ateşten kurtarılmıştır., o ateş ona bir gül bahçesine dönmüş ve kendisi Allah'ın dostu, halili olma makamı ile şereflendirilmiştir. Hz. Yunus (as) balığın karnından kurtarılmıştır, Hz. İsmail (as) bıçakla kurban edilmekten kurtarılmıştır, Hz. Nuh (as) tufandan selamet bulmuş ve gemisiyle karaya oturmuştur.

A sound heart has knowledge and trust, not doubt and anxiety. Shubuhāt alludes to aspects closely connected to the heart: the soul, the ego, Satan’s whisperings and instigations, caprice, and the ardent love of this ephemeral world. The heart is an organ designed to be in a state of calm, which is achieved with the remembrance of God: Most surely, in the remembrance of God do hearts find calm (QURAN, 13:28). This calm is what the heart seeks out and gravitates to. It yearns always to remember God the Exalted. But when God is not remembered, when human beings forget God, then the heart falls into a state of agitation and turmoil. In this state it becomes vulnerable to diseases because it is undernourished and cut off, Cells require oxygen, so we breathe, If we stop breathing, we die. The heart also needs to breathe, and the breath of the heart is none other than the remembrance of God. Without it, the spiritual heart dies. The very purpose of revelation and of scripture is to remind us that our hearts need to be nourished.

Many in the West have long proffered that the brain is the center of consciousness. But in traditional Islamic thought – as in other traditions – the heart is viewed as the center of our being. The Quran, for example, speaks of wayward people who have hearts with which they do not understand (7:179). Also the Quran mentions people who mocked the prophet and were entirely insincere in listening to his message, so God placed over their hearts a covering that they may not understand it and in their ears [He placed] acute deafness (6:25). Their inability to understand is a deviation from the spiritual function of a sound heart, just as their ears have been afflicted with a spiritual deafness. So we understand from this that the center of the intellect, the center of human consciousness and conscience, is actually the heart and not the brain. Only recently have we discovered that there are over 40,000 neurons in the heart. In other words, there are cells in the heart that are communicating with the brain. While the brain sends messages to the heart, the heart also sends messages to the brain.

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Imam Mawlūd outlines three signs of ostentation. The first two are laziness and lack of action for the sake of God when one is alone and out of view of others. When alone, such a person becomes lethargic, unable (or unwilling) to perform acts of devotion, such as reading the Qur’an at home; but in the mosque, in the presence of others, he finds the drive to recite. This is not to suggest that one should not respond to the inspiration one receives when in the company of people who are doing good deeds; the point here is guarding the motivation behind one’s acts, especially devotional ones, ensuring that they be for God alone and not for anyone else. Another sign of ostentation is increasing one’s actions when praised and decreasing them in the absence of such praise. In Islamic sacred law, encouragement is not censured.

Imam Mawlūd mentions next the concept of divination and foreboding (taṭayyur). When the pre-Islamic Arabs needed to decide upon something, they would run toward a flock of birds. If the flock veered to the left, they took this to be a bad omen; if to the right, it was a good omen. Foreboding is blatant superstition. The Arabic word mutaṭayyir Arabic refers to someone who is a pessimist, who always sees the worst in any given situation. Imam Mawlūd says that superstition is lack of knowledge that everything belongs to God. All affairs are His. Having a good opinion of God produces a view of Him that is impregnable to negative thoughts and behaviors that thrive in the soil of disbelief. To hang on to superstitions is to have a negative understanding of the reality of God and His authority and presence.

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb is associated with being particularly sensitive to justice and fairness. ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān’s name is derived from the same Arabic root as ʿiffah, which according to al-Qāmūs of al-Fayrūzabādī, refers not only to moderation but also to one who is abstinent and chaste, a meaning that is fitting for ʿUthmān. The Prophet once said that even the angels were shy before ʿUthmān because of his modesty. In ʿAlī ibn AbīṬālib, there is extraordinary wisdom or ḥikmah. It is true that these great heroes of Islamic civilization embodied in a particular way one of the four virtues, but they also kept a balance that enshrined the rest.

The usual result of excessiveness is its antithesis. A society that starts out with extreme Puritanical ethics may turn into one of overindulgence and licentiousness. On an individual level, the experience is similar. It is a principal feature of the Islamic faith that the “middle way” be the path that Muslims adhere to. The Qur’an itself calls the believers a “middle nation,” which commentators say includes moderation, which leads to a consistency of worship and conduct that one can carry on throughout his or her life. It is said that the Judaic legal tradition is based on stern justice, while at the foundation of the Christian phenomena is the idea of categorical mercy where everybody should be forgiven no matter what. With Islam, a balance is struck suitable for the complex societies that have spread across the face of the earth, a balance between avoiding God’s ghaḍab (wrath and stern justice) and hoping for God’s raḥmah (mercy). To take the straight way, one must have both, the law and the spirit of the law, the sharīʿah and the ḥaqīqah. The law consists of rules, and the spirit of the law is mercy. God sent down the shariah as a mercy, and the Prophet himself is “a mercy to the worlds” (QUR’AN , 21:107).

The root source of ostentation is desire, wanting something from a source other than God. The Imam says that the cure for ostentation is the same as the cure for reckless compromise (mudāhana). It is to actively and sincerely seek purification of the heart by removing four things: love of praise; fear of blame; desire for worldly benefit from people; and fear of harm from people. This is accomplished by nurturing the certainty (yaqīn) that only God can benefit or harm one. This is at the essence of the Islamic creed. The Prophet said:        Be mindful of God, and God will protect you. Be mindful of God, and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, ask of God. If you seek help, seek help from God. Know that if the whole world were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it would benefit you only with something that God had already prescribed for you. And if the whole world were to gather together to harm you, it would harm you only with something that God had already prescribed for you. The pens have been lifted, and the ink has dried.

An Islamic ethic for the wealthy is that they exude magnanimity, generosity, and the demeanor of lenience.

In general, modesty is something praised in Islam and is considered virtuous. Modesty becomes blameworthy if it prevents one from denouncing what clearly should be denounced, such as tyranny or corruption. This form of modesty results in meekness at a time when one needs to be forthright and courageous. Something condemnable (munkar) is condemnable regardless of the status of the person who is engaged in it—whether he or she is a close relative or a person of status, wealth, or authority. There must be agreement, however, among scholars on what is condemnable. One cannot, for example, declare decisively that something is considered condemnable if there is a difference of opinion on it among the scholars. Scholars knowledgeable of the plentitude of juristic differences rarely condemn others. They refrain from such condemnation not because of modesty but because of their extensive knowledge and scholarly insight. Unfortunately, many people today are swift to condemn, which creates another disease: self-righteousness.

Divinely sanctioned wife-beating “There is no basis in Islamic theology to support domestic abuse of any kind,” declared Qanta A. Ahmed, author of In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor’s Journey in the Saudi Kingdom, in May 2009.43 But it all depends on one’s definition of “abuse:” wife-beating exists in all cultures, but only in Islam does it enjoy divine sanction. The Koran tells men to beat their disobedient wives after first warning them and then sending them to sleep in separate beds (4:34)—a punishment that suggests the Koran regards women as sexually insatiable and needing to be kept under control. This is, of course, an extremely controversial verse, so it is worth noting how several translators render the key word here, waidriboohunna:              Pickthall: “and scourge them”              Yusuf Ali: “(and last) beat them (lightly)”              Al-Hilali/Khan: “(and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful)”              Shakir: “and beat them”              Sher Ali: “and chastise them”              Khalifa: “then you may (as a last alternative) beat them”              Arberry: “and beat them”              Rodwell: “and scourge them”              Sale: “and chastise them”              Asad: “then beat them”              Dawood: “and beat them

We accept the expertise of the experts in everything except Islam in which everyone is an expert except the experts.

Haya', in Arabic, conveys the meaning of shame, though the root word of haya ’ is closely associated with life and living. The Prophet stated, “Every religion has a quality that is characteristic of that religion. And the characteristic of my religion is haya, an internal sense of shame, which includes bashfulness and modesty. Most adults alive today have heard it said when they were children, “Shame on you!” Unfortunately, shame has come to be viewed as a negative word, as if it were a pejorative. Parents are now advised never to “shame a child,” never correct a child’s behavior by causing an emotional response. Instead, the current wisdom suggests that people always make the child feel good regardless of his or her behavior. Eventually, what this does is disable naturally occurring deterrents to misbehavior. Some anthropologists divide cultures into shame and guilt cultures. They say that guilt is an inward mechanism and shame an outward one. With regard to this discussion, guilt alludes to a human mechanism that produces strong feelings of remorse when someone has done something wrong, to the point that he or she needs to rectify the matter. Most primitive cultures are not guilt-based, but shame-based, which is rooted in the fear of bringing shame upon oneself and the larger family. What Islam does is honor the concept of shame and take it to another level altogether—to a rank in which one feels a sense of shame before God. When a person acknowledges and realizes that God is fully aware of all that one does, says, or thinks, shame is elevated to a higher plane, to the unseen world from which there is no cover. In fact, one feels a sense of shame even before the angels. So while Muslims comprise a shame-based culture, this notion transcends shame before one’s family—whether one’s elders or parents— and admits a mechanism that is not subject to the changing norms of human cultures. It is associated with the knowledge and active awareness that God is all-seeing of what one does—a reality that is permanent. The nurturing of this realization deters one from engaging in acts that are displeasing and vulgar. This is the essence of the noble prophetic teachings.

The concept of monkhood, for example, does not receive approbation in Islam as a form of practice. The Qur’an states that the institution of monasticism was not prescribed by God (Qur’an, 57:27) According to Qur’anic commentators, the people of monasticism became immoderate in their practices, which originated from the desire to gain God’s good pleasure. However, they were unable to maintain their practices, which is the nature of excess and its main defect. When one is unable to keep up with certain practices, one becomes either worn out or altogether jaded, and this is antithetical to the straight path of Islam. Balance, then, is not merely a merciful device for adherents, but the shortest distance between a person and his or her spiritual objectives.

God created them in the shape of lions,’ wrote a courtier of the Seljuk Turks, ‘with broad faces and flat noses, muscles strong, fists enormous.’ A Turkmen warlord named Seljuk had fought for the Jewish Khazar khagans in his youth. The names of his sons – Israel, Yusuf and Musa – suggest the family may have converted to Judaism, but in the 990s Seljuk switched to Islam, embracing jihad as his mission, and gathered a federation of tribes in Transoxiana, assisted by warlike sons. ‘They ascend great mountains, ride in face of danger, raid and go deep into unknown lands.’ Seljuk and son were just one of the Turkic warrior clans carving up the Arab empire.