MUSLIMOLOGY

The Quran in North America: What if…

Dawud Israel — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:34:31 +0000

Bismillah, I was thinking to myself the other day about the impact of the Quran. I think after 1400 years, its time to do a little assessment and realize how vast it’s impact has been and how accommodating it truly is. -If the Quran hadn’t mentioned the Prophets and stories of ordinary human beings…how would it affect [...]

Developing Critical Thinking Skills In Understanding Islam

Dawud Israel — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:50:56 +0000

‘Imrān ibn Khālid said, “I heard al-Ḥasan saying, ‘A person’s religion is not completed until his intellect is perfected.’” [Al-‘Aql wa Faḍlih / 17] Aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk said, “‘That it (the Qur’ān) may give warning to him who is living’ 36:70, (refers to) the one with intellect.” [Al-‘Aql wa Faḍlih / 30] The above quotes do not [...]

Pious Words from the Sufi Shaykh that made Imam Ahmad faint: Selections from Risala al-Mustarshideen

Dawud Israel — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:07:21 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah Al-Khatib in Tarikh Baghdad, Ibn al-Jawzi in Manaqib Ahmad, al-Dhahabi in the Siyar and the Mizan and others related that Imam Ahmad wept to the point that he passed out upon hearing the discourse of the Sufi Shaykh, al-Harith al-Muhasibi for the first time. Al-Dhahabi comments: “The chain [...]

The Breadth of ‘Sirajum Muneera’

Dawud Israel — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:54:54 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah Breath in (yes, it’s a play on words with the title of this post, not a typo!) and out and imagine the sound of your breathing as if it were the breath of the Noble Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. How did that feel? The world is a truly [...]

An Intellectual Giant Passes Away: On the Legacy of Gai Eaton (rahimullah)

Dawud Israel — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:27:55 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah Shaykh Hasan Le Gai Eaton The Grandfather of Islamic development in the West Last night I heard of the news that Gai Eaton, also known as Shaykh Hasan Charles Le Gai Eaton, passed away. According to the comments on this website he passed away February 26th [...]

Imam Zaid summarizes the Challenge of the 21st Century

Dawud Israel — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:39:58 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah Alhamdulillah, he summarizes the problems of what I call the shrinking of the Islamic imagination, the dying of the Muslim spirit and the increasing disability to live through Islam, to develop one’s imagination, personality, spirit and expression of Islam in original and spiritually authentic ways. This issue is [...]

15 Timeless Ghazalian Insights and Maxims

Dawud Israel — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:19:49 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, was salat wa salam ala Rasulullah I’ve read about 3 books now on Imam al-Ghazali and I wanted to quote some of the really strong things he’s said. The points he hits are absolutely amazing. The commentaries on the side are from either Ebrahim Moosa or Dr. Sherman (Abdul Hakim) Jackson. The quotes [...]

Ayat meets Inscape

Dawud Israel — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:02:08 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah I am putting the Quran first here out of honor and respect and the Literary ideas second. Read the literary ideas and then come back to the Quranic verses again and read them in their entirety in light of the elaborations in the Christian/Romanticist literature you’ll realllly appreciate [...]

Yielding to a New Oral Islamic Culture

Dawud Israel — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:26:07 +0000

“The spoken sound is captured in memory as identical with meaning (thought).” Is it possible to resurrect the oral culture of the early muhaddithun? Or the early poetic cultures which are so often found in Muslim societies? Here we are going to examine a number of determinants related to this project. I have been thinking about trying [...]

What would you do in Jannah…

Dawud Israel — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:54:15 +0000

I think we have this idea that Jannah is where things end…but it’s where things begin. We are just in the trailer and the film… -Break dance with all the Prophets. -Myself, Ibrahim alayhi salam, and all the little kids that are with him, would go around pulling pranks on everyone in Jannah -Talk to all those people [...]

Is the Internet Screwing with our Heads?

Dawud Israel — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:10:19 +0000

Some brief thoughts and links. PBS aired a documentary on this you can watch to get an idea of the shocking nature of concern related to technology. You can watch it here. They talked about how young children can’t distinguish between virtual and real world…so if they see themselves swimming with dolphins in virtual reality- they think [...]

Ship Stranded at Sea: 20+ Reflections on Shura:33

Dawud Israel — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:31:03 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah wa salat was salam ala rasulullah. The following are 20 some reflections on this ayah. The reflections are metaphorical, philosophical and imaginary in nature…not tafsir, so they are expansive and for pondering. I should point out why this is special to me. I spent a good 2-3 days reading a 400 page book of quotations, [...]

Islam and Modernity: A Black Man with White Slaves

Dawud Israel — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:53:33 +0000

Maybe I’m an idiot but there is something I totally missed. Somehow I find wherever I read- Muslim scholars and thinkers have made their primary concern not Islam, but reconciling Islam with modernity, post-modernism, science and democracy. They talk more about modernity, science and democracy, than they talk about Islam! Isn’t this a slippery slope? [...]

Selected Quotations from Ghazali’s Fear and Hope

Dawud Israel — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:13:44 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah Know this no nobler means will you find, no knowledge of which you may master that will aid you more than Fear of God. Remind yourself of Him, your grave, that Day of 500 years with God waiting for the Judgment on the Plains, those 500 years of [...]

Politics of Exclusion and Inclusion in Islam

Dawud Israel — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:39:13 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah Religion creates the issue of exclusion. So how did the revelation of Islam deal with people who felt left out one way or another? The following quotations (from Tafsir ibn Kathir) will shed some light on this topic. But a caveat to start: Consider all the trials and [...]

What is a Brown Sahib?

Dawud Israel — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 03:23:53 +0000

Some readings… Ziauddin Sardar marvels at the brown sahibs Native Orientalists at the Daily Times by Shahid Alam The modern Brown Sahibs by Zafar Bangash A literary Brown Sahib By Hassan Suroor I would stretch it further and say we also have brown sahibs in the Middle east in the form of the Kings and Emirs and their love of [...]

Oh Dawud, Have you no Fear of God?

Dawud Israel — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 07:11:34 +0000

At times I move between normalcy and anxiety, which can become severe brought upon these fears that grip me. Three fears have stayed with me the longest. Wherever I stand, I remember Allah’s verse, “Kulla man alayha fa’an- And everything upon it will be obliterated” and lament that wherever I am, it will vanish and to [...]

Digitizing Islam: A Detailed Analysis of Sunniforum

Dawud Israel — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:32:28 +0000

If you are into the Internet, you will enjoy this read. The following was an opportunity I had to study Islam in the digital world and apply some of what I have learned about Sociology and combining it with certain concepts and exhortations in Islam. I did an analysis of Sunniforum and shared the following piece [...]

Entrance Dua 9

Dawud Israel — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:21:05 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah “Oh Allah. Make my best day be the Day of Judgment- the Day I meet You. Allahumma salli ala Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim. Alhamdulillahi rabbil Alameen. Ameen. –

The Miracles that come with Grief

Dawud Israel — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:41:06 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah If you pay close attention you can notice miracles occurring, that have resonance in the Quran. Over the past few days, some relatives of mine passed away, and I had to undergo a surgery. This was a bit of a hard time but alhamdulillah, over the course of [...]

A Letter from Abdul Qadir al-Jilani (rahimullah)

Dawud Israel — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:47:18 +0000

Dear Friend, Your heart is a polished mirror. You must wipe it clean of the veil of dust which has gathered upon it, because it is destined to reflect the light of divine secrets. When the light from Allah (Who) is the light of the heavens and the earth…begins to shine upon the regions of [...]

Soul ART 5

Dawud Israel — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:59:29 +0000

It has been a while since I’ve posted my Soul Art pieces. I intended to do so every Friday but it became too demanding so now I’m going to try doing it maybe once or twice a month? It’ll be more of a surprise than anything else. Here are some pieces- some you may recognize [...]

The Difference between a Curse and a Trial

Dawud Israel — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:39:30 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah an-na indal munkhasirati kulubuhum I am with the broken-hearted -Hadith Qudsi (mentioned in a talk by Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad) In the past, I’ve had difficulty understanding the difference between being cursed in Islam and what it means to undergo trials but after the past week of trials (funeral, surgery, [...]

Cracks in Existence

Dawud Israel — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:37:42 +0000

{ We created not the heavens and the earth and all that is between them except with truth, and for an appointed term. But those who disbelieve turn away from that whereof they are warned.}[Quran 46:3] I find it a fascinating theme to look through the world and all you see as true, as nothing more [...]

Content is…

Dawud Israel — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:32:20 +0000

Content is… -satisfaction -concentration -clarity -preparation -prediction -past, present and future all in one and made absent -time and space, taken into fully into account and made irrelevant -makes irrelevant things irrelevant -the stillest room in the house -the most precise math -endless accommodation -psychiatry’s greatest enemy -order -to refute futility -contingent upon itself -real freedom -taking true reality from your own reality; knowledge -the most activity form of passiveness (quiet fascination) -the most [...]

Translation of Artistic Imagery in the Qur’an Part 1

Dawud Israel — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:00:23 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah The following translation (from Arabic) is presented by Sr. Deena (thank you!) . Its from a short work on the imagery of the Quran written by Sayid Qutb. Now, there is a lot of stuff about Sayid Qutb in the media and to be honest, I don’t know [...]

Dreaming of a Muslim Syntopticon

Dawud Israel — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:45:25 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah I recall speaking to one of my teachers about all the books we’d read. He mentioned many of the classic books he’d read many of which were philosophical works. I mentioned some of the books I was reading and he was surprised I was reading. Our discussion turned [...]

Normative Pluralism and the Theological Challenge of Progressive Islam – Lecture by Dr. Mohammad Fadel

Dawud Israel — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:21:51 +0000

Normative Pluralism and the Theological Challenge of Progressive Islam Lecture by Dr. Mohammad Fadel Muslims have been engaged in numerous reform movements throughout the Islamic world over the last 200 years. While not all of these reform movements are liberal or progressive in any sense of that term, many of them are: numerous books and articles and [...]

Uloomul Quran: Quranic Literary Techniques

Dawud Israel — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:30:04 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah. For you oh, Lover of the Quran! 1) Ti’baq: A type of antithesis where opposites are used. And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colors. Verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound [...]

Love in Worship

Dawud Israel — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:34:52 +0000

Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah Know that if love of God takes hold of the heart its affects manifest on the limbs in seriousness in obedience, activity in the service of Allah, covetousness in trying to please Allah, pleasure in intimate discourse with Allah, contentment with Allah’s Decree, patience over His calamities, yearning [...]