A story

islamoyankee

Rabia al-Adawiyya (aka Rabia al-Basri) was running through the streets of town, Basra, one day with a pail of water in one hand and a burning torch in the other. When asked what she was doing, she responded, “I want to put out the fires of Hell, and burn down the rewards of Paradise.” She was then asked why, to which she responded, “They block the way to God. I do not want to worship from fear of punishment or for the promise of reward, but simply for the love of God.”

Related Posts

Tweeting the Qur’an #Quran #ttquran #Ramadan 2014/1435

Traditionally, Muslims read the Qur'an in its entirety over this time, in a section a day. The Qur'an is split into thirty sections, called juz', and one section is read each night.  This year is the 6th year I am inviting people to tweet the Qur’an for Ramadan. To see how the call has (not) evolved, here are the first five call outs: 2009 Windsor Star Article 2010 (despite the title, which says 2011) 2011 USA Today Article 2012 2013 Storify (including press stories)   The Background [from the 2009 post]  This year, I have been thinking it would be fun…

Islam and the Earth

The Qur’an says that God is the light of the heavens and the earth. If you believe you see all of creation as being illuminated by a Divine light, than part of the trust that we, as the most noble of creation, have been given is the care and protection of the Earth. This type of thinking is not new to Muslims. We have shaped the world to reflect our belief in Heaven. Gardens are created to mirror the vision of Heaven with water and split into 4 quarters. Mecca, the center of our religious life, is the gateway to…

Back to Education

I’ve spoken previously about my belief in education as being the magic bullet to deal with the many problems of various societies. Below are several excerpts from a speech delivered by the Aga Khan at the opening of a new academy in Kenya, and I think they are fairly representative of my own thoughts on the matter.

3 thoughts on “A story”

  1. Check out Kohlberg’s “Stages of Moral Development.” It speaks to that story, which is wonderful.

  3. I’ve been asking around about a shrine, but no one seems to know about now. There was one at the turn of the century.

Comments are closed.