Category: Religion

Last night was Laylat ul-Qadr, the night of power, the night Qur’anic revelation began. “Read in the name of your Lord Who created you from a clot of blood God the most bountiful who taught you by the pen taught what you did not know.” Read is the first command. During a dhikr tasbih last night, I was terribly moved. Group prayer is such a wonderful experience and the loud recitation, late at night, is a good way to feel the presence of the Divine. It was a lovely and indescribable. Just wanted to share. Back to the first command.…

I’ve been sitting on this link for too long, for now good reason other than poor time management. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s remarks at an official iftâr. He says all the right things. Very nice overall.

It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, “what’s the difference between a Moslem/Muhammadan and a Klingon?” It’s not really. While in the popular imagination, I’m sure there is a great deal of similarity between the warlike, aggressive, territorial patriarchal Klingon culture and how Muslims are perceived, there really is more difference. Take for example the great warrior phrase associated with Klingons, “today is a good to die.” If you listen to one of the Sabri Brothers’ Qawwali albums, you’d know that Muslims actually believe “today is a good day to cry.” At least that’s how I’d translate the…

I found the perfect solution for the holidays. Enjoy . . .

Yesterday, Monday, October 27, 2003, marked the first day of Ramadan. Ramadan Mubarak to all of you. The President’s Ramadan message.

Correction: After several months, I finally realized this article has a persistent typo. The correct transliteration is “Wahhabi” not “Wahabbi.” Therefore the title should properly be When did the Wahhabi Movement become Muslim? Arabic does not favor a double consonant at the end, and I should have known better. Rather than correct the entire piece, I’m simply putting the caveat up front. Sorry for the confusion. This is a serious question: When did the Wahabbi movement become Muslim? Just finished re-reading Hamid Algar’s excellent essay, Wahabbism: A Critical Essay, and the one question that he never answers is when did…

One of the stories I remember clearly from my childhood concerns Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the insult he suffered from a woman everyday on his way to pray. The story, in brief, is that the Prophet would be walking to prayers everyday and a woman would dump garbage on him as he walked by, necessitating a thorough cleansing before prayers. This series of events went on for some time, and then for several days it stopped. Upon inquiring the Prophet discovered the woman had fallen sick. He then took to her abode and nursed her back to health. For a…