Islamic Revival

Presented below is translation of a short piece written by Professor Muḥammad ibn Abdullah al-Massari which covers the sourcing for the ḥadith : ‘ The majority of the hypocrites from among my Ummah are (to be found among) the reciters.’   Set out below is the narration from four companions, may Allah be pleased with them all, cited among a wide array of texts.  Apart from those narratives which carry the particle ‘ inna ’ [ان], the reported wording is identical across throughout.  With some detailed analytical comment also provided, the reader can be assured that this ḥadith is considered to be Ṣaḥīḥ . Some editing of the original document has been applied, to streamline the text and to enable greater readability. As for hypocrisy, it is the inveterate sickness that one may be drowning in without even realising, for it is a hidden matter… The major hypocrisy, one that leads to eternal damnation in the lowest rungs of hellfire, is that one feigns to the Muslim...

This essay provides a Qur’anic framework that explains the psychopathological tendency of idolising celebrities and icons. It argues that the adoration of such pseudo-characters is manifestation of man's inability to not worship and that this inbuilt drive must be directed to the One who is worthy of our love and submission. It is typically taken for granted, perhaps even assumed as a sort of self-evident principle, that the burden of proof for a believer in God – at least as far as his belief in God is concerned – rests well and truly on his shoulders to demonstrate. But what does it mean for the theist to inherit this burden (assuming for the moment that he does)? Perhaps it means something like the following: a claim to knowledge about God, could never be knowledge as such, unless there was some overwhelmingly strong evidence the theist has for that belief B. That is, evidence by way of good argument(s). Hence, B can only be known N, if and only if there is a good ar...