Islamic Revival

The instinct of reverence is innate and constant in human beings, for it is the feeling of the need for the Creator and the Organiser, regardless of how people interpret that Creator. Whether they are Christians, Jews, Hindu’s. Buddhists, believers in nature as the organiser, Muslims or atheists this instinct is innate. The instinct of reverence does not exist amongst the animals, it the only instinct unique to man. It is triggered when man perceives his own weakness and mortality which generates certain emotions Belief via the emotions alone will lead to untrustworthy results as emotions fluctuate and are triggered by thoughts and realities and therefore non-permanent. Therefore Islam does not leave the emotions as the only way to belief, however nor does it leave the mind as the only way to belief. Rather the innate feeling of weakness that ignites the instinct of reverence in human beings must be connected to the rational belief. As it is dangerous to understand the proofs for...

Ijtihad Due to the intellectual decline that has affected the Muslims throughout the last few centuries the subject of Ijtihad has become vague in the minds of many unfortunately including some thinkers and Ulema. Different extremes exist, some believe the doors of Ijtihad are closed whereas others have broken the doors of Ijtihad altogether. The following are some of the key misconceptions that have crept into the minds: a) The doors of Ijtihad are closed i.e. it is impossible and not permitted to undertake Ijtihad today. b) To undertake Ijtihad one has to be similar in knowledge to Imam Malik and it is not permissible or possible for someone with less knowledge than him. c) The scope of Ijtihad includes most things including definitive matters such as the prohibition of Riba (usury) and the prohibition of having nation states with a multiplicity of rulers in the Muslim world. It allows Islam to be reformed in order to apply to the modern age. d) Ijtihad is only personal re...

Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar, a founder of the Khilafat movement who spent four years in prison between 1911 and 1915 CE for calling for resistance against the British and support for the Uthmani Khilafah said: "It is difficult to anticipate the exact effects the "abolition" of Khilafah will have on the minds of Muslims in India. I can safely affirm that it will prove a disaster both to Islam and to civilization. The suppression of the time honoured institution which was, though out the Muslim world, regarded as a symbol of Islamic unity will cause the disintegration of Islam...., I fear that the removal of this ideal will drive the unadvanced and semi-civilized peoples..., into ranks of revolution and disorder." [Mohammed Ali Johar, Times, March 04, 1924, a day after Khilafah was abolished in Turkey.] “The ruler of Turkey was the Khalifah or successor of the Prophet and Amir -ul- Mu’mineen or chief of the believers and the Khilafah is as essentially our religious con...

The following is the Fatwa of Sheikh ul Hind, Maulana Mahmood Hasan who was imprisoned by the British in Malta for 3 years due to him sticking to the truth and not disowning the Uthmani (Ottoman) Khilafah. Shaikhul Hind and his student Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madni (later klnown as Shaikhul Islam) were arrested by the traitor Sharif Hussein in Hijaz (Makkah) on 23 Safar, 1335 A.H. They were sent to Malta via Cairo by a ship on 29 Rabius Thani 1335 A.H. corresponding to 21 February 1917 and clamped in the prison by the British for 3 years and 4 months. They were released and reached Bombay on June 8, 1920. This time of returning from Malta synchronized with the period of the beginning of the Khilafat Movement in India. Sheikh ul Hind was the head of Dar al ulum Deoband at his time, he directly supported the Khilafah and worked hard for its maintenance. He had met the Wali (governor) of the Khilafah in Makkah and the assistants of the Khalifah. The Wali gave documents to the Sheikh to help...

The question of ‘who is al-Hakim?’ (The Legislator) is fundamental to the science of Usul ul Fiqh (principles of jurisprudence) in Islam, as the answer underpins the way we view this life and the entire Shariah. Al-Hakim means ‘The Legislator’, the one who is sovereign, who has the right to make rules and laws, to decide the halal (permitted) and haram (prohibited) for mankind. Philosophers, theologians and thinkers have discussed the following questions since the beginning of recorded history: Does humankind by the use of their minds alone have the ability to determine what actions should be deemed good and bad, which actions should be praised and which should be shunned? Or do we require the guidance of the Creator, Allah (swt)? It is true that the mind has the ability to judge the reality as it is and to conclude certain facts about that which we can sense. However it is beyond the scope of the mind to establish laws pertaining to deciding between good and evil actions and a regul...

‘Why are you Muslim?’ It may sound like an obvious question, but often many of us don’t have a clear answer to it. I remember being asked this question by my elder brother when I was fourteen years of age, my initial answer was ‘Well, our family is Muslim’, his reply to this made me think, he said, ‘If your family were Hindu or Christian, would you be as well?’. I replied with a strong ‘No, Islam is the truth’, the discussion that followed made me question the basis of my life and changed my life for ever. He triggered me to think about how to prove that Islam is the truth rather than just believing it emotionally or blindly. In fact Allah (swt) has condemned people for imitating their forefathers and adopting their belief without clear evidence. In the Holy Qur’an, He (swt) says: “And verily guess is no substitute for the truth.” [TMQ 53:28] “They have no (certain) knowledge. They follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they killed him not (‘Isa).” [TMQ 4:157] "These a...

Lining up patiently together with old ladies, foul mouthed youths and people reeking of alcohol, a highly qualified engineer waits his turn in the queue to collect his ‘dole’ otherwise known as ‘job seekers allowance’. This scene is not uncommon in the Western world where graduates and professionals from all manner of fields find themselves without work and struggling to make ends meet. For some professionals the handout from the dole office every Wednesday morning is what barely keeps them afloat until the next week. Mind numbing call centres around the country are bursting at the seams with graduates answering calls, having to log the time they spend in the toilet, earning on average £4-£6 an hour despite having been through three years or more of university education. Although being the fifth largest economy in the world, Britain has a poverty problem one would think applicable only to the developing world. According to ‘The New Policy Institute’, an independent think tank, just und...