Islamic Revival

IKHLAS (‘SINCERITY’) Imam al-Ghazzali in the  Ihya’ `Ulum al-Din [1]  mentions a  hadith  from Hasan al-Basri that Hudhayfa b. al-Yaman (ra) said: The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:  “‘I asked Jibril regarding sincerity ( ikhlas ) and Jibril replied: ‘I asked our Mighty Lord about this and He replied’: ‘Sincerity is one of my secrets that I place in the hearts of my beloved servants’… ” [2] سألت جبريل عن الإخلاص ما هو فقال سألت عنه رب العزة فقال الإخلاص سرمنأسراري أودعته قلب من أحببت من عبادي In another version it has the addition:  “No angel can record it nor can Shaytan corrupt it…” [3] لا يطلع عليه ملك فيكتبه ولا شيطان فيفسده “Sincerity” Sincerity is every action or movement purely for the sake of Allah (swt) and no-one else. Sincerity is unmediated and forms part of the devotional relationship directed to Allah from His servant. Sincerity is Allah’s secret – He alone knows of it and rewards. No-one else can reward it appropriately. Angels do not know of it and

The poster girl of the pro-democracy movement, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was this month touring Europe in the latest move to normalize Burma’s relationship with the West and remove the pariah status it has lived with for many decades. Suu Kyi spent almost two decades under house arrest in Burma as a political prisoner until November 2010 when she was released following the victory of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in the first elections in Burma in 20 years. The USDP is seen as simply an extension of the military junta but it has introduced a number of reforms including the freeing of hundreds of political prisoners, the passing of labour laws allowing trade unions, and the signing a law allowing peaceful demonstrations for the first time. This year, the new government signed separate ceasefires with rebels of the Karen and Shan ethnic group and ordered the ordered the military to stop operations against ethnic Kachin rebels in the North. Such ref

Uproar and commotion has erupted in Egypt over revelations that President Morsi has sent a communiqué confirming Egypt's commitment to peaceful ties with the Jewish state. In the letter sent to Shimon Peres, President of the Jewish State, Morsi states:  "I am looking forward to exerting our best efforts to get the Middle East Peace Process back to its right track in order to achieve security and stability for all peoples of the region, including that Israeli people." Despite vociferous denials by Morsis's representatives, the letter appears to be genuine. The English newspaper The Guardian reported that Peres's office said the president's aides received the official communiqué on July 31st 2012 from the Egyptian ambassador to the Jewish state, both by registered mail and by fax from the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv. Furthermore, the paper stated that the fax number which appeared on the faxed letter was registered to the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv.