Islamic Beauty

On Sunday April the 19 th , a boat capsized on the Mediterranean Sea. It was carrying migrants from Africa and the Middle East into Europe, and 750 of them drowned in the horrific accident. The victims included Libyans, Syrians, and people from Sub-Saharan Africa who were looking for asylum on European shores, attempting to escape the war, poverty and turmoil of their lands. European nations have had much to say about this crisis; they had emergency meetings to address the issue. Some are blaming the profiteering traffickers who cram too many desperate people onto ships they don’t bother to maintain, while others are calling for stricter patrolling of the shores.Some are even referring to “search & destroy” missions against trafficking vessels before they are put to use. The Culprits – A Sordid History European nations don’t need to look for exotic criminals or foreign enemies to find the real culprits of this crisis; the answer is much closer to home. During the Enlightenment the

Allah (swt) alone can incite within a soul the desire for Jannah i.e. propelling His servant to cast his gaze beyond the passing pleasures of this life, to the life with no end, in pleasure with no end. Allah (swt) strikes an example that should compel us to think, fill our hearts with yearning and our eyes with tears, when He (swt) said:   “And Allah has set forth an example for those who believe: the wife of Fir’awn, when she said: “My Lord! Build for me a home with You in Jannah “Paradise”, and save me from Fir’awn and his work, and save me from the people who are wrongdoers.” [TMQ 66:11] O how powerful is this example of the wife of Fir’awn; Asiyah bint Muzahim ! She was married into a household of abundant wealth and immense power that few could attain, even if they sought and strove for it their entire life. Yet when Iman entrenched in her heart, she turned her gaze to that which was deserving of it most, the Jannah of Allah (swt). Qatadah said, “ Fir’awn was the most tyrannical

In January this year, foreign affairs minister John Baird signed a memorandum of understanding with Israel which seemed to imply that criticism of Israel, especially the kind coming from BDS, was going to be criminalized. Later this year, the public safety minister claimed that involvement in BDS was akin to hate crime. BDS is a student movement touted by pro-Palestinian activists as a means of showing discontent with the actions of the Zionist state. The opposition to this peaceful campaign is bipartisan as well. Justin Trudeau has also voiced his opposition to this movement, claiming it has no place on Canadian campuses. The irony is perhaps not lost on the Canadian people, who just witnessed their government’s rush to defend the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, an outfit that was actually committed to the propagation of hatred towards minorities in Europe. It seems speech is only as free as the community who practices it. What explains this double standard? Glenn Greenwald,summed it up a