Islamic Beauty

We are currently in the midst of an election campaign. Muslims are being exhorted to participate in the election process. Before heeding such calls, the responsibility of the Muslim lies in understanding the nature and consequences of participating in the act of voting from the Shari’ah point of view. The reality of voting someone into a position of ruling means that the voter is, in fact, delegating this individual to represent him based on the platform that the candidate presents. Islam does indeed permit a person to delegate some of his responsibilities to another individual. Let us try to understand the concept of representation (Al-Wekaalah). Representation means deputizing someone on your behalf to achieve a certain task. Every mature and sane person (Mukallaf )is considered to be one of the following: The Original (Al-Aseel) is the one who represents him/herself. The Representative (Al-Wakeel) is the one who represents another person. The Next of Kin (Al-Walie) is the one who is...

With the elections on the horizon, the attack ads and the resultant posturing have already begun. Stephen Harper recently used footage from the “Islamic State” militant group depicting their brutality as a means of suggesting that Justin Trudeau could not be trusted with national security. Trudeau responded by decrying the government’s use of terrorism as a means to score political points, and said this illustrated how disconnected Harper was from Canadians. And while that sentiment may be true, remember, this is the same Trudeau who has supported Bill C-51, a draconian anti privacy bill directed primarily at Muslims, and has criticized pro-Palestinian movement like BDS. His connection to the “values and hearts” of Canadians does not seem to be that much stronger than Harper’s. Canadians can, unfortunately, look forward to many acts of such disingenuous political theatre, instead of having the politicians discuss the real issues.  What are the real issues?  Instead of trading ...

“And when the girl [who was] buried alive is asked, for what sin she was killed.” [TMQ 81:8-9] The tragic image of Aylan Kurdi has become the face of the current refugee crisis that is being termed by a former UN official as the biggest “refugee crisis following World War II”. Some estimate that 3,000 people are becoming refugees on a daily basis. These refugees are predominantly Muslims whose life, honor, and livelihood has been violated by the situation created by the colonial powers who occupied the Muslim lands on the eve of the First World War and divided them into pieces that they called “countries”. They then installed puppets who were willing to sacrifice anything and everything for the sake of keeping their power and pleasing their masters. When the people in the Muslim lands tried to free themselves from this reality the colonial powers and their puppets punished them severely as seen in Syria and elsewhere.    Aylan and his family fled from Syria, ruled by the bruta...

In today’s post-Sykes-Picot Middle East, borders have not only become cages that divide Muslims on arbitrary lines, but fellow Muslims have become foreigners and undesirable to one and other. This was not the case after the establishment of the Islamic State by the Prophet (saw) in which the previous borders between tribes and nations were erased, allowing people to seek their livelihood and live where they wished within the Khilafah state. Those who lived outside the state and wished to migrate were allowed to do so. Islamic values, unlike today’s values of nation-states, are not affected by political climate. The Islamic State’s borders were open to anyone who sought safety, unlike the “free world” which prevents refugees from moving freely through its borders and checkpoints. The state’s duty is not only to open the borders to let refugees in and p rovide relief but to restore normalcy in their lives. This is what the Prophet (saw) and the rulers after him did. Abdullah ibn Umar (ra...

The Canadian government, with the passing of Bill C-24, has empowered itself to revoke the citizenship of any citizen that has been deemed undesirable and would not be left stateless in the absence of a Canadian citizenship. This law has already been applied to Zakaria Amara, who is no longer a Canadian citizen. The government has gone further to argue that anyone who can be assumed to be able to get another citizenship would not become stateless if their Canadian citizenship was revoked, and thus such a revocation could be made. This is the case of Saad Gaya, who was born a Canadian, but may not remain one. The government is arguing that his parent’s Pakistani heritage makes it possible for him to become a Pakistani citizen, thus his Canadian citizenship can be legally revoked. The Rationale Clearly, this law has absolutely nothing to do with the safety or the well-being of Canadian society. The Canadian prison system is more than equipped to contain any individual that poses a threat...

The month of Muharram is the first month of the Islamic Calendar. As we enter this blessed month, we should remind ourselves about the Hijrah and the actions that RasulAllah (saw) took to make the Hijrah. More specifically, how RasulAllah (saw) sought Nusrah from powerful tribes, so that they would believe in Islam and support him. This support came from the Ansar (raa) who seized the opportunity to serve Allah (swt). During the Khilafah of Umar bin al-Khattab (raa) the Sahabah (raa) agreed to start the Islamic calendar in the year that RasulAllah (saw) made Hijrah (i.e. migration from Makkah) to Madinah and established the first Islamic State. According to the Seerah of ibn Hisham, he (saw) arrived in Madinah on the 12 th of Rabi Al-Awwal. As we enter the blessed month of Muharram, we should remind ourselves of the significance of Hijrah. The Seerah of RasulAllah (saw) is dear to the hearts of all believers. It is part of our iman to love the Prophet (saw) and therefore we joyfully a...