Have constant awareness (taqwa) in public and private. Stay away from actions that cause the Divine to withhold blessings upon us; asking for Divine assistance without preparation is like traveling without packing. Monitor every breath you take and protect all your senses. Be content with what is present and be…

“God does not take knowledge from people, but rather takes scholars so that people will only find the unlearned and untrained and take them as leaders. When these are asked for guidance, they dispense it without knowledge and are therefore misguided and lead others to misguidance.” Prophet Muhammad (Bukhari &…

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I am asked a lot about what the best books are to read about Islam. To be honest, this question is a lot harder than it might seem to answer. People have different interests and what might be good for one, is not…

‘Abdallah Bin ‘Amr Bin ‘Āṣ said that he heard the Messenger of God (God bless him and give him peace) say, “There are forty acts, the best of which is giving food, if any are done seeking their reward and believing in their promise, God will grant them Paradise by…

How I Turned a Simple Trip Into a Long-Term Relationship About two years ago, an opportunity to travel to Japan emerged from some of the consultancy work I do. Since my approach to preventing violence and extremism is unique and effective (I hope to share something about this soon), and…

I hope that the brevity of this post will be compensated by its great benefit. The Hadith is a vast body of literature within the Islamic sciences and it is all too easy for a student/scholar to become overwhelmed by the sheer…

For many people life is an endless quest for the elusive. We seek success, advancement, and wealth. We crave ultimate and unending happiness through the acquisition of material things. We desire the perfect companion, friend, and lover. The list goes on, and on. Without having a map, however, and without…

From the wisdom of David is that the believer knows what they need for their own affairs and is aware of the time in which they live. Prophet Muhammad (Ibn Ḥibbān) In the first part of this series I introduced the concept of the Islamologist based on Robert Pirsig’s notion…

Sacred knowledge is religion, so look to who you take your religion from. Muhammad Ibn Sirīn (Saḥīḥ Musilm) The American writer and philosopher Robert Pirsig (author of the cult classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) introduced the term “philosophology” in his book Lila: An Inquiry into Morals. He…