Inspiration from Past & Present

August 24, 2013

Knowledge of Allah is the Most Excellent & Highest

The excellence and virtue of a piece of knowledge is according to its subject matter. The Creator is the highest and most excellent of subject matters, and therefore the knowledge of His Names is the most excellent and highest knowledge.

—Ibn al-‘Arabi

(Read on pg 31, Umm Abdurrahman Sakina Hirschfelder, Who Is Allah? His Names and Attributes and their Significance to the Individual. International Islamic Publishing House. Riyadh:2010.)

June 1, 2013

A Muslim’s Need for God

From the experience of Moses (who was so impatient) to that of Muhammad (who forgot his dependence) as well as the teaching addressed to all human beings (who, of knowledge, have received “only a little”), everything reminds Muslims of their own fragility and of their need for God, whatever their status, and this teaching is present throughout the surah “The Cave”.

— Author Tariq Ramadan

(Read On Pg 58, In The Footsteps of the Prophet. Oxford University Press, NY. 2007.)

March 3, 2013

Advising the Rulers

In the past, the best of people, the noblest of people, and the people that were most trusted in matters of religion would go to rulers and command them (to do good deeds, to rule justly, and to apply Islamic law); meanwhile, others would stay in their homes and take no part (in the affairs of society on a political level); no one benefited from the latter group of people, and no one even noticed them. But as for now, it is the most evil of people who go to rulers and command them. And those who stay in their homes and don’t go to them are the best of people.

—Sufyān al-Thawrī [d. 161H/778CE]

(Read on pg 143, Salaahud-Deen ibn ‘Alee ibn ‘Abdul-Maujood, The Biography of Sufyaan Ath-Thauree. Darussalam Publishers. Riyadh:2005.)

March 3, 2013

Good Company is the Most Beneficial

Above all other things, the one thing that I found to benefit a person most in this world and the Hereafter is a suitable brother (friend).

—Sufyān al-Thawrī [d. 161H/778CE]

(Read on pg 143, Salaahud-Deen ibn ‘Alee ibn ‘Abdul-Maujood, The Biography of Sufyaan Ath-Thauree. Darussalam Publishers. Riyadh:2005.)