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Mindfulness in the Life of a Muslim
2 | Mindfulness in the Life of a Muslim Author Biography Justin Parrott has BAs in Physics, English from Otterbein University, MLIS from Kent State University, MRes in Islamic Studies in progress from University of Wales, and is currently Research Librarian for Middle East Studies at NYU in Abu Dhabi. Disclaimer: The views, opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in these papers and articles are strictly those of the authors. Furthermore, Yaqeen does not endorse any of the personal views of the authors on any platform. Our team is diverse on all fronts, allowing for constant, enriching dialogue that helps us produce high-quality research. Copyright © 2017. Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research 3 | Mindfulness in the Life of a Muslim Introduction In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful Modern life involves a daily bustle of noise, distraction, and information overload. Our senses are constantly stimulated from every direction to the point that a simple moment of quiet stillness seems impossible for some of us. This continuous agitation hinders us from getting the most out of each moment, subtracting from the quality of our prayers and our ability to remember Allah. We all know that we need more presence in prayer, more control over our wandering minds and desires. But what exactly can we do achieve this? How can we become more mindful in all aspects of our lives, spiritual and temporal? That is where the practice of exercising mindfulness, in the Islamic context of muraqabah, can help train our minds to become more disciplined and can thereby enhance our regular worship and daily activities. -
Leaving Islam for Christianity: Asylum Seeker Converts
Chapter 17 Leaving Islam for Christianity: Asylum Seeker Converts Nora Stene 1 Introduction This chapter presents a case study from Norway, and explores why and how some asylum seekers leave one religion for another: more specifically Islam for Christianity. The context of their conversion is migration and the difficult situ- ation of asylum seekers. The chapter also highlights perspectives and method- ologies especially relevant to this field of study. There are no available official statistics on the number of asylum seeker converts in Norway. However, the Norwegian Immigration Appeals Board (une) estimates that between 2001 and 2015 approximately 950 individuals converted from Islam to Christianity – listing fear of religious persecution as support for their asylum appeals. The great majority of them were from Iran or Afghanistan, but une data has registered smaller numbers of converts from a total of 23 different countries (details in Stene 2016, personal communication une 2017). It should be noted that in order to be considered a convert by the une there must be an announcement of faith, baptism, and attachment to a local Christian congregation (une 2016). The actual number of converts may also be higher than the figure given above, as asylum seekers may not mention conversion in their applications –or appeals. The une has observed that conversions/baptisms usually take place during the appeal-process, after an initial asylum application has been rejected. In this period a number of asylum seekers have contact with Christian congregations (une 2016). Clearly critical to certain kinds of active proselytisation among asylum seekers, the une, human rights- and church umbrella-organisations have issued guidelines to protect asylum seekers from what has been termed “unwanted attention” from missionaries (details in Stene 2016:207). -
School of Humanities and Social Sciences Al-Ghazali's Integral
School of Humanities and Social Sciences Al-Ghazali’s Integral Epistemology: A Critical Analysis of The Jewels of the Quran A Thesis Submitted to The Department of Arab and Islamic Civilization in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Amani Elshimi 000-88-0001 under the supervision of Dr. Mohamed Serag Professor of Islamic Studies Thesis readers: Dr. Steffen Stelzer Professor of Philosophy, The American University in Cairo Dr. Aliaa Rafea Professor of Sociology, Ain Shams University; Founder of The Human Foundation NGO May 2017 Acknowledgements First and foremost, Alhamdulillah - my gratitude to God for the knowledge, love, light and faith. My deepest thanks go to my supervisor and readers, whose individual passions and critical guidance helped shape my research perspective, sustain my sanity and boost my confidence - Dr. Mohamed Serag, who first initiated me into the scholarship of al- Ghazali and engaged me in eye-opening theological debates, Dr. Steffen Stelzer, whose academic expertise and personal sufi practice inspired my curiosity and touched me in deep spiritual ways, and Dr. Aliaa Rafea, who, through her lectures and practices, emphasized how the depths of meaning in the Quran can contribute to human development in contemporary times. Throughout this adventure, my colleagues and friends have been equally supportive - Soha Helwa and Wafaa Wali, in particular, have joined me in bouncing ideas back and forth to refine perspective and sustain rigor. Sincere appreciation and love goes to my family - my dear husband and children, whose unswerving support all these years has helped me grow in ways I yearned for, and never dreamed possible; and my siblings who constantly engaged me in discussion and critical analysis. -
Who-Wants-The-Caliphate.Pdf
2 | Who Wants the Caliphate? Author Biography Dr. Ovamir Anjum is Imam Khattab Endowed Chair of Islamic Studies at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Toledo. He obtained his Ph.D. in Islamic history in the Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work focuses on the nexus of theology, ethics, politics and law in Islam, with comparative interest in Western thought. His interests are united by a common theoretical focus on epistemology or views of intellect/reason in various domains of Islamic thought, ranging from politics (siyasa), law (fiqh), theology (kalam), falsafa (Islamic philosophy) and spirituality (Sufism, mysticism, and asceticism). Author of Politics, Law and Community in Islamic Thought: The Taymiyyan Moment (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Dr. Anjum has also translated a popular Islamic spiritual and theological classic, Madarij al-Salikin (Ranks of Divine Seekers) by Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 1351); the first two volumes to be published by Brill later this year. His current projects include a multi-volume survey of Islamic history and a monograph on Islamic political thought. Disclaimer: The views, opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in these papers and articles are strictly those of the authors. Furthermore, Yaqeen does not endorse any of the personal views of the authors on any platform. Our team is diverse on all fronts, allowing for constant, enriching dialogue that helps us produce high-quality research. Copyright © 2019. Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research 3 | Who Wants the Caliphate? Editor’s Note This publication was scheduled for release before the news of the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. -
Guided Reading: Chapter 6 TIMELINE: Insert the Following Events Into a Timeline. This Should Help You Compare Important Histor
Guided Reading: Chapter 6 TIMELINE: Insert the following events into a timeline. This should help you compare important historical events chronologically. Ridda wars begin end of Umayyad dynasty Muhammad escapes from Mecca to Medina assassination of Uthman battle of Siffin Muhammad receives first revelations 610 CE 750 CE TERMS, PEOPLE, EVENTS: The following terms, people and events are important to your understanding of the chapter. Islam Muslims Bedouin shaykhs Mecca Medina Quraysh Umayyad Ka’ba Allah Muhammad Quran hijra umma zakat five pillars hajj Ali Abu Bakr Ridda wars jihad Uthman Battle of Siffin Mu’awiya Sunnis Shi’a Karbala Damascus Mawali dhimmis Abbasid Abu al-Abbas Baghdad wazir ayan REVIEW QUESTIONS A. Describe the social organization of the Arabs prior to the introduction of Islam. B. Compare and contrast the status of women in Islam during the pre-Islamic period and the Abbasid Empire. C. Why was Islam able to appeal to people of so many different cultures? D. What was the essential dispute within Islam over the succession to the Prophet? E. What was the difference between the Abbasid Empire and the Umayyad Empire? F. What conditions influenced the rise of Islam in Arabia? G. Describe the development of the Muslim community and the teachings of Islam. H. What factors contributed to the rise and success of the Arabic Empire? I. How did Islam unite and effectively rule diverse peoples and cultures? J. How did Islam and the Arabic empire change during the Abbasid rule? K. Describe Islamic society including social classes, gender and inequalities. . -
The Struggle Against Musaylima and the Conquest of Yamama
THE STRUGGLE AGAINST MUSAYLIMA AND THE CONQUEST OF YAMAMA M. J. Kister The Hebrew University of Jerusalem The study of the life of Musaylima, the "false prophet," his relations with the Prophet Muhammad and his efforts to gain Muhammad's ap- proval for his prophetic mission are dealt with extensively in the Islamic sources. We find numerous reports about Musaylima in the Qur'anic commentaries, in the literature of hadith, in the books of adab and in the historiography of Islam. In these sources we find not only material about Musaylima's life and activities; we are also able to gain insight into the the Prophet's attitude toward Musaylima and into his tactics in the struggle against him. Furthermore, we can glean from this mate- rial information about Muhammad's efforts to spread Islam in territories adjacent to Medina and to establish Muslim communities in the eastern regions of the Arabian peninsula. It was the Prophet's policy to allow people from the various regions of the peninsula to enter Medina. Thus, the people of Yamama who were exposed to the speeches of Musaylima, could also become acquainted with the teachings of Muhammad and were given the opportunity to study the Qur'an. The missionary efforts of the Prophet and of his com- panions were often crowned with success: many inhabitants of Yamama embraced Islam, returned to their homeland and engaged in spreading Is- lam. Furthermore, the Prophet thoughtfully sent emissaries to the small Muslim communities in Yamama in order to teach the new believers the principles of Islam, to strengthen their ties with Medina and to collect the zakat. -
Religion–State Relations
Religion–State Relations International IDEA Constitution-Building Primer 8 Religion–State Relations International IDEA Constitution-Building Primer 8 Dawood Ahmed © 2017 International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) Second edition First published in 2014 by International IDEA International IDEA publications are independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of International IDEA, its Board or its Council members. The electronic version of this publication is available under a Creative Commons Attribute-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 3.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) licence. You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the publication as well as to remix and adapt it, provided it is only for non-commercial purposes, that you appropriately attribute the publication, and that you distribute it under an identical licence. For more information on this licence visit the Creative Commons website: <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/> International IDEA Strömsborg SE–103 34 Stockholm Sweden Telephone: +46 8 698 37 00 Email: [email protected] Website: <http://www.idea.int> Cover design: International IDEA Cover illustration: © 123RF, <http://www.123rf.com> Produced using Booktype: <https://booktype.pro> ISBN: 978-91-7671-113-2 Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 3 Advantages and risks ............................................................................................... -
The Fiqh Council of North America (Revised)
IIssllaammiicc CCeenntteerr ooff BBoossttoonn,, WWaayyllaanndd WILL HENCEFORTH BE FOLLOWING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF TTHHEE FFIIQQHH CCOOUUNNCCIILL OOFF NNOORRTTHH AAMMEERRIICCAA REGARDING THE ADOPTION OF AN AASTRONOMICALLY CCALCULATED IISLAMIC CCALENDAR DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT THIS DECISION AND A CALENDAR FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS ARE PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT. September 7th, 2007 RAMADAN AND EID ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE FIQH COUNCIL OF NORTH AMERICA (REVISED) 09- 5-07 15:21 The Fiqh Council of North America in its meeting in Herndon, Virginia on July 31- August 1, 2007 noted with satisfaction the recent Fatwa of its counterpart in Europe “the European Council for Fatwa and Research” related to the permissibility of the use of calculation method for determining the beginning of Lunar months including the months of Ramadan and Shawwal. The position of ECFR is very similar to the position of FCNA adopted last year on June 10, 2006, with a minor difference. FCNA adopted the position that the conjunction should occur before noon at Greenwich time. ECFR has adopted Makkah al-Mukarram as a conventional point and took the position that the conjunction must take place before sunset in Makkah and moon must set after sunset in Makkah. FCNA after careful discussion has revised its position and has adopted the Fatwa of ECFR. This revised position will change only a few dates in the Fiqh Council’s Five year calendar; but it will bring greater harmony and unity among the Muslims communities in the West. On the basis of this new position the dates of Ramadan and Eidul Fitr for this year are as follows: 1st of Ramadan will be on Thursday, September 13, 2007 1st of Shawwal will be on Saturday, October 13, 2007 Ramadan 1428 AH: The astronomical New Moon is on Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 12:44 Universal Time (3:44 pm Makkah time). -
Afghanistan: the Situation of Christian Converts
+*-/ !"#)$./) # .$/0/$*)*!#-$./$)*)1 -/. 7 April 2021 © Landinfo 2021 The material in this report is covered by copyright law. Any reproduction or publication of this report or any extract thereof other than as permitted by current Norwegian copyright law requires the explicit written consent of Landinfo. For information on all of the reports published by Landinfo, please contact: Landinfo Country of Origin Information Centre Storgata 33 A P.O. Box 2098 Vika NO-0125 Oslo Tel.: (+47) 23 30 94 70 Ema il: [email protected] www.landinfo.no *0/ )$)!*ҁ. - +*-/. The Norwegian Country of Origin Information Centre, Landinfo, is an independent body within the Norwegian Immigration Authorities. Landinfo provides country of origin information (COI) to the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (Utlendingsdirektoratet – UDI), the Immigration Appeals Board (Utlendingsnemnda – UNE) and the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security. Reports produced by Landinfo are based on information from carefully selected sources. The informa tion is collected a nd analysed in accordance with common methodology for processing COI and Landinfo’s internal guidelines on source and information analysis. To ensure balanced reports, efforts are made to obtain information from a wide range of sources. Many of our reports draw on findings and interviews conducted on fact-finding missions. All sources used are referenced. Sources hesitant to provide information to be cited in a public report have retained anonymity. The reports do not provide exhaustive overviews of topics or themes but cover aspects relevant for the processing of asylum and residency cases. Country of Origin Information presented in Landinfo’s reports does not contain policy recommendations nor does it reflect official Norwegian views. -
Archons (Commanders) [NOTICE: They Are NOT Anlien Parasites], and Then, in a Mirror Image of the Great Emanations of the Pleroma, Hundreds of Lesser Angels
A R C H O N S HIDDEN RULERS THROUGH THE AGES A R C H O N S HIDDEN RULERS THROUGH THE AGES WATCH THIS IMPORTANT VIDEO UFOs, Aliens, and the Question of Contact MUST-SEE THE OCCULT REASON FOR PSYCHOPATHY Organic Portals: Aliens and Psychopaths KNOWLEDGE THROUGH GNOSIS Boris Mouravieff - GNOSIS IN THE BEGINNING ...1 The Gnostic core belief was a strong dualism: that the world of matter was deadening and inferior to a remote nonphysical home, to which an interior divine spark in most humans aspired to return after death. This led them to an absorption with the Jewish creation myths in Genesis, which they obsessively reinterpreted to formulate allegorical explanations of how humans ended up trapped in the world of matter. The basic Gnostic story, which varied in details from teacher to teacher, was this: In the beginning there was an unknowable, immaterial, and invisible God, sometimes called the Father of All and sometimes by other names. “He” was neither male nor female, and was composed of an implicitly finite amount of a living nonphysical substance. Surrounding this God was a great empty region called the Pleroma (the fullness). Beyond the Pleroma lay empty space. The God acted to fill the Pleroma through a series of emanations, a squeezing off of small portions of his/its nonphysical energetic divine material. In most accounts there are thirty emanations in fifteen complementary pairs, each getting slightly less of the divine material and therefore being slightly weaker. The emanations are called Aeons (eternities) and are mostly named personifications in Greek of abstract ideas. -
I Am a Salafi : a Study of the Actual and Imagined Identities of Salafis
The Hashemite Kingdom Jordan The Deposit Number at The National Library (2014/5/2464) 251.541 Mohammad Abu Rumman I Am A Salafi A Study of The Actual And Imagined Identities of Salafis / by Mohammad Abu Rumman Amman:Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2014 Deposit No.:2014/5/2464 Descriptors://Islamic Groups//Islamic Movement Published in 2014 by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Jordan & Iraq FES Jordan & Iraq P.O. Box 941876 Amman 11194 Jordan Email: [email protected] Website: www.fes-jordan.org Not for sale © FES Jordan & Iraq All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the publishers. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are solely those of the original author. They do not necessarily represent those of the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung or the editor. Translation: Dr. Hassan Barari Editing: Amy Henderson Cover: YADONIA Group Printing: Economic Printing Press ISBN: 978-9957-484-41-5 2nd Edition 2017 2 I AM A SALAFI A Study of the Actual and Imagined Identities of Salafis by Mohammad Abu Rumman 3 4 Dedication To my parents Hoping that this modest endeavor will be a reward for your efforts and dedication 5 Table of Contents DEDICATION ........................................................................................................ 5 FOREWORD .......................................................................................................... 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ -
How Should Muslims Think About Apostasy Today?
2 | The Issue of Apostasy in Islam Author Biography Dr. Jonathan Brown is Director of Research at Yaqeen Institute, and an Associate Professor and Chair of Islamic Civilization at Georgetown University. Disclaimer: The views, opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in these papers and articles are strictly those of the authors. Furthermore, Yaqeen does not endorse any of the personal views of the authors on any platform. Our team is diverse on all fronts, allowing for constant, enriching dialogue that helps us produce high-quality research. Copyright © 2017. Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research 3 | The Issue of Apostasy in Islam The Shari’ah consists of some laws that remain the same regardless of changing circumstances and others that change with them. Most of the Shari’ah is up to individual Muslims to follow in their own lives. Some are for judges to implement in courts. Finally, the third set of laws is for the ruler or political authority to implement based on the best interests of society. The Shari’ah ruling on Muslims who decide to leave Islam belongs to this third group. Implemented in the past to protect the integrity of the Muslim community, today this important goal can best be reached by Muslim governments using their right to set punishments for apostasy aside. One of the most common accusations leveled against Islam involves the freedom of religion. The problem, according to critics: Islam doesn’t have any. This criticism might strike some as odd since it has been well established that both the religion of Islam and Islamic civilization have shown a level of religious tolerance that would make modern Americans blush.