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An extract from my diary, January 2nd: It would be easy for me to reduce the vibrant zephyr of a new year into an insignificance, simply by stating the obvious truth, that as Muslims we must seek continual improvement, regardless of the borders drawn by the western almanac, but I
“The heart is never truly alive, except through knowledge.” - Ibn al-Qayyim To speak meaningfully about knowledge in this particular age, is, for the Muslim student, a confrontation with the paradox that lies at the centre of modern learning. Never has there been a time where knowledge is more accessible
As the plane descended, the city of Oslo revealed itself beneath us, yawning outward with an understated elegance. Its winter light diffused through felted clouds, rendering every colour a subdued hue of porpoise. The tranquillity of this capital was undeniable, yet I came to realise its calm conceals a deeper
So very comfortable is the life of a Muslim in the Britain. We have the freedom to speech, the freedom to practice whichever faith or sect of that faith we'd like, we have the freedom to criticise government, build Islamic institutions and evangelise whichever beliefs we want. Walk
What do we mean by inspiration? Is it a conscious and rigorous imitation? Or, maybe, a yearning for affecting and introspective change.
When starting my blog, one year ago, I never would have expected to be writing about my surprisingly expansive list of travels or finally starting my degree or even the assassination of Charlie Kirk but by the Will of Allah we are here, and for the better. There hasn'
This morning, I awoke to the anticipated news of Zohran Mamdani's mayoral victory in New York City and many headlines were teeming with feigned excitement for his list of 'firsts'. 'First Muslim mayor', 'First South Asian mayor' and some other, tired platitudes
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The time of sword-bearing crusaders has long gone, but the struggle against Islamophobia remains. Today, a rather more insidious form of Muslim hate has fleeced itself into the British mainstream; and this time, he wears a suit and portrays his vitriol as concern.
Today is one year since Fadhl was launched. It is no longer an idea but a brand that has quietly grown into something far bigger than we could have ever imagined. Looking back, I don’t remember business plans or a strategic timelines. Rather, I am reminded of nights spent
Your first week of university is often imagined as a rite of passage, both an illuminating gateway into supposed freedom and wanton exposure to the vices that unfold on a university campus. For me, it has felt less like a canticle of novel experiences but rather like a furnace or
Istanbul is not a mere metropolis of mosques and mausoleums, but rather a palimpsest of civilisations, a living manuscript of ambition, conquest and triumph. Dominating from the shores of the Bosphorus, it appears a vision suspended between continents, a region mediating East and West, antiquity and modernity, faith and secularity.
Modern life dazzles with its platitudes of efficiency, innovation, and strategy. Corporations invest in consultants, governments draft policies, and organisations construct futures in detail. Despite this feverish planning, many workplaces and institutions remain brittle and society, restless. This disconnect is glaring, we produce endless tactics but seldom propagate people of
I do not rejoice at death. As a Muslim, I cannot. The sanctity of life is unassailable, no ideology, no fury, no outrage can make the spilling of innocent blood acceptable. Murder is not justice but actually the collapse of courage, the refusal to endure another’s speech. I sit
Not every prison is carved from stone nor every chain forged from iron. There exists an imprisonment worse than palsy and more severe than the stifling of breath. Rather the confinement of the heart, a state in which the soul finds itself unable to outstretch, towards the Divine. One may
In recent years the world has grown enamoured with the language of wellness. Scroll through your feed or browse through a bookstore and with certainty you will encounter endless exhortations in fasting intermittently, waking up before dawn, practicing gratitude, eating clean and the decluttering of your life. These ideas are
At first glance, Dubai feels like the future incarnate but stay long enough and you learn of the sacrifice that keeps its skyline standing. Upon returning from Dubai, my fingers lay restless on the keyboard, twitching with a desire to muster order into the chaos of Dubai's dissociative
Surah Al-Buruj, the eighty fifth chapter of the Qur’an, is a surah that does not just simply speak to our notions of logic and reason but rather reverberates through the chambers of our hearts. A short, striking passage that tells the story of believers thrown into a fiery pit,
Assalaamualaikum, I recently finished reading Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. A work that is often praised for its depth and philosophical ambition. There are novels that entertain, and then there are novels that interrogate. Dostoevsky’s final work does the latter, and it does so relentlessly. I was affected
Bosnia is not a country you stumble into. You arrive with some notion, however faint or romantic, of where you’re going. Perhaps the lingering images of the Srebrenica Genocide, fractured war stories from GCSE history or just a scenic desktop wallpaper with the bridge in Mostar - at least