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Category: Knowledge of the Deen

Qur’anic vocabulary and terminology was preserved for good reason.

Qur’anic vocabulary and terminology was preserved for good reason.

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Revisiting Qur’anic terminology and bending it beyond what is the known, established and intended meanings leaves the religion open to abuse and subversion. That’s why we get extremists like alQaida, ISIS and others and that’s why we get “insights” like “let’s have Jummah [Friday congregational prayers] on Saturday because the word ‘jummah’ just means ‘congregation’ and you can congregate for Friday prayers on Saturday” (I’m not joking) ! Extreme religiosity and extreme liberalism are two sides of the same coin,…

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Aqidah: more than just inherited belief.

Aqidah: more than just inherited belief.

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When my youngest son was taking his Philosophy and Ethics GCSE a few years ago, the class were asked the question “if God is all powerful can He create a rock so big that even he can’t lift?” This is a question that will stump most religious people, particularly those for whom God is a big man sitting in a chair in the sky. It will even stump most Muslims who have not given much thought to the attributes of…

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There is no deen in English?

There is no deen in English?

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At a recent Friday prayer I  heard a khateeb make these two points in the Urdu bayan (sermon) before the khutba… There is no deen [Islam] in English, only Arabic and Urdu We don’t know who writes the books in English Any UK imam who thinks that parents must teach their kids Punjabi or Urdu in order for them to learn the religion has totally misunderstood the time and place in which he lives. It must asked of