These verses reflect the nature of debate in Islam. When teaching youth to debate academically, I explain a principle that may guide them not only strategically but in adab: 'you don't debate to prove you're right. You debate to understand the truth.' This was a principle I was taught by a mentor of mine and it saved me many times from my ego. It is a principle that many scholars of our tradition exemplify because we're reminded that the search f...عرض المزيد
'That they may witness benefits for themselves and mention the name of Allah on known days…..'[hajj:28]
-in Muzdalifa, Allah says:
'But when you depart from 'Arafat, remember Allah at al- Mash'ar al-Haram. And remember Him, as He has guided you, for indeed, you were before that among those astray.[Al-Baqara:198]
In verse 1, put simply, God did not come to play. Allah sets the scene for very serious warnings. Allah uses the world 'zalzalat' in reference to the Day of Judgement, and while it refers to the physical quaking/shaking of the Earth, we can understand it as so awe-strikingly terrifying that it 'shakes' each creation of Allah; human, jinn, animals, and even mountains. In the second verse, Allah describes events we find incredibly off-putting in th...عرض المزيد
One of the first things we learn about are the stories of Prophets. And one of the first things we forget about as we grow in our knowledge of the complexities of Islam are... the stories of the prophets (may Allah's blessing be on them). It's very interesting because they are a wrought reminder to us of the very patterns of self-destruction that exist today. From heedlessness to arrogance to sticking to the status quo because it was 'what our fo...عرض المزيد