Month: August 2011

Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, ties Iman (trust) and ‘Aml (work) together throughout the blessed and noble Book, but ‘Aml, is always qualified by the word ‘Salih’. These two words are completely unambiguous, ‘Aml being action or work and Salih meaning good, incorrupt, honest, virtuous, sound and in good order. Iman and ‘Amilu Salihat translate directly into the two pillars of Salah and Zakah as the foundation of the life of the Muslim and from them all good proceeds. It is as if, without this manifestation, the spring of life remains hidden within the mountain and does not burst forth and flow with its life-giving nourishment. This bi-directional existence of the Muslim, one exclusively to his Lord, the other to his fellow man marks him out among the generality and he becomes a locus of sincerity, worshipping his Master because it is His due and working for his nation because it is their due.
Continue reading “‘Aml”

One of the great victims of the modern era of calculation and valuation is imagination. In the reduction of values to the numerical, i.e. popularity, Van Gogh = $23,000,000, and so on, the possible has been reduced to the probable.

The possible is only limited by Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, and the probable, for man, is what he limits himself to.

I remember our shaykh, Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi telling us once that, Continue reading “Imagine”