“Some older couples in Japan are hiring young actresses to visit them on Sundays to say, ‘Hi mom! Hi pop!’ because their own daughters no longer do” (‘TIME Magazine’, 4th July 2011). Reading about this weird practice against the backdrop of…
Wonderful Technology and Miracles
At the age of 11, I was told by my teachers to get my eyes tested. Obediently, I complied, and when I wore my glasses and walked out of the optician’s shop, I saw a clearer, brighter and more detailed…
Lessons From 9/11 Decade
“Good came out of evil” is a commonly heard cliché. I believe it helps us to understand extraordinary and dangerous events and persuades us to think positively. How can we apply this cliché to 9/11? I think evil is always…
Spiritual Retreat
Every year, for one month I fast like all other Muslims, and for the last ten days of the month I go into a spiritual retreat, a period of seclusion for contemplation, deep reflection and sincere prayer. The sweetness and…
The Age of Austerity
Over the past three years economic and political gurus have been counselling us to be austere, how many times has the chancellor talked about “Time for Austerity”? I wonder if what they meant by this, the dictionary defines austerity as…
The stages of spiritual development
A study of ‘Sulami’s darrajat as siddiqeen’ in the light of Ghazzal’s ‘minhaj al abideen’ Introduction This essay is an abridgement of “Darrajat as siddiqeen” a short monograph by Abu abdur Rahman Sulami (d;1021 see note 2) that explains the…
