/ Apr 09, 2019 06:13 PM This page contains the full text of Learning Quranic Arabic for Complete Beginners by Ikram Hawramani. You can get this book on Amazon.com as a paperback and Kindle ebook. Learning Quranic Arabic for Complete Beginners ✽ A Step by Step Self-Teaching Guide to the Arabic Language of the Quran Ikram Hawramani 2019StewardsPublishing STEWARDS PUBLISHING Copyright © 2019 Ikram Hawramani First […]
/ Jan 02, 2019 07:31 PM Master the Basics of Coding in Under Two Hours in Interactive Steps and Visual Examples Methods for using this guide: View the online version on this page (scroll down) Download a free PDF version Download a free Mobi version (for e-readers and ebook-reading apps, zipped) Buy the Kindle version on Amazon Buy the paperback version […]
/ Nov 17, 2018 03:28 PM / No Comments on The Muslim Plan for Western Civilization: There is No Plan / 8088 viewsDo Muslims hope to establish a World Caliphate? It is undeniable that some Muslims, including religious scholars, look forward to one day there existing a new Islamic empire that represents “true” Islam and that brings back the glory of the olden days. As is usual with fantasy-land Islam, the thinking is top-down, the caliphate has […]
/ Nov 11, 2019 09:50 PM / No Comments on The Islamic stance on writing novels / 1064 views[1] Salam, don’t know if this is the best place to ask, but I feel you give perceptive answers that make a lot of sense, & you have answered questions relating to writing poetry etc aswell as reviewed a contemporary romantic novel Ayesha At Last on your blog. Personally I hope to one day write […]
/ Sep 27, 2017 06:38 PM Selected and Translated by Ikram Hawramani Copyright © 2017 Ikram Hawramani A Brief Primer on Ibn al-Jawzi Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ibn al-Jawzī (1116 – 1201 CE) was a major historian, hadith scholar, jurist and popular preacher in medieval Baghdad. He is said to have written over a hundred works (some mention as many as […]
/ Oct 01, 2017 09:00 PM Selected and Translated by Ikram Hawramani Copyright © 2017 Ikram Hawramani Hawramani.com All Rights Reserved A Brief Primer on Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah Ibn al-Qayyim[1] was born in Damascus on January 28th of the year 1292 CE, equivalent to the seventh of Ṣafar of the year 691 AH. His full name is Abū ʿAbd-Allah Shams al-Dīn […]
/ Mar 13, 2019 10:11 AM / No Comments on Best friends and soulmates / 1924 viewsBrother, is there such thing as a best friend? I’m the type of person who thinks that I only allow myself one best friend, but after a few failed friendships, I’m starting to believe such thing never actually exist. Was it because my previous failed friendships? And also, is it true that soulmate can be […]
/ Feb 18, 2019 12:48 PM / No Comments on How do I balance between being a programmer and a writer? / 310 viewsHi,this maybe not an question asking about islam,but i am quite interested about how you manage your time between becoming a programmer and writer. I am deeply inspired and amazed by your writings as it shows your erudition. I would also like to know how you learned programming. Thank you I do not have a […]
/ Sep 14, 2017 12:20 AM / 1 Comment on What to do if all the negative coverage of Islam and online Islam-bashing affects you / 700 viewsI’m from India and I see a lot of negativity towards Islam and it saddens me very much. Filthy comments made about Islam and people who practice Islam. I usually do not indulge in such arguments/comments because there is no point but it effects me. Please help Jazakallah khair That is a promise of the […]
/ Apr 09, 2018 06:50 PM / 13 Comments on A new approach to the Quran’s “Wife-Beating Verse” (al-Nisa 4:34) / 17549 viewsIn this essay, I present a plausible framework in which traditional scholarly interpretations of 4:34 can be considered correct without this becoming support for violence against women. I argue that the error has not been in understanding 4:34 but in scholarly efforts to justify it. There is a new line of justification that has so […]
/ May 24, 2019 04:51 AM / No Comments on What is the best time to perform witr? / 746 viewsAssalamu alaykum Please how many raka’ats is the Witr prayer and when is it best observed.. is it before going to bed or shortly before dawn? Jazakallahu khayran Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, Witr should be performed as the last prayer of the night before dawn. The best time to perform it is related to the best […]
/ Jun 30, 2017 06:42 PM / 1 Comment on What to do when your spouse is less religious than you / 3792 viewsA question I received recently: I am in my early twenties and have married a woman who comes from a Muslim family. After marrying her, I have found that religion is not very important to her. I had wished to marry a woman who was my equal in faith, so that we could create a […]
/ Feb 26, 2018 12:09 AM / No Comments on Can one read or listen to Quran online without wudu? / 7037 viewsDo we have to get ba-wudu even if we reciting or listening Quran online? There seems to be general agreement that qira’ah (reading/listening to/reciting aloud the Quran) can be done without wudu. The only thing that most agree should not be done without wudu is touching a book of Quran (i.e. a mushaf) (however, the highly respected […]
/ Aug 08, 2017 07:21 PM / 16 Comments on Reconciling Islam and Darwinian Evolution: Al-Ghazali’s Matrix and the Divine Template / 23823 viewsIntroduction (Download this essay as a PDF) This essay demonstrates the relationship between Islam and science/rationality through my effort to reconcile Darwinian evolution with the Quran. I am as much a “Darwinian” as any evolutionary biologist and as much a believer in the literal meaning of the Quran as any conservative Muslim. By showing how […]
/ Aug 27, 2019 06:01 PM / No Comments on My writing process / 252 viewsWhat’s your writing process? How do you pick your books to discuss and how long does it take when you write essays or long answers? I read books according to what interests me. My three main interests are Islamic studies, Western thought (philosophy and literature) and sociology / life sciences (everything to do with the […]
/ Dec 07, 2019 03:51 PM / No Comments on Can one pray in bed or through writing? / 604 viewsAssalamualaikum, thank you for this wonderful platform that allows us muslim to ask various kinds of questions. So my question is, are we allowed to pray from our bed while we get ready for bed? Or is it allowed to pray by writing down our prayers as if we are writing a letter to Allah? […]
/ Mar 08, 2019 10:36 PM / No Comments on The rule on writing sexually explicit materials in Islam / 1265 viewsAssalamu Alaikum brother, I just wanted to ask if u have any advice how writers or artists can avoid ‘fahisha’ in their work. When I write fiction I avoid writing about Islam bc I don’t want to mix that which is made up with the truth. At the same time I don’t want to represent […]
/ Nov 09, 2019 07:47 PM / No Comments on What are the best duas? / 908 viewsWhat are some of the best duas? What are some things to ask god for? Below are my favorite duas which I try to make after every prayer: To forgive your sins. Allahumma innaka affuwwun tuhibbul afwa faafu anni (O God, you are the Most Forgiving, and You love forgiveness, so forgive me.) To guide you and […]
/ Jun 04, 2019 07:06 PM We are looking for high-quality book reviews, paper reviews and essays to publish on our website. Please email us at contact@hawramani.com for details. Book reviews Book reviews are lengthy examinations of a book about Islam or another topic related to the Institute’s interests. See this example. Paper reviews Paper reviews are similar to book reviews […]
/ Jun 24, 2019 03:14 PM / No Comments on Can a woman take off the hijab for an online suitor? / 2204 viewsSalam alaikum. Brother, what are your thoughts on a man who found a woman in an online dating site, whom wants to get to know of her, felt good connection after few conversations because they have lots in common, but asks her to take off her hijab before any agreements for marriage? He didn’t force […]
/ Jul 04, 2018 08:16 PM / 1 Comment on Is Islam really pluralistic? An Islamic defense of pluralism / 6009 viewsIf Islamic teachings can be used to defend pluralism, that tells us something very important about the future of Islam. My views are not unique; they are similar to those of the great twentieth century Egyptian scholar Muḥammad ʿAbdallāh Drāz (1894 – 1958 CE), who defended a similar vision in many of his articles and […]
/ Nov 11, 2018 04:59 PM / No Comments on What is the best way to avoid habitual sins? / 1960 viewsAssalamu’alaykum, I wanna ask how to find myself and get back on the right path back? Im lost. Like so lost. Ive been feeling so tired with life and everything but i still keep on sinning. Like why is it so hard for me to understand that this life is temporary. Im sorry im emotional. […]
/ Dec 07, 2019 04:03 PM / No Comments on Is the best salah the longest? / 794 viewsAssalamualaikum. I want to ask that is it true that the best salah is when you stand the longest… Is it true? And why is that? Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, The reward for a good deed depends on the effort and sacrifice we put into it. So standing longer in prayer is better because we spend […]
/ Mar 23, 2018 06:24 PM / 1 Comment on [Book Review] Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane by S. Frederick Starr / 1526 viewsLost Enlightenment is a highly readable overview of the history of the Persian-speaking cities of Central Asia, an area that gave Islamic civilization the majority of its great philosophers and thinkers (Jabir ibn Hayyan, al-Khwarizmi, al-Farabi, Avicenna, al-Biruni, al-Ghazali) and many of its great scholars (such as the creators of five of the six “canonical” hadith […]
/ Nov 04, 2018 06:48 PM / 5 Comments on A Hadith Scholar Presents New Evidence that Aisha was Near 18 the Day of Her Marriage to the Prophet Muhammad / 31401 viewsThe age of Aisha bint Abu Bakr, may God be pleased with her and her father, at the time of her marriage to the Prophet Muhammad PBUH is one of the thorny issues in modern Islam, used as one of the main talking points against Islam by Islam’s detractors. How could God’s Prophet, a widower […]
/ Oct 10, 2017 10:00 PM / 1 Comment on God has not abandoned you: Regaining your sense of purpose when life feels spiritually empty, lonely and meaningless / 17371 viewsI would appreciate some advice. I pray all my prayers on time and I read Quran daily, along with other forms of worship, but I feel so numb & empty. I feel like I have no purpose in this life, like if I died it won’t even matter. I don’t affect this Ummah in any […]
/ Aug 09, 2018 05:56 PM / 2 Comments on What the Prophets Teach Us About the Proper Etiquette of Dua (Supplication) / 1664 viewsIn answer to questions regarding the nature and ideal manner of supplication in Islam The true servant of God is the one who accepts whatever the Creator decrees. If he asks of Him and He answers, he considers that a privilege granted by Him, and if he is denied, he considers that an act of […]
/ Dec 26, 2017 10:24 PM / No Comments on What is the best dua for marrying well? / 586 viewsWhat kind of dua can I make to marry someone who is extraordinary person? Speak to God the way you speak to someone you love and ask Him what you want. You do not need special words. You do not even need words.
/ May 10, 2017 04:32 PM / 7 Comments on How to get a demo of the OneDrive File Picker JavaScript SDK to work on a local development server / 14841 viewsAfter getting the Google Drive file picker working on the page of a project I’m working on within just a few hours, I was faced with the task of getting the OneDrive JavaScript Picker to work, which I almost abandoned because of Microsoft’s brain-dead documentation. After hours of watching Microsoft videos and piecing together documentation, […]
/ Oct 25, 2017 04:44 PM / 2 Comments on Islam, the Good Parts: A Basic Income System that Encourages Employment, Productive Investment and Automation / 5498 viewsWithin the next 50 years, most of the jobs that today employ people will not exist, because robots and computers will be able to do them better and cheaper. Over the past 50 years there has been much talk of artificial intelligence, and much of it was empty and little came out of it. The true […]
/ Feb 12, 2019 06:08 PM / No Comments on The Closing of the Muslim Mind and the Decline of Islamic Civilization / 1974 viewsA response to Robert R. Reilly’s book The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis. Last I year I published then took down an early version of this essay. This is the updated version (also published as chapter 3 of my book An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Understanding Islam […]
/ Nov 09, 2017 03:44 PM / No Comments on A Biography of Ahmad Moftizadeh / 2720 viewsKak Ahmadi Muftizada: Darwazayak bo Xabateki Nanasraw (کاک ئەحمەدی موفتیزادە: دەروازەیەک بۆ خەباتێکی نەناسراو, Ahmad Moftizadeh: A Gateway to an Unknown Struggle) is a 394-page Kurdish biography of the great Iranian Kurdish leader Ahmad Moftizadeh written by Sarwat Abdullah, apparently published in 2010. I have been reading all available materials on Ahmad Moftizadeh, since he is […]
/ Sep 11, 2017 06:59 PM / 2 Comments on The Islamic View of Sex Education and Adolescent Exposure to Sexual Scenes in Novels and Films / 3190 viewsMy child loves to read books. Some of the books she wants to read mention sex. She is 13 years old and I don’t know when to allow her to read those books or even when to tell her about sex. I need help with this. Thank you! When a child reaches puberty (and I […]
/ Aug 05, 2018 05:42 PM / 4 Comments on Islam and Depression: A Survival Guide / 9671 viewsPlease note that this article is not meant as a replacement for medical help, but as a supplement to it. What does Islam have to offer someone who has been suffering depression for years and sees no end in sight to their suffering? Depression is not sadness and cannot be cured by thinking positively as […]
/ Nov 06, 2017 06:35 AM / No Comments on In the Footsteps of the Prophet by Tariq Ramadan / 1130 viewsIn the Footsteps of the Prophet is a long-needed biography of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ that focuses on his character, manners and experience, rather than merely narrating dates and facts. Many classical Islamic books are somewhat out-of-touch for modern readers, so that while they may have been satisfactory to their original (often Middle Eastern) readers, when […]
/ Nov 07, 2018 04:03 PM / 2 Comments on Why Digital Piracy is Ethical and Necessary / 13213 viewsDisclaimer: This is an academic essay on the ethics of digital piracy. It is not a call for breaking the law by pirating. Some jurisdictions punish piracy severely, therefore the risk is entirely your own if you choose to break the law by pirating content. For my proposal for a digital library that makes piracy […]
/ May 26, 2019 05:15 AM / 1 Comment on Shah Waliullah on the Art of Being Knowledgeable / 2537 viewsThe religion of Islam, perhaps more than any other religion, is characterized by its emphasis on scholarship (daneshmandī دانش مندی in Farsi/Urdu), on the acquiring of knowledge (ʿilm) and wisdom (ḥikma), and on the sharing of knowledge through education (Rosenthal, 2007). The responsibility of the education (taʿlīm) of mankind is taken up by Allah [swt] […]
/ Mar 22, 2018 09:32 PM / 1 Comment on The Road to Maturity: On Dealing with Life’s Unsolvable Problems / 7225 viewsEvery person’s life seems to contain problems that have no solution. Such problems can last for years, even decades. Among such problems are: Poverty: A person’s life may be denied many joys and contain many indignities brought about by poverty. Having a disabled child: An otherwise happy and wealthy couple may be force to worry […]
/ Mar 04, 2017 03:44 PM / 11 Comments on Why God Allows Evil to Exist, and Why Bad Things Happen to Good People / 26672 viewsIntroduction There is a surprising amount of confusion among the religious, even among clerics and scholars, when it comes to understanding why evil exists and why God stands aside when so much suffering happens throughout the world. Most of us express wonder when we see some horrible catastrophe happen, or when we see evil individuals, […]
/ Oct 12, 2017 04:11 PM / 2 Comments on Should Muslims boycott the Hajj because of Saudi repression and war crimes? / 1015 viewsI’ve read that when we do hajj we are financially supporting the Saudi government to oppress people in it’s country and also to kill people in Yemen. Is it true that they use hajj revenue for bad stuff? I doubt there is a major country in the world that does not kill innocent people whenever […]
and / Apr 14, 2019 09:13 PM / No Comments on Medieval Female Mystics of Islam / 888 viewsA review of Arezou Azad, “Female Mystics in Mediaeval Islam: The Quiet Legacy.” (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 56 (2013) 53-88). Andrea Cabrera The article, “Female Mystics in Medieval Islam: the Quiet Legacy” was written by Arezou Azad, who is a Leverhulme Research Officer of the Oriental Studies Faculty at […]
/ Feb 12, 2017 07:36 PM / 2 Comments on Recovering from a SAXParseException error with no data loss / 1462 viewsI was working on a book I’m writing in LibreOffice Writer. I am using the docx format for the book, as I plan to finish its formatting in Microsoft Word, not knowing that LibreOffice Writer has a tendency to corrupt docx files. After closing and opening the file again, I received the following error: I […]
/ Jan 13, 2019 03:13 PM / No Comments on Her abusive parents make her feel depressed / 1806 viewsAssalamu aleikum, for several years i have been feeling like a burden and a problem to my parents. they never support or show love and admiration for anything me or my sisters do, they’re always scared that we’re going to ruin their reputations and have absolutely zero respect for us, the degrading things they’ve told […]
/ Sep 21, 2019 04:10 PM / 3 Comments on Ayesha, At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin (Book Review) / 7893 viewsAyesha, At Last is a 2018 novel by Uzma Jalaluddin, a Canadian Muslim. It is her first novel. The publisher stresses that this is a Muslim version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. This comparison is very unfair to Austen’s great masterpiece and sets readers up for disappointment. The story is a melodramatic and unrealistic […]
/ Jan 16, 2017 03:18 AM / 6 Comments on Inconsistencies in the Harry Potter Books / 6755 views Introduction This page lists all of the errors and inconsistencies I’ve found throughout my many readings of the entire series (I have Stephen Fry’s reading of the books on my phone as an audiobook, to which I sometimes listen when I’m resting or trying to fall asleep). Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone What Object […]
/ Apr 14, 2018 06:45 PM / No Comments on Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy [Short Book Review] / 551 viewsProfessor Jonathan Brown’s Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy is one of the best English-language books about Islam written by a Muslim (he converted to Islam in 1997). While the book’s focus is on the issues surrounding the authenticity and interpretation of hadith, it provides a good general history of the development of […]
/ Dec 06, 2018 02:54 PM / No Comments on The Universal Digital Library: A Platform that Makes Digital Piracy Unnecessary, Funds Creators, and Makes eBooks, Games and Software Affordable / 2660 viewsIn my previous essay Why Digital Piracy is Ethical and Necessary I discussed why there are no proper digital libraries: publishers pretend that digital goods cannot be sold. They demand continuous rents for digital products they give to libraries, making things like ebooks costlier (and for more difficult to lend due to various licensing clauses) than printed […]
/ Aug 25, 2017 01:21 PM / 18 Comments on Can a Muslim woman have male friends? The Islamic view of having friends of the opposite sex / 114679 viewsSalam. I have a question over boy friends? Is it okay to have friends who are boys and you know that they won’t do anything with you or take your guys friendship over the line? Or should we Muslim girls have no friends who are boys? Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, There are no texts in the […]
/ Jun 23, 2019 07:41 PM / 5 Comments on The Uniqueness of Western Civilization by Ricardo Duchesne / 6543 viewsThere are times when you read a book that completely change your understanding of the world, answering questions you have had for most of your life, and even better, answering questions you did not know you had. This is such a book. Duchesne unites economic analysis, anthropology, history and philosophy in order to make a […]
/ Apr 01, 2019 06:49 PM We are inviting capable writers and bloggers to become contributors to Hawramani.com by writing essays, articles and book reviews. If you are interested, please send us an introductory email at: contact@hawramani.com Requirements Good knowledge of English. A love of learning. Benefits Get a PhD-level education in Islamic studies for free. Join a light-hearted community of […]
/ Feb 01, 2018 06:32 PM / No Comments on Learning to love God again / 1558 viewsI want to know how to heal from the religious abuse I’ve been through in my life. I can’t find any resources online for Muslims. Most people I have read had issue with religious abuse have left. I don’t know how to heal that part. Maybe if I seek a professional they might tell me […]
/ Feb 18, 2019 03:11 PM / No Comments on The History of Salafism: The Making of Salafism by Henri Lauzière / 2202 viewsHenri Lauzière’s 2016 book The Making of Salafism is about how Salafism as we know it today was invented in the 20th century. I discovered Lauzière’s work through reading his 2010 article “The Construction of Salafiyya: Reconsidering Salafism from the Perspective of Conceptual History,” in the International Journal of Middle East Studies. That article overturned many of my […]
/ Nov 14, 2019 03:58 PM / 2 Comments on Why Your Teenager Hates You / 14569 viewsAs a parent, you spend years tiring yourself to raise a child, only to watch them become a hostile teenager who thinks of you as something of an enemy who wants to control their lives. No matter how much you tell them that you have their best interests at heart and that you want them […]
/ Apr 09, 2019 10:13 PM / No Comments on She caught her divorced sister cheating with a married man / 8519 viewsAsalam Alaikum. My sister is a divorced. I have sadly found out my sister has a haram relationship with a married man. The mans wife is both my sisters and I very good friend so I could not believe my sister would do this to her. I’m so sad. What should I do? Tell my […]
/ May 11, 2017 08:56 PM / No Comments on A guide to using PHP to download Google Drive files selected by users in the Google Drive Picker / 7194 viewsLet’s say you’ve managed to get the Google Drive JavaScript Picker API to work, and have also managed to coerce your users into logging into the Picker and selecting one of their files: And you have verified that the onSelect function works properly: function initGoogleDrivePicker() { var picker = new FilePicker({ apiKey: api_key, clientId: client_id, […]
/ Mar 19, 2018 04:22 PM / No Comments on The Qur’an (Oxford World’s Classics) by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem / 1019 viewsThe Qur’an by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem is one of the best translations of the Quran available in English. With its many clarifying footnotes, the book is especially helpful to people new to the study of the Quran.
/ Jan 07, 2019 02:14 PM / No Comments on Islam’s Quantum Question: Reconciling Muslim Tradition and Modern Science / 1712 viewsNidhal Guessoum’s Islam’s Quantum Question (originally published in French in 2009, published in English in 2011) is well worth reading, mainly for its detailed refutation of various pseudo-scientific defenses of Islam and the Quran that have been offered by others. His detailed critique of Iʿjāz literature and its supporters (such as Zaghloul El-Naggar), who purport to show scientific […]
/ Apr 21, 2019 02:34 PM / No Comments on Islamic Law and Jurisprudence: Studies in Honor of Farhat J. Ziadeh / 775 viewsIslamic Law and Jurisprudence: Studies in Honor of Farhat J. Ziadeh (published 1990) is a collection of papers written in honor of the Palestinian-American professor Farhat Jacob Ziadeh (1917-2016), founder and first chairman of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at the University of Washington. I bought this book after seeing it cited […]
/ Oct 21, 2017 06:17 PM / 1 Comment on Conflicts of Fitness: Islam, America, and Evolutionary Psychology / 2571 viewsConflicts of Fitness: Islam, America, and Evolutionary Psychology by A.S. Amin is a highly original examination of the dynamics of gender and sexuality within Western societies on the one hand, and within Islamic societies on the other. As someone who has been working on reconciling Islam and evolutionary theory and on developing a post-feminist theory […]
/ Jul 25, 2017 05:53 PM / 5 Comments on What happened to Islamic civilization? Why did Muslims fall behind in science and technology? / 4366 viewsI wanted your in depth opinion on a particular observation. Muslims, historically speaking, have been responsible for hundreds and thousands of scientific discoveries. What happened to us? Why are we in the stage we are? Only 100 years ago, which is just a little more than one human lifetime, the Ottoman Empire was a sovereign […]
/ Apr 20, 2019 07:01 PM / No Comments on A Quranic Phenomenology of Atheism / 1809 viewsIt is common in religious thought to dismiss atheists as obstinate wrongdoers who reject religion out of a combination of irrationality, egotism and their preference for their base desires. But if we appreciate the great honor and dignity that God bestowed on all of humanity (the angels bowed down to us), we should perhaps be […]
/ Mar 13, 2019 08:53 PM / 6 Comments on Reconciling Free Will and Predestination in Islam with al-Māturīdī and Ibn Taymiyya / 9424 viewsRecently I have been reading many works on Islamic theology (kalām) in order to find answers to certain questions and paradoxes inherent within the Islamic theological worldview. Since I was already familiar with Ashʿarite theology (Islam’s dominant theological school), I decided to focus on al-Māturīdī (d. 944 CE), who represents Islam’s alternative yet orthodox theological […]
/ Sep 28, 2017 08:19 PM / No Comments on Understanding Islam’s Sophisticated Approach to Slavery: Why Muslims Practiced Slavery in the Past, and Why They Reject it Today / 2501 viewsBelow are my preliminary thoughts on why Islam’s tolerance for slavery is not necessary unethical. It may sound like nothing but empty apologetics to defend Islam’s toleration of slavery and say that Islam’s goal was to abolish it, when Islam’s Prophet ﷺ and his companions all practiced it widely. And generally this is what much of […]
/ Mar 17, 2018 04:11 PM / No Comments on On which scholar’s opinions to follow and scholarly consensus (ijmāʿ) / 1879 viewsI don’t mean to offend you in any way but I just want to know (because I find other Islamic sources different from your answers sometimes). But I’m wondering when people ask you a certain thing on your blog , do you go after the scholars who give the fatwas/explanations that sounds most logic or […]
/ Apr 24, 2019 07:20 PM / No Comments on The Unleashed Thunderbolts of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya by Yasir Qadhi / 3926 viewsA review of Shakh Yasir Qadhi’s paper “‘The Unleashed Thunderbolts’ of Ibn Qayyim al-Ǧawziyyah: An Introductory Essay.” This 2010 paper by Yasir Qadhi is a study of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s al-Ṣawāʿiq al-mursala ʿalā al-Jahmīya wa-l-Muʿaṭṭila (The Unleashed Thunderbolts against the Jahmites and the Negators [of Divine Attributes]). I will focus on Ibn al-Qayyim’s positions as […]
/ Apr 08, 2019 02:20 PM / 4 Comments on Are virtual credit cards halal? / 1836 viewsSalaam. I was planning to create a PayPal account, but I’m unemployed, have no credit card, and thought of creating a VCC or Virtual Credit Card to get a full access to PayPal and to make overseas online payment or transfer. Unfortunately, the VCC service asks their users to take up 1,9% to 4,5% from […]
/ Dec 17, 2019 12:22 AM / No Comments on Are savings accounts halal if you give away the interest in charity? / 1542 viewsAssalamualaikum, most reputable banks near me gives interest for a savings account, there are 2 Muslim banks but they don’t have the best customer service reviews. I need to open a savings account but I don’t want any Interest attached. A Muslim friend of mine with the same issue opened an account but records the […]
/ Dec 05, 2019 06:32 PM / No Comments on Is it permissible to earn interest to give it away in charity? / 535 viewsAssalamualaikum, most reputable banks near me gives interest for a savings account, there are 2 Muslim banks but they don’t have the best customer service reviews. I need to open a savings account but I don’t want any Interest attached. A Muslim friend of mine with the same issue opened an account but records the […]
/ Nov 05, 2018 05:25 PM / 3 Comments on The two salvations: How erotic beauty is a false category of beauty / 7444 viewsIn his 2009 book Beauty, the wonderful British philosopher Roger Scruton says many insightful things about beauty. His book inspired me to create my own Islamic theory of aesthetics in which I assert that a beautiful thing is nothing other than that which brings us face-to-face with God. The reason that the most beautiful and picturesque […]
/ Jul 04, 2017 12:02 AM Email: contact@hawramani.com | Twitter Languages: English, Arabic, Persian / Farsi, Southern Kurdish I am a US-based Islamic studies researcher, software engineer and writer. I am currently working on completing Al-Azhar University’s curriculum for ʿālims (PhD Islamic scholars) on my own. I consider the Quran the unchanged Word of God and I derive my worldview from […]
/ Jul 28, 2018 03:43 PM / No Comments on How do I find the one who is right for me? / 835 viewsI decided to do a lot of istighfar for loving someone before marriage and not lowering my gaze and I’ve lost attachment to that person Alhamdulillah. how do I find the one who is right for me? That is similar to asking, “How do I become successful in life?” Each person’s life is different. Successfully […]
/ Dec 28, 2018 01:12 PM / No Comments on The Moral World of the Qur’an by M. A. Draz / 1560 viewsDastūr al-Akhlāq fī l-Qurʾān might be one of the most important works of Islamic philosophy in the 20th century. It is a work on Quranic moral philosophy by Muhammad Abdullah Draz (1894-1958), a highly intelligent Egyptian Islamic scholar who had thoroughly studied the Western philosophical tradition. The work was originally written in French as a […]
/ Jun 28, 2018 09:29 PM / 7 Comments on Mysticism without Sufism: A Guide to Tahajjud, Islam’s Meditation Practice / 8983 viewsWhat does mainstream Islam offer to someone who wants a deep, meaningful and permanent connection with God? When it comes to Islamic mysticism, Sufism is often treated as its main and perhaps even only outlet. But the truth is that it is quite possible to have deep, mystical practice as a Muslim without going through […]
/ Apr 19, 2018 04:10 PM / 3 Comments on A Traditionalist Critique of the Islamic Prohibition on Taṣwīr (Making Drawings and Statues of Humans and Animals) / 16043 viewsTo many Muslims today, it will sound patently absurd if someone were to tell them that it is a mortal sin for them to draw a cat. But some religious scholars would tell you that drawing a cat is an act of taṣwīr (the depiction of living things in paintings, sculptures and elsewhere), a sin for which […]
/ Mar 14, 2018 08:19 PM / No Comments on On proposing to a man as a Muslim woman / 311 viewsSalam Alaikum, I have a question, I want your opinion on it. There is a guy, he seems very nice conservative and holds good deal of manners and deen. He is single, I really would like to have a future with him. I’m not sure if he is looking for marriage now or if he’s […]
/ Jan 01, 2020 03:26 PM / No Comments on Is it wrong to judge a friend for their behavior? / 595 viewsI found out my best friend (for quite some time) had an affair. It was VERY physical and Also used to consume alcohol. My friend lied to me. I got really hurt. I know if i confront, my best friend would justify it by saying that it is not my issue it’s their life. Apart […]
/ Dec 05, 2019 08:22 PM / 1 Comment on Dealing with a Muslim father and husband who watches pornography / 2475 viewsAssalamualaykum. May Allah bless you and your family for your efforts to help this ummah, aameeen. I want to ask your advice about my dad who secretly watched porn videos on his phone. Me and the whole family, especially my mom, were devastated. We thought he already made a توبة, but this morning my mom […]
/ Jun 28, 2018 09:31 PM / 1 Comment on Parents will not let him marry his chosen / 724 viewsPlease can you advice me. There is a guy who wants to wants to marry me and my parents are OK with it but his parents are forcing him to marry his cousin instead. He already tried to talk to his parents many times, to convince to at least meet my family (his parents don’t […]
/ Apr 21, 2018 05:01 PM / No Comments on On the Shia and their fate according to Sunni Islam / 1185 viewsWhat are your views on Shia and their beliefs? And are they among the 70+ sects that are doomed? First, the notion of the “72 doomed sects” is false, as I explain here. It is based on fabricated evidence. As for the Shia, I believe that anyone who believes in God and His Books and […]
/ Jan 02, 2019 02:56 PM / No Comments on Dealing with people looking down on housewives / 1628 viewsPeace be upon you, I am a Muslim woman living in the West who someday hopes to become a housewife and stay-at-home mom; it’s something I’m heavily inclined towards. I’ve been feeling dejected and humiliated about it since even my well-guided religious relatives look down on me for it and others saying I’ll become a […]
/ Nov 19, 2018 07:19 PM / No Comments on Dealing with missing someone after a breakup / 3880 viewsAssalamualaikum,what do we do when we miss someone so dearly,It just literally kills us on the inside,I wanted him to make me halal but he rejected me in a kind way Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, Tragic life events such as breaking up with someone we love will invariably cause us to suffer. There is no way […]
/ Apr 16, 2018 06:38 PM / No Comments on On unanswered prayers, and is it normal for a Muslim to doubt God’s existence? / 499 viewsAs a Muslim is it normal to ever doubt Allah’s existence? I pray 5x daily and have completed Umrah, but i feel like my prayers have never been answered. That’s normal, and that is why faith is rewarded. We are supposed to believe in God without having physical proof of His existence. Believing in God […]
/ Oct 18, 2017 07:01 PM / No Comments on On Islamic Manners Toward Parents / 631 viewsWhat if there is something your parents want you to do and it doesn’t please you despite of dropping clear signs they refuse and claim that they know what’s best for you. Are you supposed to take a stand or leave it on Allah? As Muslims, our default mode of interaction with our parents should […]
/ Jul 21, 2018 08:09 PM / No Comments on There are billions of non-Muslims, so how can Islam be the one true path? / 1355 viewsIt’s hard for me to imagine that there are populations and populations who barely have clue what Islam is and yet it is the one true path. What will happen then to these people? God’s purpose in building this universe was to make it possible for humans to exist who love Him and believe in […]
/ Jul 02, 2018 09:16 PM / No Comments on Pakistan’s behind-the-times Islam / 659 viewsI am a Muslim woman and I don’t psychologically feel ready for marriage. But my mother who is Pakistani is telling me that what I’m doing is haram. She told me that apparently Bin-Baz said that every woman should get married regardless of their doubts. But Islam itself tells us that marriage isn’t obligatory. How […]
/ Sep 26, 2017 04:09 PM / 2 Comments on How is it fair that unattractive women have difficulty getting married? Why does God allow this? / 2686 viewsI was reading your blog post and I keep wondering isn’t the system unfair? That the most attractive woman will get men and the unattractive not . As an unattractive female I can’t get married although I wish First I will explain why the world is the way it is, then I will explain the […]
/ Dec 12, 2018 06:54 PM / No Comments on Determining start of fajr prayer in the UK / 1078 viewsI’ve recently started to pray but I’m having difficulties with fajr and the timing. I’m from the uk and at my local mosque fajr start time is 3.05am but dawn is at 4.07am will my prayer be accepted or have I been praying too early There are multiple definitions of “dawn”. You have probably looked at […]
/ Jan 02, 2018 04:42 PM / No Comments on Intelligence: All That Matters by Stuart Ritchie / 822 viewsIQ and intelligence, as a topic of study in themselves, no longer interest me very much because they are largely a foregone conclusion for me. Long ago I was convinced of the very realness and importance of IQ and of the fact that it is largely a genetically-mediated trait. What interests me these days is […]
/ Apr 16, 2018 09:51 PM / No Comments on The Muslim World on the Eve of Europe’s Expansion by John J. Saunders / 637 viewsThe Muslim World on the Eve of Europe’s Expansion (published in 1966), at only 136 pages, is a short and enjoyable history of the Muslim world in the early modern period, with interesting articles on the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires, the Mamlukes, the Uzbeks, Islam in Southeast Asia and Africa, the remnants of the Mongols […]
/ Apr 11, 2019 06:48 PM / No Comments on Are Muslims permitted to work in Sharia-compliant banks? / 1155 viewsAre Muslims allowed to work in a bank, even if it’s labeled as sharia bank? As discussed in this previous answer, working at usurious banks (banks that profit through interest) is forbidden. As for Sharia-compliant banks, working for them is permitted if they are truly Sharia-compliant. Some banks are only Sharia-compliant in name, or they […]
/ Jan 06, 2019 10:59 PM This page lists Muslims of European ancestry who work or worked in intellectually demanding fields, in the hope of countering false impressions about the nature of Islam and its place in the West. Alexander Russell Webb (1846 – 1916) American writer, publisher, and the United States Consul to the Philippines. Ivan Aguéli (1869 – 1917 […]
/ Jun 16, 2019 12:46 PM / No Comments on On nail polish and ablution / 405 viewsAs-salamuʿalaykum, I recently i have come across Dr. Shabir Ally’s thoughts on the nail polish dilemma on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOpxO_ISJQ4). I’m inclined towards his reasoning for it but would like to know your take on his opinion too if possible. Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, I watched the video but unfortunately he did not say anything new on […]
/ Dec 05, 2019 07:43 PM / No Comments on Why I believe the Quran is truly from God / 616 viewsIs there anything that contradicts itself in Islam There is nothing in the Quran that contradicts itself. I have read it over 100 times and have never been able to detect a single contradiction or unwise saying in it. I have never had the same experience with any other book. I read the Harry Potter […]
/ Aug 11, 2018 06:53 PM / No Comments on The appropriate way to approach and propose to a Muslim woman / 22386 viewsSalam, A man with good intentions and a clean heart, finds a young lady attractive and has heard very pleasant things about her. Mashallah, she is gorgeous and after getting to know her, he is very sure about the decision of inshallah making her his wife. Pure intentions, clean heart, no ill means wallah. However, […]
/ Apr 28, 2017 06:28 PM / No Comments on A bash script for automatically restarting an unresponsive Apache server only when needed / 2079 viewsOne of my servers responds to about 100,000 requests per day. Apache would randomly hang a few times a day, taking all of the websites down. I tried every solution I could find online to prevent Apache from hanging, but nothing helped, so I decided to stop wasting time on it and simply develop a […]
/ Jan 18, 2019 06:34 PM / No Comments on How to begin practicing Islam / 389 viewsHello. I write to you because I don’t know what else to do. I come from a Christian family, in a very much Christian country where Islam is never regarded, not even discussed or insulted. Just ignored. Yes, people know about it but when I speak about my love for the Quran or my wishes […]
/ Jul 01, 2018 04:31 PM / 1 Comment on The 1599 Geneva Bible Notes or Study Bible (Downloadable eBook Versions) / 1596 viewsDownload links: PDF – Word – ePub – Mobi (kindle) The text was sourced from Sacred Texts. It uses modern spelling and the quoted verses are apparently from the KJV (only the notes come from a Geneva commentary). Michael Hoffman, in his Usury in Christendom: A Mortal Sin that Was and Now is Not, made a reference to the 1599 Geneva Bible Notes as a […]
/ Apr 25, 2019 04:25 PM / No Comments on Does God really laugh? A study of the hadiths on God’s laughter / 7060 viewsA review of Livnat Holtzman’s article “Does God Really Laugh? Appropriate and Inappropriate Descriptions of God in Islamic Traditionalist Theology.” There are a few hadith narrations that mention the laughter of God, which is something not mentioned in the Quran. One of the best-known hadiths mentioning God’s laughter is the following from Abū Hurayra: So […]
/ Feb 25, 2017 04:19 PM / 1 Comment on Measuring Economic and Military Potentials of World Nations with the Human Genetic-Cultural Quality Index (HQI) / 1618 viewsIntroduction What is the biggest predictor of a country’s scientific output, industrial capacity and military prowess? It is not geographic size. For instance, Kazakhstan and Mongolia are huge compared to Israel and Switzerland, yet Israel and Switzerland far outdistance them in all measures of intellectual, technological and military attainment. It is not population. India’s 1.28 […]
/ Apr 23, 2018 06:08 PM / No Comments on On Muslims working for companies that deal with interest / 2355 viewsI just wanted to ask you since my major is economy and some jobs involves working with the interest rate especially if it’s a firm that works with lending money. Can I still work with them? There’s a lot of competition here in this country regarding this major so saying no to a job means […]