/ Jul 11, 2018 07:20 PM / No Comments on Islam and the legalization of recreational drugs / 965 viewsI really love your blog, keep up the amazing work! I have been researching about the dealings of the mafia in various countries, and came to the conclusion (after thorough research) that legalizing all kinds of drugs is the best way to eradicate a big part of the mafias (to remove one of their main […]
/ Mar 27, 2019 05:09 PM / 14 Comments on Probablistic Hadith Verification: Combining the Science of Hadith with Legal Theory / 14240 viewsA Quick Preview Let us say we are faced with two hypothetical authentic (i.e. ṣaḥīḥ) hadiths from a respected collection such as Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, with the following chain diagrams, and we are trying to decide which hadith is stronger and better attested. The first hadith below has four transmitters (the four on the right), all […]
/ 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 […]
/ 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 / 2663 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 […]
/ Feb 15, 2019 01:12 AM / No Comments on Is alcohol in tinctures and drugs halal? / 4471 viewsI was wondering if grain free alcohol in tincture supplements is halal? Thank you The general rule regarding alcohol is that any alcohol-containing liquid that can cause intoxication is forbidden to drink. So beer is forbidden despite containing a small amount of alcohol. However, vanilla extracts that are dissolved in alcohol are permitted (according to […]
/ 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 / 31621 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 […]
/ 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 […]
/ Feb 20, 2019 02:06 PM / 1 Comment on Believing Women in Islam (2019) by Asma Barlas and David Raeburn Finn / 2261 viewsBelieving Women in Islam: A Brief Introduction by Asma Barlas and David Raeburn Finn is a short book that attempts to present the main ideas of Barlas’s longer work “Believing Women” in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Quran. First, I should mention that I believe that any self-respecting and civilized man should demand that his female mate […]
/ 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 / 15944 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, […]
/ Jun 23, 2019 07:41 PM / 5 Comments on The Uniqueness of Western Civilization by Ricardo Duchesne / 6594 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 09, 2018 06:50 PM / 14 Comments on A new approach to the Quran’s “Wife-Beating Verse” (al-Nisa 4:34) / 17734 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 […]
/ Feb 27, 2017 08:29 PM / 1 Comment on Why the Banks are So Powerful and Why the Bible and the Quran Forbid Usury: Charting How Interest Creates Obscene Wealth Inequality / 2736 viewsImagine if in 1913 the real economy of the US had $100 billion in capital, while the banks and money-lenders had only $1 billion. Given everyday economic circumstances, by 2017, the wealth of the real economy would have grown to $2163 billion (with a 3% economic growth rate). Meanwhile, the wealth of the banks and […]
/ Feb 12, 2019 06:08 PM / No Comments on The Closing of the Muslim Mind and the Decline of Islamic Civilization / 1981 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 06, 2017 06:35 AM / No Comments on In the Footsteps of the Prophet by Tariq Ramadan / 1132 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 17, 2018 03:28 PM / No Comments on The Muslim Plan for Western Civilization: There is No Plan / 8095 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 […]
/ 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 / 7221 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, […]
/ Dec 19, 2016 08:54 PM / 2 Comments on Islam, the Good Parts: Guaranteed Basic Income for Women / 5422 viewsOne thing that is rarely mentioned when speaking about Islam, even among Muslims, is that Muslim women don’t have to work. They can work if they want to, but they don’t have to if they don’t want to. Islam makes it the duty of a woman’s male relatives to take care of her financially. Men have to […]
/ May 03, 2017 09:00 PM / 1 Comment on My Chronic Fatigue Treatment Program / 1570 views[August 28, 2017 Update: I have unpublished this book as the program, which seemed to work well for many months, has stopped working reliably. As I’m not certain of the value of the information presented in it, for now I will keep the book unpublished.] In this essay I will summarize the treatment program I […]
/ 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 […]
/ Mar 19, 2018 04:22 PM / No Comments on The Qur’an (Oxford World’s Classics) by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem / 1020 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.
/ 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 […]
/ Apr 30, 2019 06:59 PM / 11 Comments on The Philosophy of Pornography and Masturbation / 21145 viewsWhy is it wrong to watch pornography? Even if a person is not religious, they will still feel guilt and shame about a porn-watching habit. Where does this come from? Even the most free-thinking and atheistic person will have reservations about watching pornography with their family, even if everyone in the family is an adult. […]
/ Oct 25, 2017 04:44 PM / 2 Comments on Islam, the Good Parts: A Basic Income System that Encourages Employment, Productive Investment and Automation / 5505 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 […]
/ Dec 29, 2018 04:30 PM / No Comments on An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Understanding Islam and Muslims / 10214 viewsFree download (PDF) Free download (Mobi) (for e-readers and ebook reading apps) Buy as a paperback on Amazon.com Buy as a Kindle ebook on Amazon.com My new book An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Understanding Islam and Muslims is now available on Amazon.com. This book grew out of a review of Shahab Ahmed’s wonderful What is Islam? that […]
/ 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 […]
/ Nov 07, 2018 04:03 PM / 2 Comments on Why Digital Piracy is Ethical and Necessary / 13633 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 […]
/ Sep 29, 2017 03:59 PM / No Comments on Islam versus Feminism / 1540 viewsMy professor told me that men and women have different purposes, so we can’t protest how men are more “free”. We can’t protest on how wives have to do what the husbands say as long as it’s right. My Mom also told me that if your husband says no, then you don’t do it. However, […]
/ Jul 17, 2019 08:15 PM / No Comments on Answers about Islam and misogyny / 809 viewsHey assalamu alaikum I’ll forward some messages here from previous conversations with someone who gave me worse explanations Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, I broken up your question to address them individually. there’s something called child support he pays money to support his family not to pay his supposed to be wife I feel worse about myself […]
/ Jun 25, 2018 04:45 PM / No Comments on Ending technological servitude: On the need for tariffs on Internet companies (and others) / 1323 viewsIn my view the most important reason why protectionism is necessary, or at least one of the most important reasons, is the prevention of technological servitude. A simple example illustrates the point: Your country cannot be a pioneer in aerospace technologies if your country is not producing airplanes. If all of your airplanes come from China, the […]
/ Feb 25, 2017 07:50 PM / No Comments on Forecasting the World’s Top 50 Most Powerful Countries in 2035 Using the HQI / 2092 viewsThe following table is a list of 50 countries that are predicted to have the most economic, technological and military power in the world by the year 2035, according to HQI theory. The projected power of the United States is set to 100 to make it easy to compare other countries with it. China’s projected […]
/ 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) / 1629 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 […]
/ Dec 12, 2018 06:54 PM / No Comments on Determining start of fajr prayer in the UK / 1082 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 […]
/ Jun 16, 2019 12:46 PM / No Comments on On nail polish and ablution / 407 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 07:42 PM / No Comments on Losing hope in life due to depression / 765 viewsAssalam Alaikum, recently the experiences I’ve been going through made me realise this life is worth nothing, and so I yearn for the end of it. My question is, is this a good or bad thing? The saying “everything passes” has become my life’s standard but subconsciously this has stopped me from looking forward to […]
/ Nov 14, 2019 03:58 PM / 2 Comments on Why Your Teenager Hates You / 14837 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 […]
/ 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 […]
/ Nov 04, 2014 12:53 AM / No Comments on How to automate and throttle Relevanssi indexing on large websites / 3879 viewsFirst of all, update Relevanssi to the latest version. This significantly increased indexing performance on my 80,000+ page website. Next, I created the following hacky solution for a problem that shouldn’t exist; the fact that Relevanssi cannot silently index everything without hogging all server resources. First find out the number of pages Relevanssi can index […]
/ 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 […]
/ Oct 25, 2018 03:28 PM / No Comments on An Islamic defense of free speech (a critique of Ziauddin Sardar’s views on Rushdie’s Satanic Verses) / 1565 viewsI have had Ziauddin Sardar’s Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a Sceptical Muslim since 2010, but I only got around to reading it recently. This is one of the funniest books written by a Muslim, rivaling the books of Turkey’s Aziz Nesin. In what is perhaps my favorite scene of the book, Sardar camps out in […]
/ May 25, 2019 07:09 AM / 1 Comment on Are women said to be created for men as helpers in the Quran? / 1348 viewsAssalamualaikum. I have just started to read the Al-quran religiously and looked at the translation as I want to understand what I’m reading. However, there are some questions that linger in my head as I read more. I’m rather curious about the position of women in Islam especially as portrayed in the Al-quran. This is […]
/ Jul 08, 2019 04:59 PM / 1 Comment on Why men and women have different gender roles in Islam / 10255 viewsSalam, I have question about equality between men and women. Islam acknowledges equality when it comes to spirituality, sins etc. but then in marriage wife has to obey her husband despite the fact that it’s supposed to be equal companionship, not superior and inferior relationship since men and women have equal intellectual capability to think […]
/ 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 / 2511 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 […]
/ Jul 25, 2017 05:53 PM / 5 Comments on What happened to Islamic civilization? Why did Muslims fall behind in science and technology? / 4373 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 […]
/ Nov 04, 2017 04:11 PM / 1 Comment on Why is sexual harassment of women common in Muslim countries? IQ and development, not religion / 2279 viewsWhat I have noticed is that in Muslim countries in which there are more modest woman I get more catcalls, harassment, men following me, staring at my body parts etc. I’m not saying I’m for zina, but it feels unfair that they take out their sexual frustration on us. Maybe you’re not able to relate […]
/ Jul 14, 2018 10:05 PM / 1 Comment on Professor Abu Zahra: The Egyptian Islamic Scholar who Rejected the Punishment of Stoning / 8071 viewsMuhammad Abu Zahra was one of the foremost authorities on Islamic law in the 20th century, whose works on the various schools of Islamic law continue to be used in academia. He was a member of Al-Azhar University’s Academy of Islamic Research and a professor of Islamic law at Cairo University. He was loved by […]
/ Aug 08, 2017 07:21 PM / 16 Comments on Reconciling Islam and Darwinian Evolution: Al-Ghazali’s Matrix and the Divine Template / 24030 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 […]
/ Jan 22, 2019 01:03 PM / No Comments on What if a person’s sins are due to mental illness? / 2948 viewsif one were to have a mental illness that causes them to be very impulsive such as they engage in zina/drugs/etc… are they charged by Allah the same as one who commits these acts but does not have a mental illness that sometimes impairs their judgement or that makes abstaining from these acts difficult? i […]
/ Dec 29, 2017 05:58 PM / No Comments on The chaining of Satan and difficulties with Islam’s metaphysics / 1131 viewsI have an issue when it comes to believing in metaphysical entities such as devil or angels. Sometimes I don’t understand why Allah had these conversations with them. I think that if people do evil it’s rooted in their psyche. Also the fact that I had depression and suicidal thoughts and was told that it […]
/ Apr 06, 2019 02:43 PM / No Comments on The biography of Ibn al-Jawzi / 769 viewsAssalamualaikum, I wanted to ask about the biography of ibn al-jawzi. Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, If you Google “Ibn al-Jawzi”, you will find many articles about him. Unfortunately I could not find any comprehensive articles that I could link to. Below is also a lecture on Ibn al-Jawzi that you may find helpful.
/ Apr 16, 2018 09:51 PM / No Comments on The Muslim World on the Eve of Europe’s Expansion by John J. Saunders / 638 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 […]
/ Jan 02, 2018 04:42 PM / No Comments on Intelligence: All That Matters by Stuart Ritchie / 825 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 […]
/ Mar 23, 2018 05:13 PM / No Comments on A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani / 1708 viewsA History of the Arab Peoples is a great general introduction to the history of the Arab countries and the history of Islam. It was written by the respected British scholar Albert Hourani (of Lebanese Christian descent). While not written by a Muslim, the book’s treatment of Muslims is balanced and fair-minded. This book does not cover […]
/ Sep 23, 2014 07:07 PM / 5 Comments on How cyber pirates anonymously torrent movies on the internet / 12010 viewsFor my views on Internet piracy see my essay: Why Digital Piracy is Ethical and Necessary We all know that you, as a law-abiding citizen, would never download a car. And yet there are people out there who download movies for free and refuse to add a few more bucks to the billions of dollars that […]
/ Jun 27, 2019 10:25 PM / No Comments on Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy (Book Review) / 1446 viewsJonathan A. C. Brown is a well-known American scholar of Islamic Studies, who is currently an associate professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He has written several books, related to Islam: Slavery in Islam, Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World, Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction, The Canonization […]
/ Nov 21, 2019 09:52 PM / No Comments on Dealing with daily work during fatigue and depression / 502 viewsHow do you go about with your daily work when depression and fatigue comes. Meanwhile waiting to get treatment, the two affects me so badly that I would usually feel bad about myself if I am unable to do my work. I’m sorry to read that you are going through those things. When I suffer […]
/ Mar 20, 2018 06:01 PM / No Comments on Asam (Name) / 5049 viewsAsam (transliteration: Aṣam, Arabic: أصم) is an Arabic name that means “deaf”. It also refers to the month of Rajab, because the sound of fighting is not heard in it (due to it being one of the Forbidden Months in which fighting was forbidden before and after Islam). The word Asam is used figuratively to mean […]
/ Jul 28, 2018 04:19 PM / No Comments on On Muslim hypocrisy in not defending other persecuted peoples / 669 viewsSalam Aleikoum. I wonder how we Muslims are against that quraysh was persecuting muslims at that time and all the suffering they had to go through,but many muslims today are doing the same. they are OK with the fact that shias/ismailis /sufis are persecuted in many muslim countries. Isn’t that hypocrisy? Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, The […]
/ Nov 09, 2017 03:44 PM / No Comments on A Biography of Ahmad Moftizadeh / 2723 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 […]
/ Dec 05, 2019 07:43 PM / No Comments on Why I believe the Quran is truly from God / 619 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 […]
/ May 23, 2017 05:33 PM / No Comments on A guide to adding Google Drive (and OneDrive) upload functionality to Froala / 1860 viewsFroala is a great JavaScript editor until you try to extend its functionality. Its documentation is horrible and there is little extra functionality you can add without having to do a lot of reverse-engineering and reading of GitHub comments. Below is a guide to my solution for adding a Google Drive button to the Froala […]
/ 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 […]
/ Apr 28, 2017 06:28 PM / No Comments on A bash script for automatically restarting an unresponsive Apache server only when needed / 2085 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 […]
/ Oct 21, 2017 06:17 PM / 1 Comment on Conflicts of Fitness: Islam, America, and Evolutionary Psychology / 2574 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 […]
/ Apr 21, 2019 02:34 PM / No Comments on Islamic Law and Jurisprudence: Studies in Honor of Farhat J. Ziadeh / 776 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 […]
/ Apr 22, 2019 05:03 PM / 2 Comments on Why We Should Stop Using the Word “Islamophobia” / 3448 viewsRecently the British philosopher Roger Scruton was sacked from his government position for stating in an interview that Islamophobia is a propaganda word “invented by the Muslim Brotherhood”, among other statements. The interview was intentionally redacted by the journalist to put Scruton in the worst light possible. Since then the journalist has disappeared from social […]
and / Apr 14, 2019 09:13 PM / No Comments on Medieval Female Mystics of Islam / 889 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 […]
/ Jan 12, 2019 02:38 PM / No Comments on The meaning of not taking Christians and Jews as allies in the Quran / 1643 viewsSalam, you articulate your explanations very nicely MashAllah. My question is in Surah Ma’idah how can Verse 52 apply to modern day Muslims? A lot of the time I read a verse and get apprehensive about how it relates to me, then I read the tasfir and it makes sense in its context. But then […]
/ Jun 30, 2017 06:42 PM / 1 Comment on What to do when your spouse is less religious than you / 3847 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 […]
/ Jun 27, 2019 09:44 PM / 2 Comments on Can a Muslim woman leave her house without the permission of her husband? / 9065 viewsAssalumalaikum Can a woman leave her house without the permission of her husband? Is the Hadith forbidding this authentic? The Islamic family functions according to the principle of qiwāma, which refers to the fact that the husband is the ultimate authority in the household. Women are free to seek divorce or threaten divorce, but while […]
/ Jul 05, 2017 11:13 PM / 2 Comments on Patriarchy in the Quran / 2936 viewsStick to posting Islamic art and quotes. Otherwise, go learn about the patriarchy and power imbalances before flaunting your misogyny everywhere. May Allah guide you. Islam is a patriarchal religion, where men get a degree of authority over their women in their households, and with that authority comes the burden of having to provide financially […]
/ Jul 05, 2019 05:45 PM / 6 Comments on The Problem with Quranism / 1770 viewsWhat do you think about Quranism? (The idea that we should rely on the Quran, augmented by reason and experience, for our spiritual and ethical lives, and not the Hadith? It makes a lot of sense to me that God would want us to follow his message, with the aid of the gifts of feeling […]
/ Dec 28, 2017 05:02 PM / No Comments on Why Muslim women cannot marry non-Muslims / 2638 viewsWhy are Muslim men allowed to marry a non-Muslim but Muslim women are not allowed? One theory is due to genetic and psychological differences between men and women, Muslim men will be better able to remain practicing Muslims and to bring up devout Muslim children even if their wives are Christian or Jewish, while Muslim […]
/ Feb 25, 2018 07:13 PM / No Comments on How do Azhar-educated Muslims end up as terrorists? / 1367 viewsI’m just wondering how come some people who graduated from Al-Azhar ended up terrorists? Many of them have founded organisations such as Islamic brotherhood. I thought terrorism breeds as result of ignorance and incorrect knowledge, but since they receive proper ilm, on a scholarly level , then why this result? I can’t find neutral books […]
/ Dec 18, 2018 04:20 PM / No Comments on On Muslim migrant criminal and uncivilized behavior in the West / 639 viewsWhy are Muslim migrants so destructive to whatever nation harbors them? They actually use their faith to justify their criminal behaviour, leeching off the welfare state, and anti-western sentiments. Catholic South America is just as bad but those who do the same don’t justify it with their faith; there’s no crusade mentallity against ‘infidels’ when […]
/ Jul 17, 2018 05:23 PM / No Comments on SSDs became 3.4 times faster in eight years, 15.5 GB/s read speeds by 2030 / 455 viewsIn November 2010, AnandTech reported about an SSD that was achieving 800 MB/second sequential read speeds: In July 2018, AnandTech reports that 2700 MB/second SSD drives are available: In this period of about 10 years, PCIe SSD speeds increased by a factor of 3.4, at least when it comes to sequential read speeds, which is an […]
/ Jul 08, 2018 09:42 PM / 1 Comment on The Point of Marriage in Islam (and the Problem with Romantic Relationships Outside of Marriage) / 8436 viewsAn essay on the question of whether romantic relationships outside of marriage are acceptable in Islam, and if not, why. Why is marriage such a big deal in religiously conservative societies? Why can’t people just enjoy themselves without involving everyone and their mother in their private affairs? Islamic law does not have anything strict to […]
/ Jan 24, 2019 05:02 PM / No Comments on On thinking that Muslims are ignorant and contribute little to science / 422 viewsMaybe it will sounds so hateful but as a Muslim I think most of the Muslims are ignorant and uneducated,our religion is about love and kindness but most of the Muslims are so hateful,they treats womens bad,they treat animals badly,they have no respect for others,they are judging Christians Jews and Gays,but they don’t do anything […]
/ Oct 05, 2017 12:39 AM / No Comments on Strategies for forgiving others / 366 viewsI’m having a bad past and it was not easy to forgive and forget. I’ve already tried my best to forgive people, but I still can’t find the inner peace. I still can’t find what I should be. Why it is so hard to forgive people? And why it is hard for me to forget […]
/ Jan 11, 2015 04:15 PM / No Comments on How to: Become wise / 1497 viewsIf you want to become wise, read 100 books that interest you. The books you choose to read can be about any topic and they can be of any quality, good or bad. The important thing is that you should find them interesting, because the fact that you find a book interesting means it contains […]
/ Dec 07, 2019 04:20 PM / No Comments on When will end times be according to Islam? / 367 viewsEverybody keeps saying were living in the end times so when is going to be? Personally I believe it could be tomorrow, or in 100,000 years. There is no way to know. We are “close to end times” if you compare humanity’s history to the age of the universe. Even 100,000 years is the blink of […]
/ Apr 28, 2019 06:23 PM / No Comments on Name suggestion for parents named Tousif and Neha / 538 viewsMy hubby name is Tousif and my name is Neha… Can u tell me a cute name combined by both of us… I want both boy and girl name in combination of me and my hubby name The only name I can think of is Taneem (Tanʿīm) which means “blessedness”, “living in comfort and luxury” […]
/ Jan 16, 2017 03:18 AM / 6 Comments on Inconsistencies in the Harry Potter Books / 6784 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 20, 2019 07:01 PM / No Comments on A Quranic Phenomenology of Atheism / 1819 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 […]
/ Nov 19, 2019 02:32 PM / 1 Comment on What is the wisdom in mahr (dower) and how much should a woman ask? / 1946 viewsWhat is mahar and what is the requirement for me to decide how much mahar should I ask from the groom? Mahr is a payment that the groom promises to give to the bride at the time of signing the marriage contract. The payment can be immediately or it can be in installments. Scholars say […]
/ 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 […]
/ Jan 18, 2019 09:35 PM / No Comments on What to do if certain Quranic verses and hadith narrations sound harsh or illogical to you / 1255 viewsHi! i’m trying to read the quran in my language to understand and apply to my life. but it comes harsh to me. i don’t want to be disrespectful to Quran but some things even look ridiculous. same goes for the hadidths and so. the more I try to learn I get distanced. I already […]
/ Jul 24, 2018 06:48 PM / No Comments on What types of insurance can Muslims get? / 512 viewsSalaam. I wonder how do we muslims deal with matter of insurance? We need to be insured incase of any damage to our expensive belognings such as house etc , or any illness/accident. So its hard to reject it Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, If we are legally required to get non-halal insurance, for example in order […]
/ Oct 27, 2018 05:00 PM / No Comments on How to pray the witr prayer / 1106 viewsSalam, could you please explain how witr namaz is prayed and what is meant to be recited in each rakat? Because of my lack of understanding I don’t pray it and therefore being sinful. Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, The witr prayer is not obligatory, so it is not sinful if you do not perform it. It […]
/ Feb 26, 2018 12:09 AM / No Comments on Can one read or listen to Quran online without wudu? / 7040 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 […]
/ Jul 13, 2017 02:48 PM / 20 Comments on Listening to Music is Permissible in Islam / 28460 viewsIs music really haram? I’m not talking about the Rihannas “Wild Thoughts” kind of music, more of peaceful piano, flute, violin, ancient music. The kind of music that doesn’t give off sexual vibe and stuff, but the music that adheres peace, you know? [Below is a quick survey of opinions on this matter gleaned from […]
/ Apr 01, 2017 09:02 PM / No Comments on “So Intoxicated I Am” by Jalal al-Deen Rumi / 493 viewsSo intoxicated I am, so intoxicated I am today, That out of my hoop I have leapt today! Such a thing that cannot be imagined, That’s how I am, that’s how I am today! In spirit out to the Heaven of Love I went, Though in body still in this world I am today! I […]
/ Nov 07, 2017 01:47 PM / 3 Comments on Can you pray after eating pork by mistake? / 10883 viewsI’m a new revert and today my mother made me a meal and it had some Chorizo in it. It was one slice and I was so engrossed in conversation that I ate it without realising. It wasn’t until 5 minutes later that the penny dropped. What happens now? Is my Salah invalid? Do I […]
/ Apr 22, 2018 04:54 PM / No Comments on On rejoining Islam after a sinful life / 502 viewsI am a Muslim but in my past, I have done terrible things. I have sex with multiple women, went to clubs, did drugs and drank alcohol. I have always wanted to repent and now I think I have found my calling. But, I don’t know if I am still considered a Muslim after what […]
/ Sep 22, 2017 12:46 AM / No Comments on Dealing with an eating disorder (and other mental conditions) as a Muslim / 1510 viewsi wanted to bring this topic up since its not really spoken that much in the Muslim community. I’ve had an eating disorder for a year now and its honestly changed me as a person. I’ve prayed many times but i still feel regret after eating and it doesn’t help with a family who don’t […]
/ Feb 20, 2019 03:11 PM / No Comments on Repeating prayers due to uncertainty about having performed them correctly / 9670 viewsAssalamu alaikum I keep forgetting things in my prayer or more likely doubt it. Like I would say the Basmalah before reciting and I would start doubting or say the dua in rukoo and maybe when am in sajdah I will start feeling like I didn’t say it. sometimes I tried to continue praying but […]
/ Aug 05, 2018 05:42 PM / 4 Comments on Islam and Depression: A Survival Guide / 9689 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 […]
/ Mar 06, 2019 08:31 PM / 16 Comments on Is using healing crystals haram? / 20207 viewsassalamu aleikum, do you know anything about “healing crystals” and if it is shirk to own them? not just as a decoration but to believe that they better our mental/physical state? maybe there’s some science behind it that i don’t understand but it doesn’t seem compatible with islam to me Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, There is […]
/ Dec 05, 2019 06:34 PM / No Comments on Is it permissible to pray for death? / 439 viewsWhat if I pray to Allah SWT that I wanna die. Would he listen to me? Cux I’m in so much,mental pain from years and it’s been a long time now but my life isn’t changing. Things are becoming worse and worse. No idea how to keep living even when all I see is dark. […]
/ Apr 09, 2019 09:53 PM / No Comments on Finding meaning in life when the most precious thing is taken away from you / 1314 viewsYou know when the most precious thing is taken away from you, there is nothing that can replace it. I can’t seem to find meaning in anything else and now everything seems bleak to me. How do I go about just living life? Nothing matters. I can’t seem to find the importance of anything else. […]
/ Dec 26, 2019 09:53 PM / No Comments on Is depression a character flaw or weakness if it interferes with Islamic duties? / 468 viewsAO, on your answer about depression and anxiety, a lot of times I struggle with faith bc depression & anxiety deprives me of motivation & energy and fills my head with all these thoughts, and I feel so guilty because of the way it interferes with my ibadah, I wish I just had the will […]