Tumbled Thoughts On American Muslim Life

Sufism For Non-Sufis?

Marc Manley Dot Com

Moral Law & Spirituality

“Islam is a religion of moral law; when the institutions that produce its legal scholars (who are, ideally, also spiritual authorities) are subverted, undercut, or simply insufficiently rigorous, the resulting interpretations of law become irrelevant—or dangerous.” — Haroon Moghul from Jesus, Carpet Bomb My Heart: An Undercover Muslim in Detroit.

"Worshipping God to make one’s self feel better about one’s self is hardly worshipping God."

—

Imām Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Laṭīf Finch from Ryan Hilliard.

Holla’ at’cha’boyznow.

I’m Spiritual But Not Religious

I know this may make a few folks uncomfortable, but I say this to challenge the status quo that many folks take on the static religion-vs-spirituality dialog. I came across a comment on Facebook that reminded me of this argument:

“Some would dabble in ‘spirituality’ to merely enhance their own narcissism.”

It was the key word “narcissism” that caught my eye. For many, that’s what spirituality is: a selfish act, verses a selfless one. While many are happy to admit all of their wants and desires, the innate proclivities or nurtured tendencies into a valid spirituality, they are just as likely to refuse or acknowledge the validity and bindingness of so-called “religious acts”. How often do we hear the term, “I’m spiritual, not religious”. I see this as simply another way of saying, “I’m into me”. This so-called spirituality has no rigor, no borders and no obligations. A narcissistic free-for-all. Hat tip to Abdul Latif.

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Yours truly featured in Tumblr’s Spotlight: Spirituality.

Enjoining the Good

In my readings today, I came across some sound advice from one of our great teachers, Imam al-Ghazzali-who always manages to be relevant by the grace of God-who directed my thoughts to one of the great predicaments I feel our community is in: an identity crisis. From this crisis an obsession has developed where knowledge-in the hopes that in its purest form, it may impart authenticity upon its recipients-and its pursuit has eclipsed the carrying out of deeds. Sadly, this is one area where Muslims, whether they be scholarly or not, can perform actions that will benefit them as well as their community in This Life and The Next. Read Imam al-Ghazzali’s words:

أن تشتغل بما توصل به خير إلى المسلمين و تدخل منه سرورا على قلوب المؤمنين أو يسير به الأعمال الصالحة للصالحين كخدمة الفقهاء والصوفية والمحققين و أهل الدين و التردد في أشغالهم والسعي في إطعام الفقراء والمساكين والتردد على المرضى بالعيادة و على الجنائز بالتشييع فكل ذلك أفضل من النوافل فإن هذه عبادات و فيها رفق بالمسلمين

“To spend your time in working on that which might bring some benefit to the Muslim community, through which you may bring joy to the hearts of the Believers, or even make it easier for the righteous to work good deeds. This could be, for example, committing oneself to the service of the jurists [fuqaha’], the Sufis, and the people of Truth and the people of religion. Assisting them in their needs, striving to feed the hungry and the poor, visiting the sick frequently and accompanying funerals. Deeds such as these are preferable to voluntary acts [nawafil] as they are acts of worship in themselves and in them are acts of kindness towards the Muslims.”

It goes without saying that the above actions were beloved to His Beloved صلى الله عليه و سلم. There’s a whole world of blessings and opportunities awaiting our community. And such blessings do not require one to have ijazah or degree. Will we deny the favor of our Lord until our thirst for knowledge is quenched or will we also act?

Taken from Bidayah al-Hidayah, The Beginning of Guidance.

Getting Serious About Our Islam – More Thoughts on Spiritual Maturity →

If you want to return to “Qur’an and Sunnah”, you might want to pull your pants up first.