The word Ziyarah (زيارة) originates from the Arabic زور literally translating as “to visit, or to meet” referring to the pilgrimage undertaken by Muslims to places associated with the Holy Prophet Mohammed (saw), his family, and other venerated figures within Islam. Interestingly, a closely associated Arabic term زيار rather aptly takes the meaning of ‘aid or […]
According to 2015 Government statistics, 3,569 people slept rough on any one night across England – this is over double the number counted in 2010. In London, there is more than 7,500 homeless people – a number that has almost doubled in the past 5 years.[1] Moreover, homeless people are the most vulnerable and socially […]
I wake up in a society that shuns me, it shuns my religion and distorts my place within it until everyone is lead to believe that my religion actually oppresses me. A sad reality. My religion has been established to give my kind liberty and lift us from the soil society buried us in. My […]
I recently returned home after having been away for ten days. The taxi from the airport hastily brought me home. I walked up the driveway dragging my dusty suitcase and rang the doorbell nervously. He came running to the door at the sound. I realised then that I had missed the patter of his small […]
I smiled as I searched down the alphabetically-ordered index of my newly acquired English-Arabic Quran. Instead of a series of verse references next to the word I was searching for, I found: “This word occurs more than 200 times in the Noble Quran. Mentioning every place will make the index very big”. That word was […]
In Islam, Hijab includes the way a person walks, talks, looks, acts and thinks. All of this should be done modestly and is applicable to both men and women. This statement defines hijab in the simplest way, however there are still many misconceptions about the hijab and what role it plays. The duty of the […]
Continuing the analysis of the last verse of Surah Al-Fatiha we discussed that the Qur’an categorises human beings into three different types. The first group of people are those that Allah (swt) had showered with bounties, as discussed in the previous article. The second and third groups of people will be discussed in this section, […]
On a typical British day with the sun out; yet gloomy clouded sky, I accompanied thirty volunteers, brothers and sisters aged from thirteen to late thirties. We were a diverse group with different British ethnic backgrounds. We were all making our way to Central London with the intention of representing the true Islamic teachings and […]
When I think about the respected elderly, the following quote from our holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) comes to mind “He isn’t of us who isn’t kind to our youngsters, and shows no respect to our elders…” A powerful message which if applied will help us in taking steps towards building a harmonious society. Respect for […]
I looked around me. The sight of masses of people walking around in draping black garments, sitting down on fine Persian rugs, reciting, reading and contemplating was alluring. I stared up at the ceiling; I was mesmerised, almost drowning into the intricately designed floral panels, golden boards, stunning silver chandeliers flowing out from the ceiling with […]