Toronto: In the midst of what we face these days, it is necessary to remember the example of Prophet Muhammad (s), who never lost his smile. He smiled out of faith, hope, charity, education and encouragement. Smile, Allah bless you! is the title of this...
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In the same day, I visited the Vatican City and gave a lecture at the Rome campus of Loyola University Chicago – an American Jesuit Catholic University. I have to say that I found a stark contrast between the Jesuit values and what I saw at the Vatican! A Jesuit gives a “vow for poverty and chastity” and works for a mission of the “promotion of justice”. I found the Vatican, on the other hand, at the opposite of these values, with a “palace” that has 1400 rooms and 9 full miles of corridors that are full of...
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How do we realise Maqasid Al-Shariah in the Shariah? A new booklet published by Tawasul Centre for Research and Dialogue Italy – Series of Islamic Jurisprudence. To be launched in Rome, next week insha Allah. Here is a summary: This booklet explores how maqāṣid al-sharī˒ah (higher purposes and intents of the Islamic law) could contribute to the application of the sharī˒ah itself in today’s Muslim societies and to reaching appropriate juridical rules. The soundness of sharī˒ah’s application and related rules is subject to the degree of universality and flexibility of the Islamic rulings with changing circumstances, discussed from various...
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Italian translation of lectures under the title: Lectures on the Civil State – Post-Islamism and Post-Secularism. I believe that humanity, East and West, is in need of a new definition of the relationship between religion and the state. Both extremes of the spectrum of political ideas are not moving humanity towards a peaceful and civil existence. Islamism – like pre-renaissance and extremist Christian views – seek to control the state via a totalitarian ideology that does not give room for the civil society to grow in different ways and forms. Secularism, especially in its extreme forms, such as the...
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Seattle, MAPS: Dealing with times of “fear”: My lecture at the Muslim Association of Puget Sound, MAPS, last Friday. The main point of my lecture was that what we are seeing unfolding in America is a typical story of “tyranny”, in its political, economic and religious forms. The best way to deal with “fear” of the people is to fear none but Allah, to hold on to the faith and its ethics, to defend oneself, and to form alliances with like-minded Muslims and non-Muslims in order to resist...
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