4841
".. admonish them & speak to them a far-reaching word." (Al-Quran) Read & reflect. Repair, then share.
Trump’s followers proclaim: “He is the hand of God on earth.”
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham once warned: “If we cut off our relationship with Israel, God will cut off His relationship with America!”
Donald Trump’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, openly calls for an “American Crusade”
As for Netanyahu, he explicitly stated that he sees himself as playing a "historic and spiritual mission,” and that he is “very much connected” to the vision of the Biblical Greater Israel.
Religious language and apocalyptic prophecies are all freely invoked by them to justify war, occupation, and even extermination.
But when Muslims draw upon scripture for meaning in the face of genocide or injustice, they’re branded as religious extremists. Worse still is when members of our own community plead: “Don’t bring politics into the masjid,” or insist on reducing the entire conversation to solely humanitarian terms.
So, others wear their faith as a banner and impose it unapologetically upon the world, whilst we are told to strip our struggle of religion and secularise our suffering.
In some corners, we’ve still got a bit of growing up to do.
After a long experience in managing certain reform and community projects, I've come to find no one better than that young man who sees no entitlement for himself. Rather, he feels that no matter what he does, he is in a tremendous blessing from Allah, that He has guided him to serve His religion and chosen him for this work.
You’ll find him working more than he talks, giving more than he complains, present in every field of responsibility yet absent from any field of self-promotion. You’ll see him patient and seeking reward even if the ease and comfort he was used to changes. He doesn’t put forward a thousand conditions before he contributes, and his heart and tongue both say: “May Allah forgive me for my shortcomings.”
In stark contrast, there’s the one who waits for others to help him in everything, expects his feelings to be taken into account at every step, and wants all the conditions in his mind fulfilled before he’ll give what’s due from him.
You find him constantly complaining, endlessly comparing, frequently playing the victim, and barely fulfilling what is required of him — despite Allah having prepared the means for him, brought opportunities close to him, and opened the doors before him.
How true were the words of the Prophet ﷺ:
“People are like camels — out of one hundred, you can hardly find one that is fit to ride.” (Narrated by al-Bukhārī)
O Allah, in this age of fame, shallowness and superficiality, allow us to be like the former and protect us from ever becoming like the latter.
[Adapted]
In back to back verses from the Qur’an, soothing answers are offered to three of today’s most pressing questions.
1. “Is our Lord able to change Gaza’s horrific situation?”
ذَٰلِكَ وَلَوْ يَشَاءُ اللَّهُ لَانتَصَرَ مِنْهُمْ
“That is so. And if Allah had willed, He could have taken vengeance upon them…”
(Sūrat Muḥammad, 47:4)
2. “If so, then why is the agony being prolonged in this way?”
The verse continues:
وَلَٰكِن لِيَبْلُوَ بَعْضَكُم بِبَعْضٍ
“…but to test some of you through others.”
(Sūrat Muḥammad, 47:4)
Just as the people of Gaza are being tested with a brutal occupier, we are being tested through them. Who among us will rise? Who will sacrifice comfort to push back with all what they can—and more? Who will register a stance of piety, sincerity, and courage?
3. “But, so many are being massacred in the process. What about them?”
Keep reading:
وَالَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَلَن يُضِلَّ أَعْمَالَهُمْ . سَيَهْدِيهِمْ وَيُصْلِحُ بَالَهُمْ . وَيُدْخِلُهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ عَرَّفَهَا لَهُمْ
“And those who are killed in the path of Allah—He will never let their deeds go to waste. He will guide them, and rectify their state, and admit them into Paradise, which He has already made known to them.”
(Sūrat Muḥammad, 47:4–6)
They are being tested through genocide.
We are being tested with comfort.
Both tests will have consequences.
Respectfully, I call upon food bloggers, fashion influencers, cooking content creators, brothers who’ve apparently “made it”, and the rest of today’s so-called influencers: pause for a moment and try to see and hear something other than the applause of your followers.
Respectfully, lend an ear to the cries and groans rising from Gaza.
For those paying attention, the sounds are raw. They are heart-wrenching. They shake the soul.
They are the sobs of mothers mourning their children, the groans of bleeding bodies, the haunting silence of starving infants.
And yet, many of their neighbours by geography, by religion, or both still find it within themselves to flaunt their bloated stomachs, to showcase colourful spreads of food, to sample exotic cuisines, to delight in their every bite at yet another upscale restaurant or café.
Put religion aside for a moment—do you not feel shame?
Displaying your new car, your business-class seat, or your luxury accommodation is already tasteless under any circumstance. But to boast about your eating habits in a time of mass starvation? No. That is revolting.
The early Muslims used to say:
"جنبوا مجالسنا ذكر النساء والطعام"
"Keep talk of women and food out of our gatherings,"
Because constantly verbalizing one's desires and appetites, whether for food or intimacy, cheapens the soul. It is lowly.
So what about someone who has built their entire persona around eating? Around chewing, chomping, tasting, devouring, theatrically reacting and rating food?
Worse still: doing so while those whom you call your "siblings in Islam" are being devoured by hunger day after day.
I repeat—listen to the sounds coming from Gaza. Their voices are terrifying. Their words are heavy. Let them tear through your cocoon of comfort and deafening fog of fame.
Respectfully, let it be your Dīn that holds you back from this distastefulness.
If not your Dīn, then let it be your Murū’ah—your sense of honour and chivalrous decency.
And if you can’t even summon that, then let it at least be your humanity.
May Allah guide you and help you feel again.
Just in case you somehow missed it, yesterday’s death toll in Gaza:
115 more lives, 92 of them were simply trying to get aid, whilst 18 died from starvation, all in just 24 hours.
So, you’re left with one of two choices:
Either you make a desperate attempt to find something—anything—to save yourself, your spouse, your children, your elderly parents.
This means walking straight into the trap - the "aid" distribution points - knowing full well you might return home in a body bag.
Or you sit and wait.
Wait to die of starvation.
Wait for your family to die beside you, a slow and gruelling death.
This is the same “international system” that preaches to us about human rights, women’s rights, and children’s rights.
The same system that jails scholars and preachers, that arrests activists for opposing the above, that strips Qur’anic verses and Prophetic hadiths from the curricula of Muslim children all in the name of “coexistence” and “combating extremism.”
May the curse of Allah be upon the oppressors, upon hypocrisy, upon cowardice.
May the curse of Allah be upon the criminals.
We ask Allah to accept our martyrs and to deliver us from this humiliation and disgrace.
The Prophet Muhammad PBUH said:
ضَحِكَ رَبُّنَا مِنْ قُنُوطِ عِبَادِهِ ، وَقُرْبِ غِيَرِهِ
“Our Lord laughs at how quickly His servants lose hope, despite how near relief actually is.”
I said, “O Messenger of Allah, does the Lord really laugh?” He replied, “Yes.” So I said,
“Then we will never lose hope in a Lord who laughs.” (Narrated by Ahmad)
From the front lines.
But not the front lines of warfare, but that of the Israeli-American "aid" apparatus.
This is what they want to normalise in Gaza.
Fasting ʿĀshūrāʾ this summer carries two powerful meanings:
– It wipes away a year’s worth of sins, just as our beloved Prophet ﷺ promised.
– And it helps you feel, even if just a little, the pain of Gaza, where people are collapsing in the streets due to extreme hunger, heat and bullets from "food collection points".
But for them, it’s not just hunger. It’s war. It’s fire. It’s danger. It's displacement. It's illness.
And it’s the crushing feeling of being abandoned by all.
Dear friends,
Tomorrow - Saturday - is the day of ʿĀshūrā’. Fasting on this day, if accepted by Allah, erases the sins of the past year.
It’s recommended to fast a day before or after as well, but there’s no issue if you fast only the day of ʿĀshūrā’.
Don’t let bad habits like smoking stop you from fasting, where you trade a short-lived craving for an immense reward.
Don’t skip this fast because of an exam, interview, or event. The Prophet ﷺ was the head of state, commander of the army, teacher of the people, navigating constant threats, raising a huge family, and already forgiven, yet none of that stopped him from fasting and taking full advantage of these special occasions.
As you fast, dedicate 10 minutes or so to beg Allah to help you in supporting your brothers and sisters in Gaza in a way that earns His pleasure and lifts from us the terrifying burden of falling short.
O Allah, just as You brought down Pharaoh on the day of ʿĀshūrā’, crush the many Pharaohs of today.
Three things repel hardship:
1. Supplication (Duʿāʾ)
Allah said: قُلْ مَا يَعْبَؤُا۟ بِكُمْ رَبِّى لَوْلَا دُعَآؤُكُمْ
"My Lord would not care for you were it not for your supplication." (Al-Qur’an 25:77)
2. Gratitude in all circumstances
Allah said: لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ
"If you are grateful, I will surely increase you." (Al-Qur’an 14:7)
3. Supporting the weak and downtrodden
The Prophet PBUH said: هل تُنصَرون وتُرزقون إلا بضعفائكم
“You are granted victory and provision only because of your weak ones" (Al-Bukhari)
O Allah, we raise our hands to You in desperation and certainty, we are grateful for all Your wise decrees, even the ones we don’t yet understand, and as for the weak ones in Gaza -
Strengthen their hearts, hasten their relief, honour their dead, guard their wounded and avenge them, O Allah, in a way that befits Your Unmatched Power and Perfect Justice.
Relapse in faith
An era marked more than ever before by change, coupled with the human heart, which by nature is in constant change, can only lead to one conclusion: change.
Whether it’s someone who walks away from Islam entirely, or a Muslim who withdraws—relapsing into sin or distancing themselves from the Islamic life, we cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand.
🎬 https://youtu.be/NlSEDUN8LWM
This is what Israeli-American "aid collection" points look like in Gaza.
Some come home carrying bags of flour. Others come home carrying the corpses of hungry martyrs. The former is probable. The latter is guaranteed.
May Allah bring upon the murderers what they deserve.
From Dream to Reality! £2.4+ million later | Waqforever 🇵🇸
🎬 https://youtu.be/yB9oh3BPCDc
Your donations are no longer just gifts. They are now secured in permanent assets, generating sustainable monthly income to fuel our mission.
In this update, we show how your support drives both immediate humanitarian response and long-term advocacy — not just reacting to injustice, but working to stop it at the root.
DONATE NOW: https://www.waqforever.org/donate/
Life doesn't begin with marriage
Just as how life does not end with divorce, life does not begin with marriage. Life before marriage isn't the dark period where they dim the lights before the real show starts. It is very much part of the show—but one that is wasted in the lives of many as they wait for marriage. “When will you do such and such?” you ask. They respond, “When I get married.”
Whilst we all know where marriage stands from an Islamic perspective, your life is not defined by the existence of a person you have not even met. Your life’s definition and greatest purpose is spelled out clearly in the Qur’an:
قُلْ إِنَّ صَلَاتِى وَنُسُكِى وَمَحْيَاىَ وَمَمَاتِى لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ
“Say, ‘Surely my prayer, my worship, my life, and my death are all for Allah—Lord of all worlds.’” (Al-Qur’an 6:162)
And where Allah says:
كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَآئِقَةُ ٱلْمَوْتِ ۗ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّوْنَ أُجُورَكُمْ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ ۖ فَمَن زُحْزِحَ عَنِ ٱلنَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ ٱلْجَنَّةَ فَقَدْ فَازَ ۗ وَمَا ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَآ إِلَّا مَتَـٰعُ ٱلْغُرُورِ
“Every soul will taste death. And you will only receive your full reward on the Day of Judgment. So, whoever is spared from the Fire and is admitted into Paradise has succeeded, and what is the life of this world but the delusion of enjoyment.” (Al-Qur’an 3:185)
So, don’t ignore the experience of single life -
Find new hobbies, make righteous friendships, establish your career, get healthy, eliminate stubborn sins and bad habits, learn something for your unborn children, rediscover the masjid, give and plan relentlessly for the pressing causes of the Ummah—like Gaza and others. Get used to having mature conversations, to making your bed, to keeping your room tidy.
Above all, use this period to invest in your īmān and to make peace with Allah.
Ultimately, if you think that you’re ready to know someone else without first knowing yourself, then you’ve set yourself up for a failed marriage even before you enter it.
Do you remember this image?
World leaders, arm in arm, parading through Paris in 2015 after the Charlie Hebdo attack, striking heroic poses as they proclaimed their defence of press freedom and the protection of journalists.
The irony? Among them was Benjamin Netanyahu! The executioner of journalists in Gaza and across Palestine.
But here's the uglier irony; while more than 270 journalists have been killed in Gaza, whilst other journalists film their own execution by settlers, all those leaders now hide behind curtains.
- No solidarity marches with their families.
- No global outcry against war crimes.
- No protests for the journalists killed alongside their children and spouses in their own homes.
Even when the victim was an American citizen — Shireen Abu Akleh — assassinated with a sniper’s bullet live on air, suddenly, it was forgivable.
I wonder what the difference is?
You thought Palestine was occupied.
Our entire world is occupied by racism, by selective outrage, by cowardice and by hypocrisy so thick it suffocates.
وَلِتَسْتَبِينَ سَبِيلُ ٱلْمُجْرِمِينَ
" .. so that the way of the criminals will become clear." (Al-Qur'an 6:55)
An act of worship that has taken centre stage in Gaza and must do so in our lives at this pivotal moment is al-I‘tiṣām – clinging tightly to Allah.
Ibn al-Qayyim wrote:
منه سميت القلاع : العواصم ، لمنعها وحمايتها
“From this word (i‘tiṣām), fortresses (in Arabic) were called ʿawāṣim (i.e. similar root), because they protect and shield.”
What is the image of a person in a state of I‘tiṣām?
Imagine a person caught in an extreme, cold and sudden downpour. The sky cracks wide open with thunder, the ground becomes slippery and unstable, and every direction seems overwhelming. He runs frantically, with his eyes scanning for something, anything; an awning, a ledge, a cave, a tree, anything!
Finally he sees it: shelter. So, he sprints towards it, heart pounding, clothes drenched, footsteps slipping. He collapses beneath the covering, chest heaving, and lets out a deep sigh of relief. He's safe, not so much because the storm has stopped, but because he’s now under something stronger than the storm.
That’s the image of I‘tiṣām
Perhaps this is why Imam Ibn al-Qayyim concludes:
ومدار السعادة الدنيوية والأخروية على الاعتصام بالله
“The entire pursuit of happiness—in this world and the next—centres on i‘tiṣām upon Allah.”
S/he knows that every other branch will break, every door is locked. So, when the soul is confronted with helplessness, it finally realizes where strength truly lies. It remembers:
وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِاللَّهِ هُوَ مَوْلَاكُمْ ۖ فَنِعْمَ الْمَوْلَى وَنِعْمَ النَّصِيرُ
“Hold fast to Allah. He is your protector. What an excellent protector and what an excellent helper He is.” (Al-Qur'an 22:78)
Circling back to Palestine, the Gazans have displayed the purest forms of I‘tiṣām. The world has seen it. When their homes collapse, they cling. When their children are martyred, they cling. When the world betrays them, they cling. They are al-muʿtaṣimūn; those who seek cover beneath the strongest roof, the only shelter that cannot be shelled, broken, or denied: Allah Himself. No rain can drown you there.
What is iʿtiṣām if not this?
Praise be to Allah for the gift of Islam.
Pain into Power - Four steps
Consistent exposure to evil can easily shake one's faith, perhaps even pushing one to question the very basics of belief. Here’s a practical four-part approach to manage tragedy that we witness on others or experience ourselves.
[32 min watch]
📹 https://youtu.be/XuHvHvV84zQ
MUST READ: First-hand account of the horrors committed at the "GHF Aid Distribution Zones"
"Each time, around 60,000 to 70,000 Palestinians converge at the designated site. Loudspeakers announce that when the green light turns on, people have just 10 minutes to grab between 300 to 400 aid packages-though much of the critical supplies, like flour, sugar, and salt, are snatched up first by gangs and collaborators. After the 10-minute window, the light turns yellow, signaling that only 5 minutes remain to flee before automatic machine guns open fire indiscriminately on anyone still in the area"
UNRWA:
The majority of Gaza’s population has now entered Phase 5 — the most extreme level of famine classification.
Congratulations to the blessed ones today, those whom Allah has placed at a doorway of support to Gaza, at a time when the world has closed its doors, turned people away, and left Gaza to fend for itself.
Читать полностью…
Every Pharaoh will fall
To reduce the month of Muḥarram to its historical events and legal rulings is to miss the much deeper current that runs through this sacred season, one that speaks directly to the pains and hopes of our great Ummah.
🎬 https://youtu.be/jqvCGQo7tbU
Muharram and ʿĀshūra’ in an age of genocide 🇵🇸
https://www.islam21c.com/seasonal-reminders/ashura/muharram-ashura-genocide/
Please help me understand one thing:
Have you ever seen "humanitarian aid" distributed at 2am in the morning?
This is Gaza today via the Israeli-American collection points.
How many more scores of dead bodies and drug-infested sacks of flour will we need to see before it finally dawns on the world -
This isn't aid.
This is calculated murder.
📕 "Promised Paradise"
My latest book is set for release.
Pre order via: https://quillspire.com/products/promised-paradise
"But what about us?"
The heart breaking question that the people of Gaza have not stopped asking since the ceasefire between Iran and Israel was announced.
The question that torments us and devours our hearts.
حسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل
"Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs…"
Just in case this story is buried beneath all the noise:
Today alone, 74 of our brothers and sisters in Gaza were killed by the Zionist war machine, as they stood in line, waiting for a scrap of the so-called “aid.”
All I can recall is how many times the Qur’an lists the quality of “not encouraging the feeding of the poor”
In Surah al-Ḥāqqah: وَلَا يَحُضُّ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ
“And he did not encourage the feeding of the poor.” [69:34]
In Surah al-Māʻūn: وَلَا يَحُضُّ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ
“And does not encourage the feeding of the poor.” [107:3]
In Surah al-Fajr: وَلَا تَحَاضُّونَ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ
“And you do not urge one another to feed the poor.” [89:18]
Pay attention:
Hell was promised to them all for merely failing “to encourage the feeding of the poor”. So, what about those who systematically murder starving people as they reach out for aid, aid that was deliberately used to gather and kill them?
May Allah curse the oppressors and all who support or enable them.
May Allah disgrace the criminals, to make them taste the exact pain they inflict, and to increase them ruin in this life before the next.
As we ask Allah to use us in His service, to elevate us from being mere spectators and commentators on the Ummah’s pains, into causes of change and reformation.
You read in the Qur’an the words of Prophet Yūsuf:
ذَٰلِكَ مِن فَضْلِ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْنَا وَعَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَشْكُرُونَ
“That is from the favour of Allah upon us and upon the people, but most people are not grateful.” (Al-Qur’an 12:38)
Do you know where Yūsuf said these words?
In a prison cell.
The righteous recognise Allah’s favours in freedom and in captivity, in abundance and starvation, in safety and abandonment, and whether they understand Allah’s wisdom in life’s events or remain in the dark.
The ultimate blessing in life - as Prophet Yūsuf reminds us - is being guided to the truth. That alone outweighs the pain of any trial.
During Yūsuf's hour of desperation and pain, he wasn’t just patient.
He was grateful.
Alhamdulillah in all circumstances.
All throughout my youth, I remember the stories my late grandfather, Muḥammad ʿAlī Hammuda, would share about the ethnic cleansing they endured in Palestine, the cold-blooded killing of his father, the trauma of forced displacement, and the endless episodes of agony at the hands of the Israeli occupiers.
He recalled it time and time again at family gatherings, through his poetry, and in his duʿā’. Each time, he wept with the same raw pain, as if it had happened only yesterday.
Many years later, here is Dr. Shir Hever—the grandson of the man who killed my great-grandfather—speaking at the United Nations, recounting the massacres and ethnic cleansing that took place in our family’s hometown of Lydd (Lidda), Palestine.
Dr Shir, thank you.