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The Humanistic Standards of International Secular Political Economy as an Expression of Our Faith in a Divinely Created Planetary Order Meant for Human Spiritual Development Rooted in Our Freedom and Personal Responsibility

May 23, 2023 by a mercy case

A faithful man is optimistic about the world, the life and the creation. Religious belief gives a particular shape to man’s attitude towards the world. As religion maintains that creation has a goal and that its goal is nothing but betterment and evolution, naturally religious belief affects the outlook of man and makes him optimistic about the system of the universe and the laws governing it. The attitude of a faithful man to the universe is similar to the attitude of a man living in a country about which he is sure that its systems, laws and formations are just and fair, which those who are at the helm of its affairs are sincere and well-intentioned, and that in it opportunities of making advancement are available to everyone including himself. Such a man will naturally maintain that the only thing which may keep him or anyone else backward, is the lethargy and inexperience of the person concerned, and that he and all others owe a responsibility and are required to do their duty. A faithful man will hold himself responsible for his backwardness and will not blame his country and its administration for that. He believes that if there is anything wrong, which is because he and others like him have failed to discharge their duty properly. This feeling will naturally arouse his sense of self-respect and impel him to move forward hopefully. In contrast a disbeliever is in the universe like a man living in a country about which he believes that its system, laws and formations are unjust and corrupt, and that he has to accept them against his will. The heart of such a man will always be full of malice. He will never think of improving himself. He will think that where everything is wrong, his own uprightness will be of no use at all.

Shahīd Muṭahharī, “Man and Universe”

Posted in Ahl al-Bayt, Capitalism, Layla, Spiritual Stations, The Struggle | Leave a Comment »

The Month of Ramadan and Biological Life on Planet Earth

April 17, 2023 by a mercy case

God created the sun (و جعلنا سراجا وهاجا), which nourishes all life on Earth. It feeds plant life through photosynthesis, which feeds animal life, and some animals feed other animals.

God sends down the rain (و أنزلنا من المعصرات ماء ثجاجا), which nourishes all life as well. From it, life was created and through it life is sustained.

God created sex (و خلقناكم أزواجا), through which animal life reproduces itself. Animals are irresistibly drawn to one another, perpetuating our presence on planet Earth. Without sex, all animal life would cease to exist after some years.

So before the sun rises each day in the month of Ramadan, we pause to acknowledge that we are part of the entire biological system through which all life on Earth has emerged and is sustained. Unlike any other creature on this planet, we voluntarily choose to neither drink the water that was sent down, nor eat the plants or animals whose existence is made possible by the sun’s rays, nor engage in sex for the perpetuation of our species as long as the sun is shining down on the location of our bodies on Earth. We remove ourselves, through the power of our intention (نية) from the fundamental system of biological life that has made every aspect of human civilization possible, and sustains every aspect of life on our planet.

And we offer that abstention to the Creator and Planner of it all, as if we are demonstrating with our actions that our life and our children’s lives do not matter more to us than worship (عبادة) of Life Itself (الحي) and gratitude (شكر) to the Giver of Life (المحيي).

And so through that reflection (تدبّر) we can see why the hadīth qudsī narrated in both Shī’ī and Sunnī narrations states:

“The fast is for Me and I alone will provide the reward for it (الصوم لي و أنا أجزي به).”

For we are voluntarily and symbolically letting go of the foundations of life in this lower world (دنيا) that God has created for our bodies, for the sake of our life in the world that God has promised us comes next (الآخرة).

And our Lord is so Merciful that once the sun is gone, we can have it all again. For by this our Lord does not intend to put us through hardship (يريد الله بكم اليسر و لا يريد بكم العسر) but rather to give us beyond reckoning (لإن شكرتم لأزيدنكم).

The month of Ramadan is about the meaning of the totality of life on planet Earth.

Posted in Spiritual Stations | 2 Comments »

when i’m gone

March 31, 2023 by a mercy case

when i’m gone

know that i was never truly here

for i thought so much of that other world

and the days were filled with planting

so now has come the time

to reap what i had sown

الله

when i’m gone

don’t cry for me

because i have gone ahead

to the land that i have dreamed of

in pursuit of the company

of the men who have inspired me

to follow their footsteps

الله

when i’m gone

know that i will still love you

and i will carry the hope

of our reunion

in gardens underneath which rivers flow

الله

when i’m gone

and there are no more breaths left to take

and no more plans left to make

know that the freedom i have craved

is finally within my grasp

الله

for my Lord has made a promise

based on the exit from non-existence

that brought about my short stay here

and if I cannot trust the promise of the Lord

and my own experience of existence

then trust does not exist

الله

there are journeys still unthought

and dreams for which i have fought

as time unravels and space starts to bend

in a somewhere without end

when i’m gone

لا إله إلا الله

Posted in Adhkar, Ahl al-Bayt, Layla, Spiritual Stations, The Struggle | 1 Comment »

Islamic Law in America: A Peer-Reviewed Academic Article

March 5, 2023 by a mercy case

I distilled some of my observations on trying to live Islamic Law (sharīʿa/fiqh/al-aḥkām al-islāmī/etc.) in the United States of America into an academic article.

Some of my main points are the following:

  • Islamic law in the USA is choice, whereas American law is not. To give one of many possible examples, I am forced to pay income tax by the Federal government based on worldly threats for disobedience, but if I pay zakāt and/or khums it is purely voluntary.
  • Muslims in the USA do not reflect very much on the myriad ways in which they accept the legal and economic foundations of daily life, which I have termed the “civic.” Only occasionally does an issue arise that causes Muslims to question the civic. A good example is the ubiquity of interest (ribā) in home financing, which has given rise to an entire industry of sharia-compliant home finance products. But most of the rest of the legal structure of American real estate law is completely ignored.
  • Muslims in the USA do not have the ability to force non-Muslims to do anything based on Islamic law. The Islamophobic notion of “creeping sharia” is ridiculous when the truth is that American religious freedom means that any Muslim in the USA can renounce Islam altogether at any given moment.
  • Muslims in the USA are default capitalists, because they are consumers and producers in the world’s pre-eminent capitalist economy. Unlike a mid-20th century theorist like Bāqir al-Ṣadr, who could actually contemplate how to deal with the encroachment of USA-led Capitalist models and USSR-led Marxist models on Iraqi society, 21st century American Muslims are already participants in a system not of their own creation and in which they have minimal agency.
  • If all of this is true, then Islamic ethics in the USA needs to begin to develop a more robust engagement with and critique of American law and economics to create maximum space for Muslims to live their sharīʿa convictions to the fullest extent possible.

If you would like to read the entire article, it is available both online and in pdf format:

One Out of Many: The Civic and Religious in American Muslim Life (Religions 2023, 14(2), 170)

Posted in Ahl al-Bayt, Ahl al-Sunna, Capitalism, Epistemology, Spiritual Stations, The Struggle | Leave a Comment »

Am I a Muslim?

February 14, 2023 by a mercy case

What is Muslim about me?

That I have a beard?

That I cover my ʿawra (that area of the body deemed “private” by Islamic law)?

Sure, that’s important. But what else?

Is it because I have eyes?

أَلَمۡ نَجۡعَل لَّهُۥ عَیۡنَیۡنِ

“Did we not make for him two eyes?!” (Qurʾān 90:8)

Fingertips?

بَلَىٰ قَـٰدِرِینَ عَلَىٰۤ أَن نُّسَوِّیَ بَنَانَهُ

“In fact, We can reshape his very fingertips!” (75.4)

Hearing?

وَٱللَّهُ أَخْرَجَكُم مِّنۢ بُطُونِ أُمَّهَـٰتِكُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ شَيْـًۭٔا وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلسَّمْعَ وَٱلْأَبْصَـٰرَ وَٱلْأَفْـِٔدَةَ ۙ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ

“And Allah brought you out of the wombs of your mothers while you knew nothing, and gave you hearing, sight, and intellect so perhaps you would be thankful.” (16.78)

Is not my very being itself Muslim?

Does not the time in which I exist belong to Allah?

Was not the place on which I stand fashioned by Allah?

Is not every atom in my body controlled by Allah?

I did not make myself.

I did not make this world in which I exist.

My existence is submission to the Lord of all that is.

Voluntary actions like not drinking alcohol, obeying my parents, and facing Makkah 5 times a day in al-ṣalāt (ritual prayer) are how I try to remember that.

Perhaps your day was spent in a large masjid surrounded by thousands of Muslims. The day this picture was taken I was spending two weeks in a gated American community for almost exclusively White Christians. It is the life that Allah has decreed for me. Please make a du’a for me, for it is not always easy.

May Allah forgive our sins, accept our voluntary actions done in conformity to the sharīʿah (sacred law) of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم, and raise us up amongst martyrs, the truthful, the righteous and the prophets, āmīn!

وَمَن يُطِعِ ٱللَّهَ وَٱلرَّسُولَ فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ مَعَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِم مِّنَ ٱلنَّبِيِّـۧنَ وَٱلصِّدِّيقِينَ وَٱلشُّهَدَآءِ وَٱلصَّـٰلِحِينَ ۚ وَحَسُنَ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ رَفِيقًۭا

“Those who obey Allah and the Messenger are with those whom Allah has blessed, namely, the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous. And excellent are they as companions.” (4.69)

Posted in Adhkar, Epistemology, Family, Spiritual Stations, The Struggle | Leave a Comment »

Hope

February 12, 2023 by a mercy case

“According to the Holy Qurʾān and mutawātir traditions, all the sins which humans commit are pardonable if they repent sincerely. It is wrong to say that such a sin can never be pardoned. Allāh says in the Qurʾān, in Sūrah Ash-Shūrā verse 25:

And it is Allāh who accepts repentance from Allāh’s servants and pardons evil deeds, and Allāh knows what you do.

وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى يَقْبَلُ ٱلتَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِۦ وَيَعْفُوا۟ عَنِ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ

Elsewhere in the Qurʾān, Allāh has mentioned Allāh’s Names as:

Tawwāb (The Constantly Turning to accept repentance)

  • Ghaffār (Intensely Forgiving)
  • Ghafūr (Completely Forgiving)
  • Ghāfir al-dhanb (Forgiver of sin)
  • Qābil al-tawb (Acceptor of repentance)

Allāh has given a general invitation to all the people to turn towards Allāh and seek forgiveness for their sins. If we study the meaning of the 54th verse of Sūrah al-Zumar we find that sinners have no cause to lose hope. This āyah is also known as “Āyat al-Raḥma (The verse of Mercy)”:

“Say: O My servants who have acted extravagantly against their own souls, do not despair of the Mercy of Allāh – Surely Allāh forgives all sins; surely Allāh is the Completely Forgiving, Especially Merciful.”

قُلْ يَـٰعِبَادِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا۟ مِن رَّحْمَةِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ ٱلذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلْغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ

A few points must be noted from the above verse.

  • Allāh says, ‘O My servant’ and not ‘O sinners!’ Even though he is addressing the sinners he addresses them as ‘My servants,’ so that the hopelessness of the servants may be transformed into hope in Mercy.
  • Allāh says, “who have acted extravagantly.” This denotes a soft approach. Allāh does not say, ‘O you who have acted blatantly,’ so that the sinners may not lose hope of obtaining pardon.
  • Allāh has told the sinners, “do not despair of Divine Mercy.” The use of a negative term signifies the prohibition of hopelessness. Also it means that to lose hope regarding salvation is forbidden!
  • Allāh did not stop at this, and further adds, “surely Allāh forgives all sins,” signifying that the statement covers every possible sin.
  • The addition of the word ‘altogether’ at the end signifies that the statement includes all sins without any exception.
  • At the end of the verse, Allāh repeats, “surely Allāh is the Completely Forgiving, Especially Merciful,” to stress upon the fact that Allāh desires and wishes to forgive those who repent.”

[from a text by Shaykh Sayyid ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn Dastghaib Shīrāzī رحمة الله عليه]

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Advice Regarding the Sacredness of Fridays from Āyatullāh Taqī al-Ḥusaynī al-Modarresī of Karbala

January 11, 2023 by a mercy case

Allah says: “O you who have faith! When the call is made for prayer on Friday, hurry toward the remembrance of Allah, and leave all business. That is better for you, should you know. And when the prayer is finished disperse through the land and seek Allah’s grace, and remember Allah greatly so that you may be felicitous. When they sight a deal or a diversion, they scatter off towards it and leave you standing! Say, ‘What is with Allah is better than diversion and dealing, and Allah is the best of providers.'” (Sūrat al-Jumuʿa (62):9-11)

The Qurʾān considers Friday to be a holiday (ʿīd) for the umma, and emphasizes that Islam is unique not only in its message as compared to previous religious communities, but in its rituals as well. Jews and Christians, for example, have their own messages – the Torah and the Bible – and their own sacred days (Saturday and Sunday), but in Sūrat al-Jumuʿa the Qurʾān gives Friday prayers and the day of Friday itself their true significance in the Islamic way of life. From the outside, this is a symbol of Islam’s independence as a religious tradition, while from the inside it is a symbol of unity and harmony. And it is from these considerations and others that the divine call emanates to hasten to the Friday prayer and leave behind whatever it is you are doing, be it amusement, trade, or the other worldly affairs. Hence, the Friday prayer, for some Muslim sects and scholars, is an obligatory practice when its conditions are met.

However, many Muslim scholars consider the presence of an Islamic government and the Just Imam from the Prophetic Household as prerequisites for establishing the Friday prayer. Perhaps this centers on the fact that the Friday prayer serves both a religious and political function, and oppressors should not be allowed to use it to misguide the people and strengthen their own grip on power. It is one of the clearest and most important occasions for which Muslims gather, which the tyrants can take as a popular platform to misguide society. When we study history, we see how the sermons of Friday prayers were used to wage war against Allah’s awliyāʾ, just as the Umayyad dynasty used them to preach against Imam ʿAlī and the Prophet’s Household. Today, we see corrupt scholars turning the Friday sermons into a mouthpiece for the oppressors to the extent that they receive their sermons pre-written from the government itself and take a salary for this!

Friday is a holiday for the Muslims, and it is the foremost day of the week. Its eve (meaning Thursday night) is a night of worship and prayer, in which it is recommended to increase one’s supplication to Allah, occupy oneself with recommended acts of worship, visit graves in remembrance of death, invoke Allah’s mercy upon their occupants, and learn from their fate. This is especially true for the graves of the Imams of Guidance, and the shrine of the Master of Martyrs, Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Ḥusayn. It is also a time to renew one’s pledge with Allah’s Messenger, his Household, and Imam al-Ḥujja, to remain steadfast on the path of the message of Islam. One should also keep in touch with relatives, attend to the poor, and exchange visits with one’s brethren on this noble day. It is also fitting to hold oneself to account on this day and renew one’s resolve to regularly perform righteous deeds and resist deviation and misguidance.

Generally speaking, Friday is not a day for play and diversion, or a day to be occupied with trivial things. Rather, it is an opportunity for the faithful to dedicate their time to worshipping and remembering Allah with the best of deeds, in that the Friday prayer is distinguished by its duties, sermons and social significance. Thus, every believer is tasked with obeying this divine command so long as he does not have a religiously valid reason for not doing so; and as Allah calls every week for the Friday prayer, this duty remains a measure of the unity of the umma and the strength of their faith, in relation to their undertaking this important religious duty.

From the available legal indicators, it is apparent that the position of the Friday prayer leader is an appointment made by the position of General Authority (al-walāyat al-ʿāmma), which belongs to the Just Imam. The order of priority for one who leads the prayer is as follows: The Infallible Imam, his specifically appointed deputy, his general deputy, and in their absence it is permissible to establish Friday prayers with their general permission for one who does not fear doing so, and who is capable of delivering a sermon to the people.

And Allah knows best.

[Adapted from The Laws of Islam]

Posted in Ahl al-Bayt, Ahl al-Sunna, Khutbas, The Struggle | Leave a Comment »

Shahāda/’Urs: whether happy or sad, i choose You

January 8, 2023 by a mercy case

yā Laylā

i saw You dancing one day

in Chandni Chowk

and i was never the same again

i knew my father would not approve

You are not important to his business

his culture

his family

his empire

but i didn’t care

because i loved You

the kind of love that keeps one up late at night, burning for connection

and so when push came to shove

we were married

in a ceremony unattended by those from my world

and we had to go far away from where i came from so we could discover deeper levels of our love and commitment to each other

because i chose You

and i would do it all over again

and rededicate my life once more to making You happy

because i can never forget You dancing in Chandni Chowk

for You were the most beautiful

and always will be

Posted in Layla, Spiritual Stations, The Struggle | Leave a Comment »

preserving a memory

November 17, 2022 by a mercy case

It was a long and difficult day, as I am sure it was for many.

It was the first day in my life that the news said a Shi’i Muslim American was killed by a Sunni Muslim American because he was Shi’i. Whatever the outcome of this specific court case, it was the perception that mattered. The feeling that the bloodshed that happens so regularly in Pakistan, Nigeria, Saudi, and other nations far away has finally crossed the Atlantic.

I did not tell my son about any of it.

Right before he fell asleep, he said he wanted to tell me something.

Usually, I would say, “no, it’s time to go sleep.”

But for some reason I didn’t.

He started telling me about this story he heard at school, about a fish that granted wishes. Since he was so tired, he wasn’t telling it in a way that was clear. Again, normally I would just let him trail off and say something like, “interesting,” until he fully passed out. But this time, for some unknown reason, I started asking him questions to clarify what he was trying to say. Eventually it became clear that it was a story with a moral not to be greedy with your wishes. And I thought that was it, and he would go to sleep.

But then he said, “Abba, so I thought about what I would do if I had 3 wishes.”

“Oh, what are they,” I said.

“I would wish to go back in time 1400 years, be 40 years old, and fight for Imam Husayn.”

Yes, my son, I wish that too.

Posted in Ahl al-Bayt, Family, Spiritual Stations, The Struggle | Leave a Comment »

another american day

November 15, 2022 by a mercy case

I spend every day as an American the same way I spend every other day.

With the choice to obey God or not.

With the choice to believe in God or not.

With the choice to believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins or not.

With the choice to believe whether Muhammad is a Messenger from God or not.

With the choice to believe whether Krishna is waiting for me in Goloka Vrindavan or not.

With the choice to believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster or not.

With the choice to believe that the world is flat and George Soros has funded the Great Reset and Q has exposed the Clintons or not.

Whether this is better or worse than the daily reality of other countries is a moot point, because if I truly believed that somewhere was better for me, then wouldn’t I be obliged to move my family there for the sake of Allah (like the Sufi Auntie who gave me the unsolicited advice to move my family to Istanbul and everything would take care of itself)?

America is my country by God’s Decree. God could have created me in the womb of a woman in Botswana or Indonesia, but that was not God’s choice.

I am simply trying to be where God has established me (كن حيث أقامك الله).

Over the years I have learned a lot from studying about and visiting Saudi, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, India, Kuwait, Turkey, Bangladesh, Spain, France, Iraq, Kenya, UK, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Sweden, Syria and Norway. There are places I have yet to visit that I believe it is important for me to learn more about, such as Iran, Vietnam, Afghanistan, South Korea, Chile, Japan, China, Philippines, Bahrain, Lebanon, Russia, Peru, and Brazil.

But none of them are my country.

I understand this sort of connection to a nation is not how some feel, but it is how I feel. It is my daily reality.

Islamic law is just another choice I face every day, and I choose to follow the best of what I have found, and that currently means I am a muqallid of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Taqi al-Modarressi of Karbala. In that choice, I am in solidarity with other Americans, Britishers, South Africans, Iraqis and more.

But I can always change my mind. I used to be a Hanafi, and then a Maliki, and now I am a Ja’fari. With each choice, I feel I have moved closer to what God wants from me. But only God knows and only God can judge. May Allah accept from me the deeds I have done trying to be in conformity to Allah’s laws, ameen.

Life is a journey, and if there is anything I have learned, it is to expect the unexpected. I believe Allah constantly tests the sincerity of my belief, often in ways I never foresaw, and I have found Qur’anic proofs for that, such

“Do people think once they say, ‘We believe,’ that they will be left without being put to the test? We certainly tested those before them. And Allah will clearly distinguish between those who are truthful and those who are liars.” (29.2-3)

Whether or not you believe that about yourself is up to you to decide. May Allah make me from the truthful (الصادقون), ameen.

I share this because this is my reality. Every post you have ever read from me has been articulated against this socio-political backdrop. I recognize now very few of my readers share this experience, and often my readers expect me to articulate positions that mirror their realities. But I can’t do that. All I can do is be sensitive to the realities of others, and then act accordingly from the point in space and time in which I exist.

But it is also important that my readers are sensitive to my reality, and the inescapable conclusion that faith/belief/knowledge has always been a choice for me. No one put a Qur’an in my hand and said, “believe or perish!” I chose to read the Qur’an with my own freedom, to determine if I believed that God had spoken to humanity or not. At the same time I was first reading the Qur’an, I was reading the Baha’i scriptures for the same reason.

“Whenever Our Revelation is recited to them they say, ‘We have heard all this before – we could say something like this if we wanted – this is nothing but ancient fables.’ They also said, ‘God, if this really is the truth from You, then rain stones on us from the heavens, or send us some other painful punishment.’ But God would not send them punishment while you [Prophet] are in their midst, nor would He punish them if they sought forgiveness.” (8.31-3)

And so every day I invoke blessings upon the Prophet and seek forgiveness:

أستغفر الله وأتوب إليه

اللهم صل على محمد وآل محمد

It is my choice and my tongue, and I try to use it for the sake of the One who gave it me.

Not for my parents, whom I love dearly.

Not for my country, which is a part of me.

But for my Creator (الخالق), the One who made my existence possible (المحيي), the One from whom I seek benefit (النافع), the One in whom I seek protection from harm (الضآر), the One in whom I hope to the utmost extents of hope (الوهاب), the One who I fear more than coming to the end of my own existence (الجبار).

May my Lord accept from me, āmīn.

a book published 90 years ago about our family’s first 300 years in North America

Posted in Adhkar, Capitalism, Epistemology, Family, Layla, Other Religions, Spiritual Stations, The Struggle | 1 Comment »

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