saya

...for the life of this world is nothing but an enjoyment of self-delusion. (57:20)

[saya @indigoandsilk]

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, I have only been sent to perfect righteous character.”

[Zelda Universe @ZeldaUniverse]

On this day, 26 years ago, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask was released in North America! (October 26, 2000)

After only a 15-month development cycle, Nintendo put out one of the most iconic games in the franchise. What memories do you have attached to this beloved title?

[saya @indigoandsilk]

@Concubinist That’s interesting. I have to talk to myself too, but I do so because I don’t have an inner monologue, just vague spatial awareness of interaction/movement of ideas. It doesn’t become coherent until I talk or write.

[saya @indigoandsilk]

How does one even begin to explain the feeling of sitting in the Masjid of our Prophet ﷺ ?

[saya @indigoandsilk]

@abantheseeker Cats are such a gift, Alhamdulillah

[Zeroni @inh3rit]

I have never seen an author open their books with such rousing beauty & eloquence except al-Ghazali, so much so that the greatness survives even the passage into another language.

[saya @indigoandsilk]

"The end goal is a path forward for humans in a world where what used to be the human process is increasingly outsourced to technology and capital, in a manner that can overcome the distinction between the universal and particular; guided by Islam. #staySAIF

[Eco al-Hollandi @desassosseco]

Much too short of course but very flattened: The end goal is a world that provides a path forward for humans in a world where we think what used to be the human process is increasingly outsourced to technology and capital, in a manner that can overcome the distinction between the universal and particular; guided by Islam (which we think is the only substrate for such a possibility).

Now I am going to take your question mainly as a "how do you get there". In part, this is in deed an answer that will remain to be seen because we refuse the idea that you can completely draw that path. In general though, the idea is to remain lucid of opportunities that arise within the process. Although we believe Capitalism is total, we also believe that Capitalism historically has had to adapt to specific socio-cultural structures it encountered and that from these various differences different forms of Capital can arise that escape the homogenized form we know. Part of the project, as Stranger notes in more detail, is mapping "the periphery" to see where such opportunities arise. The idea is subsequently to both discuss such opportunities and build a network of people who can infiltrate within the higher echelons of various institutions within various localities and enact changes we deem necessary to make use of those emergent opportunities.

The reason why most people do not get an answer is because they don't actually ask. If someone says "SAIF is a bunch of moron trads/salafis/liberals/wannabewhites/rightwingers/whatever else, what have they even done" there is little reason to provide them an answer. We play around a bit with the mystique of course as we tend to be skeptical of spreading ideas too quickly but in general if someone just asks normally we are quite prone to answering."

[Dr Rahmeh Aladwan @doctor_rahmeh]

Peace be upon you all,

If someone asked you what the core of Islam is, could you answer in one word?

It is Tawheed (Monotheism or the Oneness of God).

That God is completely One and Unique in His lordship, worship, and divine attributes.

This is the foundation and basis of Islam. It is the primary purpose behind the creation of humankind and the message sent through all prophets.

'With every crisis the Ummah endures, our conviction regarding our need for Tawheed in all its purity and comprehensiveness only deepens. Indeed, pools of blood and heaps of severed limbs serve only to strengthen our resolve that the first practical step on the path to victory, honour, dignity, and empowerment is the realisation of Tawheed.

For Islam is a creed from which a Shari'ah (divine law) emanates, a law that regulates every aspect of life, and Allah the Almighty does not accept a people's Shari'ah unless their creed is sound.

Furthermore, there is no happiness in this world or the Hereafter without realising Tawheed. Yet, Tawheed is not merely a word repeated by the tongue, far from it. Rather, it is a profession with the tongue, a conviction in the heart, and action through the limbs and physical deeds.

Indeed, Tawheed (the Oneness of God) is the root of the religion, its foundation, and the very core of the matter; all other pillars of the faith branch out from it and serve to complement it. At no stage of this spiritual edifice can we ever abandon or forsake Tawheed in favor of other pillars, let alone its subsidiary branches.

For one never moves away from Tawheed to something else; rather, one always moves along with Tawheed toward other aspects of the faith.

The Almighty says: "And We sent not before you any messenger except We revealed to him that, 'There is no deity except Me, so worship Me.'" [Al-Anbiya: 25].

What, then, does the one who lacks Tawheed (monotheism) truly possess?
And what has the one guided to Tawheed truly lost?

Let us all strive to call all of humanity to the true Tawheed with a gentle demeanor, a beautiful and soothing word, and a kind, tender exhortation. For we are not dealing with righteous angels, nor with rebellious devils, nor with unyielding stones; rather, we are dealing with human souls that harbour both good and evil, the lawful and the forbidden, wickedness and piety, obedience and disobedience.'

— Sheikh Muhammad Hassan.

Don't let anyone push you away from Tawheed, and be patient with the hardships that come with calling people, including fellow Muslims, to the truth. Stay firm upon the foundations and refuse to be intimidated or distracted from it.

We, Muslims, are blessed with the only framework of true monotheism on earth. May we always encourage one another with love and clarity to hold fast to what truly unites us.

[saya @indigoandsilk]

The specifics of this would be dictated by culture, however, and so far modernity has undermined any growth of an authentic culture. Having children may still force one to grow but it’s only a matter of time before the responsibility of parenthood is fully outsourced.

[saya @indigoandsilk]

One can only develop/grow when the path to avoidance is irrevocably closed. Otherwise eluding friction is the literal path of least resistance. Perforating the pressure of adulthood is an act of cruelty, trapping people in a perpetual adolescence.

[saya @indigoandsilk]

@porelalma situation. There is no building of a robust/flexible model of their life in which to act and gain experience, only arbitrary application/reproduction of their hyperreal worldview dictated by opposing and contradictory “gods” fighting for their own dominance in cyberspace.

[saya @indigoandsilk]

@porelalma Another is gender relations, where ambiguous interactions are read only in terms of gender antagonism. So when hit with the ambiguity of reality, someone entrained on hyperreality returns to the internet to gain clarity, and receives another set of rules for this particular...

[saya @indigoandsilk]

@porelalma But if one is stuck in hyperreality, there is no longer one source. Reality is arbitrary, there are no “laws”. It’s a reality in which polytheism makes more sense, i.e., not a time for Muslims to be self-righteous about the clarity of monotheism.

[saya @indigoandsilk]

@porelalma It’s a problem I often think about: unrelenting curated info shock/awe is a cognitive scrambler, likely rendering entire generations incapable of agency, whcih is required to recognize/affirm the shahada. A tawhidic outlook is scientific: there is a single source of reality.

[Islamofuturism @Islamofuturism]

I struggle and flit between the desire for Sanctity and the recognition that that desire itself stands in the way.

[* @porelalma]

An unfortunate reality is that, without institutions and goodwill between interlocutors, al-Ghazali's advice has become an ideal without a model. Our predecessors offer no precedent because nothing in their circumstances resembles ours: they never faced a permanent, invisible audience. Cyberspace and the nature of information seem to structurally necessitate performance-driven da'wah.

Still, I refuse to place the entire blame on those whose intentions we assume are bad. The blame also falls on those who built this entraining, reactionary environment in the first place, and on all of us who take part in it without considering how it entrains us. If I board a shaky boat and accidentally elbow a friend, I do not blame only the boat, nor do I deny the harm I caused because my intentions were good. I adjust my rhythm and the way I move.

The boat was built by others; the ocean is simply the age we live in. Adjusting has its cost. The sustained effort will likely make me seasick, and I will overcorrect. I will never move as freely as I would on land, because the information age is a totalizing phenomenological experience. I cannot abandon ship, nor can I carry on as if the waves were still. I must not fight the ocean with some forceful motion directly opposed to its movement, nor pretend it is not moving at all. I must entrain with intention.

This, in the end, is al-Ghazali's principle. He asked whether we debate for God or for the crowd. That question has not changed; only now there is no ground beneath us. The task of the soul in this environment is to find the rhythm that makes it bearable, and to keep its intention fixed while everything else moves.

And you, reader, will fail. Our du'āt, made into unnatural centers of attention, will fail too. That is fine; their failures serve a purpose known to God. But you, here, serve a purpose as well, and the temptation to fix your gaze only on those few figures who draw every eye is a flaw in itself. You were not meant to witness every man's flaw and failure. Yet you have by now seen some of mine. I pray that God has not made my benefit too small, nor my harm too heavy.

[saya @indigoandsilk]

"This is how modernity proceeds in general: replace the complex and subtle with a kind of salience that is subject to control and optimization.

Instead of lineage, community, place, spirit, the person becomes increasingly legible through occupation/credentials/consumption etc."

[Jordan Hall @jgreenhall]

https://t.co/4qCZle7LSS

[Erik Hoel @erikphoel]

I don't particularly like the idea of introducing AI early to my kids. It just feels damaging. I believe that "education should recapitulate civilization" in that the brain most naturally makes sense of the universe the same way human civilization did. Moving through the same forms in miniature, with the most recent advances in technology last, as kinds of stages of development. Kind of like the old "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" - which yes, isn't literally true (but even human embryos do have a tail that shyly retreats).

[Matthew Pirkowski @MattPirkowski]

https://t.co/6auku7mTSj

[saya @indigoandsilk]

@evenstranger I’d venture to say so many problems in muslimdom are exacerbated by the idea that we’re somehow especially immune and therefore don’t need to pay heed to the problems around us.