My paper on the the emergence & evolution of zahir al-riwaya in the Hanafi school has been published in IL&S. Insha'Allah, it is a beneficial contribution.
https://t.co/YhdG6dNgtF
My Visit to Brunei Darussalam
My friend, who was in contact with a renowned and published scholar of Islam in the English language who resides in Brunei, contacted me and asked me if I wanted to visit him as well. Given that I was in the region, and that the plan for me to give
Is an "Anti-Modernity" even possible?
In Riding the Tiger, the second essay in Kasurian's Spring 2026 issue, @pashadelics explores the pitfalls of contemporary Muslim intellectual thought regarding industrial civilisation.
A byproduct of Islamic civilisation's "triple catastrophe" in the early 20th century, an often reactionary posture and contemptuous attitude towards industrial civilisation has left Muslims unwilling and passive participants in a world not of their own making.
The alternative is to become willing riders of the tiger, embracing the material reality we live in and becoming active agents in defining the world around us.
After all, what is this tiger, this epoch defined by the industrial mode of production, but a mechanism fashioned by men? The strongest hands steer it.
The only way out is through.
Read more on Kasurian. Link to essay in reply below:
STOP DISHONOURING EACH OTHER!
Muslims will debate theology for centuries.
Free will vs. divine decree. The attributes of Allah.
Profound disagreement. Tolerated. And in some cases, celebrated as scholarly rigor.
But dare to read a geopolitical situation differently, and suddenly you are a traitor.
The name calling crosses sacred redlines: The honour of a believer.
There is ikhtilaf (valid differences) in matters of eternal consequence.
And there is supposedly no room for it in probabilistic political judgments made on:
Incomplete data, fragmented narratives, and competing claims.
Someone explain the logic.
Because theology concerns ultimate reality.
Politics, in most cases, concerns contingent assessment.
Limited information. Many variables.
Sincere people, valid reasoning, different conclusions.
If difference is legitimate in the more foundational domain, how does it become betrayal in the more uncertain one?
What this usually reveals is not principled Islamic epistemology.
It is ego dressed as conviction. Partisanship performing as certainty.
The inability to distinguish between holding a position firmly and treating all other positions as kufr-adjacent.
Yes, theology shapes politics. Creed informs how we read the world. Acknowledged fully.
But there is still a distinction between foundational theological truth and probabilistic political judgment made under conditions of uncertainty.
Collapsing that distinction is not strength.
It is an epistemological error.
The inconsistency is telling.
Ikhtilaf in aqidah: scholarly tradition.
Ikhtilaf in geopolitics: betrayal of the ummah.
That asymmetry deserves serious reflection. Because what drives it is rarely love of truth.
P.s. For those with poor comprehension skills, this obviously cannot be applied to Israel’s and Zionism’s evil. I thought I’d mention this just in case.
NEW: Days after Pete Hegseth said the U.S. war in Iran is protected by God, Pope Leo XIV denounced those who “involve the name of God in choices of death.”
“God cannot be enlisted in darkness.” https://t.co/CqSXTxCTBS
I lived and traveled in Iran for months. In Tehran I lived with the family of a retired bank worker who saw me looking for housing. I roomed with his son for months, ate all my meals with them, and they never accepted any money. Once I was sick and throwing up and they all came into the bathroom and the dad stroked my head while I barfed and told me “Aybi nadare” (no shame, it’s ok). I traveled around most of the country by plane, train, bus, shared taxi, etc. Eventually I stopped booking hotels because I’d always meet people on the train, bus etc who’d insist I stay with them. The family of Iran/Iraq war vets from Yazd who took me to Taft for bbq in the mountains. The taxi driver from Rasht who made a bed for me on the floor of his tiny apartment because all the hotels were full. The only time a police officer talked to me was once to make sure I was ok. I never felt in any danger day or night. The land of Iran is as incredibly diverse as its people. There are mountainous rain forests and desert salt flats. I met among the most liberal and most conservative people there, and everything in between. Everyone was so kind it makes me cry with shame.
Pope Leo XIV’s Vatican newspaper is the only publication in the Western world to run the photograph of 150 Iranian girls' graves — killed in President Trump's military strikes — on its front page.
Salah should be a tech-free environment. I appreciate praying tarawih in Muslim countries & not being distracted by people following on phones. It seems to be a particularly Western Muslim issue where Quran apps or AI translations are used. It's worship to just stand and listen.
I’ll be teaching a course on Ibn Khaldun in Morocco this summer insha’Allah.
It’s open to college students and high school seniors.
Application page is here:
Celebrity solidarity with Palestine is on the rise. After nearly two years of silence, how should we receive this wave of support?
Imam Tom unpacks these questions in his latest Snapshot “How Should We View Gaza’s Celebrity Support?". https://t.co/U7iWFhVFXI
Please sign the petition to demand the immediate release of our beloved brother and community leader Marwan Marouf from ICE custody. Sign here: https://t.co/J0MSlphiNt
Fiqh al-Muʿāmalāt Year 2 Starts in 5 Days!
Access YEAR 2 here:
https://t.co/Cpq8uq5vrs
We’re excited to announce that YEAR 2 of our Fiqh al-Muʿāmalāt Course will begin from Monday September 8th.
Lesson Timings:
Every Monday 7:00 pm UK time
This year, we will cover:
Kitab Kafalah (Chapter: Guarantee)
Kitab Hawalah (Chapter: Assignment)
Kitab Wakalah (Chapter: Agency)
Kitab Sulh (Chapter: Settlement)
Kitab Mudarabah (Chapter: Mudarabah)
Kitab Wadiah (Chapter: Custody)
Kitab Ariyah (Chapter: Borrowing)
Access YEAR 2 here: https://t.co/Cpq8uq5vrs
Access YEAR 1 here: https://t.co/lIDdcM64kA
Considering that Bidāyah al-Mubtadī is a build on Mukhtaṣar al-Qudūrī, this course is a must for not only students but also students studying Mukhtaṣar al-Qudūrī.
A GAZAN COMMENTARY ON IBN NUJAYM’S ASHBAH: THE TANWIR AL-BASAʾIR OF IBN HABIB AL-GHAZZI
In recent days, a thesis was digitally released which contained a partial edit of Ibn Habib’s (d. 1005) commentary on the al-Ashbah wa al-Nazaʾir. This is noteworthy as it is was written…
@DrRafaqatRashid@hanafismjournal ... as the Hanafi school, and I approach it as a muqallid scholar within the school. Thus, my engagement with hadith or philosophical discussion was minimal. I focused on Hanafi legal texts & their discussion on the illa of abortion.
My paper critically assessing the ruling of abortion in the Hanafi school has been published in the Journal of Hanafi Studies (@hanafismjournal), which is now available for purchase.
Insha'allah, it is a meaningful and beneficial contribution to the debate on this issue.
@DrRafaqatRashid@hanafismjournal Jazakallah khayran, Dr. Rafaqat. Admittedly, my paper is very narrow in its focus: "the classical Hanafi school", compared to yours. I do not attempt to have a wide ranging discussion on abortion within the Islamic tradition, only within this self-contained legal entity known...
It respects neither any international law, nor moral traditions, nor does it consider itself bound by any agreement; such concepts hold no meaning in its vocabulary." Mufti Taqi's penultimate paragraph.
For those who do not understand Urdu, Mufti Taqi is basically outlining his experience witnessing a discourse initially presented at an "academic/scholarly level" transform and culminate into an overtly political project: the Abraham Accords.
Mufti Taqi Usmani (ha) on the Abraham Accords, including his correspondences with Sh. Abdullah b. Bayya.
From Dar al-Ulum Karachi's monthly Balagh magazine (August, 2025)
"Now just imagine that the term 'Abrahamic Family' is somehow being used to protect an illegitimate state which, like a savage beast, sometimes carries out massacres of the people of Palestine, sometimes attacks Iran, sometimes Lebanon, and sometimes Syria...