Moral Principles

 Love your neighbor. Love the stranger. Hear the cry of the otherwise unheard. Liberate the poor from their poverty. Care for the dignity of all. Let those who have more than they need share their blessings with those who have less. Feed the hungry, house the homeless, and heal the sick in body and mind. Fight injustice, whoever it is done by and whoever it is done against. And do these things, because being human, we are bound by a covenant of human solidarity, whatever our color or culture, class or creed. These are moral principles.

Jonathan Sacks, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times (New York: Basic Books, 2020), p. x.

New Book (Feb 2021): Ethical Teachings of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī: Economics of Happiness by Sami Al-Daghistani

Al-Ghazālī made seminal contributions to the field of ethical economic thought. Though he dedicated many chapters in his encyclopaedic Iḥyā’ Ulūm al-Dīn (The Revival of Religious Sciences) to what he considered just and Sharī‘a-based economic conduct in (Muslim) society, this specific aspect of his corpus has been largely overlooked in Western scholarship. This book aims to analyse and revive al-Ghazālī’s little studied economic teachings by emphasizing his economic philosophy and its correlation between Sharī‘a’s moral law and the tradition of taṣawwuf, situating his thought within the context of modern economic theories.

The scholarly ignorance of his economic contributions goes hand in hand with a claim made by several Western scholars (e.g., J. Schumpeter) that classical Islamic scholarship did not offer any significant development in the domain of economic thought in what was known in Europe as the Middle Ages—a claim that scholars like Ghazanfar and Islahi, attempted to refute. This book delves into an analysis of al-Ghazālī’s theoretical accounts and his economic philosophy as part of his overall ethics of happiness, looking closely at select passages from his work in order to position them at the intersection of two domains within the framework of classical Islamic economic thought, namely taṣawwuf or Sufi-mystical thought and Sharī‘a law.

This work does not assume that al-Ghazālī anticipated modern trends of Western economics; however, by merging the necessity of kasb (acquisitions of wealth) and the importance of zuhd (renunciation of the worldly endeavours) as equal components in the context of the science of the hereafer (‘ilm ṭarīq al-ākhira), he presented the culmination of ethical economic thought in classical Islamic tradition, influencing later Muslim scholars. Hence, in this rather specific reading of al-Ghazālī’s economic philosophy, he conceived of an economic analysis that was founded upon ethical teachings, an endeavor that should be ultimately regarded as a technology of self-examination.

Reviews: “Al-Daghistani makes a remarkable contribution to the study of economic thought in classical Islam. A rewarding read.” —Wael B. Hallaq, Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University

“The new perspective opened by Al-Daghistani's book on Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's economics of happiness is a remarkable addition to the developing literature on the economic thought of one of the most influential thinkers in Islamic intellectual history”. — Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Professor, Columbia University

https://anthempress.com/ethical-teachings-of-abu-amid-al-ghazali-hb 

Yahya Birt: A Brown Sahib’s Lament: Ed Husain Among the Minarets

 https://yahyabirt.medium.com/a-brown-sahibs-lament-ed-husain-among-the-minarets-aaa7c92751f5

منجد الخطيب روائع القصص والأمثال مأخوذة من سير أعلام النبلاء ومرتبة على رياض الصالحين

 https://waqfeya.net/book.php?bid=2614

A Discussion with Dr. Issam Eido on The Sunnah & Misconceptions as an Authoritative Source of Ruling

https://youtu.be/W9dKvTLrozI

Book: Mythologies of the Prophet Muhammad in Early Modern English Culture by Matthew Dimmock (published by Cambridge UP May 2013)

 Just learned of this work!

The figure of 'Mahomet' was widely known in early modern England. A grotesque version of the Prophet Muhammad, Mahomet was a product of vilification, caricature and misinformation placed at the centre of Christian conceptions of Islam. In Mythologies of the Prophet Muhammad in Early Modern English Culture Matthew Dimmock draws on an eclectic range of early modern sources - literary, historical, visual - to explore the nature and use of Mahomet in a period bounded by the beginnings of print and the early Enlightenment. This fabricated figure and his spurious biography were endlessly recycled, but also challenged and vindicated, and the tales the English told about him offer new perspectives on their sense of the world - its geographies and religions, near and far - and their place within it. This book explores the role played by Mahomet in the making of Englishness, and reflects on what this might reveal about England's present circumstances.

https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/literature/renaissance-and-early-modern-literature/mythologies-prophet-muhammad-early-modern-english-culture

https://www.amazon.com/Mythologies-Prophet-Muhammad-English-Culture/dp/1107032911

Also, see this blog post "Shakespeare and Islam" by the author. (Thanks to SAA!)

Shaykh Ubaydullah Evans: In Memoriam of Imam Sohaib Sultan (4/30/21)

Even in his position as chaplain at Princeton, an institution known for its patrician bearing, I never knew him to look down upon anyone. In my visits with him there, everyone seemed to have the same affinity for him. He was known for many things: his avuncular charm, his intelligent, inquisitive demeanor, his distinct, infectious laugh. However, the thing for which I pray my brother will be best remembered is the great gentleness and compassion with which he engaged his family and students. 

 https://www.alimprogram.org/blog/in-memoriam

From the intro to 100 Poems to Break Your Heart

 But poets have always celebrated grief as one of the strongest human emotions, one of our signature feelings.

Implicit in poetry is the notion that we are deepened by heartbreaks, by the recognition and understanding of suffering -- not just our own suffering but also the suffering of others. We are not so much diminished as enlarged by grief, by our refusal to vanish, or to let others vanish, without leaving a verbal record. The poet is one who will not be reconciled, who is determined to leave a trace in words, to transform oceanic depths of feeling into the faithful nuances of art.

Poetry companions us. Poems are written in solitude, but they reach out to others, which makes poetry a social act. It rises out of one solitude to meet another. Poems of terrible sadness and loss trouble and challenge us, but they also make us feel less alone and more connected. Our own desolations become more recognizable to use, more articulate, something shared. We become less isolated in our sorrow, and thus are befriended by the words of another. There is something ennobling in grief that is compacted, expressed, and transfigured into poetry.

Edward Hirsch, 100 Poems to Break Your Heart (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021), xv-xvi.

Rabbi Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel - 1972 NBC interview filmed few weeks before his death

https://youtu.be/FEXK9xcRCho

33:46: "I'd say to young people a number of things: Remember, there is a meaning beyond absurdity, let be sure that every little deed counts, that every word has power, that we can do everyone our share to redeem the world. (...) Remember the importance of self-discipline, study the great sources of wisdom, don't read the best-sellers. (...) Remember life is a celebration. There's much of entertainment in our life (...) but what is really important is life as celebration. The most important thing is to teach man how to celebrate life."

“The Brutha Graduated from Azhar”: The Black Ḥāfiẓ in American Muslim Communities

 https://sapelosquare.com/2017/02/22/op-ed-the-brutha-graduated-from-azhar-the-black-%E1%B8%A5afi%E1%BA%93-in-american-muslim-communities/