Is there an intermediary between Allah and His slaves?

Sawt Al-Umma, Issue #98
October 14th, 2002

If the question is wrong, then so too is the answer If we ask the question ‘Who made us? The mother or the father?’ it is not possible to receive a correct answer. If we say the mother only or the father only, the answer is wrong. The same is true of a question such as ‘which hand claps?’ or ‘which eye sees?’ or ‘which part of our mouth eats?’ Read more »

The ’learned’ are the ‘inheritors of the prophets’ but not the ‘learned’ we know!

[Al-u’lama warathat al-anbiya walakinhum laysa al-u’lama alladheena na’arafhum]


Sawt Al-Umma Issue 97
October 7th, 2002


Property markets collapse … Financial resources go to waste … The social fabric comes apart … Good health is displaced by sickness … Intellect weakens … Only our spiritual wealth remains…a wealth that nourishes our feelings with the taste of faith, wisdom and friendly persuasion. Read more »

The heart, the tongue and the hand

[Al-qalb wal-lisan wal-yad]

Sawt Al-Umma, Issue 96
September 30th, 2002

A good word is one that enters peoples’ blood where it begins to reproduce and copy itself. The seed becomes a tree and the tree becomes a forest. A drop of water becomes a river and the river becomes an ocean. Light becomes a star and the star becomes a constellation. A spark becomes light and the light becomes a forest of light poles. However, Read more »

When are the ‘Image-Makers’ in Hell?!

Meta Yakoun al-Musawirun fil-Nar?!

Sawt Al-Umma, Issue 95
September 23rd, 2002

In the beginning there was the word. Allah created it as light and with it was faith. Allah created it as a letter and it was literature and poetry. Allah created it as rhythm and it was music. Allah created it as color and it was a canvas. Allah created it as compassion and it was the love in our hearts. It is difficult to imagine that what Allah granted to people in the way of talent and feelings are haram. Read more »

Innovation and Illusion (Al-Bida’a wa Al-Khida’a)

Sawt Al-Umma Issue no. 94
September 16th, 2002

When I felt the urge to write; I considered language as something akin to a piano recital one might enjoy for its own sake. I focused on the interplay of letters and words in an effort to maintain balance and rhythm. Read more »

The Effulgence of the Merciful, Humanity’s Suffering and the Compassion of the Quran

(Fayd al-Rahman wa A’dhab al-Insan wa Rahmat al-Quran)

Sawt Al-Umma, Issue 92
September 2nd, 2002

The orb of the sun pierced the veil of the sea as it made its way to sleep on the bed of a sea nymph after a scorching hot day which had turned its countenance a fiery red and overwhelmed it with a consuming desire to reach the coldness. Read more »