Living Islam Islamic Tradition

Islam is a worldview, it is a best practice, and it is the answer sought for.
It is from the super-human (the divine) level: for normal humanity.

The extraordinary person of Muhammad, the prophet of Allah, (the blessings and peace of Allah upon him) exemplifies the message of Islam in his life and so realises the perfect human being in all its aspects.

The idea is to live Islam according to its authentic teachings from the Islamic tradition the way our prophet taught us, and how generations of Muslim scholars and saints have interpreted those teachings over the centuries.

Islam is not a made-up system of human thought, or of ideologies, and every generation has the task to rediscover the true prophetic teachings and to discard what is false: the misrepresentations, lies, and innovations, and struggle against indifference and the curtailment of mercy.

Islam teaches the love and knowledge of God (´ilm, maghrīfa), and His messenger, and instils mercy/ compassion (raḥma) for the world.^L1

True Happiness (Felicity) Can Be Found

Ask yourself: am i happy in my life?
+ What should I do if I want to be happy?

[Read]

The post-modern idea of the self leading us to self-realization and therefore happiness is not working. Nafs (greed, egotism) is driving the show.
Siddiq Habib

Islam Is Worship of the Creator & Compassion Towards Creation.

Living Islam: Following its authentic sources, the Quran & Sunnah for the maqāsid: Shariah as a mercy to humanity, a bastion, and representative of moderate, mainstream Islam.

Islamic tradition: Rediscovering and re-deploying the partially forgotten, sometimes lost–original and authentic Way of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, confirmed and guarded by the scholars and saints of Islam for over 14 centuries up to today. Not in the meaning of ’going back’ to the customs and conventions of old, without context and understanding.

How We Understand and Use the Word Tradition
Tradition means truths or principles of a divine origin revealed or unveiled to mankind.
In the case of Islam, tradition describes furthermore the words, sayings, and actions reported from Prophet Muhammad may Allah bless him and grant him peace, which have been recorded in the hadith collections together with the entire Islamic religion, such as the Islamic schools of law, spirituality, sanctity, etc.
(Imam Ahmad Vālsan)

NB: It is Islam that reigns - today - until the last day.

’To be traditional means to be part of a tradition, and traditions - by their nature - are moving through time and space.’ Sh A H Murad

On the Function of the Prophet ﷺ

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ شَاهِدًا وَمُبَشِّرًا وَنَذِيرً

{O Prophet! Surely We have sent you as a witness, and as a bearer of good news and as a warner.} 33-45

About Allah
About Prophet Muhammad

Three Essential Aspects of Islam

1. There is nothing like Allah, and yet He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.
Whatever concept of God comes to the mind, know that He is not this.

2. Allah is never absent.…
Repent, turn to Allah in order to clean your record.
When you need Allah, He is already there.

3. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is our leader and guide.
- He is the first of Muslims on the Day of Promises
- I was the first of the Prophetscreated and thelast to be sent. (hadith)
- Allah has made me the Opener and the Seal. (hadith)
- Behold, I am the Beloved of Allah. (hadith)
- His face was like the sun and the moon.^L2

Islam is threefold
Three Other Aspects of Islam

When people are captivated by the life of this world and absorbed in it, they forget about God and the Life to come until sadness and despair will strike them.

This heavenly joy is kept for the faithful. Its indications are already seen in this life. The faithful are the people of serenity and spiritual tranquility (sakīna ), they are those who remember Allah constantly (may His Majesty be exalted) and are generous (wāsi'-l fikr ) towards their fellow human beings.

As Allah says about those who do not enquire about their souls:
{ And be not like those who forgot Allah, and He caused them to forget their own selves. They are the transgressors.} Sura 59-19
It is therefore essential to know soul ( qalb, ruh, nafs, 'aql) and its attributes which is the root of religion.
Imam Al-Ghazali, Ihya, Book of Destructive Evils p.1

قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّمَا يَتَذَكَّرُ أُولُو الْأَلْبَاب

{Say, "Are equal those who know and those who (do) not know?" Only will take heed those of understanding.} 39-9

The meaning of reason and intellect in Islam

No soul knows

Allah says:

فَلَا تَعْلَمُ نَفْسٌ مَّا أُخْفِيَ لَهُم مِّن قُرَّةِ أَعْيُنٍ جَزَاءً بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُون

{ No soul knows what is kept hid for them of joy, as a reward for what they used to do. } Quran 32-17

What they used to do: It is said 'what they used to do were their prayers by night,' it is also said: 'it was their fasting.'
'Awaarif al-ma'aarif; As-Suhrawardi

True Happiness Can Be Found
True felicity (saʿāda ) - which is more stable and more integrated than what is commonly understood as 'happiness' - can be gained by the sincere and consistent effort of the seeker of truth, which in turn is a function of Allah’s mercy and guidance.

Allah says in the Quran
سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ
{ Soon We will show them Our Signs in the horizons and in themselves until becomes clear to them, that it (is) the truth. } 41-53

It is {the revelation of the book (scripture) from Allah, the Exalted in Power, Full of Wisdom.} 46 - 2

The disbelievers claim that religious teachings only rest on 'man-made' ideas, having no relevance for human life. In truth, it is a revelation from Allah to dispel the darkness of ignorance while opening the heart* to the light of divine guidance.

{ And be steadfast in patience, for indeed, Allah does not allow to be lost the reward of those who do good (of the righteous). } 11-115

*Hearts are (potentially) places of intellect or ’intellectual intuition’, which is an understanding (maghrifa مَعرفَت ) beyond the confines of emotion and reason. Pure intellect (ʿaql) transcends modern limited rationality, while based on revelation (naql ).

→ The ideal rational faculty is that which accepts from God the knowledge of Him that He gives to it and does not try to go beyond its own limitations by reflecting upon Him.

Those who rely on their mental capacities (on reason) alone: Lā yaʿlamūn:
{ Allah has sealed their hearts so they do not know. }
9-93

For those who yearn to come to an understanding of the Real ( الحَقّ ), Allah, consider the following:

Spiritual advancement is necessarily combined with knowledge of Allah سبحانه و تعالى : It will make the seeker of divine knowledge realise that he needs to wake up from his sleep of love of this world (dunyā) while following the ego (nafs).

On Recognizing the Alchemy of Felicity
About the Heart
Study the Quran Regularly

اقرءوا القرآن فإنه يأتي يوم القيامة شفيعًا لأصحابه

”Study the Quran (regularly), for it will act as an intercessor and entreat for its readers on the day of Judgement.”
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

He also said:

Undoubtedly, the heart gets rusted like metal gets rusted when water goes over it. The People asked, "How can they (hearts) be cleaned?"
The Prophet replied,
"To remember death in abundance and to recite the Holy Quran."
Mishkāt
The Shariah as Mercy to Mankind

The Shariah (Shari`a) is compassion and justice, it is the basis for correct and benevolent behaviour and it seeks the welfare of human beings.
→ If its application leads to the opposite, then our understanding and interpretation needs to be re-evaluated in the light of the Texts.

The Sacred Law - Sharia
Quran on Race and Culture
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ خَلْقُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَانِكُمْ
{ And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and hues. Lo! herein indeed are signs for men of knowledge. } 30-22

Comment: This verse indicates the difference between races and languages and that those differences are a blessing, not to be taken negatively, and that we are called to relate to and learn from each other, instead of isolating from each other or negative thinking about ’the other’.

This - in order to become truly human.

On the Quran
The Postmodern World

[We are living in the era of postmodernity (or postmodernism) when] the fundamental, eternal truths of religion and divinely inspired traditions are regarded as mere man-made theories, or discarded altogether as futile illusions.* Absolute values are denied and relative values affirmed; nothing can be certain, except the certainty that nothing can be certain.

From Prolegomena; Sh Syed M Naqib al-Attas, p.87

*This is mentioned in the Quran:
أَمْ يَقُولُونَ افْتَرَاهُ بَلْ هُوَ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ لِتُنذِرَ قَوْمًا مَّا أَتَاهُم مِّن نَّذِيرٍ مِّن قَبْلِكَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَهْتَدُون
{ Or do they say, "He (Muhammad) invented it"? Rather, it is the truth from your Lord, that you may warn a people to whom no warner has come before you [so] perhaps they will be guided. } 32-3

Postmodernism And Modernity
Postmodern Man Is Distracted From His Self / Soul