The Purpose of Life in an Hour and a Half

Source: sandala.org

By: Hamza Yusuf

Given the choice, I would rather read a book than listen to a lecture. Books are wonderful companions: they offer their opinions, and if you disagree, they don’t seem to mind. I can reread when I find difficulty with what is written, and the book doesn’t think I’m stupid or get annoyed that I’m asking it to repeat itself, sometimes again and again. From a great author, I can acquire in a few hours what took him or her a lifetime of reflection and insight to realize. Despite that, on occasion, I have heard lectures that have moved me deeply. Recently, someone sent me a lecture insisting that I watch it. It was by an American convert to Islam (I don’t like the word “revert,” as we don’t revert to Islam; we convert – unless one was a Muslim, left it, and then returned), Dr. Jeffrey Lang, about the purpose of life. I found this lecture to be the most powerful I have ever heard from an American Muslim.

Why I’m fed up with free speech fundamentalists

Source: huffingtonpost.co.uk

By: Mehdi Hasan

Dear liberal pundit,

You and I didn’t like George W Bush. Remember his puerile declaration after 9/11 that “either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists”? Yet now, in the wake of another horrific terrorist attack, you appear to have updated Dubya’s slogan: either you are with free speech… or you are against it. Either vous êtes Charlie Hebdo… or you’re a freedom-hating fanatic.

I’m writing to you to make a simple request: please stop. You think you’re defying the terrorists when, in reality, you’re playing into their bloodstained hands by dividing and demonising. Us and them. The enlightened and liberal west v the backward, barbaric Muslims. The massacre in Paris on 7 January was, you keep telling us, an attack on free speech. The conservative former French president Nicolas Sarkozy agrees, calling it “a war declared on civilisation”. So, too, does the liberal-left pin-up Jon Snow, who crassly tweeted about a “clash of civilisations” and referred to “Europe’s belief in freedom of expression”.

Book of Deeds: Fill It With Whatsoever You Wish

Source: http://blog.islamiconlineuniversity.com

By: Nasmira Firdous

Imagine this: You’ve just written one of the most amazing books, making it shoot into the best-selling list. You have your name plastered all across the world. You have just been given the most coveted literary award, after being generously appreciated by some of the world’s famous literary giants. The feeling of excitement and joy is palpable. (If you can’t imagine any of this, just think of yourself as J.K. Rowling :P)

But, stop. Just for a moment. What if I told you that one day you will indeed read a book which you and solely you were responsible for writing? What if I told you, on that Day, that book will have a record of ALL your words, thoughts, intentions, actions, every unspoken word and every wrong reaction? What if that book holds the keys to your eternal abode? Would you be eager to open it and gasp with happiness or would be perspiring and hoping you had righted the wrongs?

The big question: British Islam

Has the integration of British Muslims failed?

Source: http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

This week, radical and extremist Islam has been at the heart of the news agenda, as a video circulated showing the beheading of an American journalist by an IS fighter who appeared to be of British extraction. Clearly, radical Islam exists in Britain but its roots, and the solutions to it, remain obscure.

It’s time for action

We have a huge problem with integration, and it’s being grossly underplayed. If about 500 British muslims have gone to fight in Iraq and Syria, assuming it’s mostly young Sunni males that’s one in every 800. It’s been three years since David Cameron pointed to the link between extremism and terrorist attacks in his speech in Munich, and the Department for Communities and Local Government, which was responsible for rolling out the counter-extremism strategy, has done nothing. Both the government and Muslim communities need to work together to resolve this. We’ve seen huge improvements in our lifetimes with racism and homophobia. If we can do it with them, we can do it with Islamist extremism, which is also a form of bigotry.
Maajid Nawaz, co-founder of counter-extremism think tank Quilliam