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@themusingmuslim
The Musing Muslim blog is currently in its third year. Thank you to all our readers!
The Musing Muslim is officially on Instagram. You can follow on the link below:
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From the very beginning, since its inception in February 2020, the only aim of this blog (now nearing 5.9k followers on Tumblr) has been to reflect on, and to make people reflect on the beauty of Islam.
A Poem for the Prophet — a poem by Arctikos.
This poem is based on the nurturing quality of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ when it came to his ummah (the worldwide community of believers across time and space)
For more of Arctikos' poetry, follow him on Instagram here.
There is something called the good old kunya tradition: taking an additional name for yourself through your child.
It’s a quiet way of saying your identity has shifted a bit, you’re someone’s father now, and that matters.
Essentially its core philosophy is also that we truly exist not in separation from, but through association with each other. We are who we are not just in and of ourselves, but through and because of each other.
Both my daughters have “light” in their names, and so I have now earned the right to use the epithet, or rather the teknonym, Abu Noorayn, which translates to, “father of the two lights.”
Across cultures, naming quietly insists that a person is never just an isolated self but a node in a web of relationships: the Arabic kunya (Abu/Umm) makes you “of” your child, a forward-facing identity of care; Gaelic Mac/Mc and Irish Ó root you in ancestry - son or descendant of, while Russian -ovich/-ovna, Icelandic -son/-dóttir, and Scandinavian patronymics carry the father (or parent) inside your very name; in South Asia and Indonesia, everyday speech turns people into “so-and-so’s mother/father,” echoing teknonymy across Africa and parts of Southeast Asia where identity flows through kin and clan; East Asian traditions place the family name first, subtly prioritizing lineage over the individual; and many Indigenous systems, from Native American to Aboriginal Australian, tie names to totems, land, or community roles rather than solitary identity.
Different grammars, different directions, backward to ancestors, forward to children, outward to land and clan, but the same underlying intuition: a human being is not a sealed unit but a meeting point, someone who exists through others and is named accordingly.
"Having good manners means showing respect to those who are superior to you; loving friendship and agreement to those who are your equals; kindness and compassion to those who are lower than you; obedience and modesty to your mother and father; and compassion in the education of children. It means caring for your womenfolk; visiting and doing good deeds for relatives; loving your brothers and eliminating all and everything that may prevent you from loving them; offering good-hearted smiles and generosity toward all humankind; knowing the values of the Sufis and respecting their rights; not showing any need toward the rich; accepting the knowledge from men who know; humbly obeying men of wisdom without negation; and fleeing from the dogmatic ones, heretics, profiteers, and men who wish to enslave others." - Kitab al-Futuwwah of al Sulami (The Book of Sufi Chivalry)
In Kashmiri culture, a key part of a bride's trousseau is a copy of the Qur'an.
She enters her new home carrying the book of Allah.
Signifying that the marriage is not merely a social contract, but a trust entered between two souls before God
He must keep his end of the promise
And she must keep hers
As God says in His Book
To live with each other with love and mercy (30:21)
I found an interesting reference to Islam from Martin Luther’s 16th century preface to The Tract on the Religious Customs of the Turks (1530).
Pertinent to note that Martin Luther (the founding figure of Protestant movement within Christianity) wrote at a time when Western Europe was increasingly perceiving the military presence of the Ottoman Empire at its fringes.
In his writings, he puts forth a critique of Islam. But it's interesting to see that the ‘religion of the Turk’ still seemed to have made quite an impression on him, even in his critique of it. Here's what he writes:
“From this book, accordingly, we see that the religion of the Turks or Muhammad is far more splendid in ceremonies and, I might almost say, in customs—than ours, even including that of the religious or all the clerics.
The modesty and simplicity of their food, clothing, dwellings, and everything else, as well as the fasts, prayers, and common gatherings of the people that this book reveals are nowhere seen among us—or rather it is impossible for our people to be persuaded to them.
Furthermore, which of our monks, be it a Carthusian (they who wish to appear the best) or a Benedictine, is not put to shame by the miraculous and wondrous abstinence and discipline among their religious? Our religious are mere shadows when compared to them, and our people clearly profane when compared to theirs.
Not even true Christians, not Christ himself, not the apostles or prophets ever exhibited so great a display. This is the reason why many persons so easily depart from faith in Christ for Muhammadanism and adhere to it so tenaciously.
I sincerely believe that no papist, monk, cleric, or their equal in faith would be able to remain in their faith if they should spend three days among the Turks. Here I mean those who seriously desire the faith of the pope and who are the best among them.”
Our love for something should lead us on and beyond.
It should open us up, not close us in. It should move us to act with a wider beauty, beyond the object of our affection. Not despite it, but because of it. The beloved must become the light by which we see the world.
When the Beloved is Allah, this metaphor becomes a profound expression of maḥabba, the spiritual love that enlarges rather than confines.
Loving Allah is not meant to retreat us from His world, but to transform the way we walk through it. It is a love that breaks walls, not builds them — a love that opens the heart to deeper mercy, broader compassion, and clearer purpose.
To love Allah is to let His Light become “the light by which we see the world.” His guidance becomes the lens through which we interpret events, relationships, and choices. His mercy teaches us how to be merciful. His nearness teaches us humility. His vastness teaches us not to shrink life into our fears, but to expand into His hope.
Such love moves us “on and beyond.” It does not end in private devotion; it compels us to act with beauty (iḥsān) in every sphere of life.
The love of Allah makes the believer attentive to justice, sensitive to kindness, drawn to sincerity, and committed to living with integrity — not in spite of loving Him, but because of it.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”
— Jesus (peace be upon him), as quoted in Matthew 5:5
“And the end is (best) for the righteous”
— Qur'ān 7:128
#palestine #gaza 🇵🇸
ٱللَّهُ نُورُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَ ٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِۚ
Translation of the full verse:
“Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is a niche, wherein is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass. The glass is as a shining star kindled from a blessed olive tree, neither of the East nor of the West. Its oil would well-nigh shine forth, even if no fire had touched it. Light upon light. Allah guides unto His Light whomsoever He will, and Allah sets forth parables for mankind, and Allah is Knower of all things”
— Qur'an 24:35
“The Lord is my banner”
— Exodus 17:15
Verses from Surah An'am Inscribed on the mihrāb at Idgah, Srinagar:
“Say, ‘My prayers and sacrifice, my life and death, are all for Allah, Lord of all the Worlds; He has no partner. So I am commanded, and so I am the first to submit.’”
6:162-163
When Amir Khusrau wrote seven hundred years ago:
Contemplating death is almost a taboo theme in popular culture, with a shift towards a ‘you only live once’ line of thinking. For people of presence, however, death is a profoundly significant transition between two different modes of existence. Which is why it's not enough to live life to the fullest, but also to die well, and to prepare for it during one's life.
Mimbar (niche) and mehrab (pulpit) of an open air mosque.
The mehrab denotes the direction of the qiblah (direction of prayer) and the mimbar is a flight of steps that the imam (prayer leader) sits upon when preaching.
Pahalgam, Kashmir.
To help others improve, one must first learn to love them. No good counsel can come from an uncaring heart, nor fair criticism from an unappreciative mind.