The imminent departure of scholars from this world
A Closer Look at Sufism Perhaps the biggest challenge in learning Islam correctly today is the scarcity of traditional ‘ulema. In this meaning, Bukhari relates the sahih or “rigorously authenticated” hadith that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,
“Truly, Allah does not remove Sacred Knowledge by taking it out of servants, but rather [...]
A special prayer for the Jews
Religious Bureaucrats Are To Religion As Military Music Is To Music
Last week, Pope Benedict managed to aggravate both Jews and Protestants–the former by encouraging a form of the mass that, on Good Friday, includes a prayer for the conversion of the Jews, and the latter by reaffirming the Roman Catholic Church’s traditional stance that it [...]
Peter, a Rock He Was Not
Peter, a Rock He Was Not
Roman Catholics believe that one bishop, the pope, has authority over all others because he is the linear spiritual successor to Peter, the first bishop of Rome. The scriptural basis for this, according to the Catholic Church, is Matthew 16, where Jesus declares to Peter that he is “the Rock” [...]
Mystical Dimensions of Islam- Annemarie Schimmel
Some call Annemarie Schimmel’s book, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, obsolete, but I disagree. To date, I have not come across another book on Sufism that is more complete and moving than this. Spanning a hefty 500-odd pages, Schimmel’s work is conspicuously free from the the kinds of defects that afflict other Orientalist writings.
She begins by [...]
Veterans bear scar of sheer brutality in Iraq
The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness Over the past several months The Nation has interviewed fifty combat veterans of the Iraq War from around the United States in an effort to investigate the effects of the four-year-old occupation on average Iraqi civilians. These combat veterans, some of whom bear deep emotional and physical scars, and [...]
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