During my time working in Pharmacy, particularly during clinical placements in hospital, the single most depressing aspect of my job is having to witness and destroy patient-returned medication and "expired" medication.

Not only is this depressing from the point of view that I pay thousands of pounds a year in taxes to help support a health system which is haemorrhaging losses from the 'hidden' side that we healthcare staff witness every day, but then my time abroad either studying or working with charities in the poorer countries has shown me how desperate they are for some of these medications and how useful they could be in the field.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain is hosting an ethics consultation for the revision of its Code of Ethics for Pharmacists etc. We all, Pharmacists and non-Pharmacists, have a chance to try and convince the authorities to change their policy on the prohibition of donating returned and "expired" medication to charities etc as explained by one of my colleagues here:

I request all my readers to visit the RPSGB site here and complete the questionnaire requesting the following change at Question 2:

Pharmacists should be allowed to give patient-returned as well as near-expiry date medicines (after their professional judgement has been applied to ensure safety) to licensed, reputable humanitarian organisations allowing millions of needy people around the world to gain access to such drugs they could beneficially use.

Now that you've done it, it's only fair to provide a bit of meat about the debate itself.

Obviously the discussion at hand isn't as straightforward as one might imagine. Of course the authorities don't wish to waste medicines and money in the way it currently is but the present legislation prohibiting their use for charity is to prevent drugs companies and indeed the government becoming liable to potential prosecution and lawsuits in the future.

It has been argued that if someone, wherever in the world, was to become ill due to a medicine being past its expiry date or a medicine which is returned by a patient and hence has not been kept in controlled conditions conducive to its safe and sound storage, then the license has been breached and therefore people are being given unfit medicines and therefore negligence could be claimed.

Also, these same drug companies are not always the big criminals that they are made out to be. It can be argued that many of them donate good sound stock to various disaster areas as has been well-documented. Also, they do set up local manufacturing units in all foreign countries where they make significantly less profit to allow local populations to afford their needy drugs albeit the fact that many still can't afford their costs. Let it be said though that this is more a failing on behalf of those governments' respective health services than a failing of the drugs companies.

Our response to this is that much more can be done by drugs companies in light of their massive profits and especially due to the helpful legislation they receive in respect of their fixed income from all governments around the world. They're not being asked to do it all for free but to be more ethical, more charitable and more broad in vision to the illnesses of the world's needy.

Also, the reality behind much of the medicines that are returned is that they are in perfect condition to be able to used again. Indeed, even medicinal expiry dates according to popular opinion amongst academics are over-compensated for and are 'good to use' for months afterwards depending of course on the form, stability and excipients of that particular medicine, something which any good Pharmacist will be able to determine.

Naturally, we are not asking the government to allow us to use expired medicines but certainly the other two types as mentioned above. Also, it could possibly be legislated that with the use of such medication, there would be no corporate and governmental liability in case of any problems.

There is no doubt that the real solution to this problem is for governments around the world to become more efficient, rid themselves of corruption and provide their citizens from the very basic of human rights: a good and compassionate health service. In the meantime though we cannot stand around and watch all these drugs burn in flames whilst thousands of people in pain can't even get hold of some co-codamol to help gain relief.

I believe, along with a majority of my colleagues and one hopes the general public, that such a change in medicines legislation would prove beneficial to our government here in the UK in saving costs of hundreds of millions of pounds in destroying such medicines safely and also help the rest of the world's citizens which must also be one of our key civic duties.

Before I put the next post on memorising the Qur'an which will be (admittedly) exclusively centred around the methods of the Shanqiti nation in Mauritania, here is a transcript of the fabulous TV interview that al-Jazeera did (which I've been looking for for ages!) with the inimatable and truly great, Shaykh al-Allamah Muhammad Sālim wald-‘Udūd al-Shanqīti, hafidhahullah.

He is one of the few remaining great senior scholars on the face of this Earth, uncle of the well-known Muhammad Hasan "al-Dadu" al-Shanqīti in Riyadh, and someone I had the immense pleasure of sitting with and taking blessing from at his mahdhara near Nouakchott nearly eight years ago.

I know it's in Arabic but it'd be great if someone could translate it for us in the comments. If not, just look at the words, breathe slowly, close your eyes and just pretend you're there...

Ya Salam...

Interview with Shaykh Muhammad Salim

The most amazing thing about the Mercy of Allah is that it's constant, never stops, whether you realise it or not. Its independence from our daily ignorance and oppression is itself an incredible mercy.

What's also amazing is the way we are sometimes reminded of His Mercy by something that might happen and you believe it to be a disaster at the time - yet afterwards, on reflection, you realise that it was as the Prophet (s) asserted in so many ahadith, ya'ni "it's all good."

Last night, we were the victims of an attempted burglary where the miskeen guy shimied up a broken pipe, jumped on to a ledge, forced upon a locked window (!), set off the alarm, entered a bedroom, panicked, ripped off a few sensors in hope of trying to stop the alarm, ran about a bit, tried to break the 'alarm pad', the alarm of course continued alerting everyone, panicked even more when my neighbours came round with police on the way, hid and waited and then legged it out the front as soon as they went to call me. The End.

Alhamdulillah, just a bit of minor damage and a little bit of mud but other than that absolutely nothing. Jack diddly, zilch. Just his baistee.

Why? Because what made me really laugh was the way he ripped my wireless Netgear router off the wall and smashed it in the full belief that this was my 'alarm box'. Miskeen.

The good thing is all the beneficial lessons. We've had our 'first time' now and got away with it so we can thank Allah for that. Also we'll be bolstering up gates and locks even more and don't discount their value for every deterrent has its value in these situations. We don't ever expect such things to totally stop someone getting in and doing something he's intent on but it'll sure be a huge pain in the backside for him trying to get it done. And then there's the satisfation that you've freaked the miskeen out after his huge big master-plan goes pear-shaped. Also, the warm feeling that he fell down the stairs as evident from his sliding footprints is more than enough for me to smile about.

Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah.

Remember, there has been an increase in thieves targetting Asian households particularly in Cheshire/Stockport/Manchester for a quick smash and grab for their gold and "non-taxable" earnings (of course) so be careful.

Unfortunately for Mr Tillah Banda, he forgot that 2nd generation British-Asians aren't all scamming minicab drivers and shopkeepers, so no kaash under the bed. Oh, and we Wahabis don't do gold either.

Alhamdullillah. Alhamdulillah.

So the moral of the story? Don't mess with Netgear - my internet was back on and running after the battering it took within...ooh...all of ten seconds?

:-)

Although I don't like to use the post page for non-PG adverts (so please no-one ask me in future), the following two events are at my two local Masjids at which I teach anyway so that's probably okay then right?

:-)

I've decided this week that it's not easy being a Muslim in the West, for two reasons:

1. After listening to the Amaechi interview this morning on Radio FiveLive, I've realised that the one group of people that we can empathise most with in terms of trying to be practising Muslims and yet normal citizens in our societies...are homosexuals.

Now that's depressing.

2. It's one thing not being able to listen to music, but missing out on quality music? Ouch.

:-(

On the issue of music, those who will have read Shaykh Juday's infamous bahth on music and singing might be interested in reading a detailed "academic" refutation here.

Be warned, it's not pretty. It's quite heavy reading (over 600 pages), very technical (I enjoyed the revision of my usul al-fiqh), but in my trying-my-hardest-to-be-fair-and-honest-and-objective opinion...pretty poor.

Many points are missed out, the arguments tend to be around peripheral issues and most importantly for myself at least, incredibly rude, exaggerated and belittling.

The lack of adab will be the first thing you notice about this book and the last thing you remember after reading it. Let that be a lesson to the Shaykh who wrote it, and Allah knows best.

Update: the link is correct but it seems that the book has been removed temporarily, either out of common sense or maybe worse, plans to mass-produce it instead...

Pakistan Supreme Court Ruling Controversy
By Tillah Banda

After the recent controversy surrounding the custody of young British teenager Misbah Rana, a seven year old boy was at the centre of a courtroom drama yesterday in Karachi, Pakistan when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him.

The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the highest degree possible. The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her.

When the judge suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him.

After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and to confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Pakistan Cricket Team, whom the boy and the courts firmly believe are "not capable of beating anyone."

:-(

The Unicef report into the welfare of children released yesterday makes for interesting reading.

Frankly, from a British point of view, it doesn’t tell us anything that we didn’t know already – our children, if left to the machinations of society, will turn into walking disasters illa mun rahimallāh.

Also, I wouldn’t read too much into the differences between say the Scandinavian countries at the top and the US and UK at the bottom. If this had been a worldwide study of both developed and ‘undeveloped’ nations, I doubt that many Eastern or Muslim countries would fare much better. What is being essentially highlighted is that our relationships with our children, wherever and whoever, are extremely poor.

What worries me personally is when the secular countries start to complain of their own societies; everyone is utterly bored of the Muslims continually stating that the state of our state is in a right state but when it comes straight from the horse’s mouth – we’re in trouble.

If Muslims weren’t already paranoid enough about everything that could possibly affect their children today whilst outside the home and indeed inside the home with the increasing prevalence of lewd and crass programming and the development of wonder gaming machines such as Wii et al, these figures should still be a wake-up call. Maybe this report is what we need to refocus the many people who, correctly it must be added, believe that there is no obligation of “emigration to a Muslim country” neither tatbīqan or tahqīqan i.e. neither from the sources of Sharī‘ah and neither is it practically a possibility today for the hundreds of millions of Muslims living in non-Islamic countries today.

Hence some of those who have decided to integrate fully into our societies here in the West have become careless in their filtering and guarding of what their children are exposed to, or at least instilling their children with that innate defence which is required to withstand the forces of overwhelming consumerism, materialism and every other harmful “ism” you can think of.

This tarbiyyah process of culturing and building up our children as it is known has now become more important than ever. All those criticisms that some previously used to hold of “Western” society in a possibly bigoted and patronising fashion, need to be reinforced again with a more mature, practical and useful analysis as it should always have been and as is deserving of a people who claim to be followers of the divine way of life that is Islam.

Every aspect of our lives needs to be re-evaluated, critically but sensibly: if our children are at greater risk of being led astray by the powerful and deviant in society, their connection and respect to their parents, elders and scholars needs to become even stronger and even deeper.

The first step in this process is to recognise and admit there is a problem – that the Muslim community is absorbing the ills and diseases of the secular society surrounding us and allowing it to permeate our way of life 24 hours a day.

I was recently discussing this issue with a work colleague in Lancashire who said, “I know exactly what you mean! My mother used to work as a carer in a nursing home and she always used to say that things were really bad but then one day she came home and said, “That’s it, it can’t get any worse. We took in our first Muslim resident. If they’re doing all this nursing home malarkey, there’s no hope left for us anymore.”

Indeed.

Let’s examine a few key areas. The mother-child relationship: are mothers who are working actually forced to work? I mean, are her financial circumstances that desperate? If not, then this could possibly be one of the main reasons behind the lack of love and discipline that can develop in our children when not bringing up such children full-time, not to mention other health, psychological and even social deficiencies.

Take for example breastfeeding (radhā‘ah), something which is intrinsically blessed and indeed a protected right of the infant, which many Muslim women in competition with their own more secular counterparts are depriving their children of. The Prophetic and Qur’anic injuctions for don’t simply emphasise the health benefits of radhā‘ah but also establish its importance in developing that special relationship between the mother and child, a teacher-pupil link which will before anything else instil the importance of moral values, respect and faith into the child before being ravaged by the big bad world outside.

Has the mother been given real opportunity to devote her time to her children? Is her lack of time or need for financial support because of well-known male irresponsibility?

And thus we have the husband-wife relationship: are men treating their wives as is their due right? Are they working as hard as required to fulfil all the financial needs of not just the home, but actually extra so as to allow the mother to free herself completely for her children, especially in a society today very unlike the early days – we can no longer rely on the village teacher and Shaykh in his mahdharah to raise the child or the wet-nurse next-door neighbour or the surrounding family and tribe members to fulfil their societal responsibility as it was done back in the golden days in our golden villages and not as in today's global village.

In our times, Muslim parents have to become mult-faceted, multi-skilled, expansive and hard-working people. They have to take many extra roles and responsibilities on which we can’t expect the nannies, teachers and our childrens’ peers in present-day society to take on.

Then we have the father-child relationship: are our occupations reaching such a level where we find no time for our children? Or is it not work but the allure of the internet that means we spend more times with our friends than we do helping, filtering, educating and cultivating our children? There were various methods used to try and measure well-being in children in the Unicef report, one of them being the family meal. Although there was nothing intrinsically Islamic in a family meal eaten together in terms of the Sunnah, it has become Islamically intrinsic to do so if not just for the opportunity to spend quality time with our children and pass on that which our parents used to pass on to us. And as the old adage asserts, ‘it never did us any harm.”

Most important of all, have we as parents ensured that we are doing our utmost best to empower our children with their greatest gift, asset and defence of our chosen way of life – the Magnificent Qur’ān? Without reflecting on our childrens’ educational needs and ways of learning and then adapting that to memorise the Words of Allah sent as a perfect guide to life, without this first step our children will be in mortal danger of succumbing to the threats posed by a more attractive ideology headed by money and immorality. And the parents will be the ones who will have to shoulder the blame.

In reality, the entire report needs to be studied in detail and our response as Muslim parents living in societies, not just those lambasted by Unicef but actually all over the world, to review our ways and behaviour around and with our children should be even more detailed and comprehensive. Although there are some obvious Islamically unique solutions to much of the criticisms the report makes of the UK and US for example such as poverty, pregnancy rates, teenage smoking, drinking and risky sexual behaviour, other points and indicators need to be considered deeply in general ways which are common to both religious and secular ideologies. We should all be thankful to this reminder and the benefit to parents that this study has provided.

About time!

I mentioned before that I had a few points I wanted to make with respect to the physical external adab of the Qur'an, physical adab in terms of internally with the Qur'an and then propose some solutions and ideas on how to memorise more of this Mighty and Final Testament.

I don't wish to touch on those issues which are already well known, or agreed upon between the scholars, but rather those more specific issues that are discussed these days or are unique to our situation in the 21st Century today.

Anyway, here is the first installment. It's long and there's no pictures and the screen is black and the writing is painfully white. So it might not be too much fun. But it never was meant to be either. Yeah.

Expect the second in a few weeks or so insha'Allah.


The Qur’ān and Us – Part I

One of the results of living in our post-modern societies in the West is our increased cynicism with all that which is classical, holy, blessed, miraculous, supernatural etc. This has been a direct side-effect from growing up and living in a community which is purely secular in nature, where God has no significance, and where anything that can not be directly observed and proved is immediately rubbished. Call it the Age of Empiricism or call it the Age of Ignorance, what can not be doubted is how it has affected the mindset of millions of Muslims in the “developed” world, and worse even, now starting to play its way down into the Muslim (often synonymous with the) “developing” world.

It’s unfortunate that many Muslims hesitate to act freely in certain issues, afraid that others surrounding them might consider such actions or beliefs as backward or strange. Hence for example, we find some Muslims whilst still having an internal theoretical faith in the subject, are unwilling to express their belief in the supernatural or as the Qur’ān describes it, al-‘Ālam’l-Ghayb or the “Unseen Realm”.

Consequently, we find great difficulty in having a serious discussion about Angels or the Jinn. We find it complicated to talk about al-Hajr’l-Aswad (the Black Stone) or al-Rukn al-Yamāni (the Yemeni Corner of the Ka‘bah) etc. Likewise, to freely extol the blessings of a certain act, or a certain day or a certain night such as Laylat’l-Qadr becomes strained, especially if questioned on the rationale or logic. Naturally, the Believer recognises the basis of such belief in the Unseen and is strong upon that but yet must still recognise the threat. If the prevailing environment still hasn’t shaken the internal belief, it seems apparent from ones observations that the frequency and intensity of religious devotional practice of the external is very much in danger.

Add to this the incredibly fast-paced way we live our lives with the further problem of materialism and secularist ideology insisting that religion be practised and expressed on the “down-low” and then we can recognise a real problem facing our Muslims today.

Couple this modern problem with the ever-existent ikhtilāf or difference of opinion that exists amongst scholars with respect to certain spiritual acts and rituals and one might not be blamed for believing that deep spirituality and emotions such as esteem and sanctity are under attack.

As this section is dealing with the Qur’ān, one can observe specific problems of a similar nature with respect to our direct relationship with the Holy Book.

It is a sad fact that people are not reflecting and benefiting from this great gift to humanity: a deep spiritual message and yet expansive code of conduct for life itself. It is a shame that so many people, whilst recognising its internal beauty and melody, its healing power and the way it invokes ones strongest emotions and yet logically clarifies ones senses, still find difficulty in connecting to this holiest and most sanctified of words – indeed the words of our Creator, Allah, the Mighty and Exalted.

Maybe one of the starting points to re-establishing our relationship with the Qur’ān is to recognise its status and thereby allow it to gain our utter respect and reverence. Hence, adab with the Qur’ān is a vital beginning point.

Rediscovering our Adab

The Muslim recognises from the very fundamental precept of faith that the Qur’ān is not just some created book but actually the real spoken words of Allah ‘azza wa jall Himself, gifted to mankind as a whole yet directed to us specifically as individuals. If one was to internalise this fact for the briefest of moments, its sheer profoundness manifests itself.

This is enough to shake the Believer to his core when dealing with the Qur’ān. Hence, all such scenarios that involve disrespect to the Qur’ān in any way possible such as to intentionally throw it, step on it, tear it up, deny its rulings etc are tantamount to disbelief. Likewise, the Islamic rulings concerning the obligation of purity before the Qur’ān such as being in a state of ablution or free from sexual and menstrual impurity are well known and indeed ‘religiously’ followed.

Indeed, many scholars of the Qur’ān have advocated going much further and established a recommended code of conduct with the Qur’ān in order for Believers to further express their awe in which they view the Words of Allah, with the hope that such sanctification and wonder will further increase the effect of the Qur’ān upon their respective beliefs and actions. Hence, albeit without much technical evidence from the Prophetic period, scholars recommended Muslims that before they read the Qur’ān to perfume themselves, to wear pure and clean clothes, to face the Qiblah, to ensure sufficient previous rest and many other points.

Yet some scholars throughout history have argued that such recommendations cannot be justified without Prophetic sanctioning and also put the case forward that such ‘codes of conduct’, albeit for the sake of argument only ‘recommended’ and hence voluntary, were actually acting as barriers for millions of Muslims who just wanted to discover and reflect upon the true meanings of His Words, at all times and places, at every single opportunity. And still the debate goes on.

It is in the opinion of this author that there does not need to be a contradiction between both approaches. It is of no doubt that the most important relationship and indeed obligation with the Qur’ān is for its followers to act upon it and not to read it or venerate it in a physical sense.

Yet, especially in the age that we live in where Muslims are losing touching with the physical sanctity of the Qur’ān as previously mentioned alongside the growing “progressive” lobby which increasingly views such “ritualistic actions of insignificance” as defunct, there is a real need for Muslims to get back into an intense adab relationship with the physical Qur’ān itself whilst at the same time recognising that to concentrate on reflecting upon its spiritual depths at the same time is the key objective.

Scholars have always suggested in their classical texts a possible approach to increasing adab with a person – such as explaining how one should present themselves in their daily prayers in front of Allah ‘azza wa jall as one would do if presenting themselves to the King of the land but of course recognising the infinitely greater and more perfect nature of the Creator of the Universe. Using such examples with the Qur’ān itself are not out of place - treating the Qur’ān like a very precious object such as a priceless diamond can help focus the Believer on its sanctity and help us on the way to further our relationship with the Qur’ān.

Hence to keep the Qur’ān in a high position, to keep the Qur’ān on top of other books and never below other books, to never rest anything upon the Qur’ān be it paper, or pens or even using it as a pillow as mentioned in the books of fiqh – simply treating the Book as if it were something else very rarely helps us to internalise the importance.

Likewise to read the Qur’ān sitting in an upright position and facing the Qiblah, to not point our feet towards the Qur’ān or even intentionally turn our back to it; such recommendations have been gleaned from the later generations of the Companions and Salaf or the early founding fathers of Islam.

Unsurprisingly, without actual legal evidence, certain scholars were more prudent in their advising of Muslims to enter in to such practices fearing that they would be seen as necessary parts of religious practice and hence become blameworthy innovations.

Of course, the various suggested points of adab have only been religious advice and much of it simply subjective opinion of what respect actually is. What might be seen as disrespectful to one group of people could be seen as totally normal to another culture and so on. Take the case of pointing the feet towards a copy of the Qur’ān upon its holder. Some said that there was not a single piece of evidence to suggest this was blameworthy. The reply of course was that there are many cultures that hold it incredibly disrespectful to sit in front of them with their feet pointing towards them. It just wouldn’t be done. So how can one not do an action out of fear of offence to a normal person and yet do it so lackadaisically to the Book of Allah?

Here, certain Usūli scholars mentioned a principle concerning the Qur’ān which this author feels would be applicable for our study:

“Every action that has not been prohibited by the Sharī‘ah and is intended to make takrīm and ta‘dhīm (honour and veneration) of the Mus-haf (a written copy of the Qur’ān), then this is good and acceptable. This is because all actions which are permissible in principle, when used to arrive at something legislated, become ‘legislated’ themselves in that specific restricted sense as long as the person does not belief as a result of this that said action is recommended (Sunnah) by itself or necessarily required – this is out of fear that something be added to the religion of Islam that which is not from it. ” (1)

The support for honouring the Qur’ān as such comes from the statement of Allah, “As for those who honour Allah’s sacred rites, that comes from the taqwa in their hearts.” (al-Hajj, 32) which is general in all that which Allah has shown and taught his servants with respect to the religion. A general evidence is really all that is required here since the Mus-haf as we have today wasn’t really around at the time of the Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam); thus, any permissible action used in relation to the Qur’ān out of respect and honour is considered permissible except that this often leaves the door open to people exaggerating and going to extremes in their behaviour. Therefore, it is necessary to have some sort of guidelines to reign in peoples’ subjectivity in this issue and those guidelines are seen to be the actions of the Companions and their Successors (Sahābah and Tābi‘īn). Note that these generations are not being used in a legislative sense, rather simply as a standard to avoid any mistakes and exaggeration since they were the closest of all people in history to the Qur’ān and most in awe and respect of it.

Using this principle helps us to achieve that balance one feels is required in our times, avoiding fallacious concepts such as standing for the Qur’ān when it is brought into the room or walking out of a room backwards that contains a Qur’ān in it, yet protecting age-old practices of ‘urf (culture) that our elders and predecessors have used to maintain their love of the Qur’ān.

However despite this principle, other points of adab still remain contentious with scholars who were either critical of the above principle in their attempt to safeguard the pure religion or they were in doubt over the existence of early generational ‘support’ for such actions such as the kissing of the Qur’ān, even though it is seen as a perfectly natural way of expressing love and respect for something which is incredibly precious and dear to the hearts.

This action has been established on the authority of the Companion ‘Ikrimah b. Abi Jahl (radhy Allāhu ‘anhu) who would take the Mus-haf whilst reciting and hold it against his face whilst crying, saying, “The Book of my Lord! The Book of my Lord!” (2)

Therefore we can say that actions such as this, showing fondness and connection to the Mus-haf and/or kissing it and all that in the same meaning as the above is permissible and good, but cannot be classified as the Sunnah as mentioned previously.

Likewise the debate still continues on whether the Qur’ān should ever be placed on the floor especially with many scholars declaring that to be permissible as long as the floor is clean enough to be prayed on. In fact, some weren’t even so stringent, supporting their position with the narration of ‘Atā’ b. Abi Rabāh that a man came to ibn Abbas (radhy Allāhu ‘anhumā) and said to him, “Can I place the Mus-haf on a floor that I have intercourse on, that I have wet dreams on and that I sweat all over?” “Yes,” replied ibn ‘Abbās. (3)

It is important to try and restrain emotion in such discussions in order to reach the correct position and many scholars disliked the idea that the Qur’ān be placed on the floor, even extending such dislike to the normal books of religion such as in law or theology for example.

The basis for this was the action of the Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) himself as narrated in the hadith of ‘Abdullāh b. ‘Umar (radhy Allāhu ‘anhumā) when the Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) was invited by a Jewish tribe to judge on a Jew who was accused of adultery. When he arrived, they called for a cushion upon which the Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) sat upon, whom then asked for the Torah to be brought. When they arrived with it, the Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) withdrew the cushion from underneath him and placed the Torah upon it and said, “I have believed in you and the One who sent you,” and the judgement continued. (4)

What this hadith shows other than the supreme conduct of the Messenger of Allah, particularly to non-Muslims, is that there is an understanding of respecting the Holy Books and one such way is to raise them from the ground as one does to other people or precious objects - if this was with the Torah, then what of the Qur’ān?

It is important to note that this does not mean it is an obligation to raise the Qur’ān above the floor rather it is an excellent action of respect; nevertheless one mustn’t accuse the one who doesn’t do it of being an ‘evil person’ who disrespects the Qur’ān, as can be understood above in the athar of ibn ‘Abbās.

Another example of what is construed as bad adab is the fact that many Muslims wet their fingers with spittle in order to help them turn the pages of the Qur’ān easier. Many scholars found no problem with such an action, as found in the books of Hanafi and Shāfi‘ī fiqh. (5)

The Mālikiyyah on the other hand were very strict against such an action, in particular the great ibn ‘Arabi and ibn al-Hāj who almost took the touching of the Mus-haf with spittle to that of prohibition. (6)

One of the world’s leading Fuqahā’, Shaykh Muhammad Mukhtar al-Shanqiti, was asked about such a person who wetted his finger to turn a page of the Qur’ān. He replied after explaining that this was something that the people of knowledge differed over..:

“A student of knowledge who believed strongly that this was permissible would argue with my father (who gave a fatwa instructing people to stay away from such a practice) about this. My father then said, “Ok, fine.” He then placed his finger in his mouth and approaching the face of the student, said, “What do you think if I rub this on your face?” The student took a step back and my father said, “So if this is with you then what of these blessed pages (al-suhuf al-mukarramah) which have a greater right to be preserved??”

…anyway, these are from the issues concerning honouring the Book of Allah, and it is more complete (in veneration) and excellent to avoid such actions as much as one possibly can.”

This author, in keeping with the series on the Qur’ān with its main objective to increase ones connection to His Words and reflect more upon it and eventually memorise more of His eternal guidance, shall be predominantly keeping to the Māliki school in approach to this subject, not merely out of whim but rather greater experience of that school and their unique skill in the Qur’ān and indeed memorisation as expressed by the inimitable Shanqiti tribe.

There are many ways for the Muslims to rediscover the Qur’ān and realise its intense impact that is stored within. One feels that by allowing the Muslims to feel comfortable and indeed proud of respecting the adab of the Qur’ān in ways similar to the various permissible ‘urf practices they have grown up with, coupled with a serious and authentic study of its deep meanings via memorisation will be a successful approach, particularly at these times where spiritual veneration is on the wane.

Allah knows best. And with Allah alone is success.


(1) ‘Ulūm’l-Qur’ān, al-Juday’ P. 562 (Mu’assasat’l-Rayyān)
(2) Narrated by al-Dārimi (3228) with an authentic chain, despite many scholars declaring there to be a hidden fault. And Allah knows best.
(3) Narrated by ‘Abd al-Razzāq (1331) on the authority of ibn Jurayj with an authentic chain.
(4) Authentic. Narrated by Abu Dāwūd (4449) with a good chain, via ibn Wahb.
(5) Al-Durr al-Mukhtār (322/1)
(6) ‘Āridhat’l-Ahwadhi (240/10) and al-Madkhal (318/2)

My goodness.

Am I exaggerating here or is this one of Galloway's best speeches?

Surely this is the best orator the world has seen for a long time, right?

I know, he has lapses, but he has moments. And more moments than lapses mind you.

Galloway's Parliamentary Speech

Watch it. You won't be disappointed.

If you don’t like sport, I suggest you scroll down and find something else that tickles your fancy.

And if you don’t like cricket, then I advise you to click that little button in the top right hand corner with the cross on it. This is going to be hardcore.

It’s been ages since I let myself go on everything sporting over the last few months, so I’m going to get a fix right now.

So firstly, the football.


Fantastic Footy

It’s great to see Man Utd playing fabulous football again. Of course it's important to win the Premiership this year but it’s even more important for the Reds to do it in style – and devastating style at that. Ronaldo of course has been excellent but what of Rooney’s recent goals? Absolutely amazing, especially the Cantona chip into the far corner of the net over one of the tallest keepers in the league – if only Rooney knew how to celebrate and look cool and arrogant, it would go down as one of the all-time classics.

But it won’t. Because he doesn’t have that Va Va Voom.

And that’s why, despite Obefemi Martins's rocket of a goal against Spurs a few weeks back which is a goal of the season candidate if I ever saw one, the winner will of course be Thierry Henry.

What else can be said about this Jinn of a footballer? I think I was the only Reds fan who started laughing and giving him respect when he scored that bitter last-second winner against us last week – we just have to appreciate sheer genius. But it’s his angry ambivalent attitude whilst knowing that he is the very best in the world that is his piece de resistance. How can you not smile when he celebrates as he did?

And how can you not stand up and acknowledge his wonder-goal against whoever it was a few weeks ago, starting from the back, running the length of the pitch, one-two with Fabregas and into the top corner. And then the attitude. Oh I love it.

And then a little jig at the end? Stop it. Stop it!

And that’s exactly what Rooney hasn’t got. He scores a great goal and we get that lame English attempt at being happy/cool/proud – continuing in the same not-so-enviable line of celebrations as seen from Messrs Lineker, Shearer et al. Va Va … splutter.

And finally, I would probably agree that most people would like to watch Arsenal when their own team isn’t playing. I know I certainly do.

Oh and finally finally (honest), isn’t it great to hear that the Muslims still have something left from our glory days of 1400 years ago, even though it’s only good business sense. Sheikh Mohammed’s Dubai Investment company pulling out of the proposed take-over of Liverpool FC should give us all hope – even the Muslims aren’t going to buy into an over-rated lame Scouse team that would have proved to be the worst waste of money ever. Period.

PS: thanks for beating Chelsea for us by the way.


Cracking Cricket

Firstly, although I’m gutted that England have had their baistee done so badly down in Oz (as very fleetingly alluded to earlier this month), you just have to admit that they’ve been beaten by a mighty cricket team playing the very highest quality cricket. The Aussie team (and supporting cast) have been right on the money as usual, proving that it was more down to their lack of form than something intrinsic in England’s form during the Ashes of 2005.

And what of Ricky Ponting? He is certainly the best batsman I have seen in my 20 years of following cricket, which I suppose is a bit of a grandiose statement especially since we’ve had Tendulkar, Lara, Waugh, Gooch, Border, Miandad et al during the same period. Of course, there is a general tendency to remember the most recent over the past so I could be wrong, but really, his form in recent years is something to marvel at. I think Mohammed Yousuf has a long way to go to catch him.

Which leads nicely to the recent series against South Africa, which itself has been very entertaining, especially with Cricinfo’s ball-by-ball coverage whilst you’re at work. It’s a great service which we’ll miss until May 2007, as all International Test Match cricket is put on hold whilst we get over the World Cup.

We fought hard against the South Africans, with a depleted bowling attack and facing my favourite attack bowler in world cricket – Makhaya Ntini. The last test match especially was an absolute nail-biter (aren’t all Pakistan games?) where Asif and Kaneria bowled out of their skins but in vain as Kallis saw the Africans home.

Anyone want to argue the fact that Jacque Kallis is the best all-rounder in the world? And by a country mile at that? I thought not.

Inzamam’s innings in the 2nd Test was one of the best ever. Asif’s line and length were incredible. Younis Khan’s slip catching was excellent. And that’s probably about it for the positives.

What an incredibly inept opening pair we have (and have had since Saeed Anwar and Co). This is what Imran Khan misses when he criticises Mohammed Yousuf’s batting position being too low in comparison to Ponting at No. 3. You see, Ponting actually has someone to knock the shine off the ball above him whereas Yousuf seems to be batting against a new cherry virtually every innings he plays! Our 1, 2 and 3 positions are a major problem that will always ensure we remain at the second level of cricket’s giants.

What of Shoaib? Get rid of him. Who needs him anyway? I think I’ve lost my patience with this guy, especially when he tried it with Bob Woolmer who has single-handedly brought respect and credence to Pakistani cricket. Only after we lose him to England after the World Cup will Pakistan realise what a man they had.

What of Mr Akmal? Well, enough is enough. Look, I don’t even care that he doesn’t score any runs whatsoever, but it’s the fact that his dropped catches are blatantly costing us matches. Hence he has become a negative force on the team and not even a neutral one! ZulQarnain the reserve keeper has to be given a shout in the ODIs and at least we know one thing: he can’t possibly do any worse.

Which leads on to the impending One Dayers and World Cup – what is our best team?

I’m kind of falling for the idea that Shahid Afridi, who I believe to be playing the poorest cricket ever, should come back and captain the side. I know that sounds crazy, even moreso if it means side-lining Inzy et al, but I think it’s the only way we can control the immense talent of our one true match-winner, by giving him more responsibility. Just a thought.

Anyway, it’ll be great to have Abdur-Razzaq back after injury, especially after watching Jacob Oram’s fantastically clean hitting against England and Australia, and Chanderpaul going mental against the Indians. We need some big-hitters back in our side, especially as we’re getting all classy and stylish again with Inzy and the two Ys. There’s nothing like a good bish-bash-crash-bang-wallop right out of Gotham City.

Which is why I think we still have to give Rana Naved a chance. I know he hasn’t bowled very well but we know that he has incredible talent and can be deadly on his day. He has also proved very handy with the bat and could keep our tail wagging for that bit longer. I also think Kaneria shouldn’t be too disappointed at being left out of limited overs cricket because he is expensive and does bowl too short far too often. More importantly, we already have at least one spinner (Malik) and another leggie as well (Afridi) who are there for their batting. If Malik is still going to be injured, maybe he should be considered or maybe Abdul Rahman but what of his batting? Kaneria I think is better and that's saying something...

So, my suggested eleven in batting order:

S Malik, Afridi (c), M Hafeez, Y Khan (vc), M Yusuf, Inzamam, ZulQarnain (w), Abdul Razzaq, Naved, U Gul, M Asif.

I know I might be dreaming but hey, what’s wrong with that? And if Shoaib suddenly rediscovers his adab, then I’m sure we could make a bit of a space. Hypocritcal of me? Of course it is. But we must win. At all costs. So there.

It’ll be very interesting to see how the SA One Day series works out and then we’ll be better placed to see whether we have any chance of competing with the likes of Australia at the World Cup.

And Ramiz Raja? Again?! Enough! Enough!

And that’s it. Really.