Islamic Thought of the Day - Copy pasting quotes is not cool

There are many passages written by eminent non-Muslim scholars, philosophers, orientalists, leaders etc. about the excellent life & character of the Holy Prophet (pbuh).

Sadly, it's most unfortunate that in many cases these are incorrectly quoted - all too often in a way that better suits the writer's intended purpose. Then, without any further research, these incorrect quotes are scattered across thousands of locations around the world by individuals keen to propagate the fantastic character of that prophet (pbuh) which, to be fair, I feel has indeed been heavily (negatively) tainted by the works of (generally Christian) western authors.

However, despite being much endeared by his character and being a Muslim, I certainly can't stay silent and let incorrect quotes about the prophet (pbuh) continue to be circulated whilst having his numerous examples of uncompromising honesty and integrity studded in history.

The first quote I wish to correct is from a very famous Irish politician, who had a genuinely good, compassionate heart and was brave in his fight against injustice - even against his own countrymen. Edmund Burke's incorrect quote is as follows

“The Muhammadan law, which is binding on all from the crowned head to the meanest subject, is a law interwoven with a system of the wisest, the most learned and the most enlightened jurisprudence that ever existed in the world.”

The correct quote, which I've personally read in (a very old, but well preserved) book "Burke's Speech at the Impeachment of Warren Hastings", Vol II, p. 51 (as an aside - this reference is also nowhere to be found on the internet) is as follows :-

“The Muhammadan Law which is binding upon all - from the crowned head to the meanest subject; a law interwoven with a system of the widest, the most learned, and most enlightened jurisprudence that perhaps ever existed in the world.”

Unfortunately, this latter quote in this it's original form is nowhere to be found on Google.

Yes, this does take the punch slightly out of the quote but I have no qualms.

I hope to post more corrections - and there are more - in the future, insh'Allah.

Considerations when... Writing Send-logs-to-support

 A reminder of the considerations to take into account when writing the common 'send logs to support' function

- Take Screenshot of the application
- Zip log files
- Assign EmailMessage.Importance = High for Prod
- Subject of email message should have the environment
- Limit max # of emails per minute (to say, 10) to save flood server incase of a bug that gets it into a tight loop
- Don't send messages to entire group when debugging - send to current dev only by using
         #if DEBUG

 - Get current AD user's email address by using
         UserPrincipal.Current.EmailAddress
- Make image attachments inline in the email message by using  FileAttachment.ContentId

Islamic Thought of the Day - Living God You Say?

For anyone even mildly serious about that Almighty Being, that Supreme Designer and Orchestrator of this Universe, what an interesting scenario we have today in this world !

Even taking just Islam, there are a plethora of sects and many have diametrically opposed views on some fundamental points (Abrogation of verses of the Qur'an, Punishment of Apostasy, Reliability of Ahadith, etc. etc.) and each is happily following their respective dogmas but for a seeker of God, this is an extremely uncomfortable situation ! Which way to go, which path to choose, that will lead one to the Beloved? One might argue that any path can be chosen and it will lead to the Beloved but alas, to me it seems there are some serious flaws with this reasoning
- If they were so compatible with each other, then why do we have so much inter-Muslim conflict.
- How can unity of the Muslim Ummah possibly be established with differences of any sort - will any denomination's leader really be unanimously accepted by all?
- It is stated in exegeses of the verse of the opening chapter of the Holy Qur'an "Guide us along the right path..."  that the 'path' is the path that is not only the path of righteousness but the one that is straight and direct and which reaches the objective without deviation. In my humble opinion, having multiple paths that lead to the end goal may waste a seeker's precious time in this short life.

I genuinely feel that it would be difficult for anyone to have real conviction of his faith with just philosophical/logical argument. If someone very skilled and logic were to come tomorrow and deconstruct the arguments that you have in your mind for following what you follow, you would be left scrambling for days or weeks trying to reconstruct your entire belief system to work around those. Anyhow, we already know that this type of knowledge is very deficient and earlier people who came into Islam and sacrificed their everything did not do so based on reasoning. No, not at all. God Almighty is 'Al-Hayy', 'The Living' and He has graciously opened the door to personal experience and guidance from On High. To state one of many sayings about this :-
"When the slave comes towards Me a hand-span, I go an arm-length towards him. When he comes towards Me an arm-length, I go a fathom towards him. When he comes towards Me walking, I go towards him running." [al-Bukhari]

So how is it that there are still so many denominations? Why has unity in the Muslim Ummah not been achieved? Do the elders of each denomination, who are on the whole followed by their respective congregations as they would have presumably practiced righteousness their entire life, have differing beliefs about such fundamental aspects as mentioned earlier? Some points that come to my mind are :-
- It is well known that many Muslim leaders are funded by external parties, often in other countries, with a personal agenda and so do exactly as they are told - like puppets (muppets even).
- Some would not be striving for that aim as there are denominations who believe that any sort of divine communion is not possible after the Prophet Muhammad(saw) - and then they've had to fabricate and conjecture a multitude of ideas concerning the purpose of prayers, motivation of living as a Muslim, etc.
- Some may appear righteous by all means and indeed consider that they are striving but, quite understandably, they are not able or not willing to rid themselves of the more subtle chains of this world such as (ironically) the pride their position has given them, or a lack of genuine humility or loving  money/luxury/children as they should love God.

What this would imply, and I hope I'm wrong, is that rather than the elders striving to create a connection with God and hence being guided by the Grace of Almighty God by virtue of their striving, they would continue in their current state (for fear of losing power, friends or families if they are not treading the right path). This is bigotry. And this is a very sad state indeed - so many muslims, so little connection with God.

Please comment - and hopefully tell me I've missed something.

Then we can apply the same rule to theism in general and say that people of all religion should be able to ask guidance from their respective God(s)/Deceased Saint(s)/etc.

Islamic Thought Of The Day - 'Fake it till you become it'

I saw a TED talk today titled 'Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are' by Amy Cuddy, Social Psychologist.

"Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power posing” -- standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident -- can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success."

She finishes with the conclusion that we can 'fake it till you become it' - i.e. consciously pretend and act with your body what you want to be - and doing so will changes your mind and you become that which you are pretending to be. This is in contrast to the commonly held view that 'faking' it and achieving success leaves one with a bad after-taste of dishonesty. If one has 'become' that which is deserving of success, there is no bad after-taste.

One user's comment :
"I'm quite alarmed to find that I'm perpetually in a non-power pose. It's how I walk, how I sit, how I sleep... And it definitely reflects in my personality. Thanks so much for this talk. I had no idea it was so important."

So why raise this?
Because in Islam, our prophet Muhammad (saw) who was gifted with knowledge from the Creator, Maker and Fashioner of the human mind may well have been gifted with this insight 1,400 years ago and hence laid down the many injunctions that govern each and every aspect of our life.
The injunction of prayer is most eye-opening in this respect. Doing ablution 5+ times a day before each prayer time would have a mental effect of being in a state of purity. Prostrating several times during each raka'a (constituent of prayer) would induce humility in the mind.
The prophet's injunction for prayer extends into every aspect of life - from saying a prayer immediately on awakening and when going to sleep, on starting a meal and on finishing it, on leaving the house and entering it, on starting a journey, on meeting anyone, on sighting the moon, on wearing new clothes, in times of happiness, in times of sadness, etc. These would all have an effect of remembering Almighty God constantly - and how compassionate, charitable and selfless would someone be if he's constantly remembering Almighty God and constantly in a state of gratitude. [Indeed we know from that most powerful prayer for seeking forgiveness from Almighty God that it was because we forgot God momentarily that we committed a sin - "I beg pardon from Allah for all my sins, and turn to Him"]

Finally, with that background, I wrote this post to really share how the Promised Messiah(as) had commented on this aspect over a 100 years ago that Ms. Cuddy is talking about only just now :-

"... according to the Holy Quran the natural state of man has a very strong relationship with his moral and spiritual states, so much so that  even a person’s manner of eating and drinking affects  his moral and spiritual states. If the natural state of a  person is subjected to the control of the directions of divine law it becomes his moral state and deeply  affects his spirituality, as is said that whatever falls  into a salt mine is converted into salt. That is why the  Holy Quran has laid stress on physical cleanliness and  postures, and their regulation in relation to all  worship and inner purity and spiritual humility. 

Reflection confirms that physical conditions deeply affect the soul. For instance, when our eyes are filled  with tears, even if the tears are artificially induced, the heart is immediately affected and becomes sorrowful. 
In the same way, when we begin to laugh, even if the  laughter is artificially induced, the heart begins to feel  cheerful. It has also been observed that physical  prostration in prayer induces humility in the soul. As  a contrast when we draw ourselves up physically and strut about with our neck raised and our breast  pushed forward, this attitude induces a mood of  arrogance and vain glory. These instances establish clearly that physical conditions certainly affect  spiritual conditions


Experience also shows that different types of food  affect the intellect and the mind in different ways. 
For instance, careful observation would disclose  that people who refrain altogether from eating  meat gradually suffer a decline of the faculty of  bravery; they lose courage and thus suffer the loss of a divinely bestowed praiseworthy faculty. This  is reinforced by the evidence of the divine law of  nature that the herbivorous animals do not possess  the same degree of courage as do carnivorous  ones. The same applies to birds.  Thus there is no  doubt that morals are affected by food. Conversely  those who are given to a diet consisting mainly of  meat and eat very little of greens suffer a decline of meekness and humility. Those who adopt the middle course develop both types of moral qualities."

Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

The Real Imam Abu Hanifah - Personal Summary

Personal summary of video - The Real Imam Abu Hanifah 


Grandfather was a clothes merchant.

[Speaker: Our ancestors/imams never used to like taking from others so mastered a trade to earn their daily bread. But later paid positions made them potentially open to blackmail - and they were.]

Inherited 200k dirhamss from father - substantial (=8.5k gold dinars. =70k sheep.) Kept only 4k (because Ali(ra) said that was enough for someone to live on). Would only spend 2 dirhams/month. But, being clothes trader, wore good clothes/perfume.

Born Kufa, 80AH, Died Baghdad 150AH.
Considered best scholar in both, though was not an arab.
[Hence, they learnt from them regardless of their origins]

Certainly saw Anas ibn Malik (companion) offering prayers. Probably others. Distinguishing feature from other leaders of other jurispudence schools. No other Imams also had students as great as Abu Hanifa's.

Wrote very little himself. Classified fiqh in written format for first time - hajj, fasting, prayers etc. and the problems associated with each.

Imam Malik said Abu Hanifa could convince you a wooden column was made of gold - such was his debating ability.



Not as knowledgeable as other Imams on Traditions. But would only use traditions agreed by other scholars of Saying.


Would use the scholar' agreement if there was one on a point. Then, if differeing, would used his reasoning.

Learnt from Imam Hammad and many other of the best scholars - 93 Followers. For 18 years followed Imam Hammad with great respect and serving.

Taught by 4000 sheikhs.


Ottomons & Abbasids followed his school. Many other sultan who ruled the arabian world.

Abu Yusuf was chief justice and was student of Abu Hanifa.
Provided for him to feed his parents so he could study for 10 years until he gained a good position.


2/3 of Muslims follow Hanafi school.


Fasted for and did morning prayer with previous evening's ablution for 30 years every day. Whole Qur'an recited every 3 days despite business. Summer: Sleep only during noon and afternoon prayer. Winter: Sleep only at beginning of night.

[Knowledge gained by piety, ascetism - not arrogance, evil intentions]


30k dirhams profit but his assistant forgot to mention defect so gave all away to chairyt.


Got out of situation - 'Seeking protection, give them protection to a place of safety'

Refused to be a judge. Whipped/Imprisoned.

Ibn Al Qaiyim praised him greatly in his book.

[Knowledge is hard to attain - a gift from God]

[Don't be 100% extremist in your madhab though]

[Malik: Anyone's sayings can be accepted or rejected except the man in this grave - pointing to HPSAW.]

Medjool Dates - Tesco vs Ecklee

It's well known among date consumers one of the superior types of dates are the Medjool variety - the 'crown jewels'. They are large, dense and absolutely delicious. Tesco have their own variety of a pack of 9 for £2.00 (£11.12/kg). On average, this works out to 22p a date.

This may not seem too bad especially given the lack of competition in the date-selling space as it's a mildly popular product that sells very well with certain ethnic groups and much less so with the general population.

However, going to a much smaller store - on that you'll find perhaps in a small town or village - and the unwarranted price exaggeration becomes quite apparent. One such store is Ecklee in Motspur Park (who don't have a functioning website currently, hence the lack of a link). The same Medjool variety there retails for exactly half that price - 11p a date. The dimensions and taste are, on average, the same. A minor difference - and it should be pointed out if we are to be fair - is the Tesco variety is about 5-10% softer than the small-store variety (note though that the taste is the same) and this adds to the excellence of the date. I'm not sure if I got lucky with that particular harvest for the Tesco variety or if they are consistently softer but I will try to verify this at another time in future.

Shopping around can certainly save a pretty penny !

10 Advices of Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani

Personal summary of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR13SnEYUJU

One cannot be a pious person until he considers these compulsory on himself :

- Never backbites
- Never thinks bad about anyone
- Refrain from mocking and joking about others
- Controlling your gaze
- Always truthful
- Always remember favours of Allah
- Spend in wealth in truth, not useless
- Not being haughty, big-headed, proud
- Punctual on 5 daily prayers
- Steadfast on sunnat