Habit is quite devious when it comes to the practice of religion, but it is even more devious when it comes to "Knowledge". We tend to want to find the mysteries and treasures hidden in dusty old books, in isolated caves or in valleys strewn with a thousand trials, when the most spectacular and cataclysmic treasure is hanging on the door of our house.

The Majesty of the Lord is the absolute nature of His "Dhat", indefinable and indescribable, and His Absolute Power, Might and Authority. The Beauty of the Lord is His relationship with us, love, clemency, mercy, gifts, forgiveness, patience... etc.

Of all the Lord's Holy Names, there is one that represents the perfect balance between Beauty and Majesty. To see and read this Holy Name is almost to see the Lord (as you can see Him !!!), for it is such a marvel of balance.

Al Rahman, pronounced Ar'Rahman.

Some will say what is the difference between Ar'Rahman and Ar'Rahim? Many will reply that the clemency and mercy of Ar'Rahim is restricted to believers and that of Ar'Rahman is general, for all creation. But what does this mean?

The mercy of Ar'Rahman is that which allows us to exist, that which allows us to be believing Muslims because we exist, that which allows us to pray, to read the Qur'an and to practise Dhikr because we exist, that which allows us to enter Paradise to access Knowledge because we and Paradise exist.

Without the mercy of Ar'Rahman no one would have known that God Is God, not even nothingness !!!

I remember hearing a lecture from Omid Safi in which he described how a Sufi overheard the proselytizing of a Christian, and when the Christian said that we must knock on the door to God's heart (I don't remember the exact phrasing), the Sufi said that you are knocking from the inside.

I can't remember this specific story. Does anyone know about it?

EDIT:

Oh wait, nvm, I found it. It is a poem by Rabi‘a Al-Basri. I found it on page 62 of Omid Safi's "Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition." I suppose everything else was imagined in my head

Here it is:

A man
not knowing
said to God:

“O God
at long last
open a door for me.”

Rabi‘a was there:

“You fool!
The door’s
never
been closed.”

I've come to realize that the challenges facing Muslim youth today—especially their spiritual struggles and need for rational answers—can’t be solved by rigid, exclusionary approaches. In my specialization in Aqeedah and philosophy, I hoped to gain insights, but the curriculum I’m following, rooted in a hardcore Salafi perspective, has only deepened my concerns. Teachers here often make takfir of Muslim philosophers and Sufis, dismiss kalam entirely, and even regard Ash'ari and Maturidi scholars as misguided, claiming they don’t represent true Ahlus Sunnah. They consider Sufism bid’ah, reject nearly any attempt at rational inquiry, and argue that the four imams would oppose the views held by Ash'ari and Maturidi scholars.

They discourage questioning philosophical or kalam topics, saying they’re only teaching these subjects to show their dangers, claiming that Islam was “pure” before the Mu'tazila introduced philosophy. Yet with so many youth facing deep spiritual and intellectual questions, I struggle to see how this inflexibility can help. Without a more open and spiritually inclusive approach, how can we address the real needs of young Muslims today?

Apparently hugging trees has immense spiritual and physical health benefits that help with grounding . Have any of you ever done it . Im worried about coming across as a hippie or insane . Also the bidah police have said its biddah . But has anyone here done it and found its helped them . And any islamic basis behind it ? Jazakallah.

How to love a triggering person that is dropping the worst insults?

How to love a dangerous threatening person?

How to really Love my worst enemies?

Assalaam Alaikum, while I do consider myself a Sufi I also consider myself a non-Abhramic Muslim, I see Allah as a force than a being. But my question is there any other Muslin who sees Isa (عليه السلام) as a Saint along with him being a prophet?

If you took bayah with a Shaykh but he never contacts you and neither do the senior murids and no one has bothered to teach me anything, is it ok to take bayah with a new Shaykh in the same tariqat who are more willing to teach me and engage with me and help me along the path of tassawuf? It's really difficult to progress even the slightest without a Shaykh. I get the seriousness of bayah but being left in your own gets you know where.

Salam everyone,

Does any has references from the hadith or litterature from tacawwuf, or even modern islamology, about the meaning of veiling and the virtue of haya from a vertical, God-like quality, and not only as a social, horizontal, and ethical statement. I feel that every commandement from Allah’s shari'ah has a precise meaning in terms of theophany, but commons scholars refuse to give up their « a lollipop has to wrap up to not attract flies » and it seems like it’s such a diluted and false interpretation, impregnated with misogyny in addition to all of that. It’s like saying that salah is a good stretching method or wird like mindfulness.. and I also would like to understand the apparent dissimetry in this commandement between men and women. I quote this hadith which is a conversation between RasoollAllah aleyhi Salam and Fatima Zahra RA. “What is best thing for a woman?” She replied, “Neither that she looks at any (non-Mahram) man nor any (non-Mahram) man looks at her.”this feels like quite a demanding way of living, when understood in the usual sense that the best/only place for a woman is in her house, a position that even Al Ghazali encouraged. Is this interpretation only rooted in misogyny or social and historic reality, or does it has a real link with the Sunna ?

There are some who doubt the fact that dhikr may have varying effects on an individual and that certain individuals are not ready for those effects. This is specific to dhikr or formulas that are not in the Quran or narrated to Hadiths. Anyone who treads on the sufi path will have no doubt and understand the effects different dhikr has on one's heart and soul and some of those effects maybe be too intense to the point that it may overwhelm the mind of the invoker, thus making him unstable, especially without the guidance of a Shaykh.

Would like to bring some statements from the experts on the path regarding this:

Sheikh Nuh Keller (a Shaykh on the Shadhili path whor received his permission from Shaykh Abdul Rahman Shaghouri) writes in his Sea without Shore, “Particular divine names such as Ya Hayy (“O Ever-living”) Ya Jabbar (“O Overmastering”) and so forth, like the Supreme Name, require permission to recite, except in limited numbers of short duration. This is because each divine name carries a particular power, and the heart and mind of the disciple may not be prepared to handle an overload of this power, just as an electrical appliance is designed to handle only a certain type of current.” [Keller, Sea Without Shore, 171]

The Ghawth, Sayyidi ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Dabbagh said as related from him by his student the learned Shaykh ‘Ali ibn al-Mubarak in al-Ibriz:

“If they took them (those Names) from a shaykh who is a knower (‘arif), it will not harm them; but if they took them from a shaykh who is not a knower, it will harm them.”

“I [‘Ali ibn al-Mubarak] said: ‘What is the reason?’ He replied, Allah be well-pleased with him: ‘The Most Beautiful Names have lights from the Real (al-Haqq), may He be exalted and glorified! Whenever you want to mention the Name, if, with the Name, there is Its light accompanying It while you mention It, then such [dhikr] will not harm you; but if there is not, with the Name, Its light accompanying it, which is meant to protect the servant from the devil, it [i.e. the dhikr of the Name] will be a cause for the harm of the servant. “‘When the shaykh is an actual knower of Allah Most High, meaning someone who is always in the Divine presence, and he wants to give his murid one of the Beautiful Names of Allah, he gives him [with it] that light which protects him, after which the murid mentions It and it will not harm him…. otherwise the murid will be destroyed. We ask Allah Most High for safety!’””

https://seekersguidance.org/answers/general-counsel/is-it-possible-to-do-a-wird-without-having-access-to-a-shaykh/

It is enough that an individual like Shaykh Abdul Aziz Dabbagh already mentioned the same thing.

Anyone who disputes the fact above, probably have not truly studied sufism in depth and probably does not have a Shaykh to guide them in this matters.

I will quote another story from Shaykh Abdul Aziz Dabbagh on this.

Disclaimer: There is no harm in doing any dhikr that us narrated in authentic hadiths. One can also recite as much of the Quran as one desires. In fact, it is recommended to finish the whole Quran in 7 days or minimuly in with 30 days. There is no harm in sending sealwat/durood upon the prophet as much as want desires.

There is also indication that the knowledge al-Damrāwī received from

visions was incorporated into the Tijānī tradition. Once al-Damrāwī was asked whether animals will enter Paradise or just humans. He related: “I was perplexed by their question, and knew not how to answer. Then I met the Prophet and I asked him about this. He informed me that some would indeed enter Paradise, they being the animals of the prophets, messen- gers, and saints, and the animals that died in jihad, and those ridden in the pilgrimage, and others like this who died in the way of God.” 167 In any case, continued the Prophet to al-Damrāwī, this Paradise was not like the Paradise for those of intellect, but was filled with lush meadows and other things loved by animals. Al-Damrāwī described this encounter in a letter to al-Tijānī; and the later Tijānī tradition narrated al-Damrāwī’s experience as part of its primary sources.

Realizing Islam, Zachary Wright

Can someone explain me this?

This has been my anchor today: https://www.islamestic.com/i-am-feeling/ I read through these duas whenever I experience uncertainty in my affairs, guilt, sadness, joy, etc.

Always I tried to meditate. Ut always something will bothers me .at time I feel lazy to even pray as I feel everything was against me at times I feel allah dont love me .. I tried so hard tomfocus yet I still failed Is my imam low? And I such a bad luck person ? My qada n qadar Is bad one?

How do I focus how can I make an effort for everytime I tried to do surely something happens make me lost motivation.....it cannot be me all time right pls help

Just fealt like scribing down some words iluminating of the heart that we all try to merge in-into-through--------put head down in prayer and praised muhammad the rasululah by a glacier lake in freeze here in alaska today.......it fealt good to be part of the ummah and comune with the larger universe that is our flowing spirit made aspirations.........it's the vision of a unity

What do you think of this kinda spiritual profiles? Most of the times they truly represent my spiritual situation and things that are currently on my mind. But as a Muslim how do you see such content?

Profile link:

https://www.instagram.com/awakenverse?igsh=Z2oxZHYyNDcybTdk

My imam Said that you Can inherit sins of others if you teach Them something wrong

But allah says in the quran that he forgives ALL sins

I am confused

Am i doomed or is there hope?

To clear up any misunderstandings, and using simple terms, Wihdat Al Wujud (oneness of existence, one single existence) does not mean that we are one with God (that is monism and it is kufr), but that only God Exists and Lives in a totally and absolutely isolated and independent way (Al Hay Al Qayum). Everything other than Him (others /Al ghayr) exists only to be a reflection of His Majesty and His Beauty. Others exist only to fulfil a mission. The role of the pen in the universe is not to be a pen but to be a tool for writing.

I mean seriously

My muslim faith in literally at stake here and all i get is mockery and laughter from people who are supposed to be my brothers and sisters in faith

I am in so much distress and full of anxiety over this and i think its pathetic that many of you wont help a brother out who is reaching out

I threw out item that was associated with and was shirk in the trash but now the item is available to the public because i threw it in the trash and now i am worried if someone might take the item i once had and make use of it after i threw it in the trash

2 questions

Do i inheret their sins by them using the item i threw out in the trash because i once used it before i decided to throw it out? Is there a way to repent to Allah for what i have done? The reason i keep asking this question is because i can not myself know the answer and thats why i ask on the internet because i am embarrased to ask the imam at the mosque

Yes i am a muslim and i am being serious and this is causing distress

Thank you for answering

My muslim faith in literally at stake here and all i get is mockery and laughter from people who are supposed to be my brothers and sisters in faith

I am in so much distress and full of anxiety over this and i think its pathetic that many of you wont help a brother out who is reaching out

I threw out item that was associated with and was shirk in the trash but now the item is available to the public because i threw it in the trash and now i am worried if someone might take the item i once had and make use of it after i threw it in the trash

2 questions

1. Do i inheret their sins by them using the item i threw out in the trash because i once used it before i decided to throw it out?
2. Is there a way to repent to Allah for what i have done?

The reason i keep asking this question is because i can not myself know the answer and thats why i ask on the internet because i am embarrased to ask the imam at the mosque

Yes i am a muslim and i am being serious and this is causing distress

Thank you for answering

Soul life , that's was my first time hearing ut from a nin muslim friend whom said I have no soul life. Because I refuse to do their meditation which involve hindu god -ma kali n budha god n jesus. Regards jesus wr all aware he is our prophet so I reject her telling me to do this that cos I told her I have my own meditation which is our zikir.

Whatndoes soul life mean ?why would she said so abt me ....for me I have nur allah light in me is more than enough.

After diving more into this subreddit, I have discovered that dhikr can apparently be dangerous and needs a spiritual guide??

1. Does this refer to the sufi group dhikr or normal repetitive dhikr? (with a tasbih/whispering to yourself)

2. How do I stop being scared of dhikr now? (I’m not a sufi lol)

Thank you

Salam everyone,

This question may seem outlandish but once we get to jannah InshAllah all of us brothers and sisters, will we gain or will we have a unique name that's peculiar to us that Allah knows and calls us by since He created us. For example there's millions of Abduls, Aminas, Zayds, Fatimahs, Muhammads, Hassans and Yusufs in this world.

Will we have unique personal names in the akhirah that is not shared by anyone? Is there anything in Islamic literature that gleans upon this?

Jazakallah in advance