Roots Of Knowledge ROK 😊

The Texts Are Divine the Challenges Are Not For most of Islamic history, scholars lived inside a stable intellectual world. The Qur’an, Sunnah, and Fiqh were studied in societies that largely shared the same assumptions about Allah, truth, and family. A person living in that world didn’t need to understand foreign philosophies to preserve their faith. The society itself reinforced it. Today, a scholar does not operate inside a bubble. He serves in a global environment saturated by Liberalism, Secularism, Materialism, Feminism, and Post-Colonialism. These aren't just "optional ideas" we can ignore. They are embedded in our education, our media, our laws, and even our language. If we produce a graduate who knows the texts but does not understand the intellectual forces shaping the modern mind, we are doing a disservice to the Deen. Many institutions educate as if their students will live in an isolated bubble. They teach them to read but not to analyse the ideas that dominate the minds of the people they lead. Why did this book's author write in such a different style than that of that scholar? What difficulties did so-and-so encounter that prompted them to talk about a certain subject? Fragility rather than piety is the outcome when students' minds are not engaged. When these graduates are inevitably hit with sophisticated arguments regarding human rights, history, or science, they often panic. Because they lack the tools to engage, they retreat. They struggle to make sense of where they stand and why this clashes with the tradition they've studied. If they don't give in to the warped ideas and belittle their own teachers, they try to avoid providing sound responses. They label anyone who asks a hard question a "modernist," a "deviant," or a "sell-out." They do this not because the labels are accurate, but because fear has replaced analysis. This is not loyalty to the tradition. It is insecurity. Real preservation of the Deen requires what our classical scholars did. They didn't hide from Greek philosophy or Materialism. They studied it, mastered it and then dismantled it. The day we stopped doing that we started paying the price. We need to include a curriculum that gives students contentment of the Heart and tools to accurately make sense of the challenges in the real world, preserving the tradition of knowledge. We must decide whether to continue producing graduates who are secure only in their classrooms, caretakers of a museum. Or we can create intellectuals who are capable of standing tall in the contemporary world without submitting to it and identifying as the heirs of a civilisation. Teachers should think about the following: While the teaching of advanced Quranic subjects, Hadith, Aqeda, and Fiqh teachers must expose pupils to contemporary critiques by orientalists and so-called progressive Muslims. These authors and writers, regrettably, are the ones whose opinions dominate academic circles without graduate students challenging them. Madrassas and graduates should publish books and papers that demonstrate their depth of knowledge and intellectual rigour for the wider public and academia.

Bringing Seerah to Life I went on Umrah a few years ago and tried to put together all the narration and occurrences of Sunnah as I walked through the streets of Makkah and Madina. I felt that after studying the Seerah there are still a lot of gaps in trying to find a good level of consistency and coherence with the Quranic Ayahs. I knew it was going to be an extremely hard job, especially since the narrations frequently don't have location markers. So, I started gathering as many accounts as I could discover about the Mosque of the Prophet (peace be upon him). I was able to get about 100 alhamdulilah, but I know there are a lot more. The goal was to try to picture the events and conversations that took place in Madina and make them real. Alhamdulillah, this time I was able to talk to some scholars who were working on restoring historic sites. I asked them about a prominent place that is mentioned in the hadith literature. It helped me a lot to go to the Ziyarats and help the group picture what happened. The places we visited included Thaniyyat al-Wida, Wadi al-Aqeeq, Masjd al-Dirar, the well of Budhaa'ah, and the homes of our mothers, the Prophet's wives, and the Prophet's children. It's important for Muslims to comprehend the revelation of Islam and what it means for our times by taking away the romantic portrayal of the seerah you hear in emotional speeches and understanding how people lived and the good and bad times they experienced. InshAllah, if I have enough information, I want to develop a series about it, maybe with videos and images, to enable Muslims feel closer to the life of Our Beloved Messenger, peace be upon him. In my opinion, the best method for me to learn about Seerah would be: 1. Knowing what each verse and chapter of the Quran means in the order of the Seerah 2. Adding to the stories in the Hadith and Seerah books 3. To know the dates, names of persons, and how they are related to each other. 4. Know where every event happened in the real world. 5. Knowing all the measurements, clothes, buildings, and social norms and hierarchies.

InshAllah ill be going Umrah quite a few of you have requested duas and I have poor memory 😕 Asking duas from someone going on Umrah is a blessed Sunnah Ive made a google form for anyone wishing for duas https://forms.gle/zCcjmW8CixjoAzGJ8 May Allah accept our Umrah

The Ifta Dilemma In modern Hanafi madrasas, the Ifta specialisation is frequently seen as the pinnacle of a student's education. Nonetheless, the instructional methodology pertaining to this field of study necessitates a serious review. At this time, we can divide Ifta training into two different methods: the Retrieval approach and the Derivation method. The Textual Retrieval Trap The first, and sadly most usual, way to teach a student is to have them find an answer that already exists. The learner finds the problem, looks it up in a secondary source like Fatawa Hindiyya or Radd al-Muhtar, and writes it down. This is basically a "copy-and-paste" paradigm, which means that it is a process of transmission (Naql) rather than legal reasoning. This strategy is useful for typical, resolved issues, but it doesn't help people really understand them. It produces graduates who can quote a text but don't know how it works. The outcome is often a fatwa with a few lines of English language followed by a list of Arabic citations that look nice but don't really do justice to the fiqh. The Importance of Derivation (Takhrij) the second method is even stricter; it teaches the student how to find the legal reason (Illah) of a problem. If an exact answer cannot be located in the classical texts, which is becoming more prevalent in our time, the student must have the ability to traverse the approach of the Hanafi jurists. They need to find similar situations (Naza'ir), figure out the governing rules, and come up with an answer that fits with the Madhab's principles and concepts. This is the art of Takhrij. The Problem of modernity when we look at the present world, it becomes clear that this second way is necessary. You can't find solutions to problems with new medical technologies, bitcoin, or digital rights by looking up words in a book from the 1600s. Is a PDF copyright a kind of Mal (property) or Haqq (right)? Is a video call a "gathering" for a contract? Does praying while sitting on an aeroplane mean you have to do it again (I'adah) when you land? Think about a very unlikely situation: What would a Muslim do if they went to Mars and had to do Tayammum on Martian soil? Do they use the Earth moon or the two moons of Mars to figure out the lunar month? You won't find "The Chapter of Mars" among Imam Muhammad al-Shaybani's writings. There is no exact answer. But the answer is there. It can be found by looking for the main ideas and common threads in the Shariah. The answers that are hidden is where real learning starts. These questions will stop a student who has just been taught how to retrieve information. A student who has learnt how to derive would know that the answer to a modern bioethical question might not be in a typical chapter. It could be in the logic of the chapter on Wells or the chapter on the freed slave. The decision is based on the principle, not the title of the chapter. A trainee will only understand this relationship if they go beyond just translating rulings and really think about how the law works. We need more than just surface-level research to make good Muftis. To master the Hanafi writings, you need to really understand the hierarchy of the Mutun (Mukhtasar), the Shuruh (Commentaries), and the Usul. Before a Takhasus student attempts to answer today's hard questions, they need to stop merely looking for quotes to copy and start seeking rules to follow.

Book List For You Some of you have asked me for book suggestions. Before I do that, let me tell you the types of books Muslims should be reading. Firstly, it is crucial for Muslims to thoroughly read the Quran in a language they can comprehend. The word of Allah is the heart of Islam, and the ummah will only stay strong in Islam as long as they know the exact message of Islam. The next most important thing for every Muslim to study is the life of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Learning about the Prophet (peace be upon him) will undoubtedly help you understand how Islam originated in its early years and how to apply the Quran in everyday life. Additionally, it develops a deep love for him in the hearts of all Muslims. After that, you should read a little bit about the first four caliphs, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. May Allah be pleased with them. This will highlight the challenges that the early generations had to deal with and how they worked to bring Muslims together and keep Islam alive in the community. Once someone has attained this level, they can start reading general history books. These could be about Muslim leaders over the years, important people in different fields, or even important people in music. Some people will read a lot of books, while others will be fine with just a few. The goal shouldn't be to finish a list, but to learn from the experience and the content. Writing after reading can help you make sense of fleeting ideas that come and go. You should only read books about self-improvement and learning more about the society you live in, including all the problems that come with it, after you are sure of the principles and beliefs that Allah tala and His Messenger peace be upon him have given you. This doesn't mean that people can't benefit from these kinds of works. Instead, it keeps people from having to unlearn things they didn't know were against Islam's principles. The safest method to deal with modern works like these is to read them and discuss them with people you trust to understand Islam. Here are some books that benefitted from: 1. Quran 2. Seerah books [anyone will do in your language] 3. the four caliphs by Suyuti [translated into English] 4. Islam and the world [Abu alHAsan Nadawi] 5. Lost Islamic history [Firas Khateeb] 6. Islam between the East and the West [Alijah Izatbegavich ] 7. Islam at the crossroads [Muhammad Asad] 8. The four pillars of Islam [Abu alHAsan Nadawi] 9. Atomic Habits [James Clear] 10. Deep work [Cal Port] 11. The Shock Theory [Naomi Klein] 12. The house of wisdom [Jonathan Lyons] 13. Islam through Western eyes [Jonathan Lyons] 14. Scriptural integrity in Sunni Hadith tradition [Ahmed Sanober] 15. Understanding the Quran themes and styles [Abdel Haleem] 16. Men are from mars women from venus [John Gray] 17. Before you tie the knot [Mohamed Hag Magid and Salma Elkadi Abugideiri] 18. Dumbing us down [John Taylor Gatto] 19. The textual integrity of Sahih Bukhari [Muntasir Zaman] 20. Prisoners of Geography [Tim Marshall] Here are some books I benefited from from this year alhamdulillah: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_gTFzUtPNxgC6ej-EPJwEF7INXluyKEF?usp=drive_link https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OMwqfr6R7Eih-yjiOZmqIXPGePgBVh7_?usp=drive_link

Start reading good literature again. A movie based on a book can never have the same effect on a person's psyche as the book itself. If you read a well-written book every day, you'll be investing in your mind and your intellectual growth. People that read a lot will learn how to think critically and question their environment and ideas. Movies will only save you from facing the facts of reality. I strongly suggest that grads read novels that they wouldn't normally read to expand their reading horizons. They shouldn't be afraid to learn about new ideas and points of view after all the years of Islamic education they've had. The whole point of all those years of studying was to get you ready for today. People who say we don't need any other books than our studies don't know about the huge collection of works that experts from different parts of the Muslim world had collected in their libraries. Some of the best Muslim experts of the last hundred years read so much that they would put many us to shame. Shaykh Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Nadawi and Shaykh Mustafa Sabri were two scholars who greatly struck me. Both of them knew all about the harms of Orientalism how hard it impacted Muslims. May Allah help us bring back the reading generation.

Our research vs the absolute ruling of Allah and His Messenger peace be upon him Imam Malik r.a. said: everyone's statement is subject to rejection besides the Prophet peace be upon him One thing you learn in Usool Fiqh is that the Shariah's clear rule is superior to any person's opinion. So, when a graduate gives their take to a mixed crowd of individuals with different backgrounds, they need to be careful about how they articulate it so that people don't mix up what a scholar says with what Allah & His Messenger, peace be upon him says directly. People may adversely impact the work of another scholar or school of thought if they aren't careful and think that there isn't room for any other opinion. In the past, scholars could only share their work with people who had a particular depth of knowledge in that discipline. It wasn't actually open to the general public like it is now. Unfortunately, many online articles and fatwas these days don't do enough research and are poorly written. The common reader will only get a small part of the whole subject, even though a scholar might be able to see beyond the verbiage. Some of my lecturers would tell me that if I couldn't make the reader or listener understand that what I said was the opinion of someone else and not the absolute stance in Islam, I should at least explain that this is what my research has led me to.

Learn to communicate and you'll live happier Without effective communication skills, a marriage may collapse or result in the cohabitation of two independent individuals. Communication has always been at the core of a healthy human society. We forgive children for not being able to express themselves, and spend so many years educating the youth to express their thoughts accurately. From conveying the message of Islam to the wider community to politics and relationships between family members and spouses, every aspect of our lives is affected by the quality of our communication. Men have their own nature of communication in many ways and styles, and women have different ones. From what we like talking about to how we react to others, there are patterns in how we communicate. Men talk a lot about solving problems, while women like focusing more on feelings and emotions. The husband will naturally try to solve the problem and come up with a list of solutions when he hears the wife's argument with her mother-in-law. The wife probably doesn't want that answer; she just wants him to listen to her and show that he understands how she feels. If you're thinking of getting married or are married, consider investing in improving your communication skills. Here are the books i used for the marriage course: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_gTFzUtPNxgC6ej-EPJwEF7INXluyKEF?usp=drive_link The following were helpful in communication between men and women: 1. Men are from mars women are from venus - John Gray 2. Youre just not listening - Kate Murray 3. You just dont understand - Deborah Tannen

Some pros and cons of studying 1-to-1 vs classroom Studying privately with a teacher and studying with other students in a classroom has its pros and cons. Many students have asked me which one is better, and because I have experience studying mostly in the classroom with other students, as well as in private study and teaching, I want to mention a few points regarding this. Generally, if a person is very studious and dedicated, studying privately is probably the better option for them. This approach allows them to advance at their own speed and usually to cover more content and engage in more in-depth discussions with the teacher, which might not be possible in a normal classroom setup. However, one of the drawbacks of having a private one-on-one class with a teacher is that if the teacher is ill or unable to attend, this will impact the student. Likewise, if the student regularly misses lessons, the teacher might not perceive that student as dedicated enough to warrant their time. On the other hand, I would say that studying one-on-one with a teacher is much better for me. However, what tends to happen is that the student might not receive the same level of interaction, especially if it's online. In a classroom, students learn patience and how to tolerate other students debating or disputing a particular matter, which helps them adapt to situations that do not conform to what they are used to. This is why the classroom method develops a person's character more, while studying one-on-one privately may develop a person academically more. A balance is required, and unfortunately, I sometimes see students who only study online find it very hard to socialize with other students and tolerate the differences in the classroom.

The Rabbis of Madina did not accept Islam because they wanted to stay relevant to their own people. Today, many Muslims on social media are sadly losing their faith in order to stay relevant to the algorithm.

register: https://as-suffa.org/blog/events/marriage-is-from-my-sunnah/

Books used for preparing for the course this Saturday 6th

Learn about marriage to appreciate it From all of my own research and interactions with people about marriage troubles, I've learnt that the majority of problems between husband and wife are founded on three basic problems: 1. Failure to grasp each other's backgrounds until its too late 2. Inability to listen and communicate honestly until the deep damage is done. 3. Underestimating the necessity of discussing and practising intimacy until they seek it elsewhere Its pointless trying to wish everything gets better if you dont deal with it practically first InshAllah ill be touching on these topics this Saturday, the 6th, at Assuffa. Links in the comments

ماذا أقول عن كلية أبراهيم؟ لم أكن أتوقع ما رأت أم عيني ولا ما قرع سمعي وليس الخبر كالمعاينة فما شعرت حين زرت كلية إبراهيم التي تقع في مركز مدينة لندن فوق ما تصفه كلماتي ولكن الإناء يترشح بما فيه. وهذا ما أحيى في نفسي الكتابة باللغة العربية ونبش ما دفنته الأيام وأنسته الخطب فدونكم نبذة من رحلتي إلى تلك المدرسة الدينية: كنت أتخيل في نفسي بأني سأجد نفس الهيكل المدرسي المنتشر في بلادنا اليوم طابق النعل بالنعل لا يجاوزونه قدر أنملة ألا هو عدم الاهتمام بتطور الأساليب التدريسية وانتقاء المناهج المفيدة المناسبة مع الجيل الراهن من المسلمين والمسلمات لا سيما مع ما يظهر من انحطاط الاستعداد العلمي فإذا قلت بأني فوجئت بما لدى هؤلاء أهل كلية أبراهيم فلا أكن مبالغا بهذه المقالة بدأنا ـ أساتذة الصفةـ السفر حين فلق الصبح فلذا لم حظي من النوم فأخذتني سنة و غلبتني عيناي أثناء الرحلة. ولكن سير السيارة لا تيسر لراكب نومة فكان نومي بين أضغاث أحلام وأصوات عجلات تسرع حينا وتبطئ آخر فاصبح الركاب تغشى طائفة منهم أمنة و نعاس وطائفة لم يمسها من ذلك شيء. استغرق الرحلة حوالى ثلاث ساعات فوصلنا الساعة العاشرة والنصف تقريبا وقد اتفقنا بالقدوم الساعة التاسعة وعشرين دقيقة فاخلفنا الميعاد بساعة أو ما تزيد على ذلك من غير ملكنا. والذي له أدنى إلمام بشوارع لندن يعرف جيدا ما يعاني كل من حاول أن يجلس مقعد السائق . وليس هذا فحسب بل ريث ما يحسب أحد أنه قد خرج من عقبة واجهته عقبات ومنها تيسر موقف المركب. على كل حال كان المفروض أن نحضر الدرس مبكرا لأحد كبار الأساتذة الأديب الحبيب مولانا مجاهد حفظه الله ونفعنا الله بعلومه وكرمه وحبه للتعليم . ولكن سبق القدر الإلهي فالله قد يعوض المرأ خيرا مما فاته رحبنا الشيخ فرحان أحد خريجين الكلية وذهب بنا إلى قاعة الدرس وهي تقع في الطبقة العليا في البناء . وذلك أمر آخر خلاف ما توقعت فإني كنت أتخيل بناء شامخا مميزا بساحة واسعة وطبقة فوق طبقة مثل ما يوجد للكليات الأخرى فوجدت كلية إبراهيم ليست تعريفا عن لبنات وجدران مادية ولو قلت أن كلية إبراهيم عبارة عن جهد وفكر وحب وتربية متوارثة من لدن صاحب الرسالة عليه أفضل الصلوات وأتم التسليمات تتمثل في صورة معلم وطالب يبتغون فضلا من الله تعالى ورضوانه فلا أأراه مبالغة وإطراء وكيف يكال ويوزن ما لا يجازيه إلا العليم العزيز فكان أول شآبيب الزيارة التي علقت بسويدات قلبي سماع الدرس باللغة العربية الفصيحة فشعرت كأني في حلقة من درس الأدباء القدامى تحت ظل نخلة في إحدى قرى بني عقيل. فدعني انقل لك ما حدث في الدرس: قرأت أحدى الطالبات نصا من الكتاب المقرر فوصلت إلى كلمة "تلكلك" فوقف المعلم قائلا بصوت عال يحضّ الطلبة على ذكر مترادفة لها : "أتني بكلمة أخرى بنفس المعنى" فأنشأ الطلبة يجيبون حسب قرائحهم وغوصهم اللغة وما حفظوا وتعارفوا عليه من قبل. فرأيت جو حرية السؤال والحرص على الإجابة من كلا الطرفين فيصحح هذا ويخطّأ ذاك حتى أضحكني الشيخ حين قال "ما هكذا تورد الإبل " ! بل أقول يا شيخ هكذا يورد العلم حفظك الله هنالك تذكرت أيام دراستي وبيئة التعلم وإصلاح النطق والتعبيرات التي غذّتني كذكريات الولد لأمه حين لطفت به وألقمته بأصابعها فتدلل عليها. فهكذا قضى ذلك القسم من الدرس ثم تلاه القسم الأخير وهذا هو الذي أوقع في نفسي رتبة المعلم الحبيب فإنه كان يراجع واجب منزل كل طالب وطالبة بيديه ثم يشرحه لهم وذاك أمر ـ كما يعرفه كل من قام مقام معلم- يشق على المرأ فإنه لابد له من القرأة كلمة كلمة مع محاولة تمييز الحروف بعضها عن بعض وهذا إذا كان الطالب ذا خط مناسب وأما إذا كان غير ذلك فلا حول ولا قوة الا بالله ! وبعدما انتهى الدرس أقبل الشيخ مجاهد علينا فجلس بين أيدينا متواضعا دون أي كلفة وأخذ يشرح لنا أسلوبه تعليم الأدب وما تعرض له في سبيله فعرفته عندئذ أنه لا ينفع الطالب إلا انتقاء أسلوب مناسب ونصوص متدرجة تأهله فتتشرب اللغة في نفسه ويصبح له ذوق أدبي . فهذا ما سطرت في عجالة ولي بقايا عسى أن أكتبها فيما بعد إن شاء الله كتبه لياقت زمان

Marriage is a sacred bond built on knowledge, clarity, and intention—not just ceremony. The Prophet ﷺ taught us that preparation, counsel, and compatibility are part of the Sunnah.⁠ ⁠ Join Mufti Liaquat Zaman for this one-day course to learn what it means to enter marriage with understanding and sincerity—from the rights and responsibilities that sustain it to the principles that protect it.⁠ ⁠ 🗓 Saturday 6th December 2025⁠ 🕙 10am–3pm⁠ 📍 As-Suffa Institute, 156 High Street, B6 4UX⁠ 🎓 Taught by Mufti Liaquat Zaman⁠ 💷 Onsite £15 (£20 with lunch) | Online £20⁠ 📘 Course notes provided⁠ ⁠ 🔗 Register now at⁠ https://as-suffa.org/education/marriage-is-from-my-sunnah/

Reading is the cure for tunnel vision and ignorance Reading is very important for Muslims, especially for students of knowledge. Reading has numerous benefits, such as opening the mind, allowing one to see things from different perspectives, fostering abstract thinking, and generating ideas that one may not have considered before. There are many other advantages, as you may already know. When information is fed to you from another source, it is akin to a child being spoon-fed. The child does not develop the ability to understand the food or how to obtain it; they are simply being fed all the time. In contrast, when a person reads sentences and the concepts within them ideas, storylines, facts, figures, and data they are empowered to think for themselves. Even if that thinking is not initially mature or sophisticated, it serves as the seeds that allow a plant to grow. I would definitely say that there is no substitute for reading. No moving images or talks can replace it. While they have their own benefits and ways of engaging a person, the most powerful method is reading or at least listening to an audiobook. This is something I believe students of knowledge must invest in. The more you read, the more you invest in your understanding, develop your ability to think for yourself, and enhance your reasoning skills. We need to encourage youngsters and students to read and explore different genres. Do not limit yourself to one type of genre. Read a variety of texts, whether they are books on productivity, self-development, or any relevant topic. If you are from the ulama, you should also read works by authors you might not normally consider. For instance, when studying the Quran, read what Muslims have written as well as what orientalists have produced. The same applies to hadith. Not necessarily to gain new knowledge but to understand why people say what they say. It is essential to have the ability to receive information and make sense of it in light of the Quran, Sunnah, and the Muslim tradition. Otherwise, ulama will remain restricted in their perspectives and will struggle to engage with society and respond to the real world in a balanced manner.