RT @musafurber:

ﷺ

al-salamu alaykum Today’s share contains the first quarter of al-ʿUqbānī's (d811 AH) commentary on al-Salālajī's (d564 AH) Al-ʿAqīdah al-burhāniyyah. Here is more information on the book and why I chose it, from the preface: “This book presents a translation of Al-ʿAqīdah al-burhāniyyah wa-l-fuṣūl al-īmāniyyah by Imām Abū ʿAmr ʿUthmān bin ʿAbd Allāh al-Salālajī (521–564 AH) along with a commentary by Abū ʿUthman Saʿīd bin Muḥammad bin Muḥammad al-ʿUqbānī (720–811 AH). “I translated the matn text sometime during 2022. It was one of my earlier translations related to creed, theology, and logic (ʿaqīdah, kalām, manṭiq). My original plan was to present the matn, either as an appendix to a longer book or as a chapter within an anthology of similar works, free of commentary and annotations. But plans change. After reading through al-ʿUqbānī’s commentary and finding that it provided a badly-needed gentle introduction to core kalām issues, I decided to translate it and present them together.” And that’s what I did a few weeks back. Thank you for your continued support and patience despite my shortcomings, —musa Supporters can access the PDF here:

Dear Nafs: Should you find yourself unable to engage in good acts, know that the intention to be patient until you can do so is itself a good act. Short-circuit the doldrums.

A practical takeaway here is that you can upgrade every good act simply by adding (لا إله إلا اللَّه). The goal, though, is to make it constant in your heart, mind, and tongue.

The highest branch of faith (shuʿab al-īmān) is belief in Allah. The lowest is removing annoyances from the path. Some ʿulamāʾ mention that one can easily combine the highest and the lowest branches by saying (لا إله إلا اللَّه) when removing annoyances from the path.

Dear Nafs: Take a moment to thank Allah for the individuals who fulfil all those communal obligations that, if not for them, would fall within your responsibilities. And then express your immense gratitude for Him placing you in such a community with other believers.

[Among the branches of faith related to iḥsān is:] Despising disbelief, immorality, and disobedience, and rejecting the distressing things that Shayṭān hurls at humans through whisperings. It branches off into feeling joy for good deeds and sorrow for bad deeds and not willingly giving up any part of one’s religion (al-shuḥḥ bi-l-dīn). —Turjamān shuʿab al-īmān, Sirāj al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar bin Ruslān al-Bulqīnī (d805AH).

Dear Nafs: If all authorities in the discipline before, after, and concurrent to your fave authority say X, but they must all be wrong because your fave says otherwise—maybe all that time you spend proving them wrong would be better spent in taking an honest and penetrating look at your own motives and where they are likely to lead, namely are you in it for Allah, or for your own nafs.

Learning feels a lot like taking a picture with your thumb smashing an infinite zoom-out button.

From the explanation of the most beautiful names al-Marʿashī (aka Saçiqli-Zadeh) gives in Nashr al-ṭawāliʿ, relaying what is mentioned in some commentaries on the hadith: «الكريم» هو الذي إذا قدر عفى وإذا وعد وفى، وإذا أعطى زاد على منتهى الرجاء، ولا يبالي كم أعطى ولمن أعطى، وإن رفعت حاجة إلى غيره لا يرضى، وإذا جفي عاتب وما استقصى، ولا يضيع من لاذ به والتجى، ويغنيه عن الوسائل والشفعاء، فمن اجتمع له جميع ذلك لا بالتكلف فهو الكريم المطلق، وذلك له تعالى فقط. The generous one (al-karīm) is the one who forgives when able, fulfils his promises, gives beyond all expectations, and does not concern himself with how much he provides or to whom. If a need is raised to someone else, He is displeased. If treated with neglect, He reproaches but does not exact a full account. He does not forsake anyone who seeks refuge in Him, and He dispenses with intermediaries and intercessors. The one who possesses all these qualities without effort is the absolute generous (al-karīm al-muṭlaq), which applies solely to Allah (Exalted is He). * * * One of the great things about al-Marʿahsī’s book is that it includes important matters from Al-Mawāqif and Al-Maqāsid and their supporting literature that are missing in Ṭawāliʿ and its supporting literature. This section on Allah’s names is one of them.

@AdeebShums Such an excellent book.

Wealth is good for the righteous when it serves as a servant, not a master. —Ḥajī Khalīfah

A short snippet from Ḥajī Khalifah (this is from observation six in chapter five in the intro): Know that those who focus more on memorisation than on acquiring true expertise do not gain much in terms of the ability to engage deeply with the science. This is why you often find that someone who has mastered memorisation does not excel in the art itself and that their expertise in their field is limited when they engage in discussions or debates. If someone thinks that memorisation alone is the goal of scientific expertise, they are mistaken. The true goal is to develop the ability to extract, deduce, and quickly move from premises to conclusions, from causes to effects, and vice versa. If this expertise is combined with the ability to recall information quickly, then that is indeed the ideal. However, this cannot be achieved by mere memorisation alone. Rather, memorisation is one of the means of recall, which depends on the strength or weakness of the memory. This, in turn, is related to the natural temperament, though it is something that can be improved with practice.