Author: Dr Ovamir Anjum

Uwaymir Anjum is the Imam Khattab Chair of Islamic Studies at the Department of Philosophy, University of Toledo. He is also professor of Islamic Intellectual History at Qatar University. He studies the connections between theology, ethics, politics, and law in classical and medieval Islam, with a subfocus on its comparisons with western thought. Related fields of study include Islamic philosophy and Sufism. His dissertation, published in 2012 by Cambridge University Press, is entitled Politics, Law, and Community in Islamic Thought: The Taymiyyan Moment. His translation of Ibn al-Qayyim's Madârij Al-Sâlikîn is forthcoming.

Islamic Tradition (4) | Differences of Opinion and Humility | Dr. Uwaymir Anjum

WE MOVE ON from Part (3) to discuss how Islamic Tradition, which has been neglected in recent centuries—under pressure from Modernism—has the power to bring us back to our blessed state of practical Islam. The Second Obstacle: Modernity (continued) The Dynamism of…

Islamic Tradition (3) | Modernity | Dr. Uwaymir Anjum

WE CONTINUE DISCUSSING reasons why Islamic Tradition has been neglected, especially in our last several centuries. The first obstacle (Part 2) has been ignorant sectarianism (the “Nishapur syndrome”) in some places and, in other places, it has been the sacrificing of Islamic…

Islamic Tradition (2) | The Nishapur and Ummayyad Syndromes | Dr. Uwaymir Anjum

HAVING CHARACTERIZED THE “heart of our Tradition” as those curators, patrons and supporters—and their technical tools and writings which have preserved our understanding of the context and meaning of the Quran and Sunnah—we move on to reasons why Islamic Tradition has come…

Da‘wah: An American Thing? | Uwaymir Anjum

Is DAʿWAH AN American thing? The answer is, yes. Absolutely. We must insist on inviting others to Islam, because we cannot be fully Muslims without it. But can we still be fully American? Isn’t proselytizing frowned upon in a society that celebrates…

Translation from Ibn Al-Qayyim’s Madarij Al-Salikin (Steps of the Seekers) | The Station of the Sought (Al-Murâd) | Part 3

EDITOR’S NOTE: THE Station of the Sought is one of the advanced states of the heart for worshippers who are seriously striving for nearness to Allah, according to Ibn Al-Qayyim. It has three tiered levels, ascending from lower to higher: (1) Allah…

Du‘a’ As A Goal-Setter

DU ʿÂ’ IS WORSHIP, said the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and then he recited the words of Allah: And your Lord says: Call on Me; I will answer you; verily those who are too arrogant to worship Me will surely enter Hell-Fire, abased…

Translation from Ibn Al-Qayyim’s Madarij Al-Salikin (Steps of the Seekers) | The Station of the Sought (Al-Murad) | Part 2

EDITOR’S NOTE: IN Part One of The Station of the Sought, Ibn Al-Qayyim states that this Station has three levels, the first level being Allah’s protection of His servant by way of the servant’s own compulsion against disobedience. Ibn Al-Qayyim further gives three distinct…

Translation from Ibn Al-Qayyim’s Madarij Al-Salikin (Steps of the Seekers) | The Station of the Sought (Al-Murad) | Part 1

The Seeker and the Sought Among the stations of iyyâka naʿbudu wa iyyâka nastaʿîn—You alone we worship and your help alone we seek [Sûrat Al-Fâti ḥah, 1:5]—is the Station of the Sought (Al-Murâd). The people [of sulûk, i.e. travelers upon the spiritual…

Learned Helplessness

IN 1965, MARTIN E.P. Seligman, while studying the relationship between fear and learning, accidentally discovered an unexpected phenomenon while doing experiments on dogs using Pavlovian (classical conditioning) technique. Seligman used a harmless electric shock to condition and restrain the dog so it…

Translation from Ibn Al-Qayyim’s Madarij Al-Salikin (Steps of the Seekers) | The Station of Remembrance (Thikr) | Part 4

Heedlessness and Remembrance Dhikr Said The author of Manâzil Al-Sâ’irîn, Shaykh ʿAbdullâh Al-Anṣâri] Al-Harawi (d. 482/1089), said: “Remembrance (Dhikr) is to be rid of heedlessness and forgetfulness.” The difference between heedlessness and forgetfulness is that heedlessness is willful neglect whereas forgetfulness is…