About Me
I am just a normal Muslim. I hold a blue-collar job, and like many others, live from paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet and to fulfil my duties as a husband and father. But I am not unhappy about that: I am someone who cherishes the small joys of everyday life. When I found my Islam, it became my life's ultimate passion and purpose. That is not to say I don't have plenty of other (worldly) hobbies as well. In my free time, you can find me either glued to a screen or a book. I created this blog as my own form of dawah and also to spend my time more fruitfully. I hope that through this effort, Islam would have made impact on you the same way it did to me.
Introduction
We live in very confusing and often polarizing times. But it doesn't have to be that way. A little knowledge can go a long way in helping us understand each other better, thus developing a healthier society. Whether you realize it or not we receive on a daily basis a vast amount of information - unprecedented in human history. Despite that (or due to it), people often have more questions than answers. Even worse, many - being quick to judge and failing to do their own due research - may even fail to see nuances and adopt twisted or inaccurate opinions on a topic. Especially for something we hold with importance and is dear to us, our religion is something that we cannot afford to be unsure of.
Living in a country where religion is (unnecessarily) hardly discussed out of fear of being labelled "inappropriate, "divisive" or even "controversial", most of the time many of these questions remain unanswered. Unfortunately, many Muslims nowadays have been led astray - even to the point of disbelief had it not been excused due to ignorance. To be fair, the Western world has done a very good job at chipping away our iman through secularism and entertainment, as well as making the knowledge of our deen seem inconsequential as it prioritizes materialistic objectives. May Allah forgive us.
Living in an age of intelligence, the internet has become a very powerful tool. It is not the time for Muslims to sit idle, neither should we be on the backfoot of our critics. instead we should be at the forefront of this intellectual struggle, being part of algorithm by make our opinions heard. Therefore, now more than ever, is a time to speak up. We live in a time where it is hard to ignore foreign influences: be it gay rights, foreign wars or new forms (manhaj) of da'wah.
If you are a Muslim layman like myself, then inshaAllah my content resonates with you and manages to quench your thirst for answers. Or better still, it makes you start to form your own opinions on them! Keeping the ball rolling by having meaningful conversations is the first step in shaping our future. Sticking to the old rules of being "hush-hush" on controversial topics won't work forever. We need to adapt with the times or risk getting swept away by it.
Scope
Having doubts about religion is very normal, especially for Islam where we still use the Quran and Sunnah as our primary source of knowledge, despite being more than 1400 years old. Hence the aim of my dawah is to breathe a new spirit of Islam in people's hearts, by clearing their doubts and challenging their current beliefs which erode their Islam. I believe that by doing so, people become more empowered about their religion, making them more confident to practice it.
Note: My blog is not directed at those who wish to learn more about 'traditional' topics such as fiqh, 'aqeedah, tafsir and seerah. That is beyond my scope. One should consult with a trusted imam on those. Otherwise, there are many other online resources that can be referred to instead.
Writing Style
As I aim to make my dawah as accessible as possible, I primarily use simple, relatable reasoning to get my point across. I strongly believe in using easy English as jargon or unnecessarily complex vocabulary makes digesting an article a little too tedious. For Arabic words, I have also made a glossary where I provide my definitions of the terms.
As for religious rulings, I will only follow those agreed upon by ahlu-sunnah wal-jamaah. However, I will always try to add a little personal flavour to my theological discussions to make it seem more relatable and applicable, which is a part of what this blog is all about.
I will hardly use statistics in my arguments as statistics often do not tell the full picture. They also can be twisted to suit a hypothesis. That is not to say that I do not trust them; rather it's just a preference of mine to focus on using logical reasoning instead. Therefore, arguments that require statistical evidences will not be included in my blog.