A Muslim Convert Once More

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following article, British & Muslim , is based on a lecture given to a conference of British converts, by Shaykh ‘Abd al-Hakim Murad Timothy John Winter, on 17 th September 1997.   It is said that the 19 th century French poet Étienne Mallarmé can only be fully understood by those who are not French, because they read him more slowly.   Converts to Islam, the subject of this essay, can perhaps claim the same ambiguous advantage in their reading of the Islamic narrative.   Several consequent questions impose themselves: can the clarity of vision brought by novelty outweigh the absence of a Muslim upbringing?   Is adoption a more culturally fertile condition than simple sonship?   Has the dynamism of Islamic culture after the initial Arab era owed everything to the energy of recent converts, with their own ethnic genius: the Persians, and then, pre-eminently, the Turks; and if so, might the appearance of converts in the West presage a l

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is adapted from a swuhbah by Shaykh Muhammad Nazhim Adil al-Haqqani (q.s.) on the 17 th October 2010.   Despite our weakness, our sole intention in life must be to destroy bathil , falsehood.   We must plant that intention in our hearts that we are going to dedicate our lives to uphold truth and justice, and to destroy the evil teachings and the destructive lifestyle brought by Shaythan .   We must not feel rested, until there exists none on Earth who are walking on falsehood; we must have the intention to oppose the evil teachings of Shaythan , even if there be just one man left on Earth representing and propagating it.   We must know our life’s mission and fulfill it.   If any of us say that we are scholar, then well and good, but what is the aim of being a scholar?   If any of us say that we are muhaddits who has memorised thousands of ahadits of Rasulullah ( s.a.w. ), again, that is very admirable, but what are we aimin