A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The following is taken from Is It Permissible for a Muslim to Believe That Allah ( s.w.t. ) is in the Sky in a Literal Sense? And was answered by Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller, in 1995.   No.   The literal sense of being “in the sky” would mean that Allah ( s.w.t. ) is actually in one of His creatures, for the sky is something Created.   It is not permissible to believe that Allah ( s.w.t. ) indwells or occupies, in Arabic, hulul , any of His creatures, as the Christians believe about Jesus ( a.s. ), or the Hindus about their avatars.   What is obligatory for a human being to know is that Allah ( s.w.t. ) is ghaniy , absolutely free from need of anything He has Created.   He explicitly Says:   سُوۡرَةُ العَنکبوت … إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَغَنِىٌّ عَنِ ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ (٦)   … for Allah is Free of all needs from all Creation. (Surah al-‘Ankabut:6)   Allah ( s.w.t. ) Mentions this attribute of Ghina , fre...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is taken from Kalam & Islam , by Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller.   The above is the text of a talk given to the Aal al-Bayt Institute of Islamic Thought on the 04 th January 2005, in Amman, Jordan.   Few would deny today that the millions of dollars spent worldwide on religious books, teachers, and schools in the last thirty years by oil-rich governments have brought about a sea change in the way Muslims view Islam.   In whole regions of the Islamic world and Western countries where Muslims live, what was called Wahhabism in earlier times and termed Salafism in our own has supplanted much of traditional Islamic faith and practice.   The very name “ Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah ”, or “Sunni orthodoxy and consensus” has been so completely derailed in our times that few Muslims even know it is rolling down another track.   In most countries, Salafism is the new “default Islam,” defining all religious discourse,...