Dr Muhammad Maroof Shah

If the beauty of Muhammad (SAW) known to select saints and sung by such poets as Jami and Iqbal is known by any human, it is impossible to oppose it or ignore it. If Islam is submission to Truth/Reality who is against it? If this Reality is known or manifest by what is the Praised One, the Embodiment of all perfections that human nature aspires for, who can dare to oppose the later? If the beauty of Muhammad (SAW) known to select saints and sung by such poets as Jami and Iqbal is known by any human, it is impossible to oppose it or ignore it. If we note the distinction between Muhammad (SAW) as known by Muslims in history and Muhammad (SAW) as known by Homo religiosus as its own aspiration for transcendence/ideality or the image of perfection one adores, as the Messenger sent not only to all humans but all creation, as the Mercy of the worlds known and unknown, as the Envoy of the Absolute as such and not a person so and so, it needs to be debated whether it is possible or feasible to ...

The best is self authenticating. The Sun shines and we know and need not fight over it. Many religions claim to be the best or assert their finality or primordiality. How do we understand such claims and appreciate Mulla Sadra’s point, endorsed by Muslim theologians and sages in their own ways, regarding Islam as superior and more complete than any other religion because it incorporates the teachings of all religions?       If we closely attend to the ground of the claim of finality – access to the Absolute – for which prophets are the means, we can, across religions, identify the ground of superiority and resolve conflicting claims. Today we note Schuon’s (Shaykh Isa Nuruddin’s) clarification of the logic underlying finality. Schuon clarifies the logic with reference to Islam (and this should apply to other religions also): “True terminality – the glory of being the omega – is not realized by any one religion as opposed to another, it is realized by esote...

Hayat Aamir succeeds in the great task of saying yes to life despite all the horror it entails. To the question “What do you do?” the poet’s answer is “I praise”, as Rilke phrased it. Why is it so? It is through praise that man rises to the challenge of “the deadly and monstrous… the nameless and the anonymous.” Heschel noted that "There are three ways in which a man expresses his deep sorrow: the man on the lowest level cries; the man on the next level is silent; the man on the highest level knows how to turn his sorrow into a song."  Jesus  said that “Blessed are they that weep and wail, for they shall be comforted.” One of the greatest contributions of Islamic culture – great poets of marsiya and traditional exponents of Shiite perspective – to the world heritage is teaching how suffering/tragedy may ennoble us and be an instrument of gnosis ( irfan ). Our most blessed task consists in blessing that which made the blessing called life possible and this task is performed...

Reading Iqbal on the Beloved Prophet (SAW) Who was Iqbal? The best description is by his son that he is a lover of the Prophet (SAW). The rest is a corollary or an exemplification. And who is the Prophet he loved? Ideal pole of man, the Meaning of everything, the Alpha and the Omega of all human endeavours. “Since Muslims love you, you should let beard grow” a Molvi advised Iqbal. He replied, somewhat humorously, “You have shaved it from inside and displayed from outside and I have shaved it from outside but let it grow inside.”  One reason for his failure to go to Hajj, opines Mr Ghulam Beigh Neerang – and one feels agreeing – could be providential as he couldn’t afford to see the Prophet’s place and still live. Iqbal was seen to be occupying splendid place in the hierarchy of Prophet’s beloved by a Kashmiri who didn’t know him and he rushed to Lahore to inform him. He refused a job that required his wife to be part of the parties he had to attend. Asked if you have had deed...

Invitation to God or to a Sect? It is often asked how can we decide about competing claims of authenticity or true Islam presented in mosques, in schools, in media, in books on religion? One strategy is frank dialogue amongst the best representatives of different positions so that lay people or anyone with common sense could get some idea. However this doesn’t happen in practice because sectarian people are more interested in power than truth, in dictating than listening, in debating than discussing, in winning people to their camp than to God. And they don’t know how to sort out or articulate, politely, their disagreements. We, therefore, try another strategy and that is attempt to go to the deepest depths possible in our search and properly formulate issues that divide us. So we keep first things first and talk about the First Principles and approach it in ontological and existential terms that constitute, by consensus amongst all those who care to think and care about experienci...

Wisdom of Prophet Muhammad, Peace be Upon Him, according to Ibn Arabi Is it possible to discover a point of view that comprehends the truth in all points of view? Is it possible to state one’s “worldview” or vision that could resist any conceivable criticism or deconstruction? To these questions there is a positive answer. And that is a vision that unconditionally submits to Truth or totality of all truths, a vision of radical innocence that is open to all experience, a humility to qualify all one’s assertions or claims of access regarding anything including such ideals as Beauty, Truth, Justice and Goodness or revelations of Being or pursuit of Perfection and thus not claim absoluteness for any immanent thing or idea. And one who embodies the great Station that is not a particular station or ideological viewpoint and thus embraces the reality or truth of all stations,  is Muhammad (SAW). This is how “the Greatest Master” – as he is called by a vast majority of Ulama and Sai...