Usuli Weekly Newsletter · 16. September 2022
Dear Friends, Al salamu alaykum! I pray you are well! Thank you to everyone who sent kind messages of love this past week for my beloved Oso, the husky! I am happy to report that Oso is still with us and very much appreciates everyone's prayers. After Surah Maryam, I started to use the term "Maryam" to refer to the strong and empowered women in my life. Now, after seeing the patience, persistence, and determination of Oso as he continues to live life long past his "expectancy," I am going to...
Usuli Weekly Newsletter · 09. September 2022
Dear Friends, Greetings of peace! I pray you are well! This week, I spent the vast majority of my days and (often sleepless) nights caring for my dear dog, Oso, the husky who I have previously mentioned before. He is 17 years old (Huskies have a life expectancy of 12 to 15 years), so in human years, Oso is about 119 years old! He is skinny and his bones creak and he has lost his ability to stand on his own. He lost his hearing years ago when he got an ear infection and his eyes are cloudy from...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 12. August 2022
In essence, the sum total of our journey on this earth, of this miraculous event that gives us consciousness - and we enjoy this consciousness for a period of time until it slips away - the truth of the matter is, with all the speculation and all the attempts at insight and perception, what awaits us after this consciousness slips away is only truly known to God and God alone. After this consciousness slips away, is it a state of sleep until resurrection? Do we acquire some level of...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 05. August 2022
A reflective, Qur’anic human being is a human being that handles life on earth as God repeatedly reminds us to. When God asks us to engage in ta’aqqul (to reason), tafakkur (to ponder/reflect), and tadhakkur (to remember, literally: to do dhikr), it is, in essence, a constant reminder of the reflective life. That you are not simply like so much that is led by instinct and engineered by habit; you are not simply a phenomenon, something that manifests on this earth to enjoy a momentary burst...
Circles of Learning (Halaqas) · 01. September 2018
In Part 1, Dr. Abou El Fadl concludes the Quranic commentary on Surah al Rahman from Verse 67 through the end. In the introduction, Director Grace Song relates two reflections on life in the U.S. as a Muslim, one about middle school and one about the power of the puppy.