Ark-e-Gulab
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Pop Culture Mysticism
“Popular culture” is a term we use for the broad spectrum of practices, beliefs, objects, and phenomena that are prevalent in society at a given time, particularly in Western culture since the mid-20th century. It encompasses the most immediate and contemporary aspects of our lives, often disseminated through mass media and driven by the interests, preferences, and trends of the general population. Pop culture (modern fast paced life has to have a shorter version of “popular”) is dynamic, reflecting the changing tastes, innovations, and societal norms of the day. Pop culture is marked by its accessibility to a wide audience. It includes music, television, movies, fashion, technology, and more, offering…
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An Alternate Academia
I believe in hierarchies. By this, I mean two things. First, that hierarchies are not a matter of opinion but a fact of existence. They are as real as the sun and moon, as concrete as the Pacific Ocean. Their presence does not require moral endorsement, they simply are. Some form of hierarchy will always persist, for the structure of being itself is hierarchical. Second, I believe that certain hierarchies are not only inevitable but essential, they are good and must be defended. In fact, to defend such a hierarchy is not an act of oppression, but of justice. For justice, in its true sense, is to place each thing…
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No god but God!
Only those mindful of Allah receive guidance. And only those who Worship God can remain mindful of him. Only by remembering Allah all day they may be mindful of him. This initial seeding humility is necessary for receiving any more guidance. Only the ones with basic adab can develop their adab any further. The basic of adab is to know that there are things which you are not knowing. Only with this attitude can adab and then belief and then nearness to Allah be achieved. The belief in what you see not is the first step towards adab for it shows sincerity inside you and the shahadah that only God…
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The Good & the Bad & the higher Self of Man
The human heart thinketh both good and bad, for man prays for evil as fervently as he prays for good, for he is given to haste and rush devoid of sabr. We have knowledge of both the good and the bad, for we have been shown both the highways. The virtue (and the vice) is here, the Prophet (saw) pointed towards his chest thrice. Our reflection of the world outside is the reflection of the world inside. Shams of Tabriz says, “The whole universe is contained within a single human being – you. Everything that you see around, including the things that you might not be fond of and even…
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Culture, Religion and the Modern Muslim Man
The rising influence of the Western ways, visible through minuscule injections in our society of foreign conceptions like materialism, skepticism, modernism, feminism, agnosticism, invariably ending in atheism, hedonism and nihilism, has to be seen as a common Muslim’s revenge on the conception of religion and culture amongst us which has, in many ways, moved away from the realities of life. When hurdles are placed in the path of the natural conception of life, a conception of the life in line with fitrah, life rebels, seeks revenge. When the natural desires and legitimate endeavors of man are suppressed, his nature puts up a resistance that invariably ends up in defiance. This…
