Becoming Muslim Someone asked me to write the story of how I en­tered Islam, what it was that I liked about the reli­gion, and what motivated me to become a Muslim. Now, stories have a beginning, middle, and end, while life is not often so sim­ple. One’s course is seldom de­termined, particularly in events of the mind and heart, by causes and effects few enough to fit into a tale. But deficient as such an account must be, it may yet prove of interest to a now largely de­spiritualized world that sees only a “play of forces”; if only to ac­knowledge the hand of Allah, and if He will, to reach those who aspire to more than they find around them. Read more...   Truth, Other Religions, and Mysticism Is it possible that God does not merely save followers of other previously valid religions besides Islam out of a divine amnesty, but for the truth that exists in previous religions, including those such as Native American religions, and others? Read more...   Iman, Kufr, and Takfir Is someone who has an idea that is kufr or “unbelief” thereby an “unbeliever”? The short answer, somewhat surprisingly, is “not necessarily.” In some cases such a person is, and in some not. Many people today read an expression labelled in books of Islamic law as kufr, and when they realize that some Muslim they know or have heard of has an idea like it, they jump to the conclusion that he is a kafir. Charging fellow Muslims with unbelief (takfir) is an enormity in the eyes of Allah. Read more...   Kalam and Islam Few Muslims today know anything about the Ash‘ari and Maturidi schools or their relation to Islam. So I shall discuss their theology not as history, but as orthodoxy, answering the most basic questions about them such as: What are the beliefs of Sunni Islam? Who needs rational theology anyway? And what relevance does it have today? We mention only enough history to understand what brought it into being, what it said, what it developed into, what its critics said of it, and what the future may hold for it. Read more...   Literalism and the Attributes of Allah Are the Hanbali Mujtahid Imams al-Dhahiri and Ibn Hazm considered Ahl al-Sunna? And was Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal an anthropomorphist—meaning someone who ascribed human attributes to Allah? Can you provide me examples of the sayings of Imam Ahmad that show he did not have anthropomorphic ‘Aqida? Read more...   Is Allah in the Sky? Is it permissible for a Muslim to believe that Allah is “in the sky” in a literal sense? No. The literal sense of being “in the sky” would mean that Allah is actually in one of His creatures, for the sky is something created. It is not permissible to believe that Allah indwells or occupies (in Arabic, hulul) any of His creatures, as the Christians believe about Jesus, or the Hindus about their avatars. Read more...   Imam Ash'ari Repudiating Ash'arism The Salafis claim that Abul Hasan Ash‘ari formulated the Ash‘ari tenets of Islamic faith (‘aqida) while he was between the Mu‘tazila and Ahl al-Sunna, and that he later refuted his formulations and joined Ahl al-Sunna in the Hanbali madhhab before he died. Is there any truth in this? They say his last book, al-Ibana, contains the refutations. If not, how can I prove it to these people? Read more...