It takes time,patience and endurance to become a devout Muslim. No one, not even God, expects anyone to become an angel overnight. That’s fortunate, I thought, because I sensed that the road ahead might be...

According to Islam, whenever we are struck by illness or misfortune orsomeone hurts us, there is a higher purpose behind it, which we may not understand at the time,’ oneof them said to me. ‘That’s...

It was clear to me by now that studying Islam was one thing – and absolutely worthwhile, because it helped me grasp the meaning of the religion and how it all fitted together. However, I...

God does not expect of us what we cannot do, but He doesexpect what we can do’.

spiritual warriors” are the saints armed not with weapons but with prayer and prayer beads.’ Whileit all made sense I wanted to know more about the idea that we needed to go out and fight...

A sick person is Allah’s guest for as long as he is ill. Every day he is sick, God gives him countless rewards, as long as he says ‘ al hamdulillah’, praise beto God, and...

During this time I came to understand a lot about myself, human beings, faith and the meaning ofmarriage and friendship. The world is not black and white, nothing is what it seems, and we are...

When you see thatearthly powers are not listening to you, that you are under siege in this city for four years and shot atwithout the international community doing anything to help, what should you do?...

God wasinviting me to go on Hajj, but before that I needed to settle my debts. Muslims may only embark ontheir pilgrimage if they are debt-free or at least have made an arrangement for repayment.

So Iasked Dr Ceric if he thought there was a conflict between European values and Islam. ‘Not at all,’ hesaid. ‘Respect for other religions lies at the heart of Islam. And the principle of democracy...

But I comforted myself with the thoughtthat the reward for every discomfort I suffered for God was a spiritual blessing.

naked” before God onJudgement Day and nothing counts but our actions and their effects upon our soul’.

The way we experience the pilgrimage is a reflection of our inner state,’ the imamsaid. ‘To some of us it will be a strenuous trial, whereas to others every step of the way is a...

Among the lessons I learned on Hajj was that I needed to be mindful andkeep the inner connection with God at all times and that self-improvement is definitely a never-endingstruggle.

The words of the Quran all seemedstrangely familiar yet so unlike anything I had ever read before,’ he told us. He embraced Islam in1977, and changed his name to Yusuf, the Arabic for Joseph. ‘I...

Religion is also a process of healing, I discovered – a healing of the soul. Even our language pointsto this relation. The words ‘holy’, ‘wholesome’ and ‘healing’ all have the same root. (In German, thisis...

When you accept Islam, you don’t cease to be the person you were before in youridentity and culture,’ he told me. ‘The only thing that Islam does is make you stronger in your identityin terms...

Of course I’d like to marry a practising Muslim, someone Ican share my life and also my religion with, but I just haven’t met the right man yet,’ I told her. Fadwawas sympathetic and understood...

Purify your intentions, your inner being, your heart and besincere in your actions,’ he wrote. ‘God looks into your heart, not at your outer form. He looks atwhat lies behind the clothes … He looks...

Boys will always be boys,’ he said. ‘Therelationship obviously wasn’t meant to be.’ He told me I should trust that the break-up was for thebest, even if I couldn’t see that yet. As with every...

You may have lost someone, butyou’ve found something immeasurably more valuable: God,’ she told me. ‘And God’s love lastsforever.

Then Gai told me about the famous cup of the heart, which I should now begin to empty. The Sufiscompare our spiritual heart, the seat of God within us, with a cup into which the...

You’ve been tested.’ He advised me totry and ‘forgive and pardon, and this way seek to become beloved by God’ without my forgivenessbeing tied to the one who wronged me. ‘This is the Divine remedy,’...

As pilgrims we effectively slip into the role of our spiritual ancestress and run back and forthbetween the hills seven times. This symbolises our own quest in this world for whatever we areseeking and God’s...

Anyone seeking to draw closer to God needs to curb the horizontal and ascend to God vertically,’ he said. ‘And this means giving oneself fully to God – with all one’s heart, body, mind and...

everything that is in the world, there is a correspondence on every level of existence. Themacrocosm is a reflection of the microcosm, and the way we experience the outer world is areflection of our inner...

Nothing happens without God’s will, and life doesn’t always go according to plan. Man proposes, God disposes. And it is God’s will that we need to surrender to. In retrospect it usually all makes sense.

Prayer will carry you toJudgment Day; it is your nourishment and your protection. In prayer you are closest to God. It is thenthat you develop your own personal relationship with God,

The discipline gave me a sense of achievement. Not least, fasting is a testof willpower and, whenever I felt my willpower weakening, I would tell myself that I could eat asmuch as I wanted after...

Living a lie – pretending everything is fine when we areactually discontented – is hard work and, in the long run, even bad for our health. We pay a high pricefor compromising on this honesty...

Sometimes I was too tired,other times just lazy. Now and then, I was frustrated because nothing seemed to be happening – nosigns from God, no enlightenment, nothing. But that wasn’t the point, the Shaykh explained....