Month: February 2022

Syntactic and Morphological Principles | al-Usul al-Nahwiyyah wa al-Sarfiyyah

Below are notes I made from an advanced class on Arabic grammar taught by Shaykh ‘Abid Husayn in Madrassah Imam al-Hadi (a) in Qom in 2020, based on the doctorate thesis al-Uṣūl al-Naḥwīyyah wa al-Ṣarfīyyah by Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Qasim, which is an analysis on the book al-Ḥujjah of Abū ‘Alī al-Fārisī (d. 377). Although … Read more

Mulla Sadra on Spiritual Realisation

While reading through Ṣadrā’s commentary on Uṣūl al-Kāfī, I came across this beautiful explanation of the methods different groups use to attain spiritual realisation. The extract is inspired by al-Ghazālī’s Iḥyāʾ and while Ṣadrā doesn’t recommend the path of the Ṣūfīs be followed exclusively, there are many points of the process that needs to be … Read more

The Legendary Poem Inscribed into the Golden Dome of Imam ‘Ali’s Shrine

The following panegyric for Imām ‘Alī (as) is written by a famous 19th century Arab poet and the Sunnī Ḥanafī governor of Mosul for the Ottoman Empire, ‘Abdul Bāqī al-‘Umarī (1790-1862), who traces his lineage back to ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. It is widely regarded as one of the most astonishing and eloquent tributes to Imām … Read more

Familiarity with the Tradition: A Prerequisite for Reform

A recent public exchange with Shaykh Arif on the topic of Ziyārat ‘Āshūrā’ left me thinking about the importance of familiarity with the religious intellectual tradition before advocating for reform, particularly for those who have positioned themselves or naturally assumed the spot of being on the forefront of a growing reform movement. In this post, … Read more

Imam al-Hadi’s Poem in the Court of Mutawakkil

It is narrated by Al-Mas’ūdī in Murūj al-Dhahab that al-Imām ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad al-Hādī (as) was called into the court of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil while the latter was indulging in alcohol and merrymaking. Al-Mutawakkil called him to partake of it, but the Imām abstained stating “My flesh and blood can never mingle with alcohol.” … Read more