Learn about the Prophet’s (ﷺ) Arab identity in relationship to his humanity and prophethood through his Noble Names.
Parallel to the material / spiritual divide, we have the Islam / Culture divide in our everyday religious discourse, especially among educated lay Muslims. This division emerged in aversion to certain cultural practices prevalent in the uneducated masses in Muslim-majority countries. As before, this distinction is essential in preserving certain integral elements of the Islamic tradition. However, in the grand scheme of things, this division has obscured our vision of how Islam historically interacted with indigenous Arab culture in whose heart it took root. There is no doubt that the Arab culture posed formidable resistance to the kind of community Islam wanted to produce, but it also played a positively indispensable role in the survival and growth of Islam as a spirit of reform in Arabia and beyond.
As a follow-up to The Material Signs course, where we study Beautiful Names of Allah, we will study selected names of the Last Prophet (ﷺ) along the same lines. The goal is to explore culturally grounded meanings of the names of the Prophet (ﷺ) so that we can catch glimpses of a more mature understanding of his personality in shaa Allah.
Integrity is the foundation of trust and respect in all activities. What we emphasize the most in this policy is confidentiality. Our courses are and will continue to be fruits of an arduous labor—and for them to be made freely accessible to the public without the instructor’s express permission will be considered a lack of respect for his efforts and a breach of his trust.
The other two important factors in the integrity policy are asking good questions combined with honest feedback. While money is our short-term capital, these students are our medium and long-term capital. By way of analogy, they are both the compass and the anchor that help us navigate through the uncharted seas of the future in a way that maximizes the benefit we offer to them and the benefit they gain from us as Allah permits.
Rethinking religion-science-philosophy relationship as unique methods of inquiry into the diverse signs of Allah in the loving embrace of the Beautiful Names.
