ALBANY CIRCLES

by Albany Buipe Broadly books, as they relate to students of knowledge, can be categorised as follows: 1. Kutub al-Ta'sil . These are fundamental books recommended for beginners and selected by one's teacher or often environment. E.g. Ajjrumiyyah, al-Arba'unah al-Nawawiyyah, Salasah al-Usul, Kitab al-Tawhid, al-Durar al-Bahiyyah, al-Akhdari, Taqrib al-Lum'ah, al-Usul min 'Ilm al-Usul etc. The best approach to learn these books is to memorise them and follow an explanation in front of a qualified and well-versed scholar. 2. Shuruh . These are commentaries made on the previous category but, of course, commentaries can be made on all kinds of books. Perhaps, we can list notes and scholarly observations here as well; they are called al-Hawashi (or sing. Hashiyah). Hashiyah often are brief comments that a scholar passes on aspects of a book. 3. Kutub al-Bahth , or Mutala'ah . These are books for advanced students and scholars for the purposes of research and advan

by Albany Buipe Recently, I gave a lecture at VALCO Hall in UCC on the topic RETHINKING OUR PERCEPTION ON WOMEN ; and it is my habit that after any major project I do a survey to find out in what ways I can improve the contents that I give to my audience. The reports from the short survey suggested that the audience took two extreme sides, while one group praised and loved the lecture, the other condemned it as being overly academic and so focused on my personal experiences. In lieu of the reports I decided to rewrite the lecture in the form of questions and answers in the hope that it will improve upon and touch on the things that I could not make up for in the lecture. Well, this is a work in progress, at the moment I have addressed 15 questions. This post will be updated as I continue to research the topic. I ask Allah to grant us success. RETHINKING OUR PERCEPTION OF WOMEN Q&A Question 1. Rethinking o

by Albany Buipe This piece is taken from a course material I am preparing for our website ( www.albanycircles.org ). Following a question asked in one of our circles I decided to extract this portion before the course itself starts. Exorcism called Ruqyah in Arabic is the processes in sacking a Jinn possessing a victim, living or non-living, away. Exorcism in the true sense of the art is an approach of da'wah, this time toward a member of another world. However, da'wah in general can be made to the Jinn although they may not be possessing anyone. Ibn Taymiyah proposed that just as humans are warned and threatened through Allah's injunctions the Jinn who attacks humans in whatever way should also be reminded of Allah's laws and that the act of harming others can never be justified. Sometimes prior to the assail the victim harms the Jinn in one of several ways, including splashing hot water on them; kicking them and even killing a confrère, without the intent of so