Aug 11, 2022Member-onlyHonor your motherToday, while doing my evening reading, I came across a passage about a story of a man who murdered a woman. He did this out of jealousy, and now asked Ibn Abbas (ra) if there was any way for him to be forgiven. Ibn Abbas (ra) asked the man if…Sunnah2 min readSunnah2 min read
Aug 9, 2022Member-onlyFast moneyA friend lost 5,000 EUR in the latest network marketing scam. Before that, he had invested in digital coins, and there, too, he quickly lost 2,000 EUR after a meme coin had initially increased significantly and then crashed in the end. …Money4 min readMoney4 min read
Jul 24, 2022Member-onlyBeing and feeling happyHow can you feel happy and be happy? What actually is happiness, and how does one actually become happy? And how do you manage to stay happy? — Being happy — what actually is happiness? “For happiness, he said to himself, is not to be loved; that is satisfaction for vanity mixed with disgust. Happiness is to love and perhaps to catch small, deceptive approximations of the beloved object.” - Thomas Mann in Tonio KrögerHappy5 min readHappy5 min read
Jun 12, 2022Member-onlyWriting down your copy of the Arabic Quran?What could be a more beautiful work of life for others than a copy of the standardized Quranic copy written by one’s own hand? An idea, a few thoughts and insights that need to be shared. — I’m sure I’ve told this story many times. It is the most beautiful love story I know. A very close childhood friend was constantly giving gifts to his wife. Occasionally, it was flowers, sometimes it was jewelry, sometimes something precious, sometimes less precious. …Quran4 min readQuran4 min read
May 22, 2022Member-onlyNo time for grief: How we had to deal with grief during the pandemicThe corona pandemic has presented challenges for all of us, primarily in grieving and dealing with loss. A few impressions and examples. — The news of my beloved uncle Halit’s death reached me at work. My sister wrote me a WhatsApp message, “Akif, our uncle Halit is dead.” It wasn’t that we didn’t expect his death. The doctors had been diagnosing him for four years that he would soon die of old age.Grief5 min readGrief5 min read
Apr 28, 2022Member-onlyWhat is it about “Islamic” anti-Semitism?After anti-Semitic and openly hostile remarks were made in Berlin-Neukölln and journalists were prevented from reporting, criticism is mounting. Accusations of “Islamic”, “Muslim” or “imported” anti-Semitism are also surfacing. It is time to think about this and to put things into perspective. A german opinion on a ongoing german debate. — Already a few days ago, I read in a daily newspaper about anti-Semitic tendencies at the Linksjugend in Berlin. Apparently, the right of Israel to exist is questioned in the Left Youth. Now the party leadership in Berlin is threatening to cut off funding to the offshoot.[i] After reading the…Anti Semitism11 min readAnti Semitism11 min read
Apr 7, 2022Member-onlyFaith: regularly and little, instead of too much and overwhelmingWhat is better: checking off a list or consciously living your faith better every day? A few thoughts on the performance optimization society that we have increasingly become. — Every Ramadan, you encounter people who are virtually competing with others on who has performed which acts of worship and who has met which challenges on a list. …Ramadan4 min readRamadan4 min read
Mar 26, 2022Member-onlyRemembrance and commemorationMore and more people who were important to me or whom I felt to be important are passing into the hereafter. And more and more frequently I am surprised, nevertheless, how much I am taken away from the life to which the others have moved. …Islam4 min readIslam4 min read
Jan 5, 2022Member-onlyEverything is transientOur health is entrusted to us as a good. Unfortunately, we are not always able to take care of ourselves. The importance of this became clear to me once again in the last two weeks. Or not. Ibn ‘Abbas (ra) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “Two favors that…Faith5 min readFaith5 min read
Dec 28, 2021Member-onlyWhat is the biggest problem of the Muslim community of today?This article is the result of a personal conversation with an Imam who is a friend of mine. I would like to try to highlight what is probably the most important challenge for Muslim communities today and to give an indication of what needs to be worked on as a community. — If we want to look at the present of the Muslim community as a whole, it is worth looking at the small things. Today, the mosque or place of prayer is undoubtedly the only place where Muslims of different backgrounds can come together. But something has changed here as well…Islam8 min readIslam8 min read
