Yusuf's Blog

One’s choice of spouse exerts the single most profound impact upon one’s relationship with the Divine. One’s choice of spouse is therefore of monumental, eternal significance. One’s choice of spouse should be informed by clarity as regards the purpose of marriage, which is identical to the purpose of life: To Witness His Majesty. We do not exist to attain financial security or to go on holiday every three months. Rather, our purpose is to come to know the Perfection of His Creation, living in a condition of overwhelming gratitude. Your spouse will be your partner on that journey, either pointing out the astounding beauty that surrounds you in every moment, or wailing a toxic lament caused by an inaccurate, myopic interpretation of the universe. Effectively, you will be pickled in your spouse’s worldview. Think carefully. One’s choice of spouse must be motivated by a desire to accompany the chosen soul until death. Marriage is not a temporary solution by which sexual frustration...

My first experience of the ritual prayer was exotic and awesome. It was prayed approximately a week prior to my embracing Islam in a typically claustrophobic prayer room located in the bowels of a university campus, late at night. My companion, a much older mature student specialising in facial-reconstruction surgery, was open about his less than pious lifestyle. However, motivated by a combination of exam-season nerves and the duty to convey the message to an interested observer (which in my experience is found in even the most lax believer), he took it upon himself to accompany me to the prayer room. Prior to the prayer, I followed his lead as I washed my limbs in a small bathroom that reeked of what would become a familiar stagnant, damp odour. It was not particularly spiritual, with all of my attention directed towards not doing anything wrong and trying to save my trousers from being drenched. As I subsequently lined up for prayer in what I now recognise to be a storeroom with so...