“There will then be a perfect correspondence between the interior and the...
Culture
The novelist Flannery O’Connor famously wrote: “An artist prays by creating”. The...
Traditional Muslim architects were guided by cosmic patterns and principles which shaped their designs and tastes. Tawhid or ‘Divine Unity’ was the foundational principle upon which Islamic architecture was developed....
The famed Quran reciter and specialist in maqāmāt (modalities of Arabic music) Uthman al-Mawsili...
Daleel al-Khayrāt (The Guide to Goodness) is a groundbreaking documentary series that...
Throughout history, from sultans and scholars to warriors and commoners, Muslim men have worn head coverings not just simply out of custom or practicality, but also to denote rank, affiliation,...
Throughout the Islamic world, poetry has played a significant role, not only...
There are times and spaces that are considered more sacred or blessed...
View this post on Instagram A post shared by SACRED FOOTSTEPS (@sacredfootsteps) A poet once said: Too slight for the praise of the Chosen One is gold calligraphy, Written on...
It’s a warm evening in the small Senegalese village of Medina Baye....
The road unfolded before us like a ribbon, guiding our car through...
The Kenyan archipelago of Lamu, nestled on the Swahili coast, is decorated with winding lanes, humble homes and the beautiful Indian Ocean; it’s a picturesque place with coconut trees reaching...
In a little known corner of an Indian metropolis lies a thriving...
Centered around al-Aqsa compound and the old city of Jerusalem, Ramadan celebrations...
The ‘Dalā’il al-Khayrāt’ of East Africa and it’s Republication Journey إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ وَمَلَٰٓئِكَتَهُۥ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى ٱلنَّبِيِّۚ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ صَلُّواْ عَلَيۡهِ وَسَلِّمُواْ تَسۡلِيمًا Indeed, Allāh and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O you who believe, invoke Allāh’s blessings upon him, and salute him with greetings of peace....
Zara talks to author and Arabist Diana Darke about her most recent book Stealing From The Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe. Diana explains how cultural exchanges between Europe and Islamic Syria shaped Gothic architecture, and why this has become a point of controversy in Europe today.
The Dala’il al-Khayrat, a collection of prayers and blessings upon the Prophet...
Abdullah Sattar explores the roots of Sufism in Punjab, which spread, in large part, through the words of poets that are still recited and resonate today.
Listen to the audio version of this article featuring audio extracts of...
“The camera is a kind of passport that annihilates moral boundaries and...
Muazzam Mir on the life of the great East African saint, Dada Masiti. As Muslim consciousness awakens from post-colonial slumber, we begin to discover buried treasure in our ruins- treasure...
Walking through the heart of the old city, one may find its...
Omar, Yasmine and Shahroze discuss the history, evolution and spiritual significance of qawwali. Qawwali incorporates music, poetry and story-telling in to a celebration of Love. The singing of qawwali in Sufi shrines and mausoleums is a practice of samaa, a devotional practice that involves singing, dancing, playing musical instruments, praying, reciting poetry and participating in rituals in order to achieve a higher spiritual state.
Over the course of my life, whenever I visited Pakistan, it was always to visit family in Karachi. For whatever reason, be it safety, time or – lets be real...
Zara and Zirrar talk to poet Baraka Blue about the life, work and legacy of Jalal al-Din Rumi. Baraka tells us about the era in which he lived and how he came to be the great poet we know him as. Zirrar and Baraka share their somewhat differing views on the controversy surrounding English translations of his work, and the claim that Islam has deliberately been ‘erased’ from his poetry.
While coffee shops are a central element of European culture, (Viennese kaffeehäuser have been deemed an intangible cultural heritage element by UNESCO) Europeans, including Italians and Greeks, owe their rich coffee customs to sharing the Mediterranean with the Arab and African worlds.
Our last stop on our trip to Kenya lay just off its coast. The Lamu Archipelago, a group of small islands, are situated 350km from Mombasa and bear the traces of...
Sidi Bou Said: Tunisia’s Trendy Coffee Town & its Hidden Sufi Connection...
A travel journal or blog, is not a new fad. Persians called...
Ali Abdelaziz Ben Saad explores the influence of the Ottoman coffee-houses of Tunis and the connections between coffee and spirituality.
“Look! It’s Dino Merlin,” whispers the man beside me. A well groomed white...
Safi ibn Vali’s Mughal Hajj maps The Salamat Ras departed Surat in...
There it stood, where I least expected it. Perhaps not the most aesthetically pleasing building I’d ever seen, but there was something almost charming about the way it had stubbornly...
