Patience and gratitude are the two wings of belief/faith. They also are derived from two of the 99 Names of Allah. Without them, one cannot attain the reality of belief, and gain access to understanding Divine Attributes. Imam Al-Ghazali dedicated a chapter in his magnum opus The Revival of the Religious Sciences to patience and gratitude. Dr Mohamed Ghilan goes through a selected readings from this chapter, with translation and commentary as part of his ongoing work to make the tradition accessible in a modern context.

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The Prayer of Illumination, the final chapter of The Book of Illumination by Ibn ʿAta'illah al-Iskandari, is a whispered invocation from the heart of surrender. In this episode, Dr. Mohamed Ghilan reads this timeless supplication aloud, inviting listeners into a moment of stillness, reflection, and intimacy with the Divine.

This prayer gathers the essence of the path: relinquishing self-management, entrusting all affairs to Allah, and finding peace in His decree. It is a call to love, humility, and nearness to see the beauty in what He chooses for us, until His will becomes what we desire for ourselves.

This series is part of the Al-Andalus Academy program on spiritual formation and classical Islamic wisdom.

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In this episode, Dr. Mohamed Ghilan presents the first of two concluding sessions from The Book of Illumination (Kitāb al-Tanwīr) by Ibn ʿAṭā' Allāh al-Iskandarī. This final section of the text is framed as a divine dialogue — an intimate conversation between Allah and His servant — in which the illusions of control, planning, and self-reliance are dissolved in the light of tawḥīd.

The discussion explores what it means to surrender the will, to find sufficiency in God's care, and to live with the serenity that comes from desiring none but Him.

This series is part of the Al-Andalus Academy program on spiritual formation and classical Islamic wisdom.

Join the weekly live sessions, access full course materials, and be part of the community.

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Ramadan is a time in which we exercise our agency in a way unlike the rest of the year. We approach it with deliberate intent, set goals, reorient ourselves and rearrange our priorities to make our relationship with Allah our primary concern. In a way, we're establishing a proof against ourselves, demonstrating our capacity to choose Allah over dunya. The question we should ponder on is how can we exercise this agency in an effective way against the pulls of our lower self.

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Ramadan is a special time of the year in which we as Muslims engage in an act of worship that's like no other. In contrast to all other acts of worship, fasting is an intimate act that cannot be witnessed or confirmed by anyone other than Allah. It's a secret between the servant and their Lord. Being granted permission by Allah to engage in this intimate act of drawing nearer to Him should bring us all to a pause to reflect on what that means in terms of our status with Allah.

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As Muslims have become increasingly integrated into social justice movements and the entertainment industry, many prominent figures are taking actions that align with the dominant ideology in these spheres. Despite their apparent unrelatedness, a common theme runs through Muslim hijabi Instagram influencers taking off their hijabs, comedians mocking Islamic practices like the dua, and political allegiances made in the name of combating Islamophobia.

In this episode, the distinction made by the late Algerian sociologist and philosopher Malek Bennabi between aesthetic and moral sensibilities as they manifest in the lived experience of the Western European and the Muslim is used as a framework to understand the current trends observed among Muslims in the West.

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What is Jerusalem worth? What kind of attachment does being a Muslim entail to the Holy Land?

The recent announcement from U.S. President Donald Trump that recognizes Jerusalem as the official capital of Israel has created massive outcries and lamentations over the grim prospects for peace. However, from a spiritual and Quranic standpoint, much good has come out from this announcement. We just need to have the right perspective to see it.

Topics discussed in this episode include the status of Jerusalem in Islam and the attitude a Muslim should adopt with regards to their relationship to the Holy Land.

Hamas: Resistance, Terrorism, & Anti-Semitic Charters https://alandalusacademy.com/hamas-resistance-terrorism-anti-semitic-charters/

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At the time of recording this episode, Gaza has been undergoing an assault by the Zionist colonizer entity that can only be described as a genocide. The attacks on Gaza come as a response, we're told by the Zionists, to an operation carried out by the Resistance on October 7th, 2023. The official narrative of the events on that day has been constructed by the Zionist colonizer and adopted by the mainstream, including Muslims in the West. However, this narrative is not corroborated by the publicly available evidence, which in contrast supports the Resistance's account of what happened. 

In this episode, I read and comment on a post I published on this issue, highlighting the problematic nature of dissociating from the Resistance based on a narrative sold to us by the Zionist colonizer. 

Original post https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy5cgXprrzq/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Hamas: Resistance, Terrorism, & Anti-Semitic Charters https://alandalusacademy.com/hamas-resistance-terrorism-anti-semitic-charters/

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The Reliever (al-Munfarijah) is a poem composed by the great Tunisian scholar Yusuf ibn Muhammad at-Tawozari at-Tilimsanī (d. 1119 AD/513 AH). He was known for his mastery of the various Islamic sciences but his erudition and rhetorical abilities became his defining feature to the degree that he was known as ibn an-Nahawi (Son of the Grammarian).

al-Munfarijah is one of the most famous poems recited in North Africa and generally in the Islamic world. ibn an-Nahawi composed it in response to a request from his family who were living under an oppressive ruler. Ever since this poem has been taken up by Muslims and it became widely known for its efficacy. The poem is a combination of applied theology, spiritual counseling, and prayer. Reciting this poem in times of difficulty with a proper understanding of its meanings is known to bring relief.

This 3-part series was recorded at Mīzān Avenue in Sydney, Australia on August 12, 2018.

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