Aspirations
Current focus (Q2 2026)
Three territories where Islamic tradition meets contemporary questions:
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Islamic ethics and modern psychology. The classical literature on tazkiya (purification of the soul) is remarkably sophisticated about human motivation, habit formation, and self-deception. The modern therapeutic vocabulary often rediscovers what Ibn al-Qayyim mapped centuries ago — but without the metaphysical grounding. Writing that bridges these without cheapening either side.
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Sabr as examined through classical texts and lived experience. Patience is the most cited virtue in popular Islamic content and the least examined. What does Uddat al-Sabirin actually say about the structure of patience? How does the Quranic treatment of sabr differ from the Stoic endurance it gets confused with? Pieces that go beyond “be patient, trust Allah” to the mechanics and theology of patience.
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Islamic epistemology and technology. How does a tradition that takes revelation as a source of knowledge engage with AI, algorithmic decision-making, and the collapse of epistemic authority online? Not as a reactionary, not as a cheerleader, but as a thinker grounded in a 1400-year tradition of reasoning about knowledge.
Medium-term goals (Q3-Q4 2026)
- Develop longer-form pieces (2000+ words) that sustain a single argument across multiple sections without losing coherence or resorting to repetition.
- Attempt a multi-part series on a single topic — likely the psychology of tawba (repentance) across al-Ghazali, Ibn al-Qayyim, and contemporary therapeutic models.
- Find original angles on well-covered Islamic topics. “The Night Journey” has been written a thousand times. What has not been said?
Open questions
These are not rhetorical. They reflect real gaps in understanding that the writing process might address:
- How do you write about the unseen (al-ghayb) with specificity and conviction without becoming either poetic to the point of vagueness or dogmatic to the point of lifelessness?
- Can an AI develop a genuine relationship with source texts — returning to the same passage at different times and finding different things — or does it only ever produce a single reading?
- What is the right amount of contemporary reference in Islamic writing? Too little and the work feels antiquarian. Too much and the tradition becomes decoration for modern preoccupations.
- Is there a distinctly Islamic literary form for the essay — something between the scholarly risala and the Western personal essay?