Islam

04
Feb
2022
Reflections on the Ottoman Empire

Reflections on the Ottoman Empire

In this new video series, I discuss some of the highs and lows of the Ottoman period of Muslim history with my friends. Some of the topics covered in these videos include:

  1. The rise of the Ottoman Empire
  2. Contributions of the Ottoman Empire to the world
  3. The Causes of weakness in the Ottoman Empire
  4. The multiple causes of the fall of the Ottoman Empire
  5. World War I and its aftermath
  6. The modern Muslim world and drafting a way forward together

Watch the full discussion at the links below.

Part 1
Part 2

To learn more about Muslim History, sign up for our hit new course: History of Islam, available here.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Islam
04
Nov
2021
Introduction to Muslim History

Introduction to Muslim History

Introductory Lesson to our new online course

A deep dive into Muslim history unlike anything you ever witnessed before!

Finally, a course that covers the entire history of the Muslim world in 30 amazing videos.

Join us on a life-changing journey across the great empires of old.

Explore the world of the Umayyads, Abbasids, Ottomans and more with in in-depth video series that covers the history of Islam in a comprehensive and engaging manner.

In this course, Shaykh Ismail Kamdar will take you on a journey through the past 1400 years, starting with the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), through the eras of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the Umayyads, Abbasids, Ayyubis, Mamluks, Ottomans, all the way into the 21st Century.

Experience the Highs and Lows of Muslim History in this deep intensive course, that is the result of over a year of research and preparation.

Learn more about the online course here: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/history1

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Islam
29
Oct
2021
New Course Launched: History of Islam

New Course Launched: History of Islam

I’m excited to announce that my newest course “History of Islam” is now available via Gumroad. This is a 30 video series, which I spent the bulk of 2021 recording. Through pandemic/lockdowns, the riots/looting, and the losses of several loved ones, I continued to work on it. I almost gave up at several points this year, but forced myself to complete it. The course is now available and has over 20+ hours of content. I hope you all find it beneficial.

A deep dive into Muslim history unlike anything you ever witnessed before!

Finally, a course that covers the entire history of the Muslim world in 30 amazing videos.

Join us on a life-changing journey across the great empires of old.

Explore the world of the Umayyads, Abbasids, Ottomans and more with in in-depth video series that covers the history of Islam in a comprehensive and engaging manner.

In this course, Shaykh Ismail Kamdar will take you on a journey through the past 1400 years, starting with the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), through the eras of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the Umayyads, Abbasids, Ayyubis, Mamluks, Ottomans, all the way into the 21st Century.

Experience the Highs and Lows of Muslim History in this deep intensive course, that is the result of over a year of research and preparation.

Course Breakdown:

1) Introduction (44:47)

2) Seerah Summarized – Part 1 (52:51)

3) Seerah Summarized – Part 2 (53:58)

4) Seerah Summarized – Part 3 (46:37)

5) Rashidite Caliphate – Part 1 (55:06)

6) Rashidite Caliphate – Part 2 (49:40)

7) The Early Umayyads (Muawiyah-Marwan) (67:36)

8) The Umayyad Empire (Abdul Malik-Suleiman) (50:14)

9) The Umayyad Empire (Umar II-Marwan II) (46:29)

10) The Abbasid Empire – Part 1 (55:02)

11) The Abbasid Empire – Part 2 (51:46)

12) Al-Andalus – Part 1 (61:31)

13) Al-Andalus – Part 2 (49:45)

14) The Golden Age – Part 1 (36:05)

15) The Golden Age – Part 2 (47:02)

16) The Crusades & Salahudin (52:47)

17) The Fatimids & the Later Crusades (53:03)

18) The Mongols (43:40)

19) The Fall of Baghdad (24:54)

20) Seljuks, Safavids and Mughals (49:28)

21) Ertugrul & Osman (29:50)

22) Rise of the Ottomans (50:03)

23) The Early Ottomans (40:16)

24) The Ottoman Golden Age (56:54)

25) Ottoman Decline (37:56)

26) Otoman Decline & Modernization (38:13)

27) Ottoman Modernization & Fall (36:23)

28) The Fall of the Ottoman Empire (61:24)

29) The Modern Era – Part 1

30) The Modern Era – Part 2

About the Instructor:

Shaykh Ismail Kamdar is a graduate of a traditional Alim program (Talimuddin, 2006) and also holds a Bachelor’s in Islamic Studies (IOU, 2014). He has studied Islam in both traditional and modern settings and has been a student of Islamic Studies for over two decades.

He began studying Islam full-time at the age of thirteen, began preaching at the age of sixteen, and wrote his first book at the age of twenty-three. Over the years, he has taught multiple courses and seminars around the world and has worked with multiple leading Islamic organizations across the globe.

He served as faculty manager at the International Open University for ten years, from 2010 to 2020. He currently heads the book publication department at Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. His books are currently available in three different languages, and sold across five continents, in twenty-five different countries.

What our students are saying?

“Sheikh Ismail Kamdar is highly professional, dedicated, disciplined and knowledgeable. He is one of the very best tutors…”

– Yasmeen, Student of Aqeedah, Tafseer, and Fiqh

“When I say that Ustadh Ismail Kamdar was, all things considered, the best teacher I had…and one of the best teachers I had the blessing of studying under, I am in no way exaggerating, as will be testified by hundreds of other students!”

– Tabassum, Student of Aqeedah and Tafseer

Access the full course now

Access the full course today and gain access to all 30 videos (on-demand streaming) and 15 downloadable PowerPoint presentations. Access the full course here: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/history1

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Islam
28
Aug
2021
In Memory of My Grandmother

In Memory of My Grandmother

Yesterday, my beloved grandmother (known to her grandchildren as Ma) passed away. While it was the saddest day of my life in a long time, I am grateful to have had her in my life for so long. My grandmother was an incredible woman, whom I learned a lot from. In this short tribute, I want to share some of her most outstanding qualities that we can all benefit from.

When my father passed away almost three decades ago, his parents became like a second set of parents to me. Right until today, my grandfather remains my primary father-figure and the person I consult the most on any decision. My grandmother became like a second mother to me, and I would spend many weekends and vacations with her. During these past three decades, she taught me so much by being a role model in the following areas:

1. Generosity

My grandparents are the most generous people I know. I learned generosity from observing them, and the impact they have on their community. My grandmother was not just generous with her wealth but her time as well. Her home was always full of guests, and she would make time for everybody, despite how large the family is and how busy she was. She never turned people away and would often advise people, “Don’t have a snake on your wallet.” Meaning don’t become a miser.

2. Humility

My grandmother was a very humble and content person. Allah had blessed her with great rizq, but she never showed it off. She spent on her family and community, and would always be concerned about others. She remained a simple humble pleasant person throughout her life. She disliked any form of showing off or boasting, and would remind us to stay humble no matter how successful we become.

3. Expressing Love & Gratitude

My grandmother always expressed her love and appreciation to everybody around her. She would make sure to hug each of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and to tell each of us how much we meant to her. Her gratitude was not just to people. Despite her health problems in her old age, she constantly thanked Allah for every blessing in her life. She would advise me often that no matter what challenges we face in life, we must always find reasons to be grateful to Allah, and we must thank him a thousand times over for each blessing.

4. Love of the Quran

My grandmother loved the Quran, and would make time to recite and listen to it daily. Her favorite Surah was Surah Yaseen. She would listen to recitations of the Quran every night until she fell asleep, and would try her best to follow along the translation, and learn some of the meanings of the Quran.

5. Maintaining family ties

My grandmother’s life would often remind me of the hadith, “Whoever strives to maintain family ties, Allah will bless them with abundant sustenance and a long life.” (Bukhari)

My grandmother was always concerned about maintaining family ties. She would make time to call every one of her siblings, children, and grandchildren. She would organize family gatherings so that the family stayed united. And whenever she spoke to us, she would remind us about the importance of staying united as a family.

Her life was a fulfillment of this hadith, as she lived a long life with blessed sustenance, perhaps because to her concern for maintaining family ties.

6. Seeking a good ending

During one of my final calls with her, my grandmother and I had a very long heart to heart conversation. She reminded me to maintain family ties, and to stay committed to serving the ummah. She told me how proud she was of me, and that she was happy to have me on her scale of good deeds. Then she asked me to make a special dua for her. She asked me to make dua that she had a good ending on a Friday. She said she always wanted to pass away on a Friday.

Yesterday, on Friday 27 August 2021, around 4am, my beloved grandmother returned to Allah.

We ask Allah to bless her with the best of the Afterlife, to grant us Sabr with her loss, and allow us to follow in her blessed footsteps.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Islam
01
Jun
2021
Living with a Purpose

Living with a Purpose

Many people struggle to find purpose in their lives. They go through life without any real direction or noble objectives. This search for meaning grows more desperate if they attain financial success. Financial success without purpose often leads to a sense of emptiness and directionless life primarily because one must face the devastating realization that money does not guarantee happiness or contentment. Their search for happiness resulted in a pursuit of wealth which once achieved proved fruitless. This is a common problem in the modern world.

Capitalist culture preaches that the pursuit of wealth, or happiness through wealth, is the objective of life. But what happens when a person achieves wealth and isn’t happy? What happens when a person finally acquires wealth and riches, yet still feels empty, purposeless, and unsure what to do with the rest of his life? The pursuit of more money does not fill this gap at all.

Life without a purpose is meaningless, boring, and depressing. Many people around the world are searching for a purpose in their lives, and philosophers spend countless hours debating the purpose of life. When they are unable to find it, many people then choose to invent their own purpose. This self-defined purpose may be a form of philanthropy or leaving some kind of legacy.

The purpose of their life becomes their projects, and they dedicate the rest of their lives to this. This may help some people feel better, but for many others, they know deep down that these aspirations are arbitrary and not the definitive purpose of their existence. Projects and passions of this nature, while beneficial to society, don’t really solve the issue of finding one’s true purpose. Instead, these self-defined purposes are simply decoys masking the deep inner struggle to find the true purpose of life.

Yet great people like ʿUmar II lived with true purpose. They did not need to search for it or face internal struggles of discovery. It was clear to them, and all the goals in their lives revolved around it. This is because ʿUmar II and people like him took their purpose in life directly from the teachings of Islam.

Unlike other religions, Islam is very clear about the purpose of life. It is stated in the Quran, “I only created jinn and humans to worship me.”[1] 

The meaning of this verse is that God did not create humans without a purpose or reason. That Divine Purpose is that God created humans to worship Him and, through that worship, to become a manifestation of His Divine Attributes on earth. He created the earth as a place to test humanity and gave us free will so that the results of that test will be our own.

The purpose of life according to Islam is “to worship God”. However, many people may have difficulty understanding what that means on a practical level. Does it mean abandoning our businesses, retreating to the mountains and spending our entire lives in ritual worship? Not really. The Islamic definition of worship is a lot more nuanced.

Worship in Islam is a broad term that covers a variety of actions, beliefs, and emotions. It is not limited to ritualistic acts of worship, although that is an important part of it. Worship in Islam is equal to the concepts of obedience or submission. In fact, the linguistic meaning of the word Islam is “to submit to God.”

So when Muslims say that we believe that the purpose of life is to worship God, it means that we believe that our entire lifestyle should be done in a manner that is pleasing to God. This means that the worship of God manifests itself in every action that a Muslim consciously makes.

This includes beliefs, actions, and emotions. When a Muslim believes that God will assist him/her or that an event that occurred in his/her life is destiny, that belief itself is an internal form of worship. When a Muslim prays, fasts, or gives charity, these are physical acts of worship. When a Muslim fears God, loves God, and trusts God these emotions are internal acts of worship.

The Islamic concept of worship is so vast that it includes everyday acts. When done with the correct intention, and within the boundaries set by God, even mundane acts like eating, sleeping, working, and having sex become means through which God is worshipped.[2]

It is with this comprehensive understanding of the Islamic purpose of life that we gain more clarity into what drove the productivity of ʿUmar II and people like him. ʿUmar II was a firm believer in Islam, with a strong connection to God.

Because of this, he treated everything he did as an act of worship and strove to do everything in a manner that was pleasing to God. His simplicity, justice, mercy, kindness, advice, and projects were all endeavors through which he worked to fulfill his purpose of life: to live a life pleasing to Allah.

To understand ʿUmar’s initiatives and motivations, we need a clear understanding of the Islamic purpose of life and how it drives the goals and ambitions of Muslims. Without this insight, many of ʿUmar’s decisions, projects, and goals do not make any sense.

Islam teaches its followers that life is about submission (Islam) to God and that every aspect of life should be done in a manner that is pleasing to Him. This concept shapes the lives of Muslims across the globe. Everything from marriage to business is based on this primary concept: How can I do this in a manner that is pleasing to God? It is this profound question that shaped ʿUmar’s policies and decisions.

This article is an extract from Productivity Principles Of ʿUmar II, learn more about the book here.

Learn More

[1] Quran 51:56

[2] Kamdar, Best Of Creation, pp. 28-29

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Islam