Human beings were created with an internal drive to seek out purpose and to live for something greater than themselves. Explore the three levels of religious practice in Islam as expressed in the famous ḥadith of Gabriel: 1) Islām (outward submission to the will of Allah), 2) Īmān (faith), and 3) Iḥsān (spiritual excellence).

Explore how the Qur’an, in particular, encourages us to be grateful by looking at the various contexts in which the concept of shukr arises.

In doing so, we hope that you will not only walk away with divinely-rooted motivation to express shukr in your own life, but to reflect on how the Qur’an offers us truly comprehensive guidance in living our most satisfying lives.

Why would the Prophet ﷺ marry a child? That is the question many want answered, but before we begin to address it, we have to admit it is more than a mere question; rather, it is an accusation and judgment of character. Underneath the question lies the notion that we should be troubled by the age of ‘Aisha at marriage, that whatever her age was, it is concerning, and—worse than that—however great the Prophet ﷺ was, the age at which ‘Aisha was married to him is problematic.

The controversy over the age of ‘Aisha is, in fact, a quite recent phenomenon. It is quite simply an attempt to defame the Prophet ﷺ—as those of old attempted to do—by questioning his judgment and ethics in marrying ‘Aisha at as young as 9. But this attempt at defamation, like all others, falls flat.