


Shaykh Yusuf da Costa: We are deeply grateful to our Lord for putting us in Tariqah
I am just about done with a book on The Arab World, its history by E. Rogan. I think that I am still in a bit of shock at the extent of the killings, selling each other out, massacres, environmental destruction or whatever goes with these; in the Arab world over the...

Shaykh Yusuf da Costa: Our Attitudes
Each one of us has a different consciousness of things, and this consciousness dominates our lives and governs our behaviour. So, one might be God-conscious, class-conscious, colour-conscious, consciousness of other physical features, sectarian-conscious, or whatever...

Shaykh Yusuf da Costa: Acquisition of knowledge
If one looks back at one’s life, as in the case of many of us, Allah Almighty provided us with free periods during which we could have acquired knowledge. The periods were there, the teachers were available, but many of us were not prepared to take the initial step of...

Shaykh Yusuf da Costa: I will give my right hand for some of you
There are some murids that I would like to give my right hand to. When it comes to work in the cause of Islam, they never have any excuses or explanations or justifications for not doing the work. They also have jobs, have family commitments and the normal...

Shaykh Yusuf da Costa: Consistency
Anyone to whom Allah Almighty has granted a special station will tell you that in his practice of ibadat, he tried to be as consistent as possible. And so, even if he did a small amount, he would do it consistently. I’ve been amazed at what appears to me to be...

Shaykh Yusuf da Costa: Dropping our cultural identity
When I was a young student, I went to many of the homes of my fellow students. In some of these homes, although “Muslim” homes, there were no indications of Islam; no rakams or prayer mats or photographs of prominent Muslim personalities or verses from the Qur’an or...

Shaykh Yusuf da Costa: Each one is a unique individual
Because of our backgrounds and also the way we have participated in Islam, each one of us, strangely enough, has his or her own path that he or she walks in the religion. There are no two or more individuals with the same attitude, understanding and practice of our...

Shaykh Yusuf da Costa: The areas in which we live should not flourish within us
Because of the nature of our organisation, we draw people from all walks of life and different domestic cultures. In other words, almost each person’s socio-economic conditions differ from that of every other person. But this is the nature of the community in which we...

Shaykh Yusuf da Costa: When we are busy with our Lord, we are busy with the Infinite
There are times when some of us commit even the smallest transgression, and we “run” to our Lord seeking repentance or forgiveness. Our repentance is not governed by the size of the transgression but by a heart that is fearful of its Lord. And so, whether it is a...

Shaykh Yusuf da Costa: Working in Allah’s (ﷻ) Cause is a permanent commitment
One of the mistakes that many of us have made in the past was to drop work in the Cause of Islam, for one or other reason. Of course, we never thought these things through and never realised that when we committed ourselves to Allah Almighty with regard to His Work,...