Becoming Rijaal
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الحمد الله رب العالمين و صلى الله على سيدينا محمد و على آله و صحبه اجمعين
Allāhumma Ṣalli ʿAlā Sayyidinā Muhammad.
One must become a man before he can be a man.
This is our lived ethos. Each of us is on our own journey into manhood, but while guided by universal principles. We are committed to becoming whole men in a world that shames, demonizes, and deforms manhood, because we have been Commanded to uphold a whole form of manhood. The Dīn is the ultimate frame, and it completes our manhood. Meanwhile, manhood applies and enforces this frame.
We are a group of Muslim men from a diverse range of academic, socio-economic, and socio-cultural backgrounds. We grew up in the diaspora across North America, and Europe, and have grappled with our own struggles as second generation Muslim immigrants or as converts, confronting a post-colonial world, where our sense of self and meaning faced constant friction. On top of navigating our native cultures, we saw first hand how disastrous popular Muslim ‘leadership’ has been by cementing alliances with the political Left and Left-adjacent groups.
On top of fragmentation due to the complexities of immigration and a post-9/11 world, entire generations of diaspora Muslims have been infected with liberal-progressive beliefs, and social norms. We have seen too many brothers and sisters fall astray and pay immensely, because of gendered distortions and social degeneracy that became status-quo in their lives.
Many of us struggled against this dysfunctional status-quo around us too; often in isolation and while facing shaming, demonization, and slander–because of our commitments against it. We stuck it out and grew through trial and error, by His Guidance, and eventually connected with each other. Perseverance and resilience pay off and are invaluable.
While our independent training grappling with our worlds, was invaluable, we saw the greatest shifts through subhah. But, not just any model of subhah; rather a distinctively masculine model of fellowship whereby boys and men need unique connection and training to develop and apply our manhood in the world.
Unfortunately, as dire as such fellowship is, modern boys and men lack it. This even hinders their ability to relate to women, as men, and establish the correct frames that preserve women’s fitrah. That’s why we understand and empathize with the crippling loneliness, confusion, and resentment many brothers and sisters are feeling, due to increasing disorder that distorts their worlds, and worsens their possibilities for satisfying relationships.
We are family men who have been through the trenches of finding sound and marriageable women of Allah and His Messenger salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam, alhamdulillah, and are devoted to stewarding our families every day, in-sha’Allah. We know that despite the immense challenges today, there is hope and a call to work for renewal and preservation.
With our backgrounds spanning martial arts, fitness and nutrition, personal development, philosophy, psychology, engineering and biotechnology, law, politics and activism, marketing and design, writing and speaking, and sacred Islamic sciences–we are united by our underlying commitment to clarifying misconceptions about Islam’s paradigm on gender and relationships.
We also intend on providing every willing man with a road map to develop their manhood, and navigate these difficult circumstances with principled frames, and vitality. This requires systematizing, preserving and transmitting an Islamic model of rujula for today’s Muslim man.
We did not bend when we were alone while going against the grain, and we certainly will not bend now that we have formed a principled fellowship with kindred men committed to Allah and His Messenger salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam, in-sha’Allah.
The Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam said:
This knowledge will be carried by the trustworthy ones of every generation. They will expel from it the alteration made by those going beyond bounds; false claims of the liars and the false interpretations of the ignorant ones.
Related by al-Bayhaqi in his Sunanul-Kubra (10/209), Ibn Abi Hatim in al-Jarh wa-Ta’deel (2/17) and Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr in at-Tamheed (1/57-58), from the Hadith of Ibrahim Ibn ‘Abdur-Rahman al-‘Udhari (radi Allahu ‘anhu).
This Prophetic tradition inspires us deeply. We ask Allah to be amongst the trustworthy ones of our generation, by His Generosity. Ameen!
We invite our fellow men to hear and answer the call to becoming men, together, and commit to understanding, embodying, and applying their manhood according to the frame of the Dīn.
With duas,
Becoming Rijaal Team
