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# Deen: Start Here
- URL: https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/deen/
- Published: 2026-09-29T02:18:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-20T22:36:02.000Z
- Description: Every Deen article in one place. Search them, filter by topic, or follow a reading path from the Qur'an and the Prophet ﷺ through hadith and the schools to money and Islam in Australia.
- Author: Mohammad Siddiqui
- Tags: Deen

Deen · Start here

These are the Deen pages: 36 long articles, each written to answer one question about Islam properly and with its sources on show. They lean on each other. The Qur'an, the life of the Prophet ﷺ and the Companions sit underneath everything else; the pieces on the pillars and daily practice, belief and the afterlife, hadith, the schools, Sunni and Shia, money and Islam in Australia build on top of them. You can search the whole lot below, pick a topic, or follow one of the reading paths further down.

Everything here is meant to be checkable. If you find a claim that doesn't hold up, or a source I've misread, email me at [mohammad.siddiqui@icloud.com](mailto:mohammad.siddiqui@icloud.com) with the source and I'll correct it.

[All articles](#all-articles)[Reading paths](#reading-paths)[How the pieces connect](#how-they-connect)[How these pages are written](#how-written)

## All articles

Search the articles 

AllStart hereThe Qur'an and the Prophet ﷺPractice: the pillarsBeliefHadith: how we know what he saidSunni and ShiaLaw, schools and practiceDaily lifeMoney and modern lifeIslam in Australia

Showing all 36 articles.

- [![Two parchment leaves of the Birmingham Qur'an manuscript, written in early Hijazi script, carbon-dated to 568 to 645 CE](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/birmingham-quran-manuscript.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-quran/)  
### [The Qur'an: What It Is, How It Came Down, and How It Was Kept](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-quran/)

**Read this if** you're curious how the Qur'an was revealed and preserved, and what its 114 chapters contain.  
Long read

  - Start here
  - The Qur'an and the Prophet ﷺ
  - Belief
- [![The Green Dome and minarets of al-Masjid al-Nabawi, the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, under a clear daytime sky](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/prophet-muhammad-feature-masjid-nabawi.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prophet-muhammad/)  
### [Muhammad ﷺ: A Life](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prophet-muhammad/)

**Read this if** you want his life ﷺ in order from the sources, with a timeline and family tree.  
Reference work: dip in

  - Start here
  - The Qur'an and the Prophet ﷺ
  - Belief
- [![Rows of simple unmarked graves at Jannat al-Baqi cemetery in Medina under a bright cloudy sky, with the minarets of the Prophet's Mosque in the distance](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/al-baqi-cemetery-medina.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/companions/)  
### [The People Around Muhammad ﷺ: Companions, Wives and Family](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/companions/)

**Read this if** a name keeps turning up in the hadith and you wonder who they were.  
Reference work: dip in

  - Start here
  - The Qur'an and the Prophet ﷺ
- [![The arcaded courtyard of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, with a minaret against a clear blue sky](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/five-pillars-sultan-ahmed-courtyard.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/five-pillars/)  
### [The Five Pillars and the Six Articles of Faith](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/five-pillars/)

**Read this if** you want the pillars traced to the Hadith of Jibrīl, with the Twelver list alongside.  
40 min read

  - Start here
  - Practice: the pillars
- [![The marble sebil, a public water kiosk, of the Mihrişah Valide Sultan complex in Eyüp, Istanbul](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/10/character-and-ihsan-mihrisah-sebil-eyup.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/character-and-ihsan/)  
### [Character (Akhlāq) and Iḥsān: The Third Dimension](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/character-and-ihsan/)

**Read this if** you want what iḥsān means, and the texts on anger, the tongue and envy.  
49 min read

  - Start here
  - Daily life
- [![The courtyard of al-Qarawiyyīn in Fez, with its fountain pavilion and patterned floor](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/10/mawlid-sessions-qarawiyyin-fez.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/masalat-al-mawlid-al-nabawi/)  
### [مسألة المولد النبوي (The Mawlid, Session by Session)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/masalat-al-mawlid-al-nabawi/)

**Read this if** you're invited to a Mawlid and want both sides argued from the Qur'an and hadith.  
31 min read

  - The Qur'an and the Prophet ﷺ
  - Law, schools and practice
- [![The opening pages of a nineteenth-century manuscript of the mawlid text Sharaf al-anām, with gold illuminated borders](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/10/mawlid-sourcebook-sharaf-al-anam-manuscript.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-mawlid-sourcebook/)  
### [The Mawlid Sourcebook](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-mawlid-sourcebook/)

**Read this if** you want the full Mawlid record: the texts each side cites, the history, the scholars.  
Long read

  - The Qur'an and the Prophet ﷺ
- [![Rows of striped prayer mats laid out on the floor of an empty prayer hall at the Jama Masjid](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/prayer-jama-masjid-prayer-mats.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prayer/)  
### [Prayer (ṣalāh): How and Why](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prayer/)

**Read this if** you're learning to pray, or wonder why others at the mosque pray slightly differently.  
55 min read

  - Practice: the pillars
- [![A table laid for iftar, the meal that breaks the Ramadan fast, with bread, stews, olives and pastries](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/ramadan-iftar-table.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/ramadan/)  
### [Ramadan and Fasting in Australia](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/ramadan/)

**Read this if** you want the Qur'an's fasting verses, each school's rules, and why start dates differ.  
52 min read

  - Practice: the pillars
- [![Two cardboard collection boxes in the Taipei Grand Mosque labelled for zakat and zakat al-fitr in Arabic and Chinese, with a banknote being dropped into one](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/zakat-donation-box-taipei-mosque.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/zakat/)  
### [Zakat in Practice](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/zakat/)

**Read this if** you're working out whether you owe zakat, on what and how much, with a calculator.  
46 min read

  - Practice: the pillars
- [![Pilgrims in white walking towards Jabal al-Raḥma, the Mount of Mercy, on the plain of ʿArafāt](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/hajj-jabal-al-rahma.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hajj/)  
### [Hajj and ʿUmra](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hajj/)

**Read this if** you're planning Hajj or ʿUmra and want each rite traced to the Prophet's own pilgrimage.  
45 min read

  - Practice: the pillars
- [![A brass planispheric astrolabe with its interchangeable plates laid out beside it, Khalili Collection of Islamic Art](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/islamic-calendar-astrolabe.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/islamic-calendar/)  
### [The Islamic Calendar and Its Sacred Days](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/islamic-calendar/)

**Read this if** your app and mosque disagree on Eid, or you want to know which days matter.  
38 min read

  - Practice: the pillars
- [![The name of God painted in large black calligraphy on a pale wall of the Old Mosque in Edirne, Turkey](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/creed-edirne-old-mosque-allah-calligraphy.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/creed/)  
### [Belief in God, the Prophets and the Unseen](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/creed/)

**Read this if** you want the beliefs all Muslims share about God, and why five theological schools differ.  
43 min read

  - Belief
- [![Tall carved Seljuk headstones standing in the open grassland of the old Muslim cemetery at Ahlat, eastern Turkey](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/ahlat-seljuk-cemetery.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/afterlife/)  
### [Death, the Grave and the Afterlife](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/afterlife/)

**Read this if** you want the Qur'an and sound hadith on death, the grave and the Day.  
57 min read

  - Belief
- [![A 1472 manuscript of al-ʿAynī’s ʿUmdat al-Qārī, a commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/umdat-al-qari-1472.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-a-hadith-is-judged/)  
### [How a Hadith Is Judged](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-a-hadith-is-judged/)

**Read this if** you've seen ṣaḥīḥ or “graded by al-Albānī” and want to know what it means.  
26 min read

  - Hadith: how we know what he said
- [![Students reading in rows in the courtyard of al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/hadith-narrators-al-azhar-students.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hadith-narrators-and-chains/)  
### [The People Behind the Hadith: Narrators, Chains and How They Were Judged](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hadith-narrators-and-chains/)

**Read this if** you want to see how narrators were judged, with five real chains to step through.  
Long read

  - Hadith: how we know what he said
- [![Opening pages of an illuminated manuscript of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, with a gold and blue headpiece above the first lines of text](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/hadith-collections-bukhari-manuscript.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hadith-collections/)  
### [The Hadith Collections: A Complete Tree](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hadith-collections/)

**Read this if** you want to know who compiled Bukhārī, Muslim or al-Kāfī, and how each is rated.  
Long read

  - Hadith: how we know what he said
- [![An open drawer of index cards in a wooden card catalogue at the library of the United Nations Office at Geneva](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/hadith-index-card-catalogue.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hadith-index/)  
### [The Hadith Behind These Articles: An Index](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hadith-index/)

**Read this if** you want the hadith the articles rest on, with their grades and who graded them. The biography and the Companions page link theirs straight to sunnah.com instead.  
Reference work: dip in

  - Hadith: how we know what he said
- [![The marble courtyard and arcades of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/10/sunni-and-shia-umayyad-mosque-courtyard.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sunni-and-shia/)  
### [Sunni and Shia](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sunni-and-shia/)

**Read this if** you're starting the Sunni and Shia series and want to know what each part covers.  
50 min read

  - Sunni and Shia
- [![The courtyard of the Prophet's Mosque in Madina under its opened shade umbrellas](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/10/sunni-shia-origins-prophets-mosque-umbrellas.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-sunni-and-shia-came-to-be/)  
### [How Sunni and Shia Came to Be](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-sunni-and-shia-came-to-be/)

**Read this if** you want the succession after 632 laid out fairly, with each side's verses and reports.  
Long read

  - Sunni and Shia
- [![The courtyard and minarets of al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/10/house-and-schools-al-azhar-courtyard.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-house-and-the-schools/)  
### [The House and the Schools](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-house-and-the-schools/)

**Read this if** you want every Sunni and Shia school compared by how it reads Qur'an and Sunna.  
Long read

  - Sunni and Shia
- [![The mud-brick Great Mosque of Djenné in Mali](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/10/how-islam-travelled-djenne-great-mosque.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-islam-travelled/)  
### [How Islam Travelled](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-islam-travelled/)

**Read this if** you've wondered why Indonesia is mostly Shāfiʿī, Iran Shia and West Africa Mālikī.  
Long read

  - Sunni and Shia
- [![Carved cedar and stucco façade of the Bou Inania Madrasa courtyard in Fez, Morocco, with its green-tiled minaret against a bright sky](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/schools-of-thought-tree-feature.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/schools-of-thought/)  
### [Islamic Schools of Thought: The Complete Tree](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/schools-of-thought/)

**Read this if** you want every school, creed, Sufi order and movement on one tree or timeline.  
Long read

  - Sunni and Shia
  - Law, schools and practice
- [![The courtyard of the Mustansiriya Madrasa in Baghdad, founded in 1233, with its arcaded walls and a minaret against a blue sky](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/10/what-is-sharia-mustansiriya-madrasa.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/what-is-sharia/)  
### [What Sharia Is (and Isn't)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/what-is-sharia/)

**Read this if** you want Sharia told apart from fiqh, and what it asks of Muslims in Australia.  
46 min read

  - Law, schools and practice
- [![A nineteenth-century copy of the Mukhtaṣar Khalīl, a Mālikī law manual, from Kano](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/mukhtasar-khalil-kano.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/following-a-madhhab/)  
### [Following a Madhhab: Taqlīd, Ijtihād and Mixing Schools](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/following-a-madhhab/)

**Read this if** you've been told to keep to one school and want the jurists' views on switching.  
25 min read

  - Law, schools and practice
- [![Restored mud-brick walls and buttressed towers of the At-Turaif district in Diriyah, Najd, Saudi Arabia, under a clear blue sky](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/salafism-feature.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/salafism/)  
### [Salafism: Origins, Beliefs and the Arguments Around It](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/salafism/)

**Read this if** you've heard “Salafi” as praise and as insult and want to know what it means.  
35 min read

  - Law, schools and practice
- [![The Mevlana Museum in Konya, the former lodge and tomb of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, with its fluted turquoise dome, seen from the park](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/mevlana-museum-konya.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sufism/)  
### [Sufism: Origins, Orders and Critiques](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sufism/)

**Read this if** you want Sufism's history and orders, the critiques against it, and the Sufi replies.  
35 min read

  - Law, schools and practice
- [![The muqarnas vault of the Abu Hanifa Mosque, Baghdad](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/10/hanafi-umbrella-abu-hanifa-muqarnas.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hanafi-umbrella/)  
### [The Hanafi Umbrella: Deobandi, Barelvi, and the Category Error](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hanafi-umbrella/)

**Read this if** you've been asked whether you're Hanafi, Deobandi or Barelvi and the question felt wrong.  
27 min read

  - Law, schools and practice
- [![A lamp lit at dusk for Shab-e-Barāt](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/shab-e-barat-lamp.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-15th-of-shaban/)  
### [The 15th of Shaʿbān: What the Texts Say](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-15th-of-shaban/)

**Read this if** you want to know which mid-Shaʿbān hadith hold up and where scholars still differ.  
32 min read

  - Law, schools and practice
- [![A wudu tap for ablution at the Al-Ittihad Mosque in Pekanbaru, Indonesia](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/ablution-tap-mosque-sunna.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sunna-in-daily-life/)  
### [The Sunna in Daily Life](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sunna-in-daily-life/)

**Read this if** you want everyday Sunna from sound reports, and which popular sayings have no reliable chain.  
52 min read

  - Daily life
- [![A cobbled lane between old timber-framed houses in Safranbolu, Turkey](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/10/family-and-community-safranbolu-street.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/family-and-community/)  
### [Family, Neighbours and Community: The Rights of Others](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/family-and-community/)

**Read this if** you want what the Qur'an and sound hadith say we owe parents, neighbours and strangers.  
49 min read

  - Daily life
- [![Heaps of paprika and other ground spices on sale at the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/spice-bazaar-istanbul-halal-food.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/halal-food-australia/)  
### [Halal Food in Australia](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/halal-food-australia/)

**Read this if** you want what the Qur'an forbids, the schools on stunning, and what halal logos mean.  
41 min read

  - Daily life
- [![Interior of the historic mosque at Sıraağaç, Trabzon, with its carved wooden minbar and the wooden upper gallery (mahfil) above the prayer hall](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/siraagac-mosque-wooden-gallery.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/women-in-islam/)  
### [Women in Islam: Texts and Interpretations](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/women-in-islam/)

**Read this if** you want the verses and hadith on women read by classical, traditional and reformist scholars.  
48 min read

  - Daily life
- [![The Auburn Gallipoli Mosque in western Sydney](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/10/halal-super-auburn-gallipoli-mosque.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/halal-super-in-australia/)  
### [Halal Super in Australia: A Checklist for 2026](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/halal-super-in-australia/)

**Read this if** your Hejaz super is being wound up, or you wonder what halal screening tests.  
25 min read

  - Daily life
  - Money and modern life
  - Islam in Australia
- [![Both faces of a gold dinar of the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik, struck in 697–98 CE](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/10/riba-gold-dinar-abd-al-malik.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/riba-a-study-in-evidence/)  
### [Riba: The Evidence, the Arguments and Australian Islamic Finance](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/riba-a-study-in-evidence/)

**Read this if** you're weighing a home loan and want the Qur'an, hadith and four schools on interest.  
Long read

  - Money and modern life
- [![The camel drivers’ mosque at Hergott Springs (now Marree), South Australia, 1884](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/83/478374d7-05ea-447f-bec3-c9df55073132/content/images/size/w600/2026/09/marree-mosque-1884.jpg)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-islam-came-to-australia/)  
### [How Islam Came to Australia](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-islam-came-to-australia/)

**Read this if** you want to know how Islam reached Australia, from Makassan fishing fleets to Afghan cameleers.  
32 min read

  - Islam in Australia

Nothing matches that. Try a shorter word, or clear the search and pick a path instead.

## Reading paths

If you'd rather be told what to read next, these are the orders I'd suggest. Some articles sit in more than one path, because a piece like the schools tree is useful from several directions.

### Start here

The three foundation pieces, then the three dimensions in the Hadith of Jibrīl: the pillars, the articles of faith and iḥsān. If you only have time for one, make it the Qur'an.

1. [The Qur'an: What It Is, How It Came Down, and How It Was Kept](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-quran/)
2. [Muhammad ﷺ: A Life](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prophet-muhammad/)
3. [The People Around Muhammad ﷺ: Companions, Wives and Family](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/companions/)
4. [The Five Pillars and the Six Articles of Faith](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/five-pillars/)
5. [Character (Akhlāq) and Iḥsān: The Third Dimension](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/character-and-ihsan/)

### The Qur'an and the Prophet ﷺ

The book, the man who received it and the people around him, then the long argument over his birthday.

1. [The Qur'an: What It Is, How It Came Down, and How It Was Kept](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-quran/)
2. [Muhammad ﷺ: A Life](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prophet-muhammad/)
3. [The People Around Muhammad ﷺ: Companions, Wives and Family](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/companions/)
4. [مسألة المولد النبوي (The Mawlid, Session by Session)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/masalat-al-mawlid-al-nabawi/)
5. [The Mawlid Sourcebook](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-mawlid-sourcebook/)

### Practice: the pillars

What a Muslim actually does: the pillars, then prayer, fasting, zakat and Hajj, and the calendar that times them.

1. [The Five Pillars and the Six Articles of Faith](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/five-pillars/)
2. [Prayer (ṣalāh): How and Why](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prayer/)
3. [Ramadan and Fasting in Australia](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/ramadan/)
4. [Zakat in Practice](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/zakat/)
5. [Hajj and ʿUmra](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hajj/)
6. [The Islamic Calendar and Its Sacred Days](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/islamic-calendar/)

### Belief

What Muslims believe about God, the unseen and the hereafter, and the book and the life those beliefs rest on.

1. [Belief in God, the Prophets and the Unseen](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/creed/)
2. [Death, the Grave and the Afterlife](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/afterlife/)
3. [The Qur'an: What It Is, How It Came Down, and How It Was Kept](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-quran/)
4. [Muhammad ﷺ: A Life](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prophet-muhammad/)

### Hadith: how we know what he said

Most disagreements end at a hadith and its grade. These four explain how reports were sorted, and how to check one.

1. [How a Hadith Is Judged](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-a-hadith-is-judged/)
2. [The People Behind the Hadith: Narrators, Chains and How They Were Judged](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hadith-narrators-and-chains/)
3. [The Hadith Collections: A Complete Tree](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hadith-collections/)
4. [The Hadith Behind These Articles: An Index](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hadith-index/)

### Sunni and Shia

Start with the series hub, then read the three parts in order. Keep the schools tree open in another tab for when the names pile up.

1. [Sunni and Shia](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sunni-and-shia/)
2. [How Sunni and Shia Came to Be](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-sunni-and-shia-came-to-be/)
3. [The House and the Schools](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-house-and-the-schools/)
4. [How Islam Travelled](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-islam-travelled/)
5. [Islamic Schools of Thought: The Complete Tree](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/schools-of-thought/)

### Law, schools and practice

What Sharia is and isn't, how a layperson follows scholarship, then where that gets tested: Salafism, Sufism, Deobandi and Barelvi, mid-Shaʿbān and the Mawlid.

1. [What Sharia Is (and Isn't)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/what-is-sharia/)
2. [Following a Madhhab: Taqlīd, Ijtihād and Mixing Schools](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/following-a-madhhab/)
3. [Salafism: Origins, Beliefs and the Arguments Around It](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/salafism/)
4. [Sufism: Origins, Orders and Critiques](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sufism/)
5. [The Hanafi Umbrella: Deobandi, Barelvi, and the Category Error](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hanafi-umbrella/)
6. [Islamic Schools of Thought: The Complete Tree](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/schools-of-thought/)
7. [The 15th of Shaʿbān: What the Texts Say](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-15th-of-shaban/)
8. [مسألة المولد النبوي (The Mawlid, Session by Session)](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/masalat-al-mawlid-al-nabawi/)

### Daily life

Where the texts meet an ordinary week: everyday Sunna, character, family and neighbours, food, the verses on women, and super.

1. [The Sunna in Daily Life](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sunna-in-daily-life/)
2. [Character (Akhlāq) and Iḥsān: The Third Dimension](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/character-and-ihsan/)
3. [Family, Neighbours and Community: The Rights of Others](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/family-and-community/)
4. [Halal Food in Australia](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/halal-food-australia/)
5. [Women in Islam: Texts and Interpretations](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/women-in-islam/)
6. [Halal Super in Australia: A Checklist for 2026](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/halal-super-in-australia/)

### Money and modern life

Two pieces for people making real decisions about loans, interest and super in Australia. Research, not financial advice.

1. [Riba: The Evidence, the Arguments and Australian Islamic Finance](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/riba-a-study-in-evidence/)
2. [Halal Super in Australia: A Checklist for 2026](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/halal-super-in-australia/)

### Islam in Australia

Some local history and one very local decision. A short list for now.

1. [How Islam Came to Australia](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-islam-came-to-australia/)
2. [Halal Super in Australia: A Checklist for 2026](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/halal-super-in-australia/)

## How the pieces connect

A rough map. The three pieces at the top are the foundation; each group underneath depends on them in its own way. Every name is a link.

The foundation

1. [The Qur'an](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-quran/)the revelation
2. [Muhammad ﷺ](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prophet-muhammad/)the life that explains it
3. [The Companions](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/companions/)the people who carried it

Built on top of it

- #### Hadith  
How his words were carried, checked and collected.

  - [How a hadith is judged](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-a-hadith-is-judged/)
  - [Narrators and chains](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hadith-narrators-and-chains/)
  - [The collections](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hadith-collections/)
  - [The index](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hadith-index/)
- #### The Mawlid  
One long argument about how to honour him.

  - [Session by session](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/masalat-al-mawlid-al-nabawi/)
  - [The sourcebook](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-mawlid-sourcebook/)
- #### Sunni and Shia  
What happened after 632, and why it still matters.

  - [The series hub](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sunni-and-shia/)
  - [Part 1: origins](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-sunni-and-shia-came-to-be/)
  - [Part 2: the schools](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-house-and-the-schools/)
  - [Part 3: how it spread](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-islam-travelled/)
- #### Law and practice  
How scholars turn the texts into rulings, and how the rest of us follow them.

  - [What Sharia is](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/what-is-sharia/)
  - [Schools of thought](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/schools-of-thought/)
  - [Following a madhhab](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/following-a-madhhab/)
  - [Hanafi, Deobandi, Barelvi](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hanafi-umbrella/)
  - [Salafism](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/salafism/)
  - [Sufism](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sufism/)
  - [The 15th of Shaʿbān](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-15th-of-shaban/)
- #### Practice  
The five pillars, and the calendar that sets when they fall.

  - [The five pillars](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/five-pillars/)
  - [Prayer](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prayer/)
  - [Ramadan](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/ramadan/)
  - [Zakat](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/zakat/)
  - [Hajj and ʿUmra](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/hajj/)
  - [The calendar](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/islamic-calendar/)
- #### Belief  
What is believed about God, the unseen and what comes after.

  - [Belief and creed](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/creed/)
  - [Death and the afterlife](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/afterlife/)
- #### Daily life  
The texts applied to an ordinary week.

  - [The Sunna in daily life](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sunna-in-daily-life/)
  - [Character and iḥsān](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/character-and-ihsan/)
  - [Family and neighbours](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/family-and-community/)
  - [Halal food](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/halal-food-australia/)
  - [Women in Islam](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/women-in-islam/)
- #### Money  
The rulings applied to loans, interest and super.

  - [Riba](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/riba-a-study-in-evidence/)
  - [Halal super](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/halal-super-in-australia/)
- #### Australia  
How all of it reached this country, and how it is lived here.

  - [How Islam came to Australia](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-islam-came-to-australia/)
  - [Halal super](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/halal-super-in-australia/)
  - [Halal food](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/halal-food-australia/)
  - [Ramadan in Australia](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/ramadan/)

## How these pages are written

The rules are the same on every page. Qur'an references are checked against [quran.com](https://quran.com/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com), and quotations use Mustafa Khattab's translation as shown there, with the Arabic word added in brackets where his English takes a side the article discusses. Every hadith is checked on [sunnah.com](https://sunnah.com/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) where it appears there (and otherwise on dorar.net or in a printed edition, which the article names), with its collection, number and grade, and the name of whoever gave that grade; where a report is weak I say so, even when the weak report is the popular one. Beyond the primary texts I lean on the classical scholars in their own words and on academic reference works such as the *Encyclopaedia of Islam*, *Encyclopaedia Iranica* and Britannica, and each article lists its sources at the end.

Each article starts from what the Qur'an and sound hadith establish, and labels everything else for what it is: a school's position, a scholar's reasoning, a claim of consensus, a weak report. Where Muslims disagree, I try to give each side its strongest case in its own terms. Where the dispute is over a devotional practice, such as the Mawlid or the night of mid-Shaʿbān, the article sets out who holds which view and on what evidence rather than ruling on it, and it says plainly when the evidence runs out.

**Research, not fatwa.** These are research articles, not religious rulings, and the money pieces are not financial advice. For a decision about your own worship, marriage or money, please speak to a qualified scholar you trust.

**Corrections.** Found a mistake? Email [mohammad.siddiqui@icloud.com](mailto:mohammad.siddiqui@icloud.com) and include the source that shows it.