About

Abdulkarim G. Mohammed is a software engineer in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. By day he builds AI platforms as a senior full-stack engineer and runs Eaglix Tech, an agency connecting Ethiopian engineers with clients worldwide. He studied software engineering at Addis Ababa University.

He is a student of knowledge, not a scholar. Ḥāshiya is where he writes down what he is learning about God, scripture and what Islam teaches, with the sources that taught him, so you can check them yourself. Away from the keyboard, it’s chess and football, usually from midfield.

Why this journal

A ḥāshiya is a marginal gloss: the notes a reader writes beside a text while studying it. This journal is a gloss in that sense: long-form writing on God, scripture and the traditions that read them, and careful answers to questions about Islam.

It is written by a Muslim, openly, for two kinds of reader at once: Muslims who want depth, and people of other faiths or none who want to understand. Nothing here is a fatwā; for a ruling on your own situation, ask a qualified scholar. And nothing here assumes you already know the terms. Arabic words are explained where they appear and collected in the glossary.

Sources and translations

Primary texts are always quoted in full, with their reference and translator, and set apart from commentary so you can tell the source from the gloss.

• Qur’an. Arabic text with an English translation, usually Sahih International unless another is named beside the verse.
• Ḥadīth. Quoted from the major collections with collection and number. Grades are those given by the collection or by the scholar named in the text.
• Bible and other scripture. Quoted from the translation named beside each passage, most often the ESV.
• Transliteration. A simplified academic system, described in a note on transliteration.

Every post links to its source file. If you find an error in a quotation or a reference, use Suggest a correction at the end of the post.