Islam

Religion of the desert blossoms with roses

India’s Nightingale Sarojini Naidu in her talk to the Young Men’s Muslim Association Madras, 1917.

Sarojini Naidu

* Known as the Nightingale of India

* Indian independence activist and poet

* Fist Indian woman to become the Presidnt of the Indian National Congress

* First woman to become the Governor of Uttar Pradesh State

Though I stand side by side with you as a non Muslim, I am a comrade in all your dreams. I stand beside you in your dreams and aspirations, because the ideals of Islam are so essentially and supremely the progressive human ideals that no human soul that loves progress can refuse allegiance to those ideals.

One has to look back to see how the vision of tomorrow may be linked with the vision of the past; and therefore if, in speaking of the ideals of Islam, I take you through a long journey into the past, it is only that you may realise, what only the other day it was my privilege to say to the young generation: that it is only in her ideals that we find seeds of immortality, and that if there be today vitality in the Muslim people, it is because the seed was sown into the Desert, and the Desert blossomed with roses.

Come with me into the Desert where the sun is dazzling, where the people are brave, simple, quick to revenge an insult, strong to defend honour.

What is it that the youngest of the religions has given to the world? Of the old religions, some have died and some are still living. When we come to the religion of the Desert, we find that wonderful adjustment between the spiritual and the temporal, for it was the religion of Islam that built up political empires.

Comparatively modern, as measured by the older civilisations, the civilisation of Islam is young indeed. What does the golden age of Islam represent? What was lacking in the golden age that the modern age has been able to evolve for itself? What was lacking in the intellectual splendour and achievement, and what was lacking in the political policies, in its colonising powers?

Sense of justice

Brotherhood is the fundamental doctrine that Islam taught - Brotherhood of civic life, of intellectual life, of spiritual life in the sense of leaving other religions and creeds free to offer their worship. This is what we call modern toleration, the larger outlook, this is what we call civilisation; this is what we call the real understanding of human characteristics, the real understanding of those sources that bind human hearts to one another.

Ancient Hindu India laid the foundation of her civilisation on the position and responsibility of woman. In modern times, the legal status given to woman is supposed to be a great test of civilisation. Islam, coming centuries later than the Hindu religion, revealed the old world truths in a new language through a new medium, and once more asserted the abiding verity that gave woman her responsibility and her place in the National life, by giving her not merely her honour due as wife and mother, but as citizen responsible and able to administer her own property, to defend her own property, because it was hers and she was not dependent as mere goods and chattels on husband’s and brother’s bounty.

The sense of justice is one of the most wonderful ideals of Islam, because as I read the Koran, I find those dynamic principles of life: not mystic, but practical ethics for the daily conduct of life, suited to the whole world. We are fond of saying that we belong to a rational age, that we belong to a practical age. If you belong to a practical and rational age, what more shall you find than those codes of ethics laid down so clearly for your daily conduct? How far-seeing was the wisdom that laid down as religious law those great principles that tended to conserve the Brotherhood that the religion taught!

What was the meaning of the Haj? Did it matter to God that thousands of Mussalmans went to one place or another, since He is everywhere? No. The meaning was that streams of pilgrims from various lands, speaking various tongues, having various traditions and customs, should meet together in one common place, and through one common association and memory, to consolidate the Brotherhood that Islam preached.

The meaning of fast in Islam is that man needs in his busy life some moment to himself when his children might say, “We have set apart this time to contemplate upon Him who is always with us, but we forget that He is always with us.”

Democracy

When we look at the religious law, what is laid down there is the outcome of the prophetic vision that realises that civilisation would tend more and more towards democracy. It was the first religion that preached and practised democracy, for in the mosque when (from) the minaret (the call to prayer) is sounded and the worshippers are gathered together, the democracy of Islam is embodied five times a day when the peasant and the king kneel side by side and proclaim, “God alone is great.”

I have been struck over and over again by this indivisible unity of Islam that makes a man instinctively a brother. When you meet an Egyptian, an Algerian, an Indian, and a Turk in London, what matters that Egypt was the Motherland of one, and India the Motherland of another? It was this great feeling of Brotherhood, this great sense of human justice, that was the gift of Akbar’s rule to India; because he was not only Akbar the great Moghul but Akbar the great Mussalman: that he realised that one might conquer a country, but that one must not dishonour those whom one conquered. You may be a king, but your subjects are co-partners with you in the defence of the country. It was Akbar who laid down the fruitful policy of unity, of that peace which is the greeting of each other.

Salaam - the National symbol of peace - was the gift of Akbar to the India over which he ruled. The intellectual thought that evolved out of this sense of fundamental oneness found its beautiful expression in that spiritual Sufism which is blood-kin to Vedantism. What is the teaching of the Sufi doctrine, except the Vedanta which we Hindus inherited - the love of mankind, the service to the world, ecstasy in which self is annihilated into the universal life of humanity?

Poetry of Islam

Go to the poetry of Islam. What is there so beautiful in all the wide and manifold realms of literature as that immortal lyric (poetry) of Hafiz, Rumi - that in the language of man there too in his higher manifestation the lyric genius of Islam, of India, has been not less than the epic genius of India or of Europe.

When we analyse the evolution of that great literature, and when we find the two meeting through one religion, we find indeed the inheritors of that dual culture - the blending of mysticism with the semetic (sign-based (?); Semitic (?)), dynamic, logical, practical power of life.

There, the dreaming and the action become united, because one religion has bound them, and we in India are the richer for our Indian descent.

When we come to deal in its national aspect with the ideals of Islam, having journeyed first into the Desert and found not the mirage but the revelation, we must always come back home, for like a lark we must be true to the kindred bonds of home; and the home of the Indian Mussalman is in India. His endeavour, his destiny, his hope is bound up with the endeavour, destiny, hope of India. How should the ideals of.lslam enrich National life? What are the special qualities and gifts that Muslim India has to contribute to united India?

I shall always recognise with pride that what the Hindu Mazzini gives to India, that (the) Muslim Garibaldi gives to India, and they make a perfect type to make an Indian patriot.

We want the mystic power of dreaming that is the special inheritance of the mystic Hindu; we want the direct, fearless power of action which is the special gift of the children of the sword.

It is (the) spirit of the sword that we want to be brought to this great land. We want that courage - that a soldier kept the sword swift in defence of the country, to revenge any insult to the honour of manhood or womanhood that it defended. (The) young Muslim is to put his contribution - not the sword made of steel, but the sword of the Islamic spirit. That is going to be your contribution to the India of tomorrow.

Your poet laureate Dr. Iqbal has done immense service that can never be recompensed adequately, perhaps never even fully recognised by those in other provinces who did not know the National awakening that is coming. It was his patriotic songs that burst like the clarion call when there was strife between two communities. What the poet has done, a poet’s race can do.

What a Muslim poet can do, a young Islamite can do in always sending out a clarion call, that cry for unity which has been the one safeguard of Islam in the past and is coming to be the one hope of Islam in the future, because Islam has recognised the fundamental duties of Brotherhood.

Islamic Brotherhood must not confine the ideal of Brotherhood to those alone that profess their creed, but must expand the interpretation of that ideal of Brotherhood till every community within this land has learnt the lesson that Muhammad was born to teach in the Desert 1300 years ago.

We want to feel today, we who are not merely dreaming the New India but shaping the New India with our hands; we want to be sure of the other manifold substances that are going to mould the great vessel which is to contain the elixir of the hope of the India of tomorrow, what kinds of earth are going to be moulded into a shape to hold the water of life to refresh and regenerate India.

That is the clay that came across the seas - the clay from the Desert to be mingled with the Vedic clay; not only the clay that came from Persian Zoroastrians or from the European Christians in the shape of this National life; but we want, more than all other clays to be mingled with the Vedic clay, that clay which is the Desert clay of Islam, because we feel that unless and until these two great elements are blended together (and) unified, so that they can never be separated, there can be no vessel of National life that can last for time and centuries.

Superiority of knowledge over devotions

The Prophet (pbuh) said:

* “Whoever Allah wishes well, He gives knowledge of religion.”

* The superiority of the learned Muslim over the devotee is as my superiority over the least of you.

Then the Prophet (pbuh) said, “Allah and His angels, the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth, the very ant in its anthill and the fish bless those who teach people what is good.”

* When a human being dies his work comes to an end except for three things: “Ongoing charity, His knowledge that people benefit from, or a pious child who prays for him.”

* “A single learned Muslim is harder on the Devil than a thousand worshippers.”

* “Whoever travels a path seeking knowledge Allah makes easy for him a path to paradise. “Angels lower their wings for the seeker of knowledge out of pleasure in what he seeks.”Those in the heavens and the earth, and the very fish in the water ask Allah to forgive the person endowed with Sacred Knowledge.

“The superiority of the learned Muslim over the devotee is like the superiority of the moon over all the stars.

“The learned are the heirs of the prophets. The prophets have not bequeathed dinar nor dirham, but have only left Sacred Knowledge, and whoever takes it has taken an enormous share.”

* “He who calls others to guidance shall receive the like of the reward of those who follow him without this diminishing their own reward in the slightest. And he who calls others to misguidance shall bear the like of the sins of those who follow him without this diminishing their own sins.”

* “He who goes forth to seek Sacred Knowledge is in the way of Allah (syn. Jihad, def: o9) until he returns.”

* “This world and what is in it are accursed, except for the remembrance of Allah, that which Allah loves, someone with Sacred Knowledge, or someone learning it.”

‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (r.a) said, “The religious scholar is greater in reward than the fighter in the way of Allah who fasts the day and prays the night.”

Abu Darda’ (r.a) said, “Teaching Sacred Knowledge for a brief time is better than spending a night in prayer.”

Yahya ibn Abi Kathir said, “Studying Sacred Knowledge is a prayer.”

Sufyan al-Thawri and Shafi’i said, “There is nothing after what is obligatory that is superior to seeking Sacred Knowledge.” (Nawawi:) There are similar statements from whole groups of early Muslims I have not mentioned that are like those I have quoted, the upshot of which is that they concur that devoting one’s time to Sacred Knowledge is better than devoting it to voluntary fasting or prayer, better than saying “Subhan Allah” (lit. “Exalted is Allah above any limitation”), or other supererogatory devotions. Among the proofs for this, besides the foregoing, is that:

* The benefit of Sacred Knowledge affects both its possessor and the Muslims, while the above-mentioned supererogatory works are confined to oneself;

* Sacred Knowledge validates, so other acts of worship require it, though not vice versa;

* Scholars are the heirs of the prophets, while devotees are not characterized as such;

* The devotee follows the scholar, being led by and imitating him in worship and other acts, obeying him being obligatory and not the other way around;

* The benefit and effect of Sacred Knowledge remain after its possessor departs, while supererogatory works cease with the death of their doer;

* Knowledge is an attribute of Allah Most High;

* Sacred Knowledge, meaning the knowledge we are discussing, is a communal obligation, and it is thus better than the supererogatory. The Imam of the Two Sanctuaries (A: Juwayni) says in his book al-Ghiyathi that “the communal obligation is superior to the personal obligation in that the person performing it fulfils the need of the Islamic Nation (Ummah) and lifts the obligation from it, while the obligation of the individual is restricted to himself.” And success is through Allah (al- Majmu’ (y 108), 1.18-22).

Myriam Francois-Cerrah on Islam

Myriam Francois-Cerrah became popular when she was a child for acting in the 90’s hit film ‘Sense and Sensibility.’ Now she is gaining more popularity for being one of a growing number of educated middle class female converts to Islam in Britain.

She has recently contributed to a series of videos on Islam produced in the UK titled (Inspired by Muhammad).

I embraced Islam after graduating from Cambridge. Prior to that I was a believer in God but with a mistrust of organized religion.

The Qur’an was pivotal for me. I first tried to approach it in anger, as part of an attempt to prove my Muslim friend wrong. Later I began reading it with a more open mind.

The opening of Al Fatiha, with its address to the whole of mankind, psychologically stopped me in my tracks. It spoke of previous scriptures in a way which I both recognized, but also differed. It clarified many of the doubts I had .It made me an adult as I suddenly realized that my destiny and my actions had consequences for which I alone would now be held responsible.

In a world governed by relativism, it outlined objective moral truths and the foundation of morality. As someone who’d always had a keen interest in philosophy, the Qur’an felt like the culmination of all of this philosophical cogitation. It combined Kant, Hume, Sartre and Aristotle. It somehow managed to address and answer the deep philosophical questions posed over centuries of human existence and answer its most fundamental one, ‘why are we here?’

In the Prophet Muhammad, I recognized a man who was tasked with a momentous mission, like his predecessors, Moses, Jesus and Abraham. I had to pick apart much of the Orientalist libel surrounding him in order to obtain accurate information, since the historical relativism which people apply to some degree when studying other historical figures, is often completely absent, in what is a clear attempt to disparage his person.

I think many of my close friends thought I was going through another phase and would emerge from the other side unscathed, not realizing that the change was much more profound. Some of my closest friends did their best to support me and understand my decisions.

I have remained very close to some of my childhood friends and through them I recognize the universality of the Divine message, as God’s values shine through in the good deeds any human does, Muslim or not. I have never seen my conversion as a ‘reaction’ against, or an opposition to my culture. In contrast, it was a validation of what I’ve always thought was praiseworthy, whilst being a guidance for areas in need of improvement. I also found many mosques not particularly welcoming and found the rules and protocol confusing and stressful.

I did not immediately identify with the Muslim community. I found many things odd and many attitudes perplexing. The attention given to the outward over the inward continues to trouble me deeply.

There is a need for a confident, articulate British Muslim identity which can contribute to the discussions of our time. Islam is not meant to be an alien religion, we shouldn’t feel like we’ve lost all trace of ourselves.

Islam is a validation of the good in us and a means to rectify the bad. Islam is about always having balance and I think the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) message was fundamentally about having balance and equilibrium in all that we do.

The Prophet’s message was always that you repel bad with good that you always respond to evil with good and always remember that God loves justice so even when people are committing serious injustices against you, you have a moral responsibility and a moral obligation in front of God to always uphold justice and never yourself transgress those limits.

Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) said: ‘Forgive him who wrongs you. Join him who cuts you off. Do good to him who does evil to you and speak the truth even if it be against yourself.’

Islam’s beauty really becomes to its own when it becomes manifest and it becomes manifest when you make it into a tool for the betterment of society, human kind and the world.

The ideal from an Islamic perspective is for ethics to become lived ethics, to become an applied body of values and not remain unfortunately as it often is cloistered in the mosque of somewhere which is some more divorced from reality.

Courtesy - Reading Magazine

Three ways to approach belief in God

Sarah Joseph

There are three main ways to approach belief in God: to believe, not to believe and not to be sure. The latter, agnosticism, is the default position of most in the Western world if we are to accept the surveys. However, the first two - theism and atheism - are both matters of faith. Atheism is a growing trend, and is seen as one of those intellectually superior positions.

The theist is often considered an amusing anachronism who is harmless unless they bring their faith to the public realm. From the Islamic viewpoint, even though theism is a position of faith, that faith should not be blind.

Whilst recognising the gift of guidance, and the fact that no one can ‘prove’ God’s existence, we should know that the Qur’an is dedicated to “people who think.” As such, theism in Islam has to be based on a conscious and rational exploration using all our given senses. The revelation of the physical world offers us an opportunity for that exploration, and to my mind contemplation of Space makes belief in God compelling.

When I look at a star-lit sky (not easy to do, given the light pollution of our cities), I am always awe struck. Each star is a sun to another world, with planets revolving around it. Each star is the centre of another galaxy, as our sun is the centre of ours.

The light from some of these suns takes millions of years to reach us, and thus we see it as a tiny star, barely twinkling in our eyes. We should contemplate the fact that we are looking at light from the time of the dinosaurs and before.

We cannot count the stars. We cannot know how many planets are out there. We cannot even fully imagine the potential for life. Yet, we can boldly declare that there is no Creator; that this all came into being by accident. For me, this type of thinking is not only arrogant, it is parochial. The stars are one of the reasons that compel me to be a Muslim. They remind me of the vastness of the universe, and the potential for life on other planets. They remind me that God is Lord of All the Worlds. They remind me that self-surrender unto God is due because whatever God is, He is the Creator of the whole universe, not just our Earth (even though the Earth holds some amazing realities). And the stars remind me not to be closed-minded, either in confining my faith to some narrow dogma and ritual, or in my dealings with other human beings.

We can be very parochial and self-interested as a creation. We submerse ourselves with such little problems, yet the glory of creation is out there for us to marvel. We navel-gaze rather than stargaze. Our eyes are fixed downwards, afraid to look up lest we see the majesty.

Muslims of previous generations, freed from the imprisonment of idol worship, contemplated the universe. They took that freedom, and were able to transform themselves. The vastness of the creation gave them a belief in the Creator

Courtesy EMEL magazine

[~Compiled by Latheef Farook e mail [email protected] ]