الله الذي خلق السموت والأرض وأنزل من السماء ماء فأخرج به من الثمرت رزقا لكم – وسخرلكم الفلك لتجرى في البحر بأمره – و سخرلكم الأنهر
وسخر لكم الشمس والقمر دائبين – وسخرلكم الليل والنهار
وءاتكم من كل ما سألتموه – وإن تعدوا نعمت الله لاتحصوها – إن الإنسن لظلوم كفار

“God is the one Who created the heavens and the earth and sent down rain from the sky, bringing forth from it fruits as a provision. And He has made subservient to you the ships so that you may sail on the open sea by His command. He has also made subservient to you the rivers.
He has also made the sun and moon subservient to you, holding steady on two courses. And He has made subservient to you the night as well as the day.

He has given to you everything you have asked for – if you were to count the blessings that God has bestowed, you could never do so. Truly man is wrongdoing, ungrateful.” [Q: 14:32-34]

Let’s open today’s discussion on gratitude by looking at the Majesty of God.

Thankfulness leads to perpetuation of favors already received and also fosters the hope of obtaining what is desired:

وإذ تأذن ربكم لئن شكرتم لأزيدنكم

“And when your Lord proclaimed: ‘if you are give thanks, I will increase you in it!” [Q: 14:7]

وما بكم من نعمة فمن الله

“What ever good you have if from God.” [Q: 16:53]

Thankfulness in the broader social real:

God is too Generous to take away a favor from someone who is thanking Him:

ذلك بأن الله لم يك مغيرا نعمة انعمها على قوم حتى يغيروا ما بأنفسهم وإن الله سميع عليم

“That is because Allah would never change a blessing he has conferred on a people unless they have changed something within themselves.  And God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing .” [Q: 8:53]

If we find ourselves absent in something that was conferred up us from before, then we have to look at ourselves critically – perhaps we are the culprit. Gratitude exists both in the individual level, as well as the social level for Muslims.

عن سالم بن أبي الجعد: قال عليه الصلاة والسلام: ليتخذ أحدكم لسانا ذاكرا, وقلبا شاكرا

“On the authority of Sālim Bin Abi al-Ja’d: the Prophet said [s]: ‘Let each one of you have an invoking tongue and a thankful heart.”

عن أنس بن مالك, قال النبي: ألإيمان نصفان نصف صبر ونصف شكر

“On the authority of Anas Bin Mālik, the Prophet [s] said: ‘Imān has two halves: one half perseverance, one half gratitude’.”

وفي رواية: ألإيمان نصفان: فنصف في الصبر ونصف في الشكر

Second Khutbah – Main Points

Last part of Part I.

In light of the conversation from last week, we said that imān comes from a-m-n: to be safe/secure.  So let us look closer at this hadith:

1. Perseverance: to be able to face hardship and loss and still be able to say الحمد لله to show gratitude in the face of adversity is one half of imān. This produces its own form of security.
2. Thanks/gratitude: to be grateful and show thanks also develops security as one knows where one’s rizq, sustenance, hardships and ease come from.

Is this the “fair weather friend” syndrome?

فأما الإنسان إذا ما ابتلاه ربه فأكرمه ونعمه فيقول ربي أكرمن
وأما إذا ما ابتلاه فقدر عليه رزقه فيقول ربي أهانن

“And when mankind is tested by his lord, He ennobles him and blesses him and thus he says, ‘My Lord has ennobled me’. But when he is tested by having his sustenance [rizq] measured and thus he says, ‘My Lord has forsaken me!’” [Q: 89:15-16]

حدثنا في كتاب الترمذي البر: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم:
من لم يشكر الناس لم يشكر الله

“al-Tirmidhi collects for us that the Messenger of Allah said: ‘He who does not thank people does not thank God’.” [al-Tirmidhi: Kitab al-Birr]

Perspectives on Gratitude

Perpetuates favors Allah has bestowed الشكر سبب الإبقاء النعم الموجودة

Fosters behavior [a state] to garner further favors: وهو وسيلة إلى حصول النعم المفقودة

وإذ تأذن ربكم لئن شكرتم لأزيدنكم

“And when your Lord proclaimed: ‘if you are give thanks, I will increase you in it!” [Q: 14:7]

الكيس من دان نفسه وعمل لما بعد الموت والإحمق من اتبع هواه وتمنى على الله تعالى الأماني

“The astute one is he who castes judgment on himself and works for what comes after death, while the fool is the one who follows his passion and still expects God the Exalted to pull him out!”

اللهم اجعلني من أئمة المتقين

“O’ Allah, make me from amongst the people of Taqwā!”

“Allahumma, ij’alniy min u’immatil mu’taqiyn!”

What do we want from Islam? We seldom ask this question. What does Allah want us to get from Islam? And in the negotiation of these two questions, how do we go about making this a reality?

Piety, to a large extent, has been replaced by such plastic words as “tradition”. This word has garnered so much attention in recent years that Muslims are beginning to identify themselves as “traditional Muslims”. But my question is: what is “traditional Islam”? Often what is deemed to be traditional is expressed in modes of dress, pious affectation, perhaps even cuisine. Allah has a different definition of piety:

ليس البر أن تولوا وجوهكم قبل المشرق والمغرب

ولكن البر من ءامن بالله واليوم الآخر والملائكة والكتاب والنبئين…

“Piety is not the turning of your face to the East or the West. No, piety is the one who is secure in his belief of God and the Last Day, the Angles, the Book and the Prophets…”

[Q: 2:177]

الذين ءامنوا ولم يلبسوا إيمانهم بظلم اولئك لهم الأمن وهم مهتدون

“Those who profess faith and do not wear their faith on their sleeve, security is their reward. They are the rightly guided.”

[Q: 6:82]

The downside to all of this is that we often create psychological spaces were people do not feel safe to grow as Muslims. This plays on people’s religious sensibilities and in fact, when they do not stand up to this comparison, they may be afflicted with doubt and uncertainty.

Muslims more than ever need spaces where they can feel safe. This is one of the root meanings of imān: to be secure [from a-ma-na].

فبما رحمة من الله لنت لهم – ولو كنت فظا غليظ القلب لانفضوا من حولك – فاعف عنهم واستغفرلهم وشاورهم في الأمر

“It was a mercy from God that you are gentle with them [the Prophet’s companions]. If you had been rough with them or had a hard heart they would have scattered from your midst. Therefore pardon them and ask for forgiveness for them and share in the decision making process.” [Q: 3:159]

Even the Prophet [s] was commanded by God to be kind and gentle with his Companions [r]. He knew and they knew that his understanding of the religion was infallible; beyond reproach. Yet, Allah, in all of His Wisdom, set up a “space” where the Prophet was instructed to make his Companions feel safe and have room to grow.

Second Khutbah – Main Points

Spiritual Training

Some athletes train their whole lives for 8 seconds of performance. Do we come even close to this kind of dedication towards our own Islam, our salvation when we stand before Allah?

فأما من اوتى كتابه بيمينه فسوف يحاسب حسابا يسيرا و ينقلب إلى أهله مسرورا

وأما من اوتى كتابه ورآء ظهره فسوف يدعوا ثبورا ويصلى سعيرا إنه كان في أهله مسرورا إنه ظن أن لن يحور بلى إن ربه كان به بصيرا

“It was a mercy from God that you are gentle with them [the Prophet’s companions]. If you had been rough with them or had a hard heart they would have scattered from your midst. Therefore pardon them and ask for forgiveness for them and share in the decision making process.” [Q: 84:7-15]

Like these athletes, if we want to get solid results out of our Islam, then we have to train for it and manage it.

• Reading Qu’ran
• Studying the life of the Prophet
• Studying ourselves, our cultures, and our contexts

For those who want to have a competitive spirit, we have to look to what the Qu’ran says and what the Companions [r] of the Prophet [s] said about this:

إن الأبرار لفى نعيم على الارائك ينظرون تعرف في وجوهم نضرة النعيم يسقون من رحيق مختوم ختامه مسك وفي ذلك فاليتنافس المتنافسون

“The pious ones are felicitious, on couches gazing in wonder. You will recognize in their faces the brilliance of joy. They will drink from the Sealed Wine of Jennah, sealed with musk. So let those who aspirations aspire to that!” [Q: 83:22-26]

أمرنا رسول الله يوما أن نتصدق, فوافق ذلك مالا عندي, فقلت: اليوم أسبق أبا بكر إن سب

قته يوما, فجئت بنصف مالي, فقال رسول الله: ما أبقيت لأهلك؟ فقلت: مثله. قال: وأتى أبو بكر بكل ما عنده, فقال له رسول الله: ما أبقيت لأهلك؟ قال: أبقيت لهم الله ورسوله. قلت: لا أسابقك إلى شيء أبدا

‘Umar Ibn al-Khattab relates a hadith to us:“The Prophet [s] commanded us to give some charity one day so I took sufficient wealth with me from my property to offer for this charity and said: ‘Today I shall outdo Abu Bakr if I am ever to outdo him. So I came with half of my property and the Messenger of Allah said: ‘what have you left your family with?’ I replied, ‘with an equal amount [half]’. Then Abu Bakr came and the Prophet said to him, ‘what have you left your family with?’, to which Abu Bakr replied, ‘I have left them Allah and His Messenger’. I [‘Umar] said, ‘I will never succeed you in anything!’” [Sunnan Abu Dawud, Book of Zakāh, #1678, pg. 176, Dar al-Ma’rifah.]

اللهم اجعلني من أئمة المتقين

“O’ Allah, make me from amongst the people of Taqwā!”

“Allahumma, ij’alniy min u’immatil mu’taqiyn!”

يا قوم ادخلوا الأرض المقدسة التي كتب الله لكم ولا ترتدوا على أدباركم فتنقلبوا خسرين

قالوا يا موسى إن فيها قوما جابرين وإنا لن ندخلها حتى يخرجوا منها فإن يخرجوا منها فإنا داخلون

قال رجلان من الذين يخافون أنعم الله عليهما ادخلوا عليهم الباب فإذا دخلتموه فإنكم غالبون – وعلى الله فتوكلوا إن كنتم مومنين

“[Moses] said: ‘O’ my people! Enter the Holy City which God has ordained for you and do not turn your back on your tracks. If you do you will be made the losers’.

[His people] said: ‘O’ Moses! But there are powerful people in that city and we will never go in until they leave. If they leave then we will certainly go in’.

Two men amongst them who feared God said: ‘Enter upon them by way of the gate. If you do so you will be victorious’. And upon God you should rely if you are believers.” [Q: 5: 21-23]

What does it mean to rely upon God? Is tawakkul an individual endeavor or can it also have communal aspects as well?

When God commanded Moses to go to the Holy Land, He knew He was placing a heavy burned on Moses. Likewise, Moses’ people reacted with trepidation because of the charge set before them. Moses reminded them that despite the obstacle before them, it was “what God had written for them”. To turn from that would be in loss: فتنقلبوا خاسرين.

It was the courage of two men from amongst them, not Prophets, but men, who encouraged them to drive on and do what was required of them. This illustrates the nuanced meaning of “God-fearing”. We can take from it the meaning of humility, responsibility, and acting with the objective of pleasing God. This very dynamic passage ends with: “upon God you should rely if you are believers!”.

We should expect our task to be made difficult and challenge us. Even the Prophet [s] was challenged:

أم حسبتم أن تدخلوا الجنة ولما يأتكم مثل الذين خلوا من قبلكم – مستهم البأساء الضراء و زلزلوا حتى يقول الرسول والذين ءامنوا معه متى نصر الله – ألا إن نصر الله قريب

“Did you think you would waltz into the Garden while the state of those who passed away before you had not come on you yet? They were afflicted with poverty and distress to such an extent that they were shaken [their faith], and the Prophet, as well as those who professed faith with him, cried out: ‘When will the help of God come?’ Surely the help of Allah is close at hand.” [Q: 2: 214]

Belief and trust in God go hand in hand. They require moral courage tempered with intellectual restraint and know-how. I say all this to point us and lead us to examining our own context here and now by looking at the Qur’an in both a new and fresh light while rooted in the muslahah of the Sunnah. Like Moses’ people, we stand outside the city/society; Islam stands outside of the society – will we go in or stay outside? Can we afford to stay outside? If we go in, how shall we enter?

The Prophet Muhammad’s [s] life and characteristics continually provide numerous gems of wisdom to benefit from. Overshadowed by an approach to the Sunnah which focuses on the minutia of implementation, such as use of the miswak and putting the shoes on, our approach to the Sunnah/the Prophet himself, has blinded of us looking at the Big Picture of his Message. We should constantly ask ourselves, what was his message? What was his goal and therefore, what is our goal? Can we let labels do all of our talking for us or can we make space and room for all of us to participate and come together, as a community, to reply upon God? Where will we find our two men who will remind us of our duty and obligation?

Second Khutbah – Main Points

He was aware of their shortcomings because he was one of them and witnessed their ignorant ways. He allowed them to enter into Islam so that it may be that cure for their hearts:

فبما رحمة من الله لنت لهم – ولو كنت فظا غليط القلب لانفضوا من حولك – فاعف عنهم واستغفرلهم وشاورهم في الأمر – فإذا عزمت فتوكل على الله إن الله يحب المتوكلين

“It was a mercy from God that you are gentle with them [the Prophet’s companions]. If you had been rough with them or had a hard heart they would have scattered from your midst. Therefore pardon them and ask for forgiveness for them and share in the decision making process. And when you have made up your mind, put your trust in God for God loves those who rely upon Him.” [Q: 3:159]

There is so much to take from here. For the sake of time, I will only list a few items:

• The Prophet [s] had a divinely-inspired personality which engendered in him a sense of gentleness and humility.
• Many of us mistake being hard, rough, or tough for being pious. Piety is not the same as taking the most difficult path to accomplishing a task.
• If the Prophet [s] had been harsh he would have had no cooperation from his compansions and thus, could not have completed his mission.
• The decision making process can be a shared one, but when the conclusion is made, we should put our trust in that process and not back-bite one another or promote sedition/fitnah amongst our ranks and respect the authorities in our communities.
• Trust in God is not a simple-Simon individualism where we just do what ever we want. It is a process in which we must come together and negotiate our differences in a way that is pleasing to God first and foremost and secondarily, protects the dignity of Muslims.

Download the audio and notes.

Opening from the Qur’ān:

كل نفس ذآئقة الموت – و إنما توفَون أجورَكم يومَ القيامة – فمن زُحزِحَ عن النار و أُدخل الجنةَ فقد فاز – و ما الحيوة الدنيآ إلا متاع الغرور

“Every soul shall taste death.  You will be recompensed your due on the Day of Rising.  As for the one that is distanced from the fire and is admitted to the Garden – he has triumphed.  And as for this life: it is just the enjoyment of delusion.” [Q: 3: 185]

I wish to open the khutbah today but discussing death.  Modern life balks at an earnest discussion about death.  It is the 800-pound gorilla in the room.  Popular culture propagates the illusion of eternal life with a hyper fixation on youth.  The consequences are drastic.  Not only are people unable to come to terms with the reality of death, it also has societal repercussions, namely the neglect of the elderly and the sick.  Death is treated as an embarrassment – never to be looked in the eye.  If Muslims are to not only adhere to lifestyles that are pleasing to God, but to engage in thought patterns that engender the type of reflection that leads to a God-pleasing lifestyle, then we must try and steer the discourse to include contemplation on our own deaths.

It may seem a peculiar subject to talk about in that many of us here are young and can feel the strength and power of that youth.  The subject itself is difficult for many of us, let alone modern society and yet, God reveals His Wisdom on this subject through the following verse:

وعسى أن تكرهوا شيئا وهو خير لكم – و عسى أن تحبوا شيئا وهو شر لكم والله يعلم وأنتم لا تعلمون

“It may happen that you detest something despite it being good for you and you may love something while it is evil for you.  And God knows, while you do not.” [Q: 2: 216]

And yet, we know that death can seize us at any moment:

اينما تكونوا يدرككم الموتُ و لو كنتم في بروج مشيدة

“No matter where you are, death will seize you even if you happen to be in a barricaded fortress.” [Q: 4: 78]

The practice of the current age is to look upon leaving this world with sadness and regret.  As Muslims, we must always strike the balance between “tying our camel” and overzealous fatalism.  In fact, we are prohibited to long for death, instead having a state of awareness about its immanent reality, and preparing ourselves for The Meeting.  The scholastic tradition has provided a rubric for us to contemplate this contemplation with.  They say there are three types of people:

1. The one who is engrossed in this world, meaning not only are all his hopes and passions for it, but he loathes to leave it to such an extent, he belittles the reality of death taking him.  This person may even become delusional regarding death.
2. The penitent believer: while struggling with the trappings of this life, the penitent believer often mentions death as a reminder – in that s/he will be raised up on day by God and will have to have their Account.  S/he may have fear of death but it is an excusable fear for it is that they fear they may not complete their tawbah/repentance before the Return.
3. The third person is someone who sees the world as false – they are solely concentrated on After-worldly affairs.
   While we strive to achieve number three [as the Prophet always was conscious of this], we, God willing, fall somewhere around number two.  We must be mindful to not slip into such a state of heedlessness that we slide down to the level of number one!

Second Khutbah – Main Points

One of the ways we as Muslims are encouraged to contemplate about the reality of death is through frequent remembrance of those who have passed on before us.  I often think of my friend Ron – who we nicknamed ^cImrān.  He was a vibrant, gracious and kind young brother who converted to Islam [may God accept his worship].  Ron was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver one evening while riding his bike to work.  We simply never know what lies ahead of us.  This idea of remembering the dead is in accordance with a narration from one of the Companions, Abu Dardā’, may God be pleased with him:

إذا ذكرت الموتى فعد نفسك كأحدهم

“When you remember the dead, count yourself as one of them.”

This is not a suicidal thought, but rather keeping in mind we will all join those who have gone into the ground one day.

The Prophet [s] even recommended starting off one’s day by acknowledging the fact that one is not guaranteed to make it through the day:

إذا أصبحت فلا تحدث نفسك بالمساء و إذا أمسيت فلا تحدث نفسك بالصباح و خذ من حياتك لموتك و من صحتك لسقمك فإذا يا عبد الله لا تدري ما اسمك غدا

“When you wake in the morning, do not speak to yourself about the evening and when you make it to the evening, do not speak to yourself about the morning.  Therefore, take something of your life for your death, and something from your health, for when you are sick.  O’ Abdullah!  You do not know what your name shall be tomorrow!” [collected in Bukhārī]

 The idea here, God willing, is that instead of being presumptuous about what we may be or do in the future, would should also be mindful of our impending Meeting – not to cast of fate to the wind negligently, but to keep a balance and awareness that we must stand before the Lord of the Worlds and that we should be conducting ourselves, our actions, while we’re in this life/world that will lead to a pleasing encounter.

The tendency to hold dearly to this life is a strong one – no less strong than our sexual drives.  In fact, love of the world is co-equal to wealth, per the Prophetic narration:

يهرَم ابن آدم و يبقى معه اثنتان: الحرص والأمل و في رواية: الحرص على المال و الحرص على العمر

“The son of Adam may grow old but two things remain with him even so: greed and hope for this world” – and in a similar narration: “Greed for wealth and greed for longevity.” [reported by Anas in Muslim and Ibn Abī ad-Dunyā]

As Muslims, following the example of our Noble Prophet [s], we can battle the temptation to be heedless about our impending Meeting of God.  And by his example [s], we can prepare for it as we would a weather forecast.  We do not prepare for the weather itself but for what we need to do in it or after it.  This is not dissimilar to death: we must prepare for what we need to do in this life despite its distractions as well as preparing for what comes after death.

We ask Allah to make us the people remember God often and reflect, remember and prepare for the Meeting with the Lord of the Words. Amin.

Download notes & mp3.

What is it and why is it important to think like a Muslim? The ability to be “aware” of things and to articulate that awareness in concepts, language, and even behavior that reinforces and appeases TMT, and ultimately, Islam/God [tawhīd, Prophecy and the Return to God].

This endeavor will always involve attempts to appease certain incontrovertible truths and transcendent values found in Islam. However, Islam itself will never look the same in two difference places or two different times. And this process of Muslim thought will always demand intelligence, creativity, and courage from Muslims in their efforts to realize this goal, both individually and collectively.

When speaking about TMT, this in no way implies that:

1. Muslims never had to do this in times past. That it is just something particular and peculiar to this term “modernity” that is causing all this hubbub.
2. In fact, if we were to look at the past [i.e., Muslim history] and see no such examples [and we are sure to see many!] it would have more to do with the dereliction of duty on the part of those scholars of the past than the absence of the necessity in TMT in every time and space.

So – is TMT just a historical curiosity? Is it relevant in any way to the issues that Muslims face today? If so, then part of this relevance must include a tahqīqī approach. This is especially crucial in light of the recent rebranding of the word “tradition” into such catch phrases as “Traditional Muslim knowledge”.

What Does Muslim Thought Address?

TMT addresses four major things:

1. God.
2. The cosmos.
3. The human soul.
4. Interpersonal relationships.

The first three form the basis of how reality is conceived in Islam. The fourth is from perceptions obtained through studying the first three in a human interaction paradigm.

Goals of Muslim Thought

To know the reality of lā ilāha illa Allah [there is no god but God] for oneself.

The defining of roles: taqlīd and tahqīq.

Taqlīd: if one wishes to be a member of a group, then one must learn from those who are already a part of that group. Prophetic narrative. No one can better perfect a method of making ablution than that of the Prophet.

Tahqīq: the process of coming to know and own the knowing of tawhīd/la ilaha illa Allah [there is no god but God].

Tawhīd: is outside of taqlīd as “there is no compulsion in faith” لا إآراه في الدين [Q: 2: 256]. Instead, taqlīd is trying to inculcate tawhīd through free-willed, internal/intellectual means.

Muslims need to realize that TMT’s raison d’être is the transformation of the human soul, not simply a collection of textual and historical facts.

TMT allowed for a multidisciplined approach but those branches were tied to a root [tawhīd].

Establish the primacy of The Sacred. Therefore, one needs to come to know and understand what is sacred to Muslims/Islam and what is sacred [if anything at all] to modernity.

Preservation of the human being. Modernity/secularism makes vain attempts at this through language such as freedom, democracy, human rights, efficiency, etc.

Ijtihād – What’s In A Name?

The word is used so much by modernist Muslim reformers that it’s lost any context and meaning.

• To qualify as a mujtahid, one had to master the disciplines [fiqh, etc.]. In other words, master transmitted knowledge [Qur’ān, Sunnah, etc.].
• This bar has been set very high in traditional Sunni schools of thought.
• If one does not attain the level of mujtahid, then one must then follow a school of ijtihād [Sunni: mostly dead masters – Shi’ism: living masters].
• Sharī’ah, for example, can only be learned from someone who already knows it. This is problematic for orthodox, Sunni Muslims if we’re only able to learn from dead people!

Challenges Facing Muslims/TMT Today

Modern Muslim scholarship has been dominated by a non-Muslim spirit of academia in which, only to be partly humorous, one can know everything there is to know about a text except what it’s saying.

Is it possible to think as an engineer or sociologist and still think in a tawhīd-ic mind frame?

How can Muslims/Islam come to really [and in mean real as from The Real] mean anything significant if religion, in the eyes of modernity, is scarcely tolerated so long as it is restricted to ritual and morality. In modernity, religion can have nothing definitive to say about the nature of reality.

When looking at the thought processes behind certain modes of thought or ‘isms, are they/can they be infused or synthesized /re-contextualized by TMT or no? Why/not?

Modern environments are not conducive to inculcating/reinforcing an outlook on the world based on tawhīd. Modern theories of knowledge seek to compartmentalize versus bring varying knowledge disciplines into a unifying vision. This compartmentalization applies to the self as well as knowledge. This leads to a kind of cultural/social schizophrenia [see Daryoush Shayegan]

Science/Scientism: science is often said to be a sign of God but the Qur’ān asks man to think/reflect. But think/reflect on what? The Qur’an emphasizes natural phenomena. Science, however, requires one to first have scientific training as well as accept the supremacy/hegemony that scientific/tistic thought often demands of us.

Modern Muslim thought/scholarship does not challenge the status quo of modern/takthīr thought but rather sees how it can best serve, adopted and co-opt it.

Takthīr – Modernity’s New Gods

Takthīr is, if not the theological opposite of tawhīd, is its antonym in a modern context. The function of tawhīd is to see the many as relating to The One. Takthīr is wanton proliferation.

Tawhīd: to make God one, the recognition of divinity, pointing back to one ultimate source [God].

Takthīr: to make many gods. To refashion the recognition of divine presence as manifold.

Modernity lacks a solid core – a single center of purpose. TMT professes the purpose of life is to realize/worship/prepare for the return to God.

Modernity’s goals [?]: freedom, equality, evolution, progress, science, medicine, nationalism, socialism, democracy, Marxism. More innocuous versions: care, communication, consumption, development, education, information, standard of living, management, model, planning, production, project, resource, service, system, welfare.

TMT & Modernity – A Dialog

TMT may question modernity’s and Muslim reformers’ intentions. And while MR’s may wish to bid “good riddance” to TMT because of its perceived baggage, reform-minded
Muslims are oblivious to the fact that much of what they’re basing their thoughts off of are based on modes of thought that at their core are antithetical to the three crucial aspects of TMT/Islam:

1. Tawhīd.
2. Prophecy.
3. The Return to God [Ma’ād].

If Muslims are to remain true to the core values that Islam is built upon, those very same values that underpin TMT’ing, then how can the adaption of the above be legitimized?

Download the notes & mp3 audio.

Opening from the Qur’ān:

والذين يذكرون الله قياما وقعودا وعلى جنوبهم ويتفكرون في خلق السماوات والأرض – ربنا ما خلقت هذا باطلا سبحانك فقنا عذاب النار

“And those who remember God, either standing, sitting, as well as sitting on their sides and is given to frequent contemplation about the creation of the heavens and the earth respond: ‘O our Lord! You have not created this without purpose. You are without peer or similitude so protect us from the punishment of the Fire.” [Q: 3: 191]

I often hear in modern day discourses about Islam where it is regarded as a religion of actions and not words; deeds, not thought.   Doubtless this comes from a reading of Islam from a particular Christian perspective; it too is also mistakenly seen as a religion of belief, not works.  But Islam is a religion that seeks the middle way, encompassing both.  This misconception has to some degree been perpetuated by Muslims themselves for a variety of reasons [minority status, reaction against Colonialism, etc.), but one of the primary reasons I would like to talk about today is the loss of Muslim thought.  I say Muslim thought, versus Islamic thought, because this word [Islamic] has become a hollow word, or as Uwe Poerksen wrote in his book, Plastic Words: The Tyranny of a Modular Language, a plastic word.  It can be taken wholly out of any appropriate context and used in those in which it denotes nothing what so ever, or worse, is used beyond its scope, reducing or even destroying any efficacy it might convey.

This is also problematic when we discuss the word sunnah.  When you ask many Muslims to tell you what the Sunnah is, they usually begin by saying it was what the Prophet [s] did, said, and so forth.  And while none of these are wrong, however, they fail to convey the nature of the Prophet – his Qur’ānic nature, as per A’ishah’s notable recount.  And while we won’t have time today to cover all of the details, it’s the process of thinking anew, thinking deeper about ourselves and our relationship with Islam to produce a more meaningful Islam [or Muslim!], that will serve us as a guide in this life, headed for the Next.

But to return to the above āyah, the Qur’ān is instructing us to remember and to contemplate.  And while these are indeed verbs and commands, they are not simply ‘ibadāt – religious rituals such as salāh [ritual prayer], wudu’ [ablution] and so forth.  They are synonyms of one another that are often used in conjunction and substitution throughout the Qur’an.  This process of developing Muslim thought has a number of beneficial aspects for a healthy Muslim mindset and religious experience.  And it is something that is developed by continually engaging in it, and as the Qur’ān says:

طبقا عن طبق

“…stage by stage.” [Q: 84: 19]

Second Khutbah – Main Points

This practice of contemplation, of correct or good thought, is an enterprise that Allah encourages us to and even promises His tranquility:

الذين ءامنوا وتطمئنّ القلوبهم بذكر الله – ألا بذكر الله تطمئنّ القلوب

“And those who profess faith and their hearts find peace in the remembrance of God – Do not hearts find peace in the remembrance of God?” [Q: 13: 28]

This is like the cure, the shifā’ that Allah talks about in Yunus, stating that:

يأيها الناس قد جائتكم موعظة من ربكم و شفاء لما في الصدور

“Mankind!  Surely an appraisal has come to you from your Lord as well as a cure for what is in your breasts.” [Q: 10: 57]

I wish to turn back to the instruction of contemplating God by contemplating the Creation.  There are a number of benefits in doing so:

• One of the primary ways that God has set up for man to know his Lord, is through seeing His Oneness through the multiplicity of creation.  God as Creator is most keenly seen by reflecting on the Creation. و يتفكرون في خلق السماوات والأرض
• We avoid trying to imagine God – hence, the part after this āyah, God says: ربنا ما خلقت هذا باطلا سبحانك this use of subhāna is very important – a word that is often difficult to translate but vital in terms of Qur’ānic language and thought.  For a quick summary, we can think of subhāna as a means of removing an anthropomorphic projections or ideas on to the nature of God.  ar-Rāzī says in his book, Mukhtar as-Sihāh, that it is making Allah pure in the mind, and it is bound to root of s-b-h, meaning “void”; a tanzīh (تنزيه). In sha’Allah, we can explore this more in future talks.

We even have some advice from the Prophet [s] as narrated by Ibn ‘Abbās [rahm]:

إنّ قوما تفكروا في الله عز و جل فقال النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم: تفكروا في خلق الله و لاتتفكروا في الله فإنكم لن تقدروا قدره

“There were some people speculating about the nature of God the Exalted, so the Prophet [s] said to them: contemplate about the Creation of God but do not speculate directly about God for you will never grasp His power.”

But moreover, this tafakkur will help to develop a Muslim thinking that will see the shahādah of lā ilāha illa Allah – there is no god but God – in the heavens and the earth.  A more concise and modern word would be pattern recognition.  This is something human beings are actually quite astute at.  Seeing the pattern of God’s handiwork in His Creation.

Allah gives us a number of things to reflect upon:

• Nature and His Creation.
• Love and compassion:
• و من –اياته~ أن خلق لكم من انفسكم~ أزواجا لتسكنو~ إليها وجعل بينكم مودةً ورحمة – إنّ في ذلك لأياتٍ لقوم يتفكرون. و من-اياته خلق السماوات والأرض واختلاف ألسِنَتِكم وألوانِكم – إنّ في ذلك لأيات للعالمين
• “And from amongst His signs is that He created spouses for you from yourselves so that you may know tranquility therein.  And He has put affection and compassion between you.  Truly there are signs here for people who reflect.  And from amongst His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, with the variations in your tongues and your hues.  Surely there are signs in this for all the worlds.” [Q: 30: 21-26]

This passage continues, repeating a motif of ideas to ponder and reflect upon.  This made me think of how the modern world is obsessed with romance and sex, but how little it’s seen in light of part of the creation, that it was given to us by God, so that we may come to know Him, as well as experience contentedness and joy.

In summary, we should strive to learn how to think as Muslims, so we may stay in a state of remembrance as well as increase or certainty of Allah as the Creator, as well as molding our behavior to conform to the Best of Creation, the Prophet Muhammad [s].

We ask Allah to make us the people of tafakkur and tadhakkur. Amin.

Download the khutbah: notes, mp3, & video.

All classes will be held in Huntsman Hall, Room TBD. The classes will be on Tuesdays and Wednesdays on the dates listed below. Each class will begin promptly at 7:30 and will last for exactly 50 minutes. Faculty will be available for those who wish to stay after to ask more questions. All students are welcome to attend. If you are not a student, but would like to attend please contact Adnan Zulfiqar to request permission (azulfica@sas.upenn.edu).

SCHEDULE

October 14, 2009 (Wednesday): Discovering the Qur’an
Instructor: Adnan Zulfiqar
Description: This class introduces students to the various techniques used in the Qur’an to help convey meaning. Particular emphasis will be placed on how to better understand the Qur’anic language and the different schools of thought that have arisen to interpret the Qur’anic message.

October 20, 2009 (Tuesday): A Little Bit of Muslim Herstory
Instructor: Carolyn Baugh
Description: Since the beginning of Islam, Muslim women have made strong contributions to the story of Islam. This class explores the lives of a few of these strong and outspoken women, and asks how Muslim women today can capitalize on their stories to make their own voices heard.

October 28, 2009 (Wednesday): Spread of Islam in Africa
Instructor: Margari Hill-Manley
Description: This lecture explore Islam in Africa by providing the historical background to the development of Muslim societies and communities in Africa (Northern and sub-Saharan Africa). My aim is to complicate the dichotomy of Middle East and Africa by showing the ways in which sub-Saharan Africa has always been connected to the broader Muslim world.

November 4, 2009 (Wednesday): The Science of Tasawwuf (Sufism)
Instructor: Marc Manley
Description: What are its goals and objectives. An intorspection on what Sufism is “trying to get at” and how it can relate to the modern Muslim. A tie-in with a short bio piece and examples from Abu Hamid al-Ghazali’s life.

November 10, 2009 (Tuesday): The Relevance of Muslim Thought in Modern Times
Instructor: Marc Manley
Description: A reading/lecture inspired by William Chittick’s Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul. An introduction into the mechanics of Muslim thought and how/why it is important to “think like a Muslim” in the modern age.

November 18, 2009 (Wednesday): The Spirituality of Muslim Women
Instructor: Margari Hill-Manley
Description: This lecture explores Muslim women’s spiritual practices and notions of womanhood in Islam. The lecture looks at women in the Quran, the significance of Hagar’s plight in the hajj rituals, and notions of womanhood in Sufism. The aim is of the lecture is to recover the feminine voice in Islamic traditions.

December 2, 2009 (Wednesday): Introduction to the Mad’habs (Legal Schools of Thought)
Instructor: Sadik Kassim
Description: A brief introduction regarding the historical development of today’s major schools of thought, their similarities, and differences with respect to legal theory and practice.

December 9, 2009 (Wednesday): Islamic Medical Ethics
Instructor: Sadik Kassim
Description: Introduction to basic principles underpinning Islamic Medical Ethics. There will also be a brief discussion regarding Islamic perspectives on bioethical issues such as abortion, end-of-life care, euthanasia, stem cell research, fertility treatment, and organ donation.

BIOGRAPHIES

Carolyn Baugh holds an undergraduate degree from Duke University in Arabic and Arab Literature, and a Master’s Degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Arabic and Islamic Studies. She is currently completing her PhD dissertation at Penn focusing on legal methodologies with regard to consent and marriage in Islamic law. She was a 2009 Dean’s Scholar.

Margari Hill-Manley is an educator and writer with an MA in history from Stanford University where she specialized in Islam in Africa and Sufi social networks. She has lectured on a variety of topics relating to Islam, African history and Black American Muslim communities at universities across the nation and has traveled extensively in the Middle East as a student and researcher. Her blog, “Margari Aziza,” has been featured in international magazines and noted as one of the outstanding female blogs for the 2008 Brass Crescent awards.

Sadik Kassim is a research fellow in the Gene Therapy Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is currently Scientific News Editor of the international scientific journal, Human Gene Therapy. Sadik obtained his Ph.D. in 2007 in the field of Viral Immunology. He is a founding member and former Secretary of the Islamic Message Foundation in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Kassim has spoken at several Universities and Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Hindu organizations around the country.

Marc Manley was born in Detroit, Michigan and embraced Islam in 1992. He subsequently learned and then taught the Arabic language for a few years. Marc has had an eclectic set of experiences including as a photographer, artist, chef and musician. He has been under the tutelage of scholars like Sherman Jackson and Shaykh Anwar Muhaimin. Marc is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies and has been a regular khatib since 2008. More information on him is available at http://www.marcmanley.com/blog/.

Adnan Zulfiqar is currently the Interfaith Fellow and Campus Minister to the Muslim Community at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his BA in Religion & Anthropology from Emory University, J.D. (Law) from the University of Pennsylvania and is currently completing his Ph.D. there in Arabic & Islamic Studies with a focus on Islamic law and the Qur’an. Adnan has also spent several years studying overseas mainly in Kenya, Syria and Pakistan.

Opening from the Qur’ān:

يأيها الذين ءامنوا ادخلوا في السلم كافة ولا تتبعوا خطوات الشيطان
إنه لكم عدو مبين

“O’ you of faith!, enter into Islam completely and do not follow in the footsteps of Shaytan. He is a clear enemy of yours.” [Q: 2: 208]

I wish to continue our conversation about the enterprise of Islam in America, specifically focusing on the first part of the verse/āyah.  Many have understood the following āyah to refer to the rituals of Islam such as wudu’/ablution, prayer, fasting, and so forth.  And indeed it does.  Yet, with all cases in the Qur’ān, there is a deeper sentiment that Allah is coaching the Muslims to: one of responsible action.  To enter into Islam completely means to not only follow the outward aspects of what the Prophet did, such as trimming one’s nails or putting one’s right shoes on first, but also following the basīrah or vision of the Prophet.  To use a technical term: kulliyāt, its rough translation meaning “the big picture”. Never did the Prophet allow labels to do all of his talking, and more importantly, thinking, for him.  He mitigated the transition from pagan idolatry to tawhīd/monotheism but adhering to what was absolutely essential while also allowing room for dignity, humility and the evolutionary process that was present in all who took their shahādah/testimony of faith in his presence.

Presently, Muslims in many parts of the world are wrestling with a similar challenge – what’s quintessential and what’s incidental.  And in the process of determining what must stay and what might need to be altered is the call for creative minds to chart a course that will be conducive to a healthy Muslim experience [speaking primarily about Islam here in America].  But what is arresting the development of this process?  I will focus on just one issue that I have observed: history, and to be more specific a type of myopic, historical romanticism in which a few select people from certain geographic locations played imaginative roles in world history, played so well that the only hope we can have is to somehow go back to this bygone era and not simply emulate their performances but reenact them like a Civil War theme park.  We can dress up and talk like these noble, bygone people, but we never actually look to how they thought and behaved, and whether our collective energies and imaginations should be best spent on costume or on our futures.

But we are commanded to enter into it completely.

This can also be seen as a call and commandment of Allah, to the Muslims, to make Islam relevant to wherever you are.  I spoke of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah last time and again, I can think of no other event in the history of the Prophet’s mission that so eloquently outlines this as well as demonstrates how it gets done.

So how is Islam relevant?

يأيها الناس قد جائتكم موعظة من ربكم و شفاء لما في الصدور و هدى و رحمة للمومنين

“O Mankind!, surely an admonition has come to you from your Lord, as has a cure for ails the heart, a guidance and a mercy for those who profess faith.” [Q: 10:57]

How often do we consider that we, as the couriers of this message, bear something of worth?  We must stop seeing ourselves as empty vessels and rather those that carry the noble message of Muhammad [s] – and that within it lies guidance a cure for humanity.  And yet, who will listen?  Are we doing all that we can, in a conscious and responsible manner to deliver this message, or are we a detriment to the success of the mission.  And if so, how long with Allah tolerate ghaflah, our woeful mismanagement of the situation and replace us with another group, who can get the job done?

وإن تتولوا يستبدل قوما غيركم ثم لا يكونوا أمثلكم

“And if you turn away, He will replace you with another people who will not be like yourselves.” [Q: 47:38]

Second Khutbah – Main Points

Establishing a vibrant, coherent Muslim reality. How to make a change?

Muslims in America are going to have to stop treating Islam in America as if it is some anomaly – a bastardization of the “real thing”.  We often see that Muslims wish to explain away the migration Islam to America in purely socio-economic terms but this is in fact a denial of Allah’s Attributes.  A very secular term indeed.

How is it then, that in a land that had no historical link with the Muslim world should develop an indigenous Muslim community, second only to Islam via immigration?  And that these two bodies should come together, not by mutual admiration, but most certainly of a Divine Influence.  Allah is moving the chess pieces on the board and yet we want to explain it away as historicities.

We can take a page of the book of our Jewish cousins – they were not able to do what they did here in the U.S. in Europe, namely, to establish a place where they could live out a dignified existence.  Of course with them is also the example of the danger of being domesticated – of reducing Islam to a cultural practice that has no link or ties with its roots.

Parable of the Dinosaurs

What do we know about dinosaurs?  Most of us think of them to be lizards – but in fact, we don’t know that they absolutely looked like lizards for the following reasons: most if not all records about dinosaurs are based off of fossilized bones [i.e., bones turned to rock/minerals].  Our conceptions are mostly based on the preconceived notions that dinosaurs were basically lizard-like, therefore, everything we do or talk or think about dinosaurs must also be lizard-like.

Likewise with Islam; we’ve been told that Islam looks like these things: thobes, kufis, domes on mosques, etc.  Thusly, when we conjure up ideas or practices for our Islam, naturally we project these ideas on it.  However, most of this is a preconception.  There is nothing in the Qur’an or Sunnah that stipulates we must have domes on our mosques [and those that don’t are somehow missing a very certain Muslim’ness or Islamicity].  If we are to successfully establish a bona fide, legitimized and justified practice of Islam in this part of the world, then we will have to be prepared to inherit the mantle of creativity and responsibility.  To not do so will rendered Islam a foreign and perhaps even hostile entity that has no place in the biosphere of American life.

Part of taking on this responsibility is to see that it has indeed been handed to us and we cannot wait for anyone else to see it to its end, as the following statement of Allah says:

ألآ تزر وازرة وزرَ أخرى

“No one can bear another’s load” [Q: 53:38-39]

حاسبوا أنقسكم قبل أن تحاسبوا
وزنوا أعمالكم قبل أن توزن عليكم

“Take account of yourselves before you are held to account. Weigh your deeds before they are weighed for you.” [at-Tirmidhi’s al-Qiyamah]

Closing du’ah:

اللهم، اجعلنا من أئمة المتقين
آمين

“O’ Allah!, make us from amongst the pious.”
Amin.

Download the khutbah: notes & mp3.

Opening from the Qur’an:

إن فتحنا لك فتحا مبينا
لّيغفرَ لك الله ما تقدم من ذنبك و ما تأخر و يتمَ نعمته عليك و يهديَك صراطا مستقيما
و ينصُرَك الله نصرا عزيزا

“Without a doubt, we have granted you [Muhammad] the clear, manifest victory.
In order that Allah might forgive you  for what you have done regarding your sin, as well as pardoning any later ones, and complete His favor upon you and guide you to a straight path.
And so that Allah may help you with a great assistance.” [Q: 48: 1-3]

There has been much written about this verse, and a great deal of popular opinion agrees that it refers to the Conquest of Makkah. But one of the Prophet’s [s] Companions, ‘Ubād Ibn Sāmit, disagrees. ‘Ubād states:

“I know you think this ayah refers to the Conquest of Makkah – but you are wrong. It is about the victory of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah.”

‘Ubād’s remarks take us back in time to the historical landscape of 7th Century Arabia, to a time when Islam had yet to sink in its roots. In other words, Islam was yet to be seen as a bona fide Arabian religion.

In some ways, we can see that many of the struggles that the Muslims faced during that period could be held to the fact that they had yet to carve out a niche or establish themselves with a sense of belonging.  This is not dissimilar to our struggle today. The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah did just that for many reasons but I will mark just three:

1. Instituted a 10-year truce between Quraysh and the Muslims
2. All Arabs in the region became “free agents” – they were free to choose their religious affiliation without fear of reprisal, but most importantly, without fear of losing their cultural identity [i.e., their Arab’ness].
3. The Muslims, though not that year, would be permitted to return the following year and perform their Hajj at the Ka’abah. This is a crucial turning point in the growth, development and establishment of Islam in Arabia. For without a seat at the Ka’abah so to speak, you truly did not belong. This had the affect of establishing Islam as a bona fide Arabia religion. And for those who have that whole clash of civilizations notion about Islam, in that it must dominate everything around it, Islam was coming to the Ka’abah not as the exclusive religion in Arabia, but one amongst many.

This had the effect of breaking down social and psychological barriers between being an Arab, and being a Muslim. There is a great deal of wisdom for us to take from this – not just simply learning these facts as history lessons. We need to break down these same barriers of American and Muslim. We must remove the space and join the words, even if only with a hyphen [see Greco-Roman].

This juncture illustrates to me the importance of establishing a Muslim habit in America. Let me define what I mean by habit, borrowing from the French author, Marcel Proust:

“Habit! That skillful but very slow housekeeper who begins by letting our mind suffer for weeks in temporary arrangement; but whom we are nevertheless truly happy to discover, for without habit our mind, reduced to no more than its own resources, would be powerless to make a lodging habitable.” [Swann’s Way]

Without establishing this sense of Muslim habit, I believe Muslims will continue to suffer and fall prey to a variety of maladies, not the least of which is already prevalent in our community: Double-Consciousness.

One of the erudite scholars of the last century, W. E. B. DuBois spoke on the nature of double-consciousness as thus:

“…the measuring of one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.”

Muslims have been looking at themselves from another one’s eyes for quite some time now. We see it manifest quite often nowadays in so-called Muslim reformers, who, incapable of seeing themselves for who they are, proffer up an articulation of Islam that is not, at its center, an attempt to please God, but a vain attempt to appease the dominant culture.

Second Khutbah – Main Points

Establishing a vibrant, coherent Muslim reality.

Reasons why we continue to falter at the gate:

• We have been told what Islam is and isn’t, not solely based on immutable sources but by transient, cultural definitions.
• If we think Islam but some some-thing, then we will make everything we do look like that thing.

Parable of the Dinosaurs

What do we know about dinosaurs?  Most of us think of them to be lizards – but in fact, we don’t know that they absolutely looked like lizards for the following reasons: most if not all records about dinosaurs are based off of fossilized bones [i.e., bones turned to rock/minerals].  Our conceptions are mostly based on the preconceived notions that dinosaurs were basically lizard-like, therefore, everything we do or talk or think about dinosaurs must also be lizard-like.

Likewise with Islam; we’ve been told that Islam looks like these things: thobes, kufis, domes on mosques, etc.  Thusly, when we conjure up ideas or practices for our Islam, naturally we project these ideas on it.  However, most of this is a preconception.  There is nothing in the Qur’an or Sunnah that stipulates we must have domes on our mosques [and those that don’t are somehow missing a very certain Muslim’ness or Islamicity].  If we are to successfully establish a bona fide, legitimized and justified practice of Islam in this part of the world, then we will have to be prepared to inherit the mantle of creativity and responsibility.  To not do so will rendered Islam a foreign and perhaps even hostile entity that has no place in the biosphere of American life.

The idea of standing firm here is not the one for the sake of being obstinate or dominant, but because ultimately, there are some aspects of Islam that are immutable. Like a tree, whose roots must remain firmly planted for the life-sake of the tree, its branches are free to grow where they need to in order to perform their function. However, they always are attached to the life giving roots of the tree. This is akin to how the Shari’ah operates.

Even the Prophet [s] had to face this difficult task:

و لو لآ أن ثبتناك لقد كِدتّ تركن إليهم شيئا قليلا

“And if we had not made you firm, you would have leaned towards them a little.” [Q: 17:74]

In any event, both ideologies are currently running wild in our midst. And the demands that both of these constructs place on Muslims is thus:

• any knowledge, gained or inherited, must pass through the sieve of secularism or positivism, including such spheres as legal, logical, and scientistic, whereupon only if Islam’s transcendent values can be brought down and in line with the latter, can the position that Islam holds be deemed valid [i.e., universal, scientific, etc.].

This is killing us, intellectually speaking. First and foremost because this kind of rhetoric is at its heart a true bid’ah, as it seeks to compete and oust the Sunnah and the Shari’ah. And the proof is in the pudding: how many Muslims, especially those coming from ethnic Muslim backgrounds, pursue anything other than law, medicine or some type of science? What we could call the humanities in the West, are left to the dregs of academic and intellectually inferior students. How can we run a community when the best and brightest only student chemistry, law, and medicine?

We have stunted our growth, have cut ourselves off and made ourselves very remote from the world. What was once a major study for Muslims, cosmology, has been reduced to a horizontal plane: the Cosmos is a horizontal one. We never look up, or worse yet, inwards. Forever gazing out, we cannot see the forest for the trees. We must re-attach ourselves to the Sacred – to Allah, to His Book, to His Prophet [s], learning his ways, his wont, his attitude, not simply a loose collection of ahādith to be branded about like a blunt instrument.

As for the phenomenon of 9/11, keep the following statement of Allah’s close at hand and reflect on its meaning:

ألآ تزر وازرة وزرَ أخرى

“No one can bear another’s load” [Q: 53:38-39]

None of us can be held responsible for the actions of others. And here I am explicitly speaking to the malevolent force of communal guilt that has been hanging around the neck of many Muslims who feel, despite having had no hand in it, that they, via proxy of sharing the same religion, are guilty and culpable of the crime. And while I feel we are not guilty of 9/11, we are guilty of not doing our job, of acting in accordance with what we believe and what we know as it relates to our condition and mission as Muslims here in America. Allah admonished the Believers for precisely this point:

يأيها الذين ءامنوا لم تقولون ما لا تفعلون

“O’ you of secure faith, why do you say that which you do not do?” [Q: 61:2]

It is not enough to profess faith to be doing the right and responsible thing, but it is that our actions fall in line with what we believe.

حاسبوا أنقسكم قبل أن تحاسبوا
وزنوا أعمالكم قبل أن توزن عليكم

“Take account of yourselves before you are held to account. Weigh your deeds before they are weighed for you.” [at-Tirmidhi’s al-Qiyamah]

Closing du’ah:

اللهم، نسألك العِصمة في الحركات و السكنات،
والكلمات والإرادات والخطرات
من الشكوك والظنون،
والأوهام الساترة للقلوب.
ربنا، أُنصُرنا، فإنك خير الناصرين،
وافتح لنا، فإنك خير الفاتحين،
واغفر لنا، فإنك خير الغافرين،
وارحمنا، فإنك خير الراحمين،
وارزُقنا، فإنك خير الرازقين،
وصلواتك وسلامك وتحياتك ورحمتك وبركاتك
على سيدنا محمد
آمين

“O’ Allah!, we ask of you your protection, in both motion and rest,
In words, desires, and thoughts,
from doubts and speculative thoughts,
and in self-delusion that veils the hearts.
Our Lord, help us, for you are the Best of helpers,
Open our minds and hearts, for you are the Best of openers,
Forgive us our sins, for you are the Best of forgivers,
Have mercy on us, for you are the Best of the merciful,
Provide for us, for you are the Best of providers.
And may your prayers, peace, glad tidings, and blessings
be upon our master, Muhammad.
Amin.

Download the khutbah: notes & mp3.

Opening from the Qur’an:

إن فتحنا لك فتحا مبينا
لّيغفرَ لك الله ما تقدم من ذنبك و ما تأخر و يتمَ نعمته عليك و يهديَك صراطا مستقيما
و ينصُرَك الله نصرا عزيزا

“Without a doubt, we have granted you [Muhammad] the clear, manifest victory. In order that Allah might forgive you for what you have done regarding your sin, as well as pardoning any later ones, and complete His favor upon you and guide you to a straight path. And so that Allah may help you with a great assistance.” [Q: 48: 1‐3]

There has been much written about this verse, and a great deal of popular opinion agrees that it refers to the Conquest of Makkah. But one of the Prophet’s [s] Companions, ‘Ubād Ibn Sāmit, disagrees. ‘Ubād states:

“I know you think this ayah refers to the Conquest of Makkah – but you are wrong. It is about the victory
of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah.”

‘Ubād’s remarks take us back in time to the historical landscape of 7th Century Arabia, to a time when Islam had yet to sink in its roots. In other words, Islam was yet to be seen as a bona fide Arabian religion.

In some ways, we can see that many of the struggles that the Muslims faced during that period could be held to the fact that they had yet to carve out a niche or establish themselves with a sense of belonging. This is not dissimilar to our struggle today. The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah did just that for many reasons but I will mark just three:

1. Instituted a 10‐year truce between Quraysh and the Muslims
2. All Arabs in the region became “free agents” – they were free to choose their religious affiliation without fear of reprisal, but most importantly, without fear of losing their cultural identity [i.e., their Arab’ness].
3. The Muslims, though not that year, would be permitted to return the following year and perform their Hajj at the Ka’abah. This is a crucial turning point in the growth, development and establishment of Islam in Arabia. For without a seat at the Ka’abah so to speak, you truly did not belong. This had the affect of establishing Islam as a bona fide Arabia religion. And for those who have that whole clash of civilizations notion about Islam, in that it must dominate
   everything around it, Islam was coming to the Ka’abah not as the exclusive religion in Arabia, but one amongst many.

This had the effect of breaking down social and psychological barriers between being an Arab, and being a Muslim. There is a great deal of wisdom for us to take from this – not just simply learning these facts as history lessons. We need to break down these same barriers of American and Muslim. We must remove the space and join the words, even if only with a hyphen [see Greco‐Roman].

This juncture illustrates to me the importance of establishing a Muslim habit in America. Let me define what I mean by habit, borrowing from the French author, Marcel Proust:

“Habit! That skillful but very slow housekeeper who begins by letting our mind suffer for weeks in temporary arrangement; but whom we are nevertheless truly happy to discover, for without habit our mind, reduced to no more than its own resources, would be powerless to make a lodging habitable.” [Swann’s Way].

Without establishing this sense of Muslim habit, I believe Muslims will continue to suffer and fall prey to a variety of maladies, not the least of which is already prevalent in our community: Double-Consciousness.

One of the erudite scholars of the last century, W. E. B. DuBois spoke on the nature of doubleconsciousness as thus:

“…the measuring of one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.”

Muslims have been looking at themselves from another one’s eyes for quite some time now. We see it manifest quite often nowadays in so‐called Muslim reformers, who, incapable of seeing themselves for who they are, proffer up an articulation of Islam that is not, at its center, an attempt to please God, but a vain attempt to appease the dominant culture.

Second Khutbah – Main Points

Many such attempts are made when Muslims are faced with such daunting arguments, based on the theory of “universal values”. This has proven troublesome indeed to many pundits, who do not have the training or familiarity of what Islam is trying to get at objectively with the human being. So we ask:

• How will Muslims deal with this?
• How will they handle the pressure to produce an articulation of Islam that will be pleasing first and
  foremost to God, and concurrently, though secondly, accommodating the demands of the American
  social, political and moral landscape?

This leaves Muslims on a very precarious precipice: that of secularism and positivism. In fact, if Muslims are not careful, I fear we will either turn 9/11 or have it turned upon us as a sort of secular holiday, where our reflection on the nature of the event is only seen in a “worldly” context – mainly to appease the dominant cultures stance of Muslims [as well as our own psychological insecurities], especially psychologically.

Even the Prophet [s] had to face this difficult task:

و لو لآ أن ثبتناك لقد آِدتّ ترآن إليهم شيئا قليلا

“And if we had not made you firm, you would have leaned towards them a little.” [Q: 17:74]

The idea of standing firm here is not the one for the sake of being obstinate or dominant, but because ultimately, there are some aspects of Islam that are immutable. Like a tree, whose roots must remain firmly planted for the life‐sake of the tree, its branches are free to grow where they need to in order to perform their function. However, they always are attached to the life giving roots of the tree. This is akin to how the Shari’ah operates.

In any event, both ideologies are currently running wild in our midst. And the demands that both of these constructs place on Muslims is thus:

any knowledge, gained or inherited, must pass through the sieve of secularism or positivism, including such spheres as legal, logical, and scientistic, whereupon only if Islam’s transcendent values can be brought down and in line with the latter, can the position that Islam holds be deemed valid [i.e., universal, scientific, etc.].

This is killing us, intellectually speaking. First and foremost because this kind of rhetoric is at its heart a true bid’ah, as it seeks to compete and oust the Sunnah and the Shari’ah. And the proof is in the pudding: how many Muslims, especially those coming from ethnic Muslim backgrounds, pursue anything other than law, medicine or some type of science? What we could call the humanities in the West, are left to the dregs of academic and intellectually inferior students. How can we run a community when the best and brightest only student chemistry, law, and medicine?

We have stunted our growth, have cut ourselves off and made ourselves very remote from the world. What was once a major study for Muslims, cosmology, has been reduced to a horizontal plane: the Cosmos is a horizontal one. We never look up, or worse yet, inwards. Forever gazing out, we cannot see the forest for the trees.

We must re‐attach ourselves to the Sacred – to Allah, to His Book, to His Prophet [s], learning his ways, his wont, his attitude, not simply a loose collection of ahādith to be branded about like a blunt instrument.

As for the phenomenon of 9/11, keep the following statement of Allah’s close at hand and reflect on its meaning:

ألآ تزر وازرة وزرَ أخرى

“No one can bear another’s load” [Q: 53:38‐39]

None of us can be held responsible for the actions of others. And here I am explicitly speaking to the malevolent force of communal guilt that has been hanging around the neck of many Muslims who feel, despite having had no hand in it, that they, via proxy of sharing the same religion, are guilty and culpable of the crime. And while I feel we are not guilty of 9/11, we are guilty of not doing our job, of acting in accordance with what we believe and what we know as it relates to our condition and mission as Muslims here in America. Allah admonished the Believers for  precisely this point:

يأيها الذين ءامنوا لم تقولون ما لا تفعلون

“O’ you of secure faith, why do you say that which you do not do?” [Q: 61:2]

It is not enough to profess faith to be doing the right and responsible thing, but it is that our actions fall in line with what we believe.

حاسبوا أنقسكم قبل أن تحاسبوا
وزنوا أعمالكم قبل أن توزن عليكم

“Take account of yourselves before you are held to account. Weigh your deeds before they are weighed
for you.” [at-Tirmidhī’s al‐Qiyamah]

Closing du’ah:

اللهم، نسألك العِصمة في الحرآات و السكنات،
والكلمات والإرادات والخطرات
من الشكوك والظنون،
والأوهام الساترة للقلوب.
ربنا، أُنصُرنا، فإنك خير الناصرين،
وافتح لنا، فإنك خير الفاتحين،
واغفر لنا، فإنك خير الغافرين،
وارحمنا، فإنك خير الراحمين،
وارزُقنا، فإنك خير الرازقين،
وصلواتك وسلامك وتحياتك ورحمتك وبرآاتك
على سيدنا محمد
آمين

“O’ Allah!, we ask of you your protection, in both motion and rest,
In words, desires, and thoughts,
from doubts and speculative thoughts,
and in self‐delusion that veils the hearts.
Our Lord, help us, for you are the Best of helpers,
Open our minds and hearts, for you are the Best of openers,
Forgive us our sins, for you are the Best of forgivers,
Have mercy on us, for you are the Best of the merciful,
Provide for us, for you are the Best of providers.
And may your prayers, peace, glad tidings, and blessings
be upon our master, Muhammad.

Amin.

Download the khutbah: notes & mp3.