First Khutbah – Main Points

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. (continue reading here…)

The Islamic Literacy Series is a new program at the University of Pennsylvania aimed at increasing the level of understanding among Muslims about their own faith. Each week, a 50 minute class will be held on a different topic pertaining to Islam. A faculty of 5 instructors will introduce, explore and examine the richness and diversity of the Muslim past and present. The goal is that over the course of this series, students find answers, discover new questions, challenge conventions, appreciate tradition and gain a better grasp of who they are and what their faith means.

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. (continue reading here…)

First Khutbah – Main Points

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? (continue reading here…)

First Khutbah – Main Points

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]. (continue reading here…)

First Khutbah – Main Points

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]. (continue reading here…)