Soon, I will write a long post about my studies at IESH… just waiting for exams to finish (again).
The Prophet (SAW) was giving out booty after the battle of Hunayn. He gave more to the new believers of Makkah. In response, a few of the ansar complained. The Prophet (SAW) upon hearing about this, immediately stood up and faced the people and talked to them about the situation.
The moral:
Often what happens is that a person does something and others understand it in the wrong way. He/She end up saying “Allah (SWT) knows what is in my heart and that is enough for me” and feels no need to engage the doubtful person(s).
This person needs to be reminded that the Prophet (SAW) would’ve engaged such people; if they still do not let go of their doubts, then it could be said that it is OK to then say: “God knows what is in my heart.”
I was reading an article on Imam Suhaib Webb’s blog (www.suhaibwebb.com) about believing in Allah and His messenger using the intellect. I concur; belief is not the result of mere “faith” or “guidance” from above. It is well known that many non-Muslims who became Muslim came to Islam through research, meditation, and finally asking the Almighty Himself for guidance.
Faith and Intellect, in this matter, go hand in hand. Just like a mother and father without whom a child will not be born. It is only in the following of commandments of religion that we must give up our right to use intellect in the matter.
Coincidentally (if you believe in coincidences), I came across a saying of Imam al-Ghazali in his prolegomenon (muqadimah) to Al-Mustasfa that reiterates what I just mentioned above. I paraphrase:
Intellect (al-aql) is used to believe in the Messenger; after belief one must give up intellect for revelation (al-naql) to directly take from the Messenger His commandments.
So yeah, if a believer feels that he/she’s inherited faith fluctuates because of a lack of intellectual attestment, then this believer should resort to such attestment to solve such problems.
We musn’t say as the non-believers said “Enough for us is that which our fathers did”- Quran 5:104.
والله أعلم
Muslims are not the same they were 40 years ago when our parents were kids. Muslims have found that the solution to their problem lies neither with the East nor the West. It lies, indubitably, in Islam.
Everywhere we go, we hear Islam. Islam. Radios. TV. Internet.
Islam.
Islam?
But what is Islam?
In a CAIR survey (and others like Pew) it was noted that only ~20% of Americans have ever interacted with a Muslim. It is a fard kifayah to teach these people what Islam is; that means that if they don’t know what Islam is, (10% of Americans between 2004 and 2006 think Muslims worship a moon god ), we are all sinning. I’m sure that the problem is not in our numbers; the problem is that we need to represent Islam and show that we really do represent it.
Have we such an inferiority complex that we are afraid to say: “Yeah, I’m a Muslim” or “Islam teaches such-and-such”?
Do we not know that Islam has the solution to our social/political/psychological problems?
Well, if you don’t know how, then you don’t have enough knowledge of Islam. If you don’t have enough knowledge of Islam, you need to get some.
Look:
http://www.cair.com/AmericanMuslims/ReportsandSurveys.aspx
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200503/the.imam.of.bedford-stuyvesant.htm
As my “modern law” teacher was telling me, obtaining knowledge is not as tedious as it was back in the early community. Indeed, one need not travel far distances to obtain a hadith (or even a math problem, as was the case in the old Islamic state!) or fiqh issue. Rather, as he said, the thing that differs one student from another is his or her ability to understand, organize, and present that very information. Common sense, I know, but sometimes one needs another person to point these things out. He was actually talking about letting us use our notes in an exam; little did he know, my mind had already tread on the ex-am and moved on to the Ko-ran.
There came a time, a while back, when I got bored from listening to certain repetitive pieces of information from my teachers. I’d ask myself: “What am I doing here?” But I believe that I soon figured out that I needed to learn how to present the information that I’m listening to and not just memorize the facts.
To that effect, I have asked many teachers similar questions, just to learn how they present the answers. Questions like the 4 madhahib, beards and thobes, etc.
After analyzing my findings, I have reached the already-known conclusion that organizing information (with an introduction, conclusion, and all the other mumbo jumbo) is quite important. Call it reverse engineering.
That is exactly what the Quran is- كتاب أحكمت آياته – each and every word and verse is placed exactly where it is supposed to be. Hence, the more a person, focuses on meditatively placing each piece of information in its correct location, the closer the piece becomes to the Quran and, as a result, closer to perfection.
Legend has it that Imam Shafi’i checked his treastise (al-risalah) on usool al-fiqh ~40 times. Even after that, he still said “Indeed, perfection is not written except on the book of God.”
Chuckling to myself, I had enjoyed that exam. An exam based on understanding the facts rather than memorizing them.
The more fussy students, on the other hand, had preferred writing long khutbahs full of poetry memorized in their childhood before answering the usual “give it all back” questions.
But, in the end, I believe, we were all wrong. Knowledge is neither through only understanding nor through only memorizing; it is a mixture of the two. The scholars of Islam say خير الأمور أوسطها that the best of affairs are the balanced ones.
I will begin to post continuously, once again, inshaAllah.
It’s interesting how man can continue to evolve his ideas, concepts, and mental constructs, isn’t it?
Imam Abu Hanifah once said: don’t depend on our [scholars] words, one day we say one opinion and the other day we change it.
Hence, the only perfect, complete human being is the Prophet (SAW)- everyone else will make mistakes, reconsider former ideas… etc.
It’s truly amazing…
I have this urge to rewrite almost every essay that I have already written on this blog.
A mind-boggling experience indeed! Overwhelming!
If it weren’t for lack of time, I would’ve done it…
But I must say, I do even disagree with some of the writings on here.
An article I wrote in a school magazine.
Comment if you think you’ve figured out what the title means…
(Note: the intended audience is European)
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله
Priorities: Worldly Solutions to Worldly Problems
As we near the end of the 1st decade of the 21st century, we must ask ourselves: where are we going? It is essential that Muslims in the West understand what their current situation is, what they are to work towards, and what needs to be done to ensure sure they reach their goals. The purpose of this article is to give the reader a glance at each of these points in light of the Quran, Sunnah, and contemporary Muslim thought.
We must first understand that each and every person on Earth is in his or her own situation; a situation intricately devised by The Almighty Himself.[1] Although our situations differ, our goal is one: to earn His happiness and reward. Allah (SWT) Himself states: “the one who is spared from the Fire and entered into Paradise has succeeded.”[2] The primary goal of each and every Muslim, then, is not, contrary to popular belief, the establishment of an Islamic state; rather, it is striving for Allah (SWT)’s happiness according to the situation that the Muslim has been placed in and abilities that he or she has been given. Retaining this goal as one’s utmost priority is essential.
Despite recent events we must remember that we, as Muslims in the West, live thousands of miles away. Although these issues do concern us[3] and we should do our best to help, they are not directly affecting us daily and hence should not be at the top of our priority list.
We in the West, and Europe in particular, are before many challenges; challenges that may threaten our and our descendents’ Islamic future. If we ourselves do not stand up to face these challenges, then who will? Who’s going to deal with the Western Muslim drug addicts and the large amounts Western Muslim prisoners[4]? Who is going to defend Western Muslim rights? How are we going to get our own religious courts[5]? Who’s going to build our institutions, schools, and think tanks? Who’s going to guide the youth? Finally, who is going to establish our place in Western society?
It is doubted that the average Arab is going to step out of Riyadh or anywhere else to solve the drug dealing problem, that Pakistanis are going to fly out from Islamabad to defend the hijab in a European court, that a Somali national is going to leave his country to build a school in the West, or that an Iranian citizen is going come take Muslim children out camping. To further elucidate, a simple analogical question must be answered: if one’s house is burning along with neighboring houses, which one must put out first?
These challenges must be faced in order that we and our descendents can live as Muslims and preach Islam freely without having to fear any repercussions as a result of certain dubious “secular” laws.
To face these challenges and attain the results desired, strong communities must be built. A strong community in the modern world needs the same two things that any society in the past needed: money and individuals. Allah (SWT) says: “Strive, with your wealth and yourselves, in the path of Allah.”[6]
But a 21st century economy is unlike that of the centuries before, a strong back is not enough; one needs to attain an education.[7] Young Muslims should be encouraged and supported in getting off the streets and hitting the books[8].
The manner in getting more people involved in facing the challenges, though, requires a more psychological explanation. We need to learn how to be followers. The Prophet (SAW) would not have spread Islam to all of the Arabian Peninsula without his companions. Instead of following the qualified leaders already present, many decide to sit back and criticize. The Prophet (SAW) once said: The strong believer is better than the weak believer, but both of them have good in them. Imam Nawawi[9] says that strength in this hadith means strength of the soul, willpower. The weak believer, in modern terms, is the “armchair commentator,” the hypercritical. Instead of trying to become a leader and “reach the top”, one need only to work as hard as one can using the abilities and talents that Allah (SWT) has given him or her. He “doesn’t waste the reward of the good-doers.”[10] Indeed, Allah is the one who “gives rank to whom He wills.”[11]
In conclusion, our story is like the story of Musa, the story of Yusuf, and the story of our own Prophet Muhammad (SAW). After being pursued out of Egypt, Musa came back to lead the people. Yusuf went from a well and prison to being in charge of the wealth of Egypt. The Prophet (SAW) went from being pursued out of his own city only to come back a ruler. Allah (SWT) has a plan; and He is the best of planners.[12] He has put us here in the West for a reason. But the difference between the first generation of Muslims and this modern generation is that the former recognized its role and it vowed and vied to carry out that role, facing all challenges that came before it. In the same way, it is up to us in the West to recognize our role and play our part.
AJ
[1] The words of Yasir Qadhi during a fundraiser in association with Islamic Relief for Palestinians in early January of 2008.
[2] Quran 3:185
[3] The Prophet (SAW) said in an authentic hadith: “The Muslims are like a single body. If any part of the body is inflicted with pain, the entire body is in anguish.”
[4] According to the last recorded statistic, in the late 90s, 80% of French prisoners are Muslim.
[5] In England, it is well-known that the Jewish people are allowed to have their own courts to deal with certain issues within their community; their population in England, though, is much less than the Muslims’ (280,000 in 2008 according to the BBC).
[6] Quran 9:41; it must be noted that wealth, when used as a means and is not a goal, is called good (khayr) in the Quran.
[7] This was mentioned by the inestimable blackamerican scholar Abdul-Hakim “Sherman” Jackson at a MANA conference in 2008.
[8] In America, Muslims hold many rights that Muslims in Europe do not. One of the main reasons for this is that 69% Muslims in immigrant communities attend higher education at a university; that is over double the national average. In 2008 voter survey CAIR analysts write that: “[American Muslims’] relative youth, educational profile, and economic prosperity bode well for the future of their political influence.” Albeit, that is not to say American Muslims cannot learn from Muslims in Europe.
[9] (631-676AH): One of the greatest scholars of Islam.
[10] Quran 9:120; the same phrase is also mentioned in 3 other places.
[11] Quran 3:73
[12] Quran 3:54 and 8:30
I have exams from Sept 1-5. Pray for me. Posts will continue once i begin to study and contemplate (on a large scale) once more… summer is a very slow time for me, which needs to be fixed in the future.
One of the ‘knowledge’ programs that we have here in America is The Al-Maghrib Institute (www.almaghrib.org). For the students who attend their courses and other courses like their’s, I would like to point out something very important. But I’d also like to point out that one of the things that one must remember is that these teachers are putting forth things that they normally do not and even cannot say in front of laymen. They won’t go into the entire scope of academics involved with the rulings during the seminar, but they will say certain things that they wouldn’t say whilst lecturing the ‘general crowd’. The reasons are many, they can be because the people might get confused, take the knowledge the wrong way, etc. Ali (RA) said about sharing knowledge:
“Talk to people at their level, or else this knowledge could become a fitnah for/confuse them”
Keeping this in mind, I think we will all benefit more and be even more eager to learn from the Shuyukh…
A problem with Muslims today: blaming others for our problems.
Imam Zaid Shakir says:
Victimization usually leads to inaction because problems are always ‘someone else’s fault’. That being the case, there is little ‘I’ can do to fix them.
Blaming the Muslims’ problems in thought/behavior/politics entirely on the West/colonization is unacceptable. When we do that we aren’t really taking into account the real root of the problem, which is the Muslims themselves. By blaming them, we are saying that we can’t do anything until the Europeans change! In fact, we are the ones that need to change…
God knows best.
We ask God to guide us…
