Merry Christmas 2011
24/12/2011 Leave a comment
Not Sunni, Not Shia, a Call for Unity
26/08/2011 1 Comment
By Paul Salahuddin Armstrong
Co-Director, The Association of British Muslims
“And strive hard in God’s cause with all the striving that is due to Him: it is He who has elected you [to carry His message], and has laid no hardship on you in [anything that pertains to] religion, [and made you follow] the creed of your forefather Abraham. It is He who has named you – in bygone times as well as in this [divine writ] – (al-muslimeen) ‘those who have surrendered themselves to God’, so that the Apostle might bear witness to the truth before you, and that you might bear witness to it before all mankind. Thus, be constant in prayer, and render the purifying dues, and hold fast unto God. He is your Lord Supreme: and how excellent is this Lord Supreme, and how excellent this Giver of Succour!” – Holy Qur’an 22:78 (M. Asad)
Frequent questions one often gets asked these days, is whether one is Sunni or Shia, what school of thought (madhab) to which one belongs or which “methodology” one adheres to… Isn’t this a sad state of affairs? Are these really such pertinent questions? A good question would be, to which sect did Prophet Muhammad belong, peace be upon him, or any of his immediate companions? Many will then point to the fact that a political dispute arose during that first generation, over who was to be the rightful heir of the Prophet, peace be upon him.
However, while this is true, my own analysis indicates that what was understood then by the group of companions, who in later generations came to be understood as laying the foundation for Sunni Islam and the group later understood to have contributed to the foundation of Shia Islam, this was not the same as what is now meant by the terms Sunni and Shia today… Many of the earliest scholars of Islam, such as Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib and Imam Jafar as-Sadiq, may Allah bless them, are scholars relied upon by all schools of thought and sects.
“VERILY, as for those who have broken the unity of their faith and have become sects – thou hast nothing to do with them. Behold, their case rests with God: and in time He will make them understand what they were doing.”
- Holy Qur’an 6:159 (M. Asad)
How many Sunnis really understand the Sunni traditions in any great depth? The same likewise applies for the Shia. Before continuing these disputes over ever more generations, shouldn’t we first at least strive to be Muslims? Isn’t the foundation of Islam the pure belief in the Oneness of God? Whatever happened to the Kalima Shahada? Brothers and sisters of all different groups will state categorically in response, we haven’t forgotten the Kalima! Insha Allah, I pray this is true. However, if Muslims maintain the Kalima at the essence of their faith, how can the Ummah be divided?
La ilaha il Allah, Muhammad-ur Rasul Allah
No god but God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God
At the heart of Islam lives this most profound of statements, the foundation of the beliefs of all Muslims. The only real god is God, Muhammad, peace be upon him, is the last and final Prophet. If we truly believe this, how then can we be divided? I implore all brothers and sisters to reflect deeply on this point…
The Kalima Shahada and the Holy Qur’an are accepted by all Muslims, regardless of their school of thought or sect. These pre-date all other reference material on Islam, even that compiled by the earliest scholars. During these last days of Ramadan, wouldn’t it be wonderful if more people could transcend their differences, realising that at heart we’re all one. After all, what is our primary nature, are we not all human? Every other description we adorn ourselves with, whether pertaining to our spiritual beliefs, our tribe or nationality, surely come secondary to this. First and foremost we are human beings, the children of Adam and Eve, in essence we are One Human Family. How beautiful would it be if humanity started behaving like one?
“O YOU who have attained to faith! Remain conscious of God, and be among those who are true to their word!”
- Holy Qur’an 9:119 (M. Asad)
Beware, Lest the Devil Leads You Astray…
08/08/2011 Leave a comment
By Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib
The following is an extract from Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 191, known as “al-Khutbah al-Qasi`ah”, the Sermon of Disparagement.
You should take a lesson from what God did with the Devil; namely He nullified his great acts and extensive efforts on account of the vanity of one moment, although the Devil had worshipped God for six thousand years – whether by the reckoning of this world or of the next world is not known. Who now can remain safe from God after the Devil by committing a similar disobedience? None at all. God, the Glorified, cannot let a human being enter Paradise if he does the same thing for which God turned out from it an angel. His command for the inhabitants in the sky and of the earth is the same. There is no friendship between God and any individual out of His creation so as to give him license for an undesirable thing which He has held unlawful for all the worlds.
Therefore, you should fear lest the Devil infects you with his disease, or leads you astray through his call, or marches on you with his horsemen and footmen, because, by my life, he has put the arrow in the bow for you, has stretched the bow strongly, and has aimed at you from a nearby position, and:
He (the Devil) said: ”My Lord! because Thou hast left me to stray, certainly will I adorn unto them the path of error, and certainly will I cause them all to go astray.” (Qur’an, 15:39)
Although he (the Devil) had said so only by guessing about the unknown future and by wrong conjecturing, yet the sons of vanity, the brothers of haughtiness and the horsemen of pride and intolerance proved him to be true, so much so that when disobedient persons from among you bowed before him, and his greed about you gained strength; and what was a hidden secret turned into a clear fact, he spread his full control over you and marched with his forces towards you.
Then they pushed you into the hollows of disgrace, threw you into the whirlpools of slaughter, and trampled you, wounding you by striking your eyes with spears, cutting your throats, tearing your nostrils, breaking your limbs and taking you in ropes of control towards the fire already prepared. In this way he became more harmful to your religion and a greater kindler of flames (of mischief) about your worldly matters than the enemies against whom you showed open opposition and against whom you marched your forces.
You should therefore spend all your force against him, and all your efforts against him, because, by God, he boasted over your (i.e., Adam’s) origin, questioned your position and spoke lightly of your lineage. He advanced on you with his army, and brought his footmen towards your path. They are chasing you from every place, and they are hitting you at every finger joint. You are not able to defend by any means, nor can you repulse them by any determination. You are in the thick of disgrace, the ring of straitness, the field of death and the way of distress.
You should therefore put out the fires of haughtiness and the flames of intolerance that are hidden in your hearts. This vanity can exist in a Muslim only by the machinations of the Devil, his haughtiness, mischief and whisperings. Make up your mind to have humility over your heads, to trample self-pride under your feet and to cast off vanity from your necks. Adopt humility as the weapon between you and your enemy, the Devil and his forces. He certainly has, from every people, fighters, helpers, footmen and horsemen. Do not be like him who feigned superiority over the son of his own mother without any distinction given to him by God except the feeling of envy which his feeling of greatness created in him and the fire of anger that vanity kindled in his heart. The Devil blew into his nose his own vanity, after which God gave him remorse and made him responsible for the sins of all killers up to the Day of Judgement.
Caution against vanity and boasting about ignorance
Beware! You strove hard in revolting and created mischief on the earth in open opposition to God and in challenging the believers over fighting. (You should fear) God! God! In feeling proud of your vanity and boasting over ignorance, because this is the root of enmity and the design of the Devil wherewith he has been deceiving past people and bygone ages, with the result that they fell into the gloom of his ignorance and the hollows of his misguidance, submitting to his driving and accepting his leadership. In this matter the hearts of all the people were similar, and centuries passed by, one after the other, in just the same way, and there was vanity with which chests were tightened.
Beware! Beware of obeying your leaders and elders who felt proud of their achievements and boasted about their lineage. They hurled the (liability for) things on God and quarrelled with God in what He did with them, contesting His decree and disputing His favours. Certainly, they are the main foundation of obstinacy, the chief pillars of mischief and the swords of pre-Islamic boasting over forefathers. Therefore, fear God, do not become antagonistic to His favours on you, nor jealous of His bounty over you and do not obey the claimants (of Islam) whose dirty water you drink along with your clean one, whose ailments you mix with your healthiness and whose wrongs you allow to enter into your rightful matters.
They are the foundation of vice and the linings of disobedience, the Devil has made them carriers of misguidance and the soldiers with whom he attacks men. They are interpreters through whom he speaks in order to steal away your wits, enter into your eyes and blow into your ears. In this way he makes you the victim of his arrows, the treading ground of his footsteps and source of strength for his hands. Take instruction from how he brought God’s wrath, violence, chastisement and punishment on those who were vain among the past people. Take admonition from their lying on their cheeks and falling on their sides, and seek God’s protection from the dangers of vanity, as you seek His protection from calamities.
Certainly, if God were to allow anyone to indulge in pride He would have allowed it to his selected prophets and vicegerents. But God, the Sublime, disliked vanity for them and liked humbleness for them. Therefore, they laid their cheeks on the ground, smeared their faces with dust, bent themselves down for the believers and remained humble people. God tried them with hunger, afflicted them with difficulty, tested them with fear, and upset them with troubles. Therefore, do not regard wealth and progeny the criterion for God’s pleasure and displeasure, as you are not aware of the chances of mischief and trials during richness and power as God, the Glorified, the Sublime, has said:
What! Think they that what We aid them with of wealth and children, We are hastening unto them the good things? Nay! they (only) perceive not. (Qur’an, 23:55-56)
Certainly, God the Glorified, tries His creatures who are vain about themselves through His beloved persons who are humble in their eyes.
Look at the world like those who abstain from it…
30/07/2011 Leave a comment
By Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib
Nahjul-Balagha, Sermon 102
Image: Sajjad’s GraphicsAbout Gluttony, Fear of Allah:
O people! Look at the world like those who abstain from it and turn away from it. By Allah, it will shortly turn out its inhabitants and cause grief to the happy and the safe. That which turns and goes away from it never returns and that which is likely to come about is not known or anticipated. Its joy is mingled with grief. Herein men’s firmness inclines towards weakness and languidness. The majority of what pleases you here should not mislead you because that which will help you will be little.
Allah may shower His mercy on him who ponders and takes lesson thereby and when he takes lesson he achieves enlightenment. Whatever is present in this world will shortly not exist, while whatever is (perceived) to exist in the Hereafter is already in existence. Every countable thing will pass away. Every anticipation should be taken to be coming up and everything that is to come up should be taken as just near.
Part of the Same Sermon on the Attributes of a Learned Person:
Learned is he who knows his worth. It is enough for a man to remain ignorant if he knows not his worth. Certainly, the most hated man with Allah is he whom Allah has left for his own self. He goes astray from the right path and moves without a guide. If he is called to the plantation of the Hereafter he is slow. As though what he is active for is obligatory upon him whereas in whatever he is slow was not required of him.
Part of the Same Sermon about Future Times:
There will be a time wherein only a sleeping (inactive) believer will be safe (such that) if he is present he is not recognised but if he is absent he is not sought after. These are the lamps of guidance and banners of night journeys. They do not spread calumnies nor divulge secrets, nor slander. They are those for whom Allah will open the doors of His mercy and keeps off from them the hardships of His chastisement.
O people! A time will come when Islam will be capsized as a pot is capsized with all its contents. O people! Allah has protected you from that. He might be hard on you but He has not spared you from being put on trial. Allah the most Sublime of all speakers has said the following:
Verily in this are signs and We do only try (the people). (Holy Qur’an 23:30)
Sayyid ar-Radi says the following: As regarding Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib’s words ‘Akullu Mu’minin nuwamah’ (every sleeping believer), he implies thereby one who is talked of little and causes no evil. And the word ‘al-masayth’ is the plural of ‘misyah’. He is one who spreads trouble among people through evils and calumny. And the word ‘al-madhayi’ is the plural of ‘midhya’. He is one who upon hearing of an evil about someone, spreads it and shouts about it. And ‘al-budhur’ is the plural of ‘badhur’. He is one who excels in foolishness and speaks rubbish.
