MIIS Online

Khutbah delivered at Monash Uni 05-06-09

Melbourne Uni 19-06-09

Bros. in Islam - May Allah (swt) be pleased with us on this auspicious day and forgive us all our transgressions.

 Let me begin with a quote from our brother Muhammad Asad (rahmatullah ‘alaihi), who has a real knack with the English language: no other person has been able to articulate what brother Asad says about Islam in such a succinct and concise way.

 “It was not the Muslims,” he says, “that had made Islam great; it was Islam that had made the Muslims great.” How very true. And if that is the case, and in view of the fact that Islam has not changed one iota, nor has it been changed successfully, then we, Muslims, have the same, if not better opportunities to again become great or even greater.

 Now is the time for us Muslims to really show the Western world in particular, what Islam is all about. Yes Islam has had a bad press, as it were.

 And unfortunately some of it has been caused by Muslims themselves. Let’s talk about ourselves:  Why are we here at the Monash Sports Centre? Why aren’t we at Bedoe Ave., our usual place of worship? Because many of us failed to obey the parking regulations, even after numerous warnings. Why have we been so lax in our discipline? Have we not been drilled every year during Ramadhan to renew our discipline – remember the greatest jihad is against oneself. During the fasting month, though we can do it, but refrain from doing so, we endure thirst and hunger, for we area ashamed that Allah will know if we break the rules, while nobody else will ever know. Why then can’t we carry this “shame” one step further, and exercise it in our daily life? So let’s not just blame others for our own mishaps.

 We have enough unrelenting foes as it is. Whatever a notable Muslim does, such as Saddam Hussein, it would be immediately lumped with Islam. This is unavoidable, even when there have been people of great consequence who have tried to set the record straight. Such as this explanation:

 “Much attention is being paid to a phenomenon variously labelled political Islam, the Islamic revival, or Islamic fundamentalism. … We detect no monolithic or coordinated international effort behind these movements. What we do see are believers living in different countries placed renewed emphasis on Islamic principles and governments accommodating Islamist political activity to varying degrees and in different ways.”

 Or this one, by an Indonesian commentator:

 Arief Munandar, recently reviewed The Illusion of an Islamic State: Expansion of Transnational Islamist Movements to Indonesia, and concludes that its lumping together of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the Council of Indonesian Jihad Fighters (MMI) and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) is “simplistic, unfocused and runs counter to historical fact.” (Jakarta Post 31.06.09).

No matter, Islam is still there. The Qur’an, now than ever, has been proven to be an incredible scripture. Every time a new scientific knowledge evolves, the worth and reputation of Islam, the contents of that inimitable book, go further and further up.

Islam, as has often been articulated before by various luminaries, including even non-Muslims, is not just a mere religion, but more than that. It is a way of life that embraces most decisively all the manifold aspects of human existence - spiritual and material, moral and physical, emotional and intellectual, personal and social.

As brother Muhammad Asif Kidwal says in his translator’s note to the book “Islam and the World” by brother Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi, and I quote:

“Islam is the conflux of this world and the next, the meeting-point of the body, the mind and the spirit, where all the three unite to form a single reality, the basis of which is a real, living consciousness of God - Allah. But Islam does not stop there. It also shows us the way - the practical way - of reproducing this reality - this unity of Idea and Action - within the limits of our earthly sojourn, in our lives and our consciousness.”

Further brother Muhammad Asif Kidwal says:

“Because of that, Islam scrupulously refrains from demanding of man, as a necessary condition to salvation, a belief in dogma that may either be difficult of intellectual comprehension or opposite to scientific truths. In fact no dogma of any kind is found in the structure of Islamic beliefs and practices. No Original Sin, no misdeeds of a past life stand between man and his destiny. No mortification of the flesh, no renunciation of the world is required to open the secret door of spiritual prosperity. Such things are utterly foreign to Islam, which is neither a mystical doctrine nor a philosophy, but a program of personal and social behaviour that not only leaves no inherent conflict between the physical and the moral existence of man, but, in addition to it, insists on their co-existence as the natural basis of life.

Because of this ability to strike a harmonious balance between the world of faith and the world of action, Islam has never proved to be a barrier to progress and science. History cannot cite the instance of any other religion that has given such encouragement to scientific progress as Islam did.” Unquote.

Now, if we compare Islam with another religion, for example and for argument’s sake, the Catholic Church, we will find how enlightening Islam has always been.

Brothers in Islam - you in particular, being tertiary students and even lecturers or perhaps professors, if not now InsyaAllah soon and in the future, with intellectual ability to grasp even the slightest nuance would not have been ignorant about what happened to one Galileo Galilei - 1564-1642.

Galileo has been called the father of modern observational astronomy; the father of physics; the father of modern science. Yet in 1632, he was tried by the Inquisition, initiated by the Catholic Church, and found, I quote “vehemently suspect of heresy” – bid’ah - forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

What was his crime? To simplify, Galileo supported the theory that the earth “moves” and the sun “stands still at the centre.”

At the time the Catholic Church was holding sway, a power and authority unto itself and the Church leaders believed that they had to be guided by the Bible.

Now the Bible - the Western Bible -  in, for example, Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96-10 and 1 Chronicles 16:30, include text stating that the world, quote, “is firmly established, it cannot be moved.” Unquote.

Further, in Psalm 104:5, the Bible says, quote “The Lord set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved, while the sun rises and sets and returns to its place.” Unquote.

Galileo took the position that the Bible was a book of poetry and songs, not a book of instructions or history.

Galileo was telling the truth and spent the remainder of his life under house arrest.

Yet this religion has flourished unabated.

 It does make us wonder, about the quality of Muslims, which unfortunately has often been confused with the quality of Islam. May be we haven’t been true and authentic Muslims. Allah (swt) says in ‘Ali Imran III-139:

*Walaa tahinoo walaa tahzanoo,

Wa antumul ‘alauna in kuntum mu’miniin(a).*

In the meaning:

(So lose not heart, nor fall into despair: for you must gain mastery if you are true in faith.)

Bros. in Islam - May Allah (swt) be pleased with us on this auspicious day and forgive us all our transgressions.

We Muslims cannot and must not be half hearted in our faith in Islam. There must not and never be a shadow of a doubt in our hearts about Islam being the true religion.

There are many causes of our downfall - if that is the case. We Muslims suffer from inferiority complex; we are mesmerised by the so-called advancement of technology achieved by non-Muslims. We have probably failed to delve deep down into our soul to challenge ourselves to find out whether we have been negligent, not only in the performance of the rituals as prescribed in our religion, but more than this, the belief that ours is not the religion of body and soul - but just of the soul. No! Islam is that perfect harmony of the happiest of medium - washatah.

Some of you may have read or heard about one Thomas Cleary, often referred to as a “prolific” writer and translator of various religious texts - Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, to name a few.

In his work titled “The Essential Koran”, he says, among other things:

 “The Qur’an is undeniably a book of great importance even to the non-Muslim, perhaps more today than ever, if that is possible.”

One aspect of Islam that is unexpected and yet appealing to the post-Christian secular mind is the harmonious interplay of faith and reason.

Islam does not demand unreasoned belief. Rather, it invites intelligent faith, growing from observation, reflection and contemplation, beginning with nature and what is all around us. Accordingly, antagonism between religion and science such as that familiar to Westerners is foreign to Islam.” Unquote.

There you have it. No antagonism between religion and science - like Christianity.

Further Thomas Cleary, who is not a Muslim, says:

“The connection between faith and reason enabled Islamic civilization to absorb and vivify useful knowledge, including that of ancient peoples, whereby it eventually nursed Europe out of the Dark Ages, laying the foundation for the Renaissance.

When Europe got on its cultural feet and expelled Islam, however, the European mind was rent of the inability of the Christian church to tolerate the indivisibility of the sacred and the secular that characterized Islam and had enabled Islamic civilization to develop natural science and abstract art as well as philosophy and social sciences.

 The result was a painful, ill-fated divorce between science and religion in Europe, one whose consequences have adversely affected the entire world.” Unquote.

Thomas Cleary could see the aftermath of the jettisoning of Islamic teachings in Europe affecting the world, while Muslims have generally deliberately tried to keep Islam at arm’s length - good enough for internal worship, but not as a way of life.

Back to Thomas Cleary: Quote:

 “In the post-Christian West, where thinking people, including scientists themselves once more, are seeking solutions to the difficulties created by the Christian divorce between religion and science, the Qur’an offers a way to explore an attitude that fully embraces the quest for knowledge and understanding that it’s the essence of science, while at the same time, and indeed for the same reasons, fully embraces the awe, humility, reverence and conscience without which, according to the Qur’an, Chapter 96, verses 6-7:

 *Kalla innal insaana la yathghaa,

Ar ra-aahus taghnaa.*

 In the meaning:

 (Humankind does indeed go too far in considering itself to be self-sufficient.)

In this 21st century, Thomas Cleary is still of the opinion that even for the secular Westerner, apart from any question of religious belief or faith, there are immediate benefits to be found in reading the Qur’an.

First, in view of the sacredness and vital importance of the Qur’an to approximately one-fifth of all humanity, a thinking citizen of the world can hardly develop a rational and mature social consciousness without considering the message of the Qur’an and its meaning for the Muslim community.

With the fall of communism, it has become particularly clear that global peace, order and self-determination of peoples cannot be achieved without intelligent respect for Islam and the inalienable right of Muslims to live their religion.

 The second immediate benefit in reading the Qur’an, therefore, is that it is a necessary step toward the understanding and tolerance without which world peace is in fact inconceivable.

 For non-Muslims, so says Thomas Cleary, one special advantage in reading the Qur’an is that it provides an authentic point of reference from which to examine the biased stereotypes of Islam to which Westerners are habitually exposed.

 Primary information is essential to distinguish between opinion and fact in a reasonable manner. The exercise may also enable thinking individual to understand the inherently defective nature of prejudice itself, and thus be the more generally receptive to all information and knowledge of possible use to humankind.” Unquote.

 Bros. in Islam - May Allah be pleased with us on this auspicious day and forgive us all our transgressions.

 So Thomas Cleary, a very learned non-Muslim is exhorting non-Muslims, Westerners in particular to read the Qur’an, not necessarily for self enlightenment, perhaps, but just to know and understand Muslims.

 And to his credit, the US President Barack Obama, in an interview broadcast in France ahead of what had been touted as his most important speech about America’s relations with Muslims, says:

 “America and the US have to educate themselves more effectively on Islam.”

 What about us Muslims?

 To conclude, allow me to quote from yet another publication:

 A group of American professors is asked to probe deep into the minds of more than a billion Muslims. To find out what drives them to suicide bombing, multiple wives and religious fanaticism.

Altogether there were 8 professors from various disciplines.

The team was asked to find out if the Qur’an is out of step with modern times. It was directed to disregard traditional clergy, if needed be.

 Unaware of each other’s assignments, the panel delved deep into the fountainhead of this most enigmatic Faith: The Qur’an.

 It uncovered so-called shocking facts, astonishing revelations and intriguing results about Islam. The findings raised as many questions as they answered.

 The panel’s no-holds-barred, hard hitting findings, included:

“In Islam, sex is a good thing. Allah is not a Muslim specific God; even Arabic speaking Jews and Christians use the word Allah in their liturgies. Polygamy is a blessing. We are not God and God is not us. It is mandatory for Muslims to revere all the Prophets of Judaism and Christianity. Muslims do not worship Muhammad. Everybody is born a Muslim!”

 The comment about the findings: if you thought you knew about Islam, you better think again. Wallahu a’lam.#

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 12:29 am and is filed under Articles, Oase Iman, Featured.