A Farewell to Normalcy

Few would argue that the events of September 11^th did not significantly impact the social and political landscape for Muslims living in America.  However, division and uncertainty arise at to what the appropriate course of action should be in response to the said events.  In the Middle East and the Muslim world at large few scarcely believe that the terrorist acts were the result of Muslim designs on incapacitating the West, as most explain it away as Zionist conspiracy (which by the way is the root of all Muslim affliction in the world if you listen to Arab commentators in the Middle East); whereas Muslims in the West assume it is a foregone conclusion that the devastation of September 11^th was intended, planned and executed by Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda operatives (even though the United States has yet to present any credible evidence linking Al-Qaeda to the acts, let alone any evidence positively identifying the hijackers themselves).  But whatever you chose to believe is really of little consequence, for whoever is responsible for the attacks the subsequent results were an essential part of the overall plan, those results including America’s current foray in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

But the purpose of this article is not to discuss the political ramifications now faced, rather our focus should be what practical steps every Muslim need undertake in order to change our condition.  For years the topic of conversation in any place where Muslims congregate was what current political crisis are Muslims facing in Palestine, or Algeria, or Chechnya or wherever.  While it is true that the Muslims are one “ummah” and that it is a part of a Muslim’s basic constitution to empathize with his fellow Muslim’s plight, this in no way impels him to neglect his own.  Yet few Muslims in America can effectively present an accurate picture of their faith to their fellow American by their tongues, let alone by their deeds.  A prominent Syrian scholar, who is now deceased, was once asked: What is the greatest miracle of the 20^th century? To which he curtly replied: the presence of Islam despite the presence of the Muslims.  Islam may be the fastest growing religion in the United States, but this is due to no achievement of our own.  The earnest seeker upon encountering the Truth does not hesitate to embrace it; the second caliph of Islam, Omar, embroiled with anger, sought to kill the Prophet peace be upon him, his ire, however, was extinguished upon reading a few pages of the Quran, and immediately accepted Islam.  The companions thereafter enjoyed unprecedented liberties as regards to their activities in the Sacred Precinct.

So, yes, indeed many people in the United States are accepting Islam, but what does that exactly entail besides donning the headscarf or beard and eating halal meat?  The new Muslim convert at the local mosque is quite the novelty for perhaps several weeks, but what of him thereafter? And what of the second and third generation Muslims whose parents emigrated from the Muslim world?  These often hapless youth are caught between two worlds, a world that enjoins upon them to not neglect the “tradition” of their parents, and a world that incites them to every vice and iniquity.  Their plight is akin to the flock tended by the shepherd in a valley between two mountain passes, not sure how to proceed after his departure.  Currently, there are few resources for American Muslims to properly learn the tenets of their faith in an organized fashion in any of the fifty United States.  But to be fair, the situation is much improved compared to the state of Muslims in America only thirty years or even just twenty years ago.  In New York City in 1970 there were less than five mosques, today they number well over one hundred. 

But the accompanying societal influence is noticeably absent.  Muslims are seldom heard voicing their opinions on the environment, or the welfare system, or public school education, or teenage pregnancy.  These are all issues the Muslim can significantly contribute to a discourse on as a means to enlighten others to the merits of the shariah system. Salman Rusdie, the embattled but newly emboldened satanic novelist, in an op-Ed piece to the New York Times wrote: “The restoration of religion to the sphere of the personal, its depoliticization, is the nettle that all Muslim societies must grasp in order to become modern…If terrorism is to be defeated, the world of Islam must take on board the secularist-humanist principles on which the modern is based, and without which Muslim countries’ freedom will remain a distant dream.”   The “restoration of religion to the sphere of the personal” is nothing more than a euphemism for turning a blind eye to injustice and tyranny and remaining aloof of society’s ills.  Mr. Rushdie is ignorant, or ignores the fact that the source and inspiration of western civilization’s “secular-humanist principles” is none other than Islam itself, an Islam that doesn’t confine itself to the four walls of one’s boudoir, but rather illuminates all spheres of life, socially, intellectually, politically and otherwise. Indeed, it is the only truly merciful force the world has ever witnessed. 

When Europe was wallowing in its “Dark Ages” and the penalty for treason in England was hanging, but not until death, then disemboweling where the accused would behold his entrails burned before him and then finally beheading and quartering (a procedure by which the corpse is dissevered into four equal parts), Islamic Spain and the Middle East were laying the foundation for the European Renaissance – a renaissance that was to be the source for the “secular-humanist principles” that Europe and the United States cherish today.  Ironically enough, the cultural and intellectual liberation brought about by Islam is acutely lacking in the Muslim world.  It is there were dissidents are routinely executed and tortured, in some countries their wives being molested while they are made to watch, not to mention the economic and cultural stagnation.  A few years ago, Egypt, once the cradle of Muslim and Arab intellectual thought, a country with a population of over 67 million, published roughly three hundred books.  Israel, with a population of 8 million published over three thousand books.   

Muslims in America should empathize with their brethren abroad, but not merely empathize.  Conscientious efforts must be made to make Islam a more vibrant and dynamic part of our lives, on the societal as well as personal level.  Indeed, Islam is our life, as there is no action that we might undertake that the Lawgiver has not addressed.  Our greatest obstacle is our ignorance, ignorance of our own faith, and not merely ignorance that is limited to detail, but ignorance of the divine, or in other words, lack of ma’rifah.  Imam Malik stated that knowledge is not abundance in acquiring hadith, but rather a light that Allah thrusts into the heart of the believer.  What good is it to call ourselves Muslim, when we are the not the most pious, the most morally upright, the most religious? 

The Prophet peace be upon him stated that whomsoever his prayer does not prevent him from transgression and abomination then his prayer will only distance himself further from Allah.   The key to achieving ma’rifah is to truly want it to begin with.  How many people skate through life only satiating their lower self without ever progressing to the spiritual satiation that only the seekers and the righteous have tasted?  How many of us read the Quran on a daily basis so that we remain ever inspired and renew our compact with the Lord of all that is resides within the heavens and the earth?  The salaf al-salih considered one who reads less than one juz or thirtieth of the Quran a day as heedless.  We live such hurried lives, always having something to do, but yet at the same time nothing to do. What are considered higher pursuits, such as reading and study not for the sake of some pecuniary gain, should be from the very essence of our being.  Like most men, if we cannot quantify something in terms of dollars and cents, we attribute to it little value.  How many are the men who have abandoned their most inspirited ambition because it was not profitable or quantifiable?  The formula of the early Muslims was to take only what that they needed of worldly possessions and then devote themselves wholly to the worship of Allah and the advancement of their souls.  Muslims especially, must endeavor to traverse the mundane and the ephemeral and aspire to the realm of the meaningful and the enduring.  Only in the dominion of their Sustainer will they find bliss and success.

America is a great country with many admirable features.  But its greatness lies within its inhabitants’ ability to capitalize on the vast liberties accorded to them.  These liberties may appear vast when compared to the state of other nations, but if viewed in the light of what all men are entitled to, they are only ordinary.  Such freedoms should not be squandered when others forfeit life and property to have them. Muslims must have the courage to deviate from the heedless Western lifestyle, for few virtues can be found in the actions of the masses.  The Prophet peace be upon him stated that people are like one hundred camels, seldom will you find one fit for mounting.  Being of the few heedful was never a shortcoming, and it never will be. There is an incessant influx of novelty into the world, and yet we tolerate incredible dullness.  From the Internet to cell phones to cable television, there are few manifestations of the modern world that are worthy of pursuit.  When was the last time we read a passage of the Quran that Allah granted us fath in its understanding and then conveyed this illumination to a fellow Muslim? Our condition might be summed up by Thoreau’s plea: “Why do you stay here and live this mean moiling life, when a glorious existence is possible for you?  Those same stars twinkle over other fields than these – but how to come out of this condition and actually migrate thither?”  The answer to that question may not be apparent, but recognition of the problem is the first step to solving it. Or perhaps as Ibn Rushd stated, one cannot untie the knot before first ascertaining its location.

 

                                                                                             - Walead Mohammed Mosaad