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Remembering Al-Hajjah
Farizah Rabbat
[read]
Shaykh Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi mourns the loss of his wife and shares his
“grief and sorrow upon the loss of my heart.”
Mirror, mirror on the
wall. Who’s the most knowing thinker of all?
9/11, 7-7 and the ‘war on
terror’ have spawned an entire Islam industry. But which shoot-from-the-hip,
angry and self-important Muslim spokesmen should we listen to, asks Mohamed
M. Husain.
The Family That Walks On All Fours
Adam Goren finds a new documentary examining a family of Kurdish Muslim
“quadrupeds” a disturbing attempt to legitimise scientific voyeurism.
“Here nothing is safe;
there is no freedom”
Chris Sands reports from Afghanistan on the state of religious freedom
and how deception and subterfuge has become the norm for a small group of
activists who see their country falling deeper into grip of an extreme theology
at odds with human rights.
So who’s living in the
‘ghetto’ now?
Leave your religious ghettoes behind, Muslims are being told, and embrace
European culture. But first, European commentators need to step out of their own
intellectual ghettoes, as Farish A. Noor argues, and into the light of
class and power relations.
Why I wouldn’t send my children to an Islamic School
Teenagers are like Scud missiles - lots of energy, no sense of direction. In the
midst of a profound spiritual revival and on the cusp of her sixth-form years,
Farzina Alam was looking for some direction. Expecting a teenage
spiritual experience and a little hijabi camaraderie, she ended up at an Islamic
school and it was almost enough to break her spirit.
When hecklers ruin a good night
out
They are young, brash and rudely interrupt even the most respected Islamic
scholars. So how are you going to handle your local Muslim loud-mouth when he
heckles you? A deft touch and bit of wisdom goes a long way, as Amina Nawaz
explains.
Q-Notes
Dawah Dames and Top Guns, The Freedom of Speech Conundrum, Mourning the death of
Ali Farka Toure and how Protecting Children is a Matter of Faith.
Books:
Infrastructure
Mujadad Zaman finds that Brian Hayes’ examination of the urban landscape
provides a much-needed starting point for re-examining aesthetics and beauty in
the built environment. It’s something, he contends, Islamic civilisation has a
lot to say about.
Vox Populi
Q-Readers on the false comparison of Muslims and gays, the Danish cartoons,
Afghan converts and anti-seminitism. |
FROM
THE PULPIT
May 2006,
Issue 366
Buy a copy of this
issue online
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Perhaps
the biggest challenge facing Muslims in contemporary times
is to enunciate the role and status of the Prophet
Muhammad, upon whom be blessings and peace, in the
religious consciousness of Muslims. As the Danish
caricature fiasco has shown, failure to understand,
appreciate and respect the high regard all Muslims have
for their Prophet has led to a lot of misunderstanding,
pain and conflict.
To a certain extent the problem is historical: no other
historical figure has had such bad press in the West as
the Prophet of Islam. From the Middle Ages up to very
recent times, depiction of him in European controversial
literature has been obnoxious, depraved and irresponsible.
This, coupled with the culture of cynicism, has
desperately clouded the minds of most Westerners from
understanding the great importance of Muhammad in Muslim
religious life.
Failure to comprehend the reasons and depth of Muslim
veneration for the Prophet is a serious flaw in
appreciating the essence of Islam. It is the love of the
Prophet that makes the faith extraordinary: it is the
spontaneous human emotion, repressed at some point by the
austerity of the doctrine of God as developed in theology,
that has its full outlet - a warm human emotion which the
peasant can share with the mystic, the learned with the
student.
Modern men, especially those who come from a secularised
Christian background, find it difficult to understand both
the veneration of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his
role as the prototype of Muslim religious and spiritual
life. The reason for this difficulty is that the spiritual
nature of the Prophet is hidden in his human one and his
purely spiritual function is hidden in his duties as the
guide of men and the leader of a community. It was the
function of the Prophet to be, not only a spiritual guide,
but also the organiser of a new social order with all that
such a function implies. And it is precisely this aspect
of his being that veils his purely spiritual dimension
from foreign eyes.
Outsiders have understood his political genius, his power
of oratory, his great statesmanship, but few have
understood how he could be the religious and spiritual
guide and how his life could be emulated by those who
aspire to sanctity. This is particularly true in the
modern world in which religion is separated from other
domains of life and most modern men can hardly imagine how
a spiritual being could also be immersed in the most
intense political and social activity.
Today, however, the biggest responsibility for Muslims is
to redress the situation. But we can only convince our
neighbours of the status and honour of the Prophet, peace
be upon him, if we honour him ourselves first. Qadi ‘Iyad
ibn Musa al-Yahsubi points out that someone who loves a
person prefers them and prefers what they like. Otherwise,
he is a pretender, insincere in his love. Someone who has
true love of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him
peace, will manifest the following signs - “that he will
emulate him, apply his sunnah, follow his words and deeds,
obey his commands and avoid his prohibitions and take on
his adab in ease and hardship, joy and despair.”
No other aspect of Islam is more powerful, more potent and
more attractive than our love for the Messenger of God for
it reflects our status, represents our reality and ensures
our Hereafter. And there is no better way of preparing and
nurturing this love - and expressing it - than through the
mawlid, the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday.
Muslims, particularly those living in the West, must
harness their intellectual and creative resources and find
new imaginative ways in which to articulate and share our
love for the “Mercy upon mankind” with our neighbours. It
should be clear among our young people that love of the
Prophet is incumbent upon all and especially those who
aspire towards a life of success. This love must not be
understood in an individualistic sense. Rather, we love
the Prophet because he symbolises that harmony and beauty
that pervades all things, and displays in their fullness
those virtues, the attainment of which allow man to
realise his theomorphic nature.
“Lo! Allah and His angels shower blessings on the Prophet,
O ye who believe! Ask blessings on him and salute him with
a worthy salutation” [33:56]
Fuad Nahdi
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The Day the Music Died
Are contemporary Muslims performers recreating the same MTV-style hype that
their brand of religiously-inspired music was supposed to spurn? With nasheed
music become increasingly slick and corporate, Suma Din reports on a
growing concern that this promising industry has lost its bearings.
Carnival of Caricatures
Muslims are told being laughed at is the price you have to pay to be included in
modern society. It’s time to think again. Nazim Baksh explores the deadly
politics of humour.
“We do it because
we love God”
The Right Revd David Gillett, Chair of the nascent Christian Muslim Forum
says he and his partners are undeterred by their critics. This is a partnership
of equals whose members are under no illusions - they have a long road to travel
before they earn the legitimacy they desire.
The Loss of a Common
Treasure
A remarkable group of people came to honour the legacy of the late Dr Zaki
Badawi. In his moving eulogy, HRH The Prince of Wales spoke of Dr
Badawi’s desire to reconcile hearts to the way of God and to see faith not just
as a common treasure but a means to give beauty and truth back to the world.
Muslim China’s Modern Face
Sean Gallagher
is a photographer who chronicles the intersection of the sacred and the
profane, the ancient and the modern. His remarkable pictures document the
coming-out of contemporary Islam in China. They show a confident people who
aren’t afraid to wear the faith on their sleeve.
Write Mind: What
International Community?
Everyone’s talking
about it. It counts amongst its closest confidantes many world leaders,
including George W Bush and Tony Blair. It’s obviously authoritative, pithy and
clairvoyant - it never appears but is always eager for others to mention it.
Farish Noor puts on his detective cap and searches for the mysterious
‘International Community’.
Diary
Amina Nawaz on
procrastination, ageing parents and how hours melt into days.
Upfront
The Sultan's Elephant
The streets of London are to host the biggest piece of free theatre ever staged
in the capital this month. The Sultan’s Elephant is a fairy-tale for adults and
children alike, and features a vast, moving, wooden elephant the height of a
three-storey house.
Classic Q
It’s the natural way!
Tawfiq Khan insists boys and girls, males and females are different, and no
amount of verbal tinkering or social engineering can alter that.
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