An Originating Force

Plato taught that there are generalities and ideals that outlast specifics, and so hinted at things eternal. 

Aristotle defied his teacher and in his search for the reality of all things delved into embryology. For if you could understand a thing in its infancy then you could understand it all together. But there he found a life force so clear and evident: that there is some power that causes us to grow out, and thrive, and become whole that cannot be explained away by a replicating molecule. 

That we tend, as all things do, to an ultimate end. But that end is not a. shrivelling into our own selves, unless we let that happen, but a fulfilment fully looked forward to.  

The aim of all men and women should be happiness. 

For God does not deny us happiness, rather our Messenger (saw) taught us that He is the source of all of our love, camaraderie and friendship. 

And it is for this reason and much more that all praise and thanks are due to Him, who gives in abundance out of the most beautiful of things. 

The happiest of men and women are those that die happy. 

Death is a return to GOD, the one that created us all. 

And the happiest of us are those that return to HIM before they die. 

Of all of the sciences mentioned or hinted at in the Qur’an it is embryology and cosmology that figure the greatest. 

For in the study of both you find an originating force and power that cannot be denied.

And if you believe that there is a merciful GOD who created, and then placed us in families and communities, and showers us both with love and companionship then do you think HE would have left us without sure guidance?

Life from Death

When Allah tala said that He is the Creator and the One who causes things to evolve, the words used are Khaliqul and Bari-ul. (S. Hashr). 

Bari-ul is the One who causes things to evolve, and become whole, a possible implication of the two attributes of GOD being juxtapositioned, together in that one verse, is that they are or have opposite flavours. 

And if Bari-ol has the flavour of a thing becoming whole, the Khaliq-ul has the flavour of a thing becoming separate. 

That in the act of creation Allah t'ala causes separation. 

We know that when Allah t'ala created us, He caused us to come out from Nabi Adam as Dhurrah (atoms). This was our separation. (S. Araf- the Heights)

Furthermore we know that on death the two are joined, this is usually interpreted as the two legs being placed together in our shroud before burial. 

And on resurrection we will be joined and made whole, our souls reunited with our recreated and reformed bodies even unto the tips of our fingers. We will also be re-united with our book of deeds, which we will never be able to fling away. 

If this is the case then what implications does the act of creation have for Allah tala saying "And WE created death and life that WE might see which of you is best in deed". 

Did life spring as a byproduct from the creation of death?

So that Allah t'ala here precedes the creation of life with the creation of death. 

For when Allah t'ala asked the mountains and the skies to take the trust, they all refused save man. Thus all things may have something of a free will, a will to choose, in their atomic state, but when man accepted the trust Allah t'ala created death as a trial for him in his physical state and consequently freed him with life. 

How then are death and life to be made whole and complete?

A hadith provides us with the answer, for our Prophet (saw) told us that on the Day of Judgment Allah will cause death to be brought as a lamb, and this will then be sacrificed. 

How fitting that death, the thing that kills, will itself be killed. And this same act is the freeing and making whole of life, that life be without the shadow of it's twin death.

Thus Allah t’ala completes and makes whole HIS creation. And for some of us that will be a eternal shame, but for others who believe and do good, that will be eternal bliss. A true homecoming. 

The Resilience of a Muslim

When things take a turn for the worse and you hurt within and without, then you know how resilient the religion makes you. 

And here I don’t mean the resilience of obstinacy, nor that of the hardened heart of a stoic that sees evil as necessary. 

Rather it makes you more thankful for you are forced to focus on the little you have. 

And then it is our belief, which is unusual amongst the three Abrahamic faiths, in Qadr’Allah - that it was written for you- that enables you to first accept it as a given, and then to search for the good in it. 

And this search enables you to move beyond it. 

As our Messenger (saw) told us, for the Muslims there is only good no matter what happens. Because we both search and find that good, and God most gracious rewards us for it. 

And then when that pain recedes. 

It only makes us more happy and grateful. 

And we do not revenge. 

But if the pain is too great. 

And it affects not us but our loved ones. 

Then God keeps us safe from the negativity of revenge, for we ask of Him to revenge on our behalf so that our hearts may be free from it. 

And sincere supplication is our succour ever and always. 

Shafees. 

The Resilience of Islam

In every age Islamic civilisation has exerted itself and will never have to re-invent itself. 

Unlike Christianity, it’s kin, which seeks to be all things to all men, and give the good news to each of them even, that is, when they transgress God’s law, Islamic Civilisation finds its relevance each time. 

Or perhaps it is better to say that we find that it is relevant and holds the answers to the questions we ask of it.  And then it exerts itself. 

And this in every age. 

Without compromise to its original precepts that set out, in detail, its vision of how society should be. 

These are nothing like the vacant ramblings of the ancient seers of the mystery religions, which can be interpreted every which way. 

But are a very clear rational argument for a better way to live.  

This one incredible characteristic of our religion, it’s resilience to stand the test of time, came to be part of it either through opportune accident, or by deliberate design. 

In all likelihood it is the story contained within the first chapter of the Quran, that gives its name to it, that really brings home the deliberate design that Islam was meant to be relevant in each age, exert itself in each age, and be resilient to the passage of time. 

Indeed S Baqara is the largest chapter of the Quran and is replete with both imagery and relevant stories, and it was named as such by the Messenger (saw) to draw particular attention to that story. 

For the heifer, or cow, that the Children of Israel were asked to sacrifice moulded the attitude of the companions to such a degree that Islam remains a clear, concise and most importantly an open book. Open because it is there for us all to rediscover it. 

Man is by nature curious, and that from the very first bite of the apple in the Garden. But that natural curiosity was subdued with the companions who lost nothing of their original wit, poetic inventiveness, nor even organisational skills. 

These last three characteristics can easily be felt when we read the Seerah; how they invented songs as they dug the trench, were ready to give their advice even when not bidden,  and made a committee with stringent rules so that they could compile the Quran into the Mushaf we have today. 

Their intelligence was not diminished, but they knew not to ask over many questions in regards to the Quran.

Even though they would have had many too ask. 

For to have done so would have closed the book, every answer being enumerated for all time. 

Like a codex, written down. 

Instead the Quran was sent as a guide book and not a fully comprehensive manual. 

Both generative of understanding and a blessing for all men who try to understand it. A living reality that can speak to us, guide us and mould us and our society in the best of forms. 

And it is the fact that every verse poses a question, that is the core to its being a book that forces us to understand it. And that most basic question is the occasion of each’s revelation- for the Quran came down over 23 years. 

And after Uthman (ra) had compiled the Quran in the order that the Messenger informed us of, Ali (ra) had his own chronological Quran burned, and forever lost.  Never once alluding to what he knew. 

That we might have questions. 

Might puzzle over answers. 

And that Islam might remain alive, a source of study and inspiration, even to this day. 

Written Oct 2019. 

Shafees. 

Justification and Choice

It’s 

 more than interesting to consider that the choices that we make very much determine who we are to become. 

Contrary to this most would hold that who we are, at outset, determine the choices that we will make. But that is not a given, especially when we consider the many cases that we can deliberate upon within our body of knowledge. 

For Judas in all likelihood was the one who was crucified on the cross instead of Jesus ( Nabi Isa (as)). And there it was that he uttered the words that the Christians wrongly ascribe to Jesus (as): “O God, why have you forsaken me?”  

Clearly he was a devout Jew, believed in God, and in all likelihood he thought he was doing the “right” thing in betraying Jesus (as). But God in the Quran calls those who denied Jesus- disbelievers, even whilst they professed belief in God. 

In our creation story, Iblis (Lucifer in Christianity) first chooses to be of those who disobey, and then afterwards brings his arguments- “You created me of smokeless fire, and of him only sounding clay”. 

So we see this capacity of “choice”’ and then “justification” actually transcends both human society, and furthermore what it means to be human. 

It is the choices that we make that really determine our fates, and what we come to be. 

In the Seerah there were those of Quraysh who had become Muslim, and then returned back to Mecca in rebellion against both God and His Messenger. 

And there they died as disbelievers. 

There fate was sealed by the choices that they chose to make. 

Literally by who and where they chose to be- Mecca and not Medina. 

It is as if God choses to bring things to head so that that choice can be made, so that we can have no argument when the dust is settled. 

With Iblis it is the creation of Adam (as), and the announcement of his vicegerency over the Earth. 

In the case of Judas, it is the miracle of a table spread with heavenly repast that was sent down from heaven for them all, the disciples, to partake. A miracle not mentioned in the Christian texts, but for the Muslims a whole chapter is named after it: “S. Maedah”. And then God says after that miracle- so that any who would disbelieve after this - no argument can be brought for their case. 

In the case of the Khawarij that ceded from Ali (ra) there can be no doubt of their devotion, for they stood nightly in prayer their beards wet with tears. But they chose unwisely and their fate was sealed. 

After the fact of their choice, they vainly tried to justify themselves on three points that were roundly disproven by the Companions that knew. But it was their choice that defined who they came to be. 

If any of you have stood in a judge’s court, or at a tribunal, you will have seen a like working. That the judges decide first and then easily justify. For justification is always easy once the decision is made. 

And that is why it is always most important to chose wisely first. 

Because the justification of your choice you will have, no matter your choice. 

That is why God in the Quran advises judges, and magistrates and those who stand in judgment of people, to first stand up for truth and justice first. 

That they need to consciously choose that- that they will stand up for those things at the outset- and then regard the judgments that they pass. 

And not as so often the other way, decide and then justify. 

In each of our endeavours the dividing lines are drawn, and it is your choice that will determine who you will become. 

And then who you really are. 

Choose wisely. 

Shafees

The Justice System on Trial

Have you never considered how much less crime there would be if there was no such thing as our Police Force?

And here I’m not talking about our semantics, but actually about how much criminal  behaviour has at root been caused by an unchecked Police Force that in many countries operate above the Law. 

The Stamford Experiment showed us just how much of our behaviour is determined by neither nature, nor nurture, but by the social organisations that we impose on ourselves, or in this case that we allow to be imposed on us. That expectation is very much a driving force in a lot of things. 

But even aside from expectation, our Police Force is responsible for much of psychoses that eventually destroy both family and community, which in the end feeds into nothing except more crime. 

Alhamdolillah we as a Nation have a perfect example of how a criminal justice system should behave in the life of the greatest of men, Muhammed (saw), the Messenger of God. 

And so of course I’m not here advocating the abolishment of the Police Force, nor even it’s defunding. I’m here advocating for it to be held responsible for its actions and for it to be held in check. 

Alhamdolillah I have seen first hand the abuse of power that the Police wield. 

That the Police here are the instrument of the Secretary of State for Home Affairs. 

How the Police are neither for justice, nor for the protection of all people, but for the protection of a few people. 

How rather than investigate, they take the easy way out and play people. 

And when they have cracked a person, then they have justified themselves in their own eyes. 

The recent use of Napier Barracks, which were abandoned for military personnel use over a decade ago, to house asylum seekers shows just how depraved the Police are. As an instrument of the Home Office they are responsible first hand for the corralling of those asylum seekers into a place not fit for human habitation. 

But the rub of it here is that when those people dissent, and are forced through circumstance to set fire to the barracks as a means of drawing attention to their plight, they get sent down. 

The Police have done their job, and done it well. 

They know that justice’s wheels are slow, and they make them move even slower- using every instrument in the arsenal to break a man. No matter that man is husband of a wife, is father to his children, is active within his community. 

When they break that man, they break a family, they break our society and in the end it’s generative for them- for they cause more crime for them to police. 

But they don’t stop there at playing the man by playing on his psychology, by making him paranoid. 

They even descend further than that. 

They lie to magistrates, and judges. 

And then they have the gall to say that it was done in error, and apologise. 

For them the ends justifies the means. 

Never mind that the means has ramifications far beyond those ends. 

They do not uphold truth, nor honour, nor human dignity. They are not bastions of truth, but use skulduggery, lies and obfuscation well. 

And society allows that evil because it wrongly believes that they are doing a necessary job. 

But what they create in the wake of their evil, society is oblivious too. 

Unless we look to a better example of how man is to police man. 

A person came to the Messenger (saw) and confessed adultery ( zinna) and the Messenger turned away. Twice more he turned. 

Confession has no basis in Islamic legal proceedings. And from this we can deduce that an interview constructed to gain one should have no legal standing. That no one accused should be played, lied to, threatened or in any way made to suffer psychological harm. 

That by all means an interview should take place, but it’s place should not be to form an argument or the basis of a conviction. How many have been sent down simply based on that? But that evidence is key. The bar for testimonial evidence is set rightly high in Islamic legal theory. But here it is perilously low.  

Within the religion no theory of knowledge is without its boundaries. And if that is so with regards to the highest of man’s endeavour, then no area can be without its checks and balances. 

How can we expect the Police to police themselves? For its clear that they do not. 

Judges and Magistrates should have the right to dismiss Police, from their jobs, if they find that they are lying, abusing their powers, and not upholding what it is everyones right to expect- basic human dignity. 

The religion makes clear that privacy of an individual is inviolable, but it is what they do in the public sphere that can only be policed. 

These are the lessons that the religion of Islam holds out for the whole brotherhood of humanity. I hope that both we and us all heed those. 

The next time you watch “Suits”, or another crime drama, it’s fun when the criminal is on par with the detective and there is a battle of wills and wits. 

But spare a thought for the innocent man, who has fallen prey to the snares of a profession bent on conviction. How they could easily, and do effortlessly break him, causing untold paranoia and psychoses. 

Spare a thought for the families broken by the Police, who destroy them as a gardener would mow the lawn. 

Spare a thought for the children seeded into crime because of no father figure being present, or because of police harassment quickly leads for them fulfilling that unheard expectation. 

Things must change. 

The Police must be made to uphold both virtue and human dignity. 

The Police must be held to account, by those who first hand can see their nefarious behaviour - judges, lawyers and magistrates. 

Shafees. 

London Feb 2021

Karamaat - Miracles

The Messenger (saw) wanted for each of us to draw closer to God. 

That we should each endeavour to become more reliant on God, more mindful of the blessings He sends our way and more in awe of His majesty and power. We know that the ways to that ascent are first through the fardh, and then the sunnah, and finally the nafl. And also more importantly through our supplications. 

(The below stories that I reference can be found both in the Seerah and Hadith literature- this work is incomplete as I would like to provide references or at least name the companions involved. However I also beeline and hope that what follows will be of benefit even in this incomplete state). 

This is recalled to me in the story of the companion of the Messenger who used to leave early following the fardh of Fajr. 

The Messenger (saw) enquired after him, because he wanted him to feel that connection in the supplication after the prayer. 

The man’s Neighbour had a date palm whose fruit did often fall into his yard. He worried that his children might eat his neighbour’s fruit, and used to hurry home to prevent this. Look for and read the story, it’s a marvelous one. 

But what I want for you to take from it now, is not the scrupulous honesty of Muslims, nor of how his neighbour became a Muslim being impressed with that selfless honesty, but how the Messenger (saw) cared for his people. That they should feel the connection to God not just through the ordained prayers, but also through heartfelt supplication to the Most Gracious. 

And then the case of the woman who asked, and revelation descended concerning her ask. 

The Messenger (saw) was an extremely intelligent man. A revelation descended concerning men, and a woman came and asked something that would be plainly obvious, “and what about the women?” When you read the story you feel as if the Messenger wished for the revelation to descend concerning her question, maybe he was even holding back a smile when she asked. And it immediately did. 

We know that the Messenger (saw) was al-amin, that for 40 years prior to revelation he was trusted amongst his people and known as being completely truthful. Then why start to lie then, and with an enormity of a lie. And so we know that the revelation here came immediately not from him, but from the Most Gracious who responded to his unasked request. 

That the Messenger (saw) wanted his people to feel that connection. 

Read the story of the woman that asked, and was answered in revelation. And feel the Messenger (saw) wanting an answer from God, even though it would have been easy for him to reply that what is for the men is the same as will be for the women. How he loved his people. 

In another Khutbah I had hinted at the companion who was absent at the expedition to Tabuk. 

As I explained there the Messenger (saw) gave an edict that the companion was to be boycotted by the community. We know that this was not done as a punishment since he himself said “if he had asked me, then I would have prayed for God to forgive him”. And for sure the prayer of the Messenger was always answered. 

So since we know it was not done by way of punishment, we can see that it was done as a means of making the issue a clear one, requiring a clear exoneration from God, by way of revelation. 

That the Messenger (saw) wanted for his people to feel that connection with the Most Gracious. 

This we can see both within his life, and then also in the lives of companions who were spatially distant from him. 

Read the story of the captive Muslim within Mecca, who was chained in retaliation for a Quraishi death. Whom God provided grapes to, whilst there were no grapes in Mecca at that time. When the Messenger (saw) heard of his case after he had gone to meet his maker, how the Messenger (saw) must have smiled. Because that is exactly the connection that he wanted each of us to have. 

And if that was the case of a companion who was spatially distant from the Messenger (saw), then what of us who are temporally distant from him?

After all did he not call us his brethren. 

Us who call him true without having met him. 

It is this closeness to God which should be our aim and goal. 

At times this closeness can result in karamaat- which in English are rendered as miracles, but for the Muslims they are evidence of God’s great care and love. 

That first great care is evidenced when God prevents you for doing harm or wrong to anyone. 

This He can do by physically preventing you, and in a lesser way of reminding you of it’s wrong. 

This is quite unlike some among the Judaic Nation that believe that if facilitates you in allowing you to wrong then this is evidence of His care. 

How ignorant they are of God’s infinite goodness. 

And if He let’s you do that, then that is evidence of the fact that He knows who you are, and would rather your destruction rather than you elevation through the doing of good. 

Later this great care and love can become more clear and evidenced not just in the prevention of your harming others, but in your actual protection. 

And for those that attain to that position may God give them the courage to put that love and care to the test by putting themselves in such positions where they risk loosing everything. 

Not for it to be a test as such for God, but because it is at such times that God’s intervention can be felt, and then you can feel that care and love first hand. It is at these points in your life when you can see and feel that connection. 

Ibrahim (as) when he was thrown into the fire was not yet a Prophet, but with the appearance of the Angel of the fire he became one. It is as it he put himself in that very position to feel God’s intervention, because of his words to the Angel of the fire. Where did that knowledge come from, if it was not ilham- (an inspiration from God)?

What we miss today in our Nation is these people who feel a connection with the Most Gracious, and are willing to chance everything in the hope of that connection proving true. Not for themselves, but so that they can better the situation of the whole of the Muslim Nation, and by that steering force- the whole of Mankind. 

And this is not an elitist ideal, but is accessible to anyone who has a care for the fardh, and then the sunnah, and the nafl prayers. And put themselves out in supplication, and when they wrong hesitate not in the istighfar. And when they miss the ordained Fajr make it up, never losing hope. 

Hudabiyyah: the proof of the Messenger

It’s instructive to consider how somebody could actively sin in the future, beyond even their own passing. 

We know about the passive sin, whereby someone following in your footsteps commits sins because of your prior example (Cain vs Abel). But to actively sin in the future, past even your own burial, that must be impossible, right?

In S Fath, GOD says that He gave the Messenger(saw) a clear and evident victory, and then goes on to say that HE has forgiven him for all of his sins, both past and future. 

   

We know that the Messenger (saw) was masoom, innocent of all sin, because of what occurred after the battle of Badr. There God changed the decree so that Muhammed (saw) would not be classed as a sinner, when he dealt mercifully with the Qurayshi captives of war- those that had fought to destroy the Muslims. At Badr 300 poorly equipped companions stood against 1000 well equipped Quraysh, and Quraysh were routed. 

Muhammed’s (saw) protection from sin can be seen when you study the Seerah and deliberate upon each aspect of it. And then it becomes obvious that Abasa is a necessity dictated as a proof that Muhammed (saw) was not the author of the Quran. 

However, the question that I would like for you to deliberate upon is this statement time limited;  “so God might show His forgiveness for all of your sins, past as well as future” (S Fath, v2); or in this case does it include the Messenger’s (saw) future sins past even our time here?

We know that sins are of two types, commission and omission. Commission is when you commit an act of sin, and omission is where you omit to perform something that you should have. So for example when you fail to feed a hungry neighbour, knowing full well that they will sleep hungry. 

The order of the sin referred to in the above verse relates to neither type of sin. For our Messenger (saw) was masoom, innocent of all sin. 

So, It must relates to something other than commission and omission. 

Surah al- Fath (the Chapter of the Victory) occurs just after Surah Muhammed (saw) and it relates to an incident that could rightly claim to be the clear proof of the truth of the Messenger (saw). 

It’s occasion of revelation is known because of it’s subject matter. 

It was sent down when the Messenger (saw) was on his way back from Mecca, having been denied entry to fulfill the rites of Hajj with his companions. 

Whilst they were not allowed to perform the Hajj, and fulfill the rites that Abraham (as) had bestowed upon us, they brought with them something much better. 

This is what GOD calls for them a clear and manifest victory (S Fath, v1). 

And that victory was ostensibly the Peace Treaty that the Messenger (saw) had concluded with Quraysh, the guardians of Mecca, and his tribe and people who had denied him, and tried to kill him on three previous occasions. 

The Companions grumbled that it was a one sided treaty, and that the believers had lost much and gained but little. 

But GOD here in revelation terms it a clear, and manifest victory. Does He do so to raise their demeanour?

Time proved that the treaty of Peace (treaty of Hudabiyyah) worked to the advantage of the Muslims. For differing tribes allied with either side, some with the Muslims in Medina and some with Quraysh in Mecca. And the net result of this was two-fold:

1- Medina was seen to be on par, if not equal to Mecca. Whilst on the prior two battles fought between each side, Medina had defended itself against Qurayshi aggression. 

2- Peace worked in favour of the Muslim faith, since it called people back to the simplicity and nobility of Abraham’s original faith- to believe in One God, the Creator, the Most Gracious- and away from idols and mystery religions that were fully man made. 

But this was not the real Victory talked about in this Chapter. The Victory here is a constant victory, that anyone who revisits the occasion of the Treaty of Hudabiyyah can feel for themselves. 

If you have not read the narrative then do so now, pick up a book of Seerah before reading further. 

It is a victory that resonates both here, now, and in the future. And it is for that reason that God says that because of it that God forgave the Messenger’s sins both past and future. 

For proofs are of many types, but the greatest order of proofs are by way of contradiction. And it is instructive that the Quran makes use of this device (S Baqara v23), and that it is also evident in event of Hudabiyyah. 

For the greatest truths will always be found at the most contradictory of events.

Sometimes these are within the events themselves, at others with what is considered true (as in the case of the last three days of Jesus (as)), and lastly when the event contradicts with human nature as we know it.

For the Messenger (saw) was vested with an incredible mission, to be a Messenger to the World, and its future people - us, and even those that come after us. No other prophet had been vested with anything remotely similar. 

And so Hudabbiyah. 

So contradictory an event that no one could ever imagine it not having taken place as narrated in our history books (Seerah). 

A chief of Quraysh compared Muhammed (saw) to Chosroes and to the Roman Caesars and found that the Messenger was more beloved of his people than those two Emperors amongst their people. 

And yet a Hudabiyyah they disobeyed him. 

And there read who it was that amended the treaty when Quraysh objected to the title of the Messenger (saw) being included within its body of text, and the manner of that amendment. 

That Muhammed (saw) was unlettered, could not read nor write, but was no illiterate. That therefore once again it is clear that he is not the author of the Quran. 

That he bore with patience and was ever a man of the deepest faith. 

How he acquiesced to all of their demands. 

And remained faithful. 

And how God granted him victory, in spite of all of their schemes. 

And so it is that with the event at Hudabiyyah, the truth of the Messenger (saw) would be evident to any with a discerning mind for all generations and for those yet to come. 

A favour from God to Muhammed (saw) that would enable him to complete his mission to Mankind, and its future generations, and that which God entrusted him with. 

And that is once again the sin that God protected him from by way of Hudabiyyah, that he would not fulfil his given mission and that which God entrusted him with.  

May God reward the Messenger (saw) with abundance. Aameen.