Suffering Secularism, part 1

Political Impotence?
Most Muslims today address the dilemma of our political impotence from the standpoint of there being too little religion. However I believe the opposite to be true, that our problem lies in there being too much of a certain type of religion.

However I am no advocate of secularism. For I firmly wish to be reckoned on the tongues of truth to be amongst those Hufadh of the Hudood, whilst balancing that by following the Prophetic tradition of the ascendency of mercy, as mentioned both in the Qur'an and in the famous Hadith Qudsi.

Universalism v/s Specialism.
Rather it is the same perenial problem of universalism v/s specialism, that is even addressed by the then Quranic themes, that is the kernel of such political impotence.

Off course the opposite of universalism is usually specificism, but in religious terms such a specificism is compounded by a firm belief in your being special.

The classical example being the Judaic Nation.

And it is obviously this prescient worry that led the father of all prophets, Abraham (as), to supplicate to Allah t'ala (GOD, most high):
"O God, make me not a trial for the people."

A supplication that GOD heard and thus blessed him and honoured him both with Messengership and a Scripture whilst giving him no Nation (Umma). For in a Prophetic Hadith we learn that he will be raised with himself being his own Nation.

It is interesting then to juxtaposition that, very real worry, with the other pole of Quranic injunctions that define a distinctive Ummah; the Hijra, Qibla and then Jihad; characteristics that point to a highly charged political dimension.

The tension between two poles.
A tension that we all know in our brains in that we recognise that the Qur'an is an address to all men, whilst simultaneously being the cornerstone of our Society and the Prophet's Nation.

But whilst we might know it in our brains, we often fail to feel it in our bones and in the livers of our sides. For it will not become personal to us, until we remember what God ordained to be when HE blessed Muhammad (saw) with a great gift in the penultimate year of his life. The significance of that gift is always overlooked.

For whilst we are special, we must recognise that that speciality comes not from our own doing but from being blessed by bearing witness to the truth of GOD's last Messenger and all that he brought: the purity of belief that is the supplication, gratitude and obedience due to the ONE transcendental Creator.

It is a speciality that emanates from the Shahadah and permeates all that we do. Down to the greatest of our political endeavours to emulate the Quranic injunction to be a middling Nation, bearing witness to all other Nations. Neither a subjugating nor a subjugated Nation, but one which is the standard bearer for truth and justice, honesty and harmony; an epitome of the Shahadah; calling to all that is good.

The Last Messenger (saw).
And it is our link to the last Messenger and our love of him; his life and all that he did; and the manner in which GOD bestowed upon him that last personal gift, before granting him that which made him well pleased, that is telling.
A story and a reality of feeling that we should feel in our bones, and in the liver of our sides, every day of our lives.

That whilst Muhammad (saw) was the Messenger of GOD, he was also very much a man full of feeling.

And whilst he was blessed with many children prior to Messengership through Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (ra), the first of the believers, after her none but one fathered him any.

For Muhammad (saw) as a man showed us that manhood should encompass the loving care that a father shows to his children, even going so far as to declare that a man that does not show compassion to his children then GOD will not show compassion to him. And this in a tribal patriarchal society of warrior-men.

And then GOD blessed him with his last son, Ibrahim (as).
If GOD had so wished could HE not have blessed it upon him through one of the Mothers of the Believers?

But GOD choose Mariah, the Coptic Handmaiden, to be the vessel that bestowed upon him that beautiful gift.
Who when offered freedom through the testification, freely refused and then gained it through the birth of Ibrahim(a.s).

Perchance it was given to happen like that so that we might pause and reflect on our common heritage. That what makes us special is not who we are but what we do.

And whilst we have a special bond with Abraham, who had no Nation, we would have to admit that our cousin brothers, the Jews and the Christians, likewise claim a different special link with the father of the prophets, Abraham (as). Abraham (as) as declared by the Qur'an was neither a Christian, nor a Jew, but he was a Muslim before us.

And then it might be good to remember that they too, the Nations that preceded us, were muslim before us. That we have a common heritage and must live in a time where that commonality needs to be recognised.

Politics as Diplomacy.
Politics is diplomacy. No diplomacy can exist where there is a dearth of appreciation.

For as Muslims we cannot threaten, nor bribe, nor run rough-shod over any other people. But then what is left if the stick and the carrot are removed, but our words that might help men become better men, and women better women.

To bear witness to the truth of Muhammad (saw), and all that he brought, in his manner and with his tongue; appealing to the good in all men, and all women.


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God, our Father who art in Heaven

The Middling Nation.
In the Qur'an, our Messenger's Nation is termed the middling one. The Qur'an is an address to all men, women and Nations of this World, but primarily to the Nations that preceeded ours; our cousins the Jewish and Christian Nations. And so it is within this context that middling is to be understood.


The Judaic Nation is insular. For truly no man can be a Jew except that his parentage is of such.


The Christian Nation is evangelical, and is ever seen to bend and turn with the times so that it can evangelize all the more better. The Council of Nicea that promoted the trinitarian doctrine is just one prime example of such.


And so, we as a Nation do not evangelize nor are we insular. Instead we believe in the ascendency of Truth and Justice above all else, even when it is to our own personal self-detriment. A Truth and a Justice that is codified within the immutable text of the Qur'an, which we believe is GOD's words revealed through the noblest of Messengers.


However, we are not a Nation built around a single tribe, nor many tribes, rather for all Muslims, whether they be Chinese or African or European, the Messenger of GOD is their Messenger and as it were talks down through the ages intimately with each and every one of them.


And so it is with this understanding of our middling tradition that I approach each and every topic that I discuss.


It is not to convert, nor to explain a deficiency, but just simply to tell it as it is. Nor is it said in the interests of keeping some things hidden, the provender of a select few.


An Exemplary Nation.
Furthermore, whilst the Jews say that they are the Chosen Nation and the Christians say that none will enter Heaven save those who accept Jesus as saviour and redeemer of sins. I say neither.


That the middling Nation presumes in it's very conception not a domination, but an exemplary leader amongst the community of Nations. Nor do I say that none can attain Heaven save those who follow the Religion.


However, neither beliefs impinge on my following the words of GOD, that no religion will be accepted by HIM other than the religion of Islam (submission to HIS will and reliance on HIM).


GOD, Our Father Who Art in Heaven.
And so after length we come to it.
A Christian friend had the impression that our Lord GOD was different to his own.


The Christians call the Creator of All, because that is the essential first act of GOD, their "Father who art in Heaven".


It is meant in an allegorical sense to convey the sense of provider, the one who looks after us. But because of it's comparability with our own lives, it suffers the severe confusion of an anthropomorphic GOD; of God being in man's image, of God having a family with sons and daughters.


To accept that man is made in God's image does not imply the reflective notion that God be a man, with the concurrent needs of family and society.


In Islam the non-reflective nature of the relationship between GOD and the whole of creation, including man, is made abundantly clear through the use of negation.


That GOD is the ultimate Creator, who has neither father nor son.
The Creator, who Himself is not created nor born of any.
That GOD is the provider and sustainer who is Himself in need of no sustenance nor provision.
That GOD sees all, whilst none can see Him.
That GOD comprehends all, whilst none can comprehend Him.


And none is like unto HIM.


An Affirmation.
The Qur'an declares of itself that it is an affirmation of all the revelations that came before it (the revealed books being the Torah, Psalms and the Gospel).


That the GOD of the Torah, Psalms and Gospel, is the very same GOD that revealed the Qur'an.


For the sense of the Father GOD who provides, nurtures and cares, the Qur'an terms Rab= Lord, Provider of Sustenance. And it is a term without the ambiguity of Father, whilst retaining it's essence of thankfulness.


In the Lord's Prayer, GOD is called Father whilst then thanking Him for "our daily bread".


The opening of the Qur'an is Al-Fathihah which itself opens with: "All gratitude and thanks belongs to the Lord, Sustainer of all the Worlds".


Whilst Muslims often see the ambiguity of the terminology associated with the Bible as being caused by a loss in translation, the reality may be in it being a reaction against the first Nation. For the Judaic Nation often perceived the very same GOD as being the aloof Law-Maker and Law-Giver. And saw the religion as being one solely about the Law and not necessarily it's ethical spirit.


A Shifting Emphasis.
Jesus, a Prophet we name Nabi Isa (may GOD be pleased with him), often tried to instruct the Sanhedrin (Jewish Priests concerned with the Law) in their disregard of a balanced application of the Law, so that it's spirit of mercy might flow through. Muhammad (saw) did likewise in his application of our Shariah.


And it is this shifting of emphasis that is captured in the transformation of the terminology used for the same One GOD. Away from ELOHIM, and HIS name which the Judaic Priests feared to write, an impersonal aloof GOD to GOD the father, provider and carer of all.


However, the choice of "of our Father who art in Heaven" resonates a little further than that within our own human social experience. For is not the father the one who provides but also administers and upholds the law. Is he not the first to uphold the principle that the blind application of Law is both a necessary mercy and a blessing to all.


And so GOD the Father who art in Heaven, is the one and same Law-Giver GOD of Moses and the same Sovereign over all Creation, both Heaven and Earth, of the Muhammad (may he forever be blessed, the last Messenger sent from GOD with the completion of all that preceded it).


Shafi,
Telling it like it is, if GOD so wills!








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