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Friday Sermon: Excursions in Islam 6: Prophet Muhammad (PBOH)

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By Babatunde Jose

“Verily you have in the Prophet of God an excellent model, for him who fears God and the Last Day and who remembers God much” (Quran 33:22).

Religious belief is a continuous conversation between inspirational and transcendent reality and current events in the mundane sphere. We look into the sacred past for lessons that can elucidate our present. Most religions have a rallying point in personalities that exemplify their religious faiths; in Gautama Buddha, Buddhists see the supreme reality of Nirvana; Christians achieve being born again in Jesus with a glimpse of the divine presence of God. These paradigmatic personalities shed light on the often dark conditions in which most of us seek salvation in our flawed world.

The life of Prophet Muhammad (c.570–632 CE) was as crucial to the nascent Islamic ideal of his time as it is today. His career reveals the unfathomable activity of God in our world, and illustrates the perfect surrender (Islam), that every human being should make to the divine. According to the traditions, Muslims were to imitate the way Muhammad lived to the smallest details in their daily existence; Sunnah.

Largely as a result of the efforts of the early historians such as Muhammad ibn Ishaq (d. 767); Muhammad ibn ‘Umar al-Waqidi (d. c. 820); Muhammad ibn Sa‘d (d. 845); and Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 923)  we know more about Muhammad than about nearly any other founder of a major religious tradition.

After the Prophet’s death, Muslims ruled a vast empire, stretching from the gates of China to Andalucía (Spain). The first essays in Muslim history were written to address perplexities emanating from contemporary living. How could Muslims apply the Prophet’s insights and practice to their own times?

Writing about the Prophet Muhammad was never a wholly antiquarian pursuit. The process continues today. Some Muslim fundamentalists have based their militant ideology on the life of Muhammad; Muslim extremists believe that he would have condoned and admired their atrocities. But mainline Muslims are appalled by these claims, and point to the extraordinary pluralism of the Quran, which condemns aggression and sees all rightly guided religions as deriving from the one God. According to Esposito and Mogahed; ‘the Quran balances permission to fight the enemy with a strong mandate for making peace’- Esposito, John L.; Mogahed, Dalia (2007). Who speaks for Islam? What A Billion Muslims Really Think. (Gallup Press). See also Quran 8:61.

There is a long history of Islamophobia in Western culture that dates back to the time of the Crusades. Western people have always found it difficult to see Muhammad in a more objective light: Christian critics insisted that Muhammad was a charlatan who imposed his religion on a reluctant world by force of arms; they called him a lecher and a sexual pervert.  But can that be correct? Are these assertions supported by historical exegesis?

The Western world is indeed engaged on a new crusade against the Islamic world. Muhammad was not a man of violence. We must therefore approach his life in a balanced way, in order to appreciate his considerable achievements. We appeared to have learned nothing from the tragedy of the 1930s, when this type of bigotry made it possible for Hitler to kill six million Jews.

As a paradigmatic personality, Muhammad has important lessons, not only for Muslims, but also for Western people. His life was a Jihad or “struggle.” Muhammad brought peace to war-torn Arabia(Pax Arabica), and we need people who are prepared to do this today in our polarized world; not the buccaneers and rascals that rule the world today. Muhammad would never have asked his people to take Clorox nor ask them to ingest untested drugs. His life was a tireless campaign against greed, injustice, and arrogance, which are the bane of our society today, particularly in this clime. Political leaders today are tainted with the tar of corruption, hedonism and profligacy. A race of vipers and most untrustworthy people, who lie, cheat and fornicate in office and desecrate the Alter of God. They are mostly anti people in their actions and are never tired of serving mammon. Unlike the prophet who lived a life of frugality, deprivation and service to his people, these people live lives of self aggrandizement and stealing from the people; unrepentant sinners!

Paradoxically, Muhammad became a timeless personality because he was so rooted in his own period. We cannot understand his achievement unless we appreciate what he was up against. Muhammad midwife a new way of life called Islam and to the credit of his efforts and that of his successors, that creed has waxed strong and is today the second largest and fastest growing religion in the world. Today 24% of World population is Muslim (1.9 Billion). No wonder he was proclaimed the ‘greatest personality who ever lived’ not by his fellow Muslims but by Michael H. Hart’: The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History.

According to a renowned Hindu scholar Swami Lakshmi Shankaracharya ‘peace and humanity is the core teaching of Islam. But, unfortunately, most of the Muslims don’t follow Islamic teachings and they hardly learn from the life of Prophet Muhammad’.

Through his actions he taught his people enduring lessons on equality, companionship and respect: Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is the one who is the most righteous of you (Quran 49:13)

He was the leader not just in all spheres of life in this world but a man of religion, a general, a father, an elder brother, a husband, a friend and above  all a Prophet of God.

He could have used the passion that his followers had for him in whatever manner he pleased; to luxuriate in extravagance, sumptuousness, luxury and opulence like our modern day political Tsars. He could have deserved it too. Yet he slept on a crude straw mat that left his back marked, he prayed on the bare earth which left his forehead stained and he wore clothes that had torn many times over and that he himself had mended; many nights he went to bed hungry. He had many attributes that made him an extraordinary leader respected by friends and foes. He was compassionate: And was considered by his Companions to be the most loving, kind, and empathetic of all of them. “O Messenger of Allah! It is a great Mercy of God that you are gentle and kind towards them; for, had you been harsh and hard-hearted, they would all have broken away from you” (Quran 3:159).

He was patient and composed. He suffered throughout his life from all kinds of abuse, but he dealt with them patiently and mercifully. He was called by his enemies a liar, lunatic and even a magician. However, he was determinant, and he followed his path inviting people to worship just Allah and to loathe idols that helped in nothing.

He was merciful. When he conquered Mecca without bloodshed, and regardless of how people there inflicted him with every kind of suffering, eventually forcing him to migrate to Medina, and then waged war on him, he told them: “You may go free! No reproach this day shall be on you; may Allah forgive you.”

He denied all forms of racism, and considered all humans equals. He said: “There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab, nor for a non-Arab over an Arab. Neither is the white superior over the black, nor is the black superior over the white except by piety.”

Indeed, he was a mercy to the world as Allah said in his book: Indeed, in this [Quran] is notification for a worshiping people. And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds.” (Quran 21:106-107)

A good shepherd guides his flock, unites them, works for their welfare without taking advantage of them and cares for each individual. Not only did he care for the well-being of each and every member of his flock, he was uncompromising in his determination to protect the integrity of his mission. Today, we have leaders who lack compassion, vision and mission. All they care about is they.

In their book; Mohammed: Calling and Work of the Prophet in Arabia; the Grail Message, it is reported that; “Mohammed sees the essence of his mission in combining Judaism and Christianity to make a united, living faith. Judaism seems to him rigid and broken-off, since it rejects Jesus; Christianity, through many an interpretation by the church, no longer contains for him the pure Truth as Jesus had brought it. . . .” “Gladdening as it is to experience Mohammed’s recognition and fulfillment in the book, equally painful is the depicted manifold human failing that confronts him. Basically it is the same happening as with every Grace form the Light, only in different form: The place of the Living Truth is taken by the dead dogma. Where the spiritual power of the light would have led in helping love to upbuilding, to peace, to true happiness, the power of the Darkness dominates, directed only to the earthly, and brings men discord, destruction and hatred.”

Muhammad—as a prophet who transformed Arabia and much of the world with his teachings—could not have achieved success without being a good leader. At the end of the day: Unless and until our interpretation of scripture and the life of the Prophet resulted in a major life change, it was incomplete. Scripture is a mirror, in which we see both our ugliness and beauty: Its purpose is not to teach us about God’s work in the past but to spur our own quest for holiness in the present. There is therefore much to learn from the Quran and the life of our Prophet, May The Peace And Blessing Of God Be Upon Him.

Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend

Words on Marble: “I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capability to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. The world must doubtless attach high value to the predictions of great men like me. I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today. The medieval ecclesiastics, either through ignorance or bigotry, painted Islam in the darkest colors. They were in fact trained both to hate the man Muhammad and his religion. To them Muhammad was Anti-Christ. I have studied him — the wonderful man, and in my opinion far from being an Anti-Christ he must be called the Savior of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much-needed peace and happiness. But to proceed, it was in the 19th century that honest thinkers like Carlyle, Goethe and Gibbon perceived intrinsic worth in the religion of Muhammad, and thus there was some change for the better in the European attitude towards Islam. But the Europe of the present century is far advanced. It is beginning to be enamored of the creed of Muhammad.” Sir George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950)

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Friday Sermon: Signs of Isa’s (PBUH) Second Coming

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By Babatunde Jose

The Hour is coming-there is no doubt about it. But most of mankind have no faith. (Qur’an, 40:59); He (Jesus) is a Sign of the Hour…(Quran, 43:61)

A world of peace and security in which abundance will replace poverty and justice will prevail instead of cruelty, conflict, and tension – this is the longing of humanity. Due to all of the twentieth century’s misery and pain, not to mention the ongoing problems all over the world today, this longing has become even more intense. A great majority of people desperately hope for a helping hand and wait for a savior who will save them from this misery, a person who will eliminate the negativized elements of the current system; ensure justice, peace, and security; and guide people to the truth and all that is good.

Everyone is waiting for this redemption: the needy who wait for an extended hand; the well-off who are in pain because of spiritual distress; and those who long for justice, order, peace, and moral excellence. By God’s Will, this event may be very near. The developments that we see all around us today are the signs indicating the closeness of this salvation. The End Time is upon us.

The great event that will be a means of humanity’s salvation is the second coming of Prophet Isa (peace be upon him). Mentioned 78 times in the Quran, his return to Earth, a belief held by both Christians and Muslims, will end this world’s all-pervasive cruelty and injustice, and transform it into a place of peace, abundance, and justice.

According to the Quran, approximately 2,024 years ago God thwarted the unbelievers’ plots to murder Prophet Isa (pbuh) by raising him up to Himself. See Quran 4:157.

The Qur’an and the related hadiths tell us that he will come back to Earth again in the End Time.

We need to emphasize that the world is also getting sociologically prepared for such a great event. The chain of events through which humanity has passed during the last two centuries has, both covertly and overtly, raised the expectation of a savior in the minds of people all over the world. People have increasingly seen that materialistic ideologies and lifestyles cannot save humanity; rather, they lead humanity closer to disaster and emptiness. This situation has caused many people to turn to the morality of religion.

Meanwhile, some secular researchers, scholars, or historians who analyze these developments also think that the world is searching for a Messiah and that this pursuit will deliver substantial results. For instance, Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, the British researchers who received worldwide attention with their book Holy Blood, Holy Grail (Dell: 1983), wrote another book, The Messianic Legacy (Dell: 1989), in which they examined Prophet Jesus (pbuh) and this expectation. In their book, they make the following comment:

“Different as our modern world may be from the world of two thousand years ago, it is astonishing how much our own epoch has in common with what Jesus and his contemporaries regarded as the Last Times. We may, today, be technologically more adept and endowed with considerably more knowledge. But regrettably, we do not appear to be any wiser, any more intelligent… We are once again living through an acute crisis of meaning, an uncertainty about our direction and our goals.”

The various systems, programs, and ideologies which, less than a century ago, seemed to promise so much have all, to one degree or another, proved hollow. As in Jesus’s time, there is a pervasive awareness that something is disastrously wrong. Each new terrorist outrage, each new air crash, each new natural disaster produces a frisson of panic.

The profound and rapid changes in our civilisation, the dissatisfaction with our systems of government, the increased use of indiscriminate murder and terrorism as a means of political protest – all have fostered a sense of general collapse, a wholesale disintegration of values. Society feels itself ‘held to ransom’… And, disillusioned by materialism’s failure to answer the question we seek.

The authors add the following: “As in Jesus’s time, we live, quite palpably, in the shadow of an impending apocalyptic event… We are all helpless hostages to a reality we no longer fully control… And beneath the general anxiety, the maddening sense of impotence, the disillusionment with inept or irresponsible politicians, there is a profound longing for a genuine spiritual leader… who will understand, will take charge and – without of course violating established democratic freedoms – assume the role of guide, conferring meaning once again on lives which have grown increasingly empty.”

The return of Prophet Isa (pbuh) is also being prepared for in the sociological sense. And yet our age appears determined to embrace another form of Messianic myth in order to obtain a sense of meaning.

It is no coincidence that this sociological infrastructure has been established at a time when the signs of Prophet Isa’s (pbuh) second coming appear one after another. The hadith literature provides us with a detailed account of these signs. In addition, the signs of this event as revealed in the New Testament have parallels with those stated in the hadiths. The great majority of these signs have come true in our day, one after the other and within the same period. That so many signs have come true in such a manner indicate the closeness of the second coming.

Signs of the second coming from the Islamic resources include: The Splitting of the Moon; The Iran-Iraq War; A Great Battle between the Tigris and the Euphrates; The Occupation of Afghanistan; Stopping the flow of the Euphrates; Lunar and Solar Eclipses in Ramadan; The Rise of a Comet; Storming the Kabbah and the subsequent bloodshed; Sighting a Flare in the East; A Sign out of the Sun.

A Tribulation of Dust and Smoke; The Emergence of Widespread Slaughter; The Killing of the Rulers of Damascus and Egypt; The Killing of Abdullah, the former King of Jordan; The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks; An Embargo against Iraq and Damascus; The Restructuring of Iraq; Iraqis Flee to Damascus and the North; Fitna in Damascus; Chaos in Damascus, Iraq, and Arabia; The Division of Iraq into Three Parts; A War between Muslims and Jews; The Killing of Innocent Children; Pervasive Corruption; One Type of Fitna Will Spread Everywhere; Religious Prohibitions Gain Acceptance; Openly Denying God; Replacing God with Other “Deities”; The Global Pervasiveness of Chaos and Conflict; The Current Situation of the Islamic World; Muslims Are Subjected to Severe Troubles; Loss of Hope in the Mahdi;  Poverty and Hunger; Drought; A Weakening Economy in Specific Years; The Cutting of Trade and Roads; Decreased Earnings;

The Division of National Wealth among the Rich;  An Increase in the Number of Earthquakes; Earth’s Collapse; Conversion of Homes into Graves; Winds and Tornadoes; Violent Rain; An Increased Amount of Lightning;  Abandoning the True Religion and the Quran’s Moral Values; Not Pondering over the Quran in a Sincere Manner; Muslims’ Yearning for non-Muslims; Fitna Alienates People from the Quran; Propagandists Distancing People from Islam’s Morality; Hypocritical and Fraudulent Clergy; Degeneration among Politicians; Abandoning “Enjoining the Right and Forbidding the Wrong” as an Act of Worship; Good Is Confused with Evil;  Close People Will Encourage One Another to Evil;

The Number of True Believers Being Very Few; Use of Mosques for Different Purposes; Appearance of People Who Recite the Qur’an for Personal Benefit; Faith in Horoscopes and Refutation of Fate; Making Hajj for Purposes Other than God’s Good Pleasure; People Inclining to the Desires of their Lower Selves; Social Deterioration; Adherence to Traitors, and Considering the Righteous as Treacherous;

The Decreasing Number of Reliable People; The Decreasing Number of Trustworthy People; Abandoning Almsgiving; Abandoning Salah (Prayers); The Spread of False Testimony and Slander; Giving Positions of Responsibility to Incompetent People; Considering One’s Superiority To Be in Wealth Rather than in Awareness of God; The Decay of Human Relations; The Decay of Family Relations; Diminished Love and Respect among People; Weakening of the Family Structure; Increase in Worldly Ambition; Prevalence of Hypocrisy and Ostentation; Spread of Cursing and Abuse; Spread of Forgery and Bribery; Increase of Gossip and Derision; Some Young People Turn Away from Religion’s Morality; The Collapse of Moral Values; Spread of Adultery; Acceptance of Homosexuality; Epidemics; Reports of Sudden Death Will Multiply; An Increase in Murders; Increase in Suicides; Civil Wars and Conflicts; Time Grows Short; The Appearance of False Messiahs.

We also read in the Bible portents of expectations of the end time and the second coming.  There are three main events that make up the End Time: the Rapture, the Great Tribulation, and the Second Coming of Christ.

Scripture commands us: “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

Matthew 24:6 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Matthew 24:42-44

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 1 Timothy 4:1

God has promised those of you who believe and do right actions that He will make them successors in the land, as He made those before them successors; will firmly establish for them their religion, with which He is pleased; and give them, in place of their fear, security. “They worship Me, not associating anything with Me.” Any who disbelieve after that, such people are deviators. (Surat an-Nur, 24:55)

As we celebrate Easter and look forward to the end of Ramadan, let us renew our resolve to be better believers and be our brother’s keeper. Only then would we have benefitted from the Lent and Ramadan Fast.

May Allah accept our Fast, Prayers and Supplications.

Happy Easter and Ramadan Kareem.

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Friday Sermon: Ramadan: Time for Religious and Divine Reflection 3

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By Babatunde Jose

“Fasting in Ramadan develops in a person the real spirit of social belonging, of unity and brotherhood, and of equality before God. This spirit is the natural product of the fact that when people fast, they feel that they are joining the whole Muslim Ummah (which makes up more than one fifth of world’s population) in observing the same duty, in the same manner, at the same time, for the same motives, and for the same end. 

No sociologist or historian can say that there has been at any period of history anything comparable to this powerful institution of Islam: Fasting in the month of Ramadan. “People have been crying throughout the ages for acceptable ‘belonging’, for unity, for brotherhood, for equality and justice, but how echoless their voices have been, and how very little success they have met…” says Hammudah Abdalati, in Islam in Focus.

As Muslims we reject any sort of violence in the holy month of Ramadan, as we do in any month. Yet there are those recalcitrant elements that will not follow this injunction, but rather foment trouble all over the land; maiming, kidnapping, and killing their fellowmen for some warped reasons and in the process, giving Islam a bad and odious name. They are the terrorists in religious garb; killing people all over the place in the guise of ‘herdsmen or Boko Haram, ISIS, or whatever name they call themselves. They act as if God’s love can descend upon them through such horrible acts. We have only one name for them; Terrorists! They are not also Islamist as they are often referred to because, there is nothing Islamic about their acts.

“In the past 10 years we have seen more than 17 mass kidnappings. It’s a bad record for any country and government, a total breakdown of the social contract,” regional security expert David Otto told CBS News about the situation in Nigeria.

“Most of the victims are women in these attacks, and when you attack women, you have attacked society. The recent attacks — when 200-plus people were just taken — show after two decades of fighting insurgency, the government is still unable to protect society from terrorist groups.”

Otto spoke as the parents of more than 280 children voiced their anger over a mass abduction in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna state. The students, boys, and girls between the ages of 8 and 15, were seized by armed men from the elementary and secondary schools in the town of Kuriga.

The parents told local media outlets that bandits had taken their children and they implored Nigeria’s government to pay any ransom being demanded to secure their safe return. The President has, however, vowed that the government will not pay ransom to terrorist kidnappers anymore.

Immediately after the Kaduna abductions, gunmen seized another group of children from a school in Sokoto, in northwest Nigeria.

That was a smaller kidnapping, with about 15 children said to be missing, but it was the third incident reported in just a week, following reports that as many as 300 internally displaced people had gone missing near a camp in the northeast state of Borno. All these during the holy month of Ramadan!!!

In a BBC mini documentary that went viral on social media, a kingpin of a terrorist gang was interviewed, and he boasted about the number of victims he had killed. And he is a Muslim. Hmmmmn. What Quran has he been reading, and which Allah does he pray to?

The emergence of terrorism in Nigeria is traceable to factors such as bad governance, religious extremism, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, political greed, and foreign influence.

We need to spend time during this holy season worrying and praying about the state of the world, and particularly our country Nigeria. There is too much hate in the air. Everything is seen through the prism of tribe, ethnicity, or religion. Social media has become one big market for mudslinging and character assassination; all in the name of politics that is now heavily garnished with bigotry and religious intolerance.  

Instead of seeking forgiveness for our own sins we should seek forgiveness for everyone who is misled, who thinks the end justifies the means, who does not understand the teachings of Islam as beautiful and pure and peaceful. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) taught us to pray for our enemies, and I admit it is hard, but it must be done – if not for them, then for our own spiritual enlightenment.

We need to pray for a lofty goal – peace in the land – that we as human beings have probably been praying for since the dawn of modernity.  We should pray for a safe world for our children, and our children’s children. But the news these days is ugly, and we are constantly reminded of the following verse in the Quran: 

“Surely God changes not the condition of a people until they change what is in their hearts”. (Quran 13:11)

Prayer and reflection only help when one is surrounded with peace. One can recite the Quran and offer additional night-time prayers and fast every day for 365 days, but nothing changes the fact that we live in dangerous and perilous times; and unless we stand up and do something about it, the impending conflagration will consume us all, both the perpetrators and idle spectators. 

Politics is part of life now and along with fasting, individual Muslims need to do much more. Protesting, calling our representatives to order, marching with others, helping our neighbours, and even getting educated about a topic we didn’t know much about… all these are ways to make worship more meaningful. Whatever issue one worries about, we need to make change happen. To be docile in the face of monumental injustice is a sin, worse than breaking ones fast. After all, in Islam, worship not only describes rituals related to God, but encompasses everything one does to serve God; standing up for justice is one of such acts.  

We must therefore be ready to stand on the side of justice and equity. We must be ready to die at the barricades when the fight starts, to claim our rightful place in the scheme of things. We must be able to protest loudly and vehemently if our leaders refuse to listen to us. We must be prepared to fight for the right of our children to live a better life in future.

Of course, it doesn’t and shouldn’t apply to Muslims alone. People of all faith – or no faith – can join in making these changes and improving our impact upon the world: Right now, the goings on in Gaza should concern us all, particularly the fate of a blockaded people who are being denied medical facilities by their Israeli ‘warders’. The fate of our people in Kaduna, Benue, Taraba, Sokoto, Borno and other places where human life has become cheaper than that of common chicken should elicit concern and action.

This is the time for action and change, meaningful change. Moreso, when there is a spiritual convergence of the two major faiths, Islam, and Christianity: Ramadan Fast and Lenten season. This year, only 10 days separate Easter and Eid al Fitr.

The current climate of hunger has no religious affiliation. The hunger that whacks the Christian also racks the Muslim, the price of beans, rice and gari are the same for adherents of both faiths in the market, the scarcity of goods is the same for both Joshua and Yussuf and the debilitating effects of inflation and high cost of living blows both ways. Just as the Christian child is kidnapped on the way to school in Aba, the Muslim children are kidnapped in their schools in Kajuru. We are all in it together and must reflect and find solutions together.

So, let us get out into our communities and make a difference, not just in Ramadan but throughout the year. Only then can we say we are really worshipping God.

“Oh Allah, guide me with those whom You have guided, and strengthen me with those whom You have given strength. Take me to Your care with those whom You have taken to Your care. Bless me in what You have given me. Protect me from the evil You have ordained. Surely You command and are not commanded, and none whom You have committed to Your care shall be humiliated (and none whom You have taken as an enemy shall taste glory). You are Blessed, Our Lord, and Exalted”. (Abu Dawud, Book 8, Number 1420)

Barka Juma’at and Ramadan Kareem

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Friday Sermon: Ramadan: Time for Religious and Divine Reflection 2

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By Babatunde Jose

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: “You see the believers as regards their being merciful among themselves and showing love among themselves and being kind, resembling one body, so that, if any part of the body is not well then the whole body shares the sleeplessness (insomnia) and fever with it.” – (Al-Bukhari)

We want others to put themselves in our shoes and view the world from our perspective. That is empathy – putting oneself in someone else’s shoes. We feel close to the person who is empathetic to us, find it easy to share our thoughts with them, go to him or her when we’re in trouble and seek solace. Each of us has a natural sense of empathy through which we connect to others. 

There are two aspects of empathy: cognitive and affective. Cognitive empathy is about understanding another person’s point of view, their emotions and needs at the intellectual level. Affective empathy is about actually feeling an emotion that another person is experiencing.

If only our leaders would empathise with the suffering multitude, they would do the needful and set the country on the path of sustained development. They should feel the hunger being experienced by the people, their sense of want, deprivation, and impoverishment.

But they would not. These are stone-hearted people who are bereft of the milk of human kindness. The Prophet attested to this when he said: “None of you will have faith till he wishes for his brother what he likes for himself.” (Al-Bukhari) A man without empathy will therefore be devoid of faith.

This hadith necessitates cognitive empathy. You must firstly imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes and think from their perspective to understand what you would do in their situation. If only the leaders would come up with solutions to the growing poverty in the land occasioned by their policies.

A believer who has achieved excellence of faith will feel this special love for others.

The Quran stresses that righteousness is not in precise observance of the rituals but in acts of compassion and kindness.  It says that the litmus test for true belief and genuine worship is that it leads to compassionate living:

It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces towards the East or West; but it is righteousness – to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and to practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the Allah-fearing. (Quran 2:177)

This verse talks about a set of beliefs and then a set of good deeds, the intricate relationship between the two escapes many if not most. 

In his commentary, Yusuf Ali said: “As if to emphasize again a warning against deadening formalism, we are given a beautiful description of the righteous and God-fearing man. He should obey salutary regulations, but he should fix his gaze on the love of Allah and the love of his fellow- men. We are given four heads: (1) our faith should be true and sincere; (2) we must be prepared to show it in deeds of charity to our fellowmen; (3) we must be good citizens, supporting social organization: and (4) our own individual soul must be firm and unshaken in all circumstances. They are interconnected, and yet can be viewed separately.

“Faith is not merely a matter of words. We must realize the presence and goodness of Allah. When we do so, the scales fall from our eyes: all the falsities and fleeting nature of the Present cease to enslave us, for we see the Last Day as if it were to-day. We also see Allah’s working in His world and in us: His Angels, His Messengers and His Message are no longer remote from us but come within our experience.

“Practical deeds of charity are of value when they proceed from love, and from no other motive. In this respect, also, our duties take various forms, which are shown in reasonable gradation: our kith and kin; orphans (including any persons who are without support or help): people who are in real need but who never ask (it is our duty to find them out, and they come before those who ask); the stranger, who is entitled to laws of hospitality; the people who ask and are entitled to ask, i.e., not merely lazy beggars, but those who seek our assistance in some form or another (it is our duty to respond to them); and the slaves (we must do all we can to give or buy their freedom). Slavery has many insidious forms, and all are included.”

Every Friday in the second part of the sermon, Muslims all over the world hear a verse, which stresses, justice, kindness, and natural mutual love as among the closest blood relatives:

Allah commands justice, the doing of good, and liberality to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you that ye may receive admonition. (Quran 16:91)

He makes His relationship or His Providence to the common man, conditional to common human compassion, by claiming that those, who wish to find Him, will succeed only if they are kind and compassionate to the common people:

Fasting cleanses your soul and makes you appreciate all your blessings. Fasting humbles you; it makes you feel compassion for the poor who experience that type of hunger ev­ery day. At the end of the day, however, we have a big dinner; the poor don’t have that luxury. That is why Muslims are required to give zakat on an annual basis. Many choose to do this during Ramadan. This money is either given personally or through a charity. The main thing is that it must be paid.

We are taught to not only fast from food and drink but to try to refrain from conflict, anger, and mean words. Our prophet (peace be upon him) says, “Saying a nice word is like giving to charity.” And he also said, “To smile in the face of your brother is like giving to charity.” We are to be kind and loving to each other. We are to be forgiving, not only in this month but in every month. But for some reason, this month brings out the best in everyone. 

During this holy month, we spend a lot of time reading our Quran: We also spend a lot of time praying, trying to help those who are less fortunate and performing good deeds, which in turn cleanses our hearts and souls. For one month, we truly do become less selfish, less self-centred and more focused on what really matters in the world.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, in sharing his wishes, for all observing the holy month of Ramadan, urged action on behalf of millions of forcibly displaced people worldwide. 

 “Through our reflection, we come to recognize that while words may reassure, it is only through action that we can truly see tangible change,” he said. “We continue to live in extremely complex times where violence is multiplied, conflicts are protracted, and tens of millions of people are forcibly uprooted or on the move. This has created unprecedented levels of human suffering and desperation.

“Millions of people like you and I are living in a constant state of conflict, insecurity, and persecution: Their loved ones torn from them under inexplicable circumstances. Think of civilians in Syria or Yemen. Think of the plight of the Rohingyas in Myanmar, Bangladesh, and the other countries to which they have fled”. 

And I urge you to also think of the castrated and emasculated people of Palestine: Between 7 October 2023 and 6 March 2024, at least 30,717 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and 72,156 were injured, according to MoH in Gaza. A sad Ramadan for Gaza as Israel continues attacks. Amid Israel’s war, the people of Gaza don’t feel the joy of the holy month. Pray for them and remember them. “Then, surely with hardship comes ease:” “Surely, with hardship comes ease,”(Quran 94:5-6)

May Allah make it easy for us, Ameen.

Barka Juma’at and Ramadan Kareem

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