| Faculty
of Divinity
-
Adult Education Dept
Islam
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
Let
us begin in the traditional Islamic manner,
In
the Name of God, the All-merciful, the All-compassionate.
When
talking of Islam in the Christian West, one is constantly
faced with not just ignorance about the subject, but the
distortions and prejudice that result from centuries of
literature, written in the guise of objective history, but
with the actual intent (often openly stated) of refuting
muslim understanding of truth. Now I am sure that everyone
here feels that they are completely devoid of bias or
prejudice, and that is just fine, because if you are to
understand Islam you will need to see it from a muslim point
of view, and that's what I'm here for tonight, but whatever
comes out is my own personal view, and I represent no-one but
myself.
People
put themselves through incredible feats of poetic licence and
mental gymnastics when trying to make the muslim view of Islam
conform with their own understanding of truth. Unfortunately
this makes the whole thing seem quite unintelligible, with the
inevitable corollary that a sixth of the world's population
over the last 1400 years must just have been a bunch of
ignorant heathens. You are not going to get anywhere in
understanding Islam if like Dante you believe that Muhammad
was the Antichrist.
Of
course all the bias is not on one side - as Dr. Sprenger says
in his Life of Muhammad; "The bias of the Musalmans is to
gloss over the aberration of mind.... of their prophet....
Most of his biographers pass over [it] in silence.... We may,
therefore, be justified in stretching the scanty information
which we can glean from them to the utmost extent, and in
supposing that he was for some time a complete maniac; and
that the fit after which he assumed his office was a paroxysm
of cataleptic insanity."
Hughes
says in his Notes on Muhammadanism; "in the case of
Muhammad, his professed inspiration sanctioned and encouraged
his own vices. That which ought to have been the fountain of
purity was, in fact, the cover of the Prophet's
depravity"
And
our own dear Sir William Muir in his Life of Mahomet says;
"there was nurtured by the Prophet in his own heart, a
licentious self-indulgence, till in the end.... he justified
himself by `revelations' from God in the most flagrant
breaches of morality......he could take pleasure in cruel and
perfidious assassination, could gloat over the massacre of an
entire tribe, and savagely consign the innocent babe to the
fires of hell"
Not
quite how I see the Prophet; Muhammad was
patient, honest, just and chaste. He was the most generous of
men, never asked for anything but that he gave it to the
asker. He would prefer the seeker to himself and his family,
and often went hungry because of it. He patched his own
sandals and clothing, and did household chores. He was shy and
would not stare into peoples faces. He attended feasts and
funerals, visited the sick, and walked among enemies without a
guard. He was the humblest of men. He sat and ate with the
poor. He tyrannized nobody and accepted the excuse of anyone
who begged his pardon. He was always joyful and never awed by
the affairs of this world. He joked, but only spoke the truth.
He did not eat better food than his servants. He refused to
curse his enemies, saying "I was sent to forgive, not to
curse". When asked to wish evil on anyone he blessed them
instead. If there was a bed he slept on it, if not he reclined
on the earth. One did not argue in his presence. He spoke only
the truth. He was the most smiling and laughing of men.
His
companion Ali said "Of all men he was the most generous,
the most open-hearted, the most truthful, the most fulfilling
of promise, the gentlest of temper, and the noblest towards
his family. Whoever saw him unexpectedly was awed by him, and
whoever knew him intimately loved him." His answer to his
name was "At your service".
Of
course these biographers were mostly Victorians, and we really
shouldn't use them as examples of historical objectivity, as
we go about things a completely different way nowadays, don't
we? I would like to show you a textbook on the history of
science. +++++++++++ It goes from the Ancient Greeks direct to
Copernicus - for 1500 years it seems that there was no
science. What happened to it?
A
friend in America who studied history described his shock when
halfway through University he discovered a time and place that
he had never heard mentioned before - a little thing called
the Ottoman Empire.
Where
do you get your understanding of what is Islam - from the news
(all terrorism and book-burning bigots) - or on a subtler
level from movies and drama (how often the muslim is the
villain, but can any of you remember having seen a muslim
hero?)
But
whether History is the means of transmitting our cultural
heritage to new generations, or whether history is bunk, it's
time to get on with a muslim view of Islamic history, though
we can't really do it justice in 20 minutes, even if I do my
Ben Elton impersonation. Especially as I don't know who you
all are and what you are really interested in, and I won't
find out until question time. So I'll try to do a quick skim
over a very big subject, and we'll see how the time works out.
Let
us begin with what may come as a surprise for some. The
History of Islam starts long long before Muhammad. It starts
with Adam.
Abraham,
Ismael, Isaac, Hagaar, & Ka'abah
The
Ibrahimic lineage to Jesus
Before
Muhammad - The World Situation, Arabia,
The Seerah, Makkah, Madina.
The
First four Caliphs, The Ummayads, The Shi'a of Ali.
The
Abbasids, Spain & North Africa,
Egypt Syria & Iraq, Iran.
Turkey
& the Seljuqs, Northern India, The Crusades, The Loss of
Andalusia, The Mongols & Ghengis Khan, Tamerlaine &
Samarkand, The spread of Sufi Orders, Al Ghazali.
West
of Sudan, Mali & Timbuktu, Gujurat Bengal & Burma, The
Malays Sumatra & Java, Muslim China, The travels of Ibn
Battuta, The Ottoman Turks, The Taking of Constantinople.
The
Safavids, The Mughals, The Ottoman Empire, South East Asia,
Sub-Saharan Africa, Bukhara, The Decline of Muslim Power.
Reform
& Revival, The Wahhabis, The Naqshbandiya, The Khalwatiya
& Tijaniya, The Sammaniya & the Mahdi, Subjugation by
Europe, Decolonisation, Secular Nationalism, Recent History,
Islam in the West.
The
muslim quest for knowledge and the Islamic education system
ISLAMIC
SCIENCES - the qualitative study of the Universe
Cosmology,
Cosmography, and Geography,
Natural
History: Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology
The
Cosmos and its Mathematical study
Mathematics,
Astronomy and Astrology, Physics
The
Applied Sciences
Medicine
and Pharmacology, Alchemy & Occult sciences, Agriculture
and Irrigation
Man
in the Universe
Man
and the Natural Environment
Man
in the Cosmic Order
ISLAMIC
ART
Aniconism
in sacred art & represention in non-sacred art.
Islamic
art - Calligraphy, Pattern and Arabesque, Architecture and the
sphere and the cube - The use of light
Art
and liturgy - The Mihrab, the Minbar, Tombs, Clothing
Sedentaries
and Nomads - Ethnic variety, Carpets, Knightly art
Synthesis
- Variety and Unity, Great Architecture, Town planning
So
- all this history, all this geography, all this art, all this
culture, what binds the whole thing together? Islam.
But
here we have a problem -double meaning of Islam - specific and
umbrella
Umbrella
meaning embraces three great concepts - Islam, Iman, Ihsan
Prophet
defined in 29 words + 29 words - me at greater length -
opposite direction to born muslims.
IHSAN
Man
seems to need certain things for society that make no real
logical sense when we demand them of ourselves, things we tend
to class under right action, or good behaviour. Good behaviour
is not confined to the overtly religious amongst us, but can
be seen in all human beings who display its various guises -
mercy, compassion, justice, honesty, tolerance, forgiveness,
humility, generosity, courage, and such like.
Ihsan,
"Goodness", good behaviour, right action, is one of
the easiest of principles for a man to understand, and is
accepted by the most irreligious of men. We've all heard of
honour among thieves, and even the most atheistic of
philosophies needs to formulate concepts of good and bad, or
there is no basis for any kind of social law. Atheists can
understand generosity and self sacrifice, even dying for the
sake of family and friends, and on a day to day level, what
really matters when you do business with someone is not
whether a man claims to believe in God, but whether he will
give you the right measure and charge you a fair price. By now
I have learned that when a shopkeeper waxes lyrical about our
brotherhood in Islam, I need to double check my change.
So
how can we make society have more of this quality of goodness
that makes life so much better for us. We can't. We can't
force people to be good - there is no compulsion in religion -
we can only try to make ourselves more good and hope that they
get the idea from watching our example. But what do we need
for our own goodness. To see what might be involved in a
specifically Islamic approach, let me select some of the
chapter headings of one authors survey of what is required for
goodness. This is from the work of Shaykh Uthman dan Fodio,
written about 200 years ago in Northern Nigeria.
For
our own goodness we mostly require the purification of the
heart.
The
purification of the heart from the whisperings of Shaytan.
(Shaytan,
or Satan, is the thing which directs you towards the fire,
pain and torment, the thing which divides man and sets him in
opposition to himself.)
The
purification of the heart from conceit, vanity, and
ingratitude.
from
pride, arrogance and self-exaltation.
from
false hope.
(putting
off right action or repentance until later, saying "Oh
there's plenty of time, I'll do it tomorrow.")
The
purification of the heart from groundless anger, envy, and
showing-off.
Turning
away with regret from all acts of rebellion.
Doing
without in this world.
(this
doesn't mean doing without your needs, but what is superfluous
and excessive. The goal is strength and vigour, not just food,
drink, and pleasure.)
Safeguarding
oneself out of fear of God.
Trust
and reliance in God, and Entrusting the affair to God.
Contentment
with the decree of God.
Fear
and hope
But
why would anyone want to do these illogical things? Why would
anyone risk pain and death going into a burning building to
save someone else? Illogical - does not compute! When Uthman
dan Fodio said what we needed for goodness he used some
strange illogical terms, however, like the word
"God", for instance. What on earth is this word
supposed to mean? Can you show me what it is? Can you touch
it, hear it, smell it, taste it? In fact, if I can't see it,
why should I believe that this thing exists? Can you prove it
to me? Well, no, you can't. For that you need faith.
Now
I hope you'll forgive me if I don't get too engrossed in a
refutation of Rational Atheism, Secular Modernism, Scientific
Humanism, and all the otherisms, but they do tend to have one
thing in common which I will say something about, as it is a
false premise on which their arguments are mostly based. They
tend to share an arrogant assumption that man is capable of
thought not based on faith.
It's
all very well saying there's a God, they say, but I am a
Rationalist, a Scientist, so prove it. Now even Billy Connolly
can see through that one. "If you want to believe
there's a God, of course there's a God." he says
"Who can prove otherwise?".
IMAN
Faith
- (The science of tawhid)
Basic
truths about creation which cannot be proved
Truth
requires 6 things
GOD
Unity
99
Names
Before
time & outside time
I
am Time
No
direction & no place
Has
power, will, knowledge, life, hearing, sight, & speech.
We
can call God "You"
Eyes
attain not
Wherever
you turn
Jugular
vein
ANGELS
Preserved
from wrong action
Cannot
disobey
Made
of light
Neither
male nor female
Do
not eat or drink
BOOKS
Creation
Revealed
MESSENGERS
Ibrahimic
line
Quran
Message
of Truth
Good
tidings & warning
AFTER
LIFE
Death
guaranteed
Justice
Punishment
and ease of the grave
Day
of Rising
Awakening
of the Dead
Gathering
of the People
Giving
of Books
Weighing
of Actions
The
Reckoning
The
Narrow Bridge
Drinking
from Kauthar
The
Endless Fire & Garden
The
vision of God for the believers
DIVINE
DESTINY
Good
or evil
No
compulsion
Choose
good or evil
Choose
belief or not
So
there we have half a dozen unprovable things that we need to
believe in if we are to understand the truth. That's not so
many - the White Queen could believe in as many impossible
things before breakfast. The trouble is that when you bundle
them up with all that intangible stuff about
"goodness", it all starts to seem overwhelmingly
vague. What we need is to bring all that airy fairy
intellectual talk down to earth with something a bit more
practical. I mean, not everyone at the Old Firm match is
interested in the outer reaches of philosophy. What you need
to counteract all this theory, is something you can practice.
And what you can practise is that part of the religion known
as Islam.
As
Sheikh Uthman said;
These
are the roots of the life transaction
They
give true meaning to life
The
belief of the common people in all these roots becomes, in the
case of the elite, knowledge. This is because most people are
not interested in theoretical proofs. For that reason the
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
did not make those who became Muslims delve into these things.
Instead he would make them firm [in their Islam] since it was
known that they would be separated from him.
ISLAM
What
is this Islam that the Prophet considered so important.
Easy
to learn
5
pillars
SHAHADA
Have
to admit it
Perfect
form to say it
La
ilaha illa Allah
SALAAT
Not
Du'a
More
like eating
5
times
Actions
Qur'an
Repository
When
sent down?
Ramadan
SAUM
Not
excessive
No
soul save to its capacity
ZAKAT
Social
security
Man
<-> Group
HAJJ
Means
travel
The
Ancient House
Abraham
Muhammad
This
then is Islam, the science of which is Fiqh, which codifies
for us the Shariah, jurisprudence, and the manifest laws by
which to live our lives. Iman gives us the science of Tawhid,
Unity, codifying our philosophy and the languages of
understanding, and from Ihsan we have the science of Tassawuf,
which is - Tassawuf. The science of the heart.
The
Messenger of Allah said: "Islam is to testify that there
is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to
perform the Salaat, to pay the zakat, to fast in Ramadan, and
to make the pilgrimage to the House if you are able to do
so." When asked about Iman, he said: "It is to
believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and
the Last Day, and to believe in divine destiny, both the good
and evil thereof." When asked about Ihsan, he said;
"It is to worship Allah as though you are seeing Him, and
while you see Him not yet truly He sees you."
Ya
Allah, forgive me if I have strayed from the Truth, or stained
the memory of your Messenger Muhammad. Astaghfirallah.
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