Khutbah #5 - 20/03/98

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

Alhamdulillahi rabbil'alamin wa salaatu wa salaamu ala Rasulihi  

I am still trying to find the manners for our Khutba. An Adhab that suits our situation, an eclectic group of assorted mainly academic muslims living in a non-muslim culture. An English language Khutba that will hopefully prove acceptable to the One God that we know by the name Allah, and our messenger, the man who was named Muhammad.

Now I know that some people have been concerned about my not applying the traditional reverences when I use the word Muhammad - why no 'Salli allahu aleihi wassalaam'.

Let me explain. For some years my public speaking on Islam has been almost entirely talking to non-muslims - directly to Educationists, Teachers, and Schoolkids, and people from other Faith groups, and to the almost entirely non-muslim audience of Radio and TV. And my language has developed with a concern for the way that 'they' perceive and understand what I am saying, not the manners and cultural sensitivities of the muslim world, which in the world that is my home aren't always relevant in the same way, and don't always have the effects intended.

For instance, I know that it is said that the salaams on Muhammad are useful to stop people confusing the Prophet with any other common or garden Muhammad. But most of the people I think of as my audience are unlikely to know of any other Muhammads - maybe the man in the corner shop, or perhaps Sheikh Muhammad if they follow the horses. There is only one Muhammad that shook the world.

Yet if the respectful formalities make communication stilted, what are the alternatives? You can't just use the word Prophet in a piece without mentioning the name Muhammad, or they're going to confuse him with Kahlil Gibran. And anyway, I wonder what is expressed by such formal reverence in this cultural context. The Christian world is used to thinking in terms of worshipping the Divine in the manifestation of a man. Our culturally strange token of respect and reverence may well just encourage that fairly common idea amongst locals that muslims worship Muhammad.

So I made an executive decision to drop it. Communication is a two way process, each side reaching towards the other's understanding. There is more to speaking across a cultural divide than translating word for word. It was my own decision - I didn't feel the need to ask anyone for advice (Though of course, I talked to scholars, and they said that the blessings on the Prophet are nice but not necessary).

But most scholars are so far away from the culture I live in that they are really in no position to judge the niceties of my situation. And not being born into any form of muslim community, I was not born into any theological, legal, cultural or historical traditions. I gathered my different hats, intellectual and literal, as I went round the muslim world, following the local traditions. But I always knew that when it came down to it, my decisions and my actions were my own responsibility.

The muslim world is very good at passing responsibility over on to scholars - but who chooses what scholar, and why do you choose a certain scholar's opinion over another's? We all look for opinions that we want to hear, opinions we agree with, and with which we feel comfortable. And some look for clear parameters, a precise set of rules within which they can relax in security and certainty.

But God has made the world we live in a very complex place, and at it's edges even the most trusted of rules can break down and dissolve into a variety of conflicting opinions. Even the common mechanics of day and night by which we time our prayers. Some of you have yet to experience the sky full of light in the middle of a Scottish summer night. When I first came back to this country Ramadhan was in the middle of summer, and I found that I could walk to the mosque in broad daylight (the streetlamps weren't even switched on) and find myself in the middle of Tarwih.

Whoever had decided the time of 'Isha, it had nothing to do with the darkening of the sky. There is no dark. In summer months I have been known to join the night and morning prayers. It is as though, in Creation, God wished to make it quite clear that following a formulaic set of rules is not really enough.

So He made the world with a slight tilt, thus blurring the edges of laws that many would prefer to believe should be defined with absolute precision. He gave a twist to our axis that gives us not only the seasons, but also a clear demonstration that even the straightforward rules for formal prayer and fasting can't just be accepted without human thought and imagination. For if you travel far enough in the right direction the rules stop working. When your children fly into space who will decide whether and how and when they make their prayers?

"O tribe of jinn and men, if you are able to pass through the confines of heaven and earth, pass through them! You shall not pass through except with an authority." Says the Qur'an.

Your authority comes direct, not through any church or minister, but with it comes direct responsibility. I have talked of community, but Islam is essentially a personal thing - an individual contract with your Lord. It is your choice - Qur'an says "there is no compulsion in religion". When it comes down to your actions it is your judgment and your conscience that is put to the test. But choose well, and "Shall the recompense of Goodness be other than Goodness?" says the Qur'an in Surah Rahman.

*****

The Prophet advised those setting out to foster Islam on the fringes of its world, that they should follow the Qur'an, and his example, and their best judgment. Their task was an awesome one, but ultimately the responsibility was theirs, and their judge would not be the Prophet but their Maker. Our task is similar, and living in the all-conquering West, just as awesome. Fortunately, our Maker is the All-Merciful.

On the authority of Anas, the Prophet said:

"Allah the Almighty has said:

O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind.

O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you.

O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it."

O God, forgive us, and have mercy on us, and guide us, and grant us security, and grant us sustenance.