Khutbah #6 - 27/03/98

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

Alhamdulillahi rabbil'alamin wa salaatu wa salaamu ala Rasulihi  

Some weeks ago, I began these Khutbahs on a theme of muslims as part of a Community but last week I spoke of it as something much more personal and direct - a freely chosen contract with your Lord. Making decisions about how to deal with your every day life as a human being, and for many of you trying to come to terms with existence in an unfamiliar cultural environment which, as with the light summer nights, can often conspire to challenge your previous assumptions and force you into some original thought.

But can we really expect direct communication from God? And God will not change a people until they change themselves. How can we even relate to something as intangible as the Divine, let alone understand God's nature, or the nature of our relationship? Of course, as muslims we have some guidance about these things in the Qur'an that extraordinary collection of words revealed with a direct and immediate influence on the Prophet's community, yet universal and relevant to all other times and places.

God guides us to understanding through the Creation by His Signs, and in the abstract world of intellect by His Names. Just as the Qur'an bridges between the tangible practical guidance of the Prophet's community and the eternal, the Names bridge between the Divine and human nature and understanding. We cannot describe values like Generosity in the abstract. We have to give examples, and those examples are of human behaviour. God is integral to us - "And We indeed created man, and We know what his soul whispers within him, and We are closer to him than the jugular vein".

The values and concepts encapsulated in the Names are key words for us to think about. Qur'an applies them directly to God, Who is the Truth, and so they are inevitably directly related to the truth of the Creation. If, as academics, you consider yourselves to be involved in a search for truth, your Islam should be integral to your studies.

"If We had sent this Qur'an down upon a mountain your would have seen it humbled, split asunder in awe of God. And such likenesses - We strike them for men so that they will think about them.

He is God, there is no god but He. He is the knower of the Unseen and the Visible. He is the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate.

He is God, there is no god but He. He is the King, the All-Holy, the All-Peaceable, the All-Faithful, the One who determines truth and falsehood, the All-Mighty, the All-Compelling, the All-sublime. Glory be to God, above what they associate with Him.

He is God, the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper. To Him belong the Names Most Beautiful. All that is in the heavens and the earth magnifies Him. He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise." - from the Qur'an, the chapter called The Gathering, vv. 21-24

*****

"We have not sent you except to bear good tidings and a warning. Say: 'For this, I ask no reward of you, other than that whoever wills may find a way unto his Lord.'

Put your trust in the Living God, the Undying, and proclaim His praise, for none is as aware of His creatures' sins as He, Who created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them in six days, then established Himself upon the Throne, the All-Compassionate. Ask about Him of any one who is aware.

But when they are told 'Bow yourselves to the All-Merciful', they say 'And what is the All-Merciful? Shall we bow ourselves to what you tell us?' And your telling only increases their aversion.

Blessed be He Who has set in the heavens constellations, and has set among them a radiant lamp, and an illuminating moon. And it is He who causes the night and day to follow one another, for whoever wishes to remember, or whoever desires to be thankful." - from the Qur'an, the chapter called The Criterion, vv. 56 - 62
The Prophet said: "On the Day of Judgment, no step of a servant of God shall slip until he has answered concerning four things: His body and how he used it, his life and how he spent it, his wealth and how he earned it, and his knowledge and what he did with it".

The Prophet said: "When you stand for prayer, pray as if it were your last prayer. Do not say a word for which you will have to make an excuse the following day, and build no hope on what is at the hands of men".

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