A WESTERN APPROACH TO ISLAM

In the name of God, All-Merciful, All-Compassionate

Man was created of haste. Assuredly
I shall show you My signs; so demand not
that I make haste. (21.37)

So be thou patient with a sweet patience;
behold, they see it as if far off,
but We see it as nigh. (70.5-7)

Salaamu aleikum. Oh – the last time I did this talk the room had an echo just like that. Salaamu aleikum. (Response) Oh come on. Is that the best you can do? It has to be good tonight, we’ve got the television in. Well not exactly the television, but we are making a video, so everyone on their best behaviour, because you never know who might be looking at you from the other side of that lens.

Actually this is the first time I’ve done a video like this, and we really ought to start off the folks back home with something a little more rousing than that pathetic response I got when I walked in. The muslims have no excuse, but for those who would like to help out and don’t know how, I’ll go through this once and once only. Assallam – Peace : Aleikum – upon you. Assalaamu aleikum – Peace upon you. Like at the end of mass, or Sholom aleichem, Peace upon you, and the answer is aleikum – upon you : salaam – peace : aleikum salaam – upon you peace. OK non-muslims, give it a go. Aleikum salaam. Again. Right – I think we can try it altogether now, so I’ll just start this talk again, and with any luck we’ll get a come on down start to the proceedings, OK.

Salaamu aleikum. Let’s hope that’s how this evening progresses, in peace. Except for me of course, as when I speak of a Western approach to Islam I mean the personal approach of a single westerner, namely myself, which means I’ll spend most of the evening talking about myself, again, and you are unlikely to get me to shut up. Still, if my egocentric musings prove useful to anyone then I hope it will be a blessing on both of us.

First let me explain how this evening came about. You see, last year some of the local muslims asked me to give a talk on ‘The Logic of Islam’, 15 minutes. “You’ve got to be joking!” I thought. What do I do for an encore, summarize Western European political and religious thought over the last 1400 years in two paragraphs. So I said “I tell you what – you get whoever you want to listen, and I’ll do an evening on it, and I wrote down what I thought was the least I could say to do justice to the subject, and at the end of the evening they all said “Too long – Too long”. So this time I’m making no concessions for non-english speakers. I’m going to talk full speed, which is where you at home have a distinct advantage, as when it comes to dealing with unintelligible lectures, there’s nothing like a fast forward button on the remote control. Of course it also means that if you would like to repeat something so you can catch the subtleties you can always fast rewind and have an instant replay. Now those watching the video can always pause and have a coffee, but you can’t so let me just say get as comfortable as you can, it will all be over in a couple of hours, and if I go so fast that you lose track you can always join them and watch it on the video.

Having started, it seemed that the Logic of Islam was really the wrong question, because logic is really only the tip of the iceberg of what my friends 3wanted to know, as for many, it’s what they see as making the difference between me and them. You see logic is not something that most muslims associate with Islam. The foundation of their association with Islam is faith. They were muslims before they were old enough to have much logic. But what happens to a muslim who has grown up, and finds that faith is not so simple any more. And how does he cope if he finds that his faith has flown out of the window? What the muslims ask all the time is “Why did you do it?” “Why did you become muslim>?” “What made you become muslim?” What on earth made you decide to become muslim?” I find it really odd that so many muslims keep asking me why I became muslim, as though if they were in the same situation themselves, they’re not too sure they would have made the same choice! It doesn’t seem like they think of what they’ve got as good tidings.

a healing for what is in the breasts, and a guidance, and a mercy to the believers. (10.57)

Now there’s a thing. And who can they talk to about it with any sort of shared understanding? Who indeed! But then how many of us have got anyone we can talk to when it comes to things like fear of death, or a guilty conscience, let alone a crisis of faith. Here they are surrounded by spiritual strangers with not much language in common so can’t really say anything much except “How are you today? Well thank-you, etcetera. Yet not every muslim is just here for a visit. Some of them even manage to make friends. Human beings tend to. But there’s still a barrier that’s hard to cross.

O mankind, We have created you male and female, and appointed you races and tribes, that you may know one another. (49.13)

Going back to the beginning of the lecture, if I were to pose the question “How many of you have ever been to any kind of Christmas pantomime?” I could more or less guarantee that almost all of the non-muslims would say yes, and have recognised the style of my entrance as something that goes along with “Oh no he didn’t – Oh yes he did” and “He’s behind you”. It’s part of our local ongoing folk traditions. I can also guarantee that almost all of the muslims would be sitting on their hands. You see there’s more to communication than a small vocabulary. I talk completely different languages to my western friends and my muslim friends, though they both might pass for English to the casual observer. The first thirty odd years of my life were spent in Britain, not Cairo or Penang or Lahore, and when I talk to my friends the meaning of the words I use depends on all sorts of associations which come from our shared experience. The name of a book or a movie can convey an idea that might take ages to explain. Politics, paintings, TV personalities, all contribute to our shared understandings, so it’s always easier for me to talk to Westerners, even about Islam, that to people who come from out of the Islamic cultural tradition itself. Especially when I often feel that what they are calling Islam is in fact more a case of tradition and culture than Islam, but more of that later.

Had thy Lord willed, He would have made mankind one nation; but they continue in their differences excepting those on whom thy Lord has mercy. To that end He created them (11.118-119)

So I said “If you’ve got western friends or people you work with or anyone like that you’d like to have along, that’d be OK Like that TV programme an Audience With Whoever, and somebody famous spends an hour trying to amuse an audience of celebrities. I was actually thinking of doing it like Edna Everage or Les Patterson, but decided it would probably be a bit too much for the majority. Anyway, my wife would have killed me, so I didn’t. When I was going on TV I kept her on tenterhooks telling here I was going to do it like Tim Currie in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It would have been a sensation but I ended up just acting the good muslim. So An Audience with Michael Abd al Malik eh? – Well, I guess I’m a little bit famous – I must be if I’ve been on the telly, though I only got the 15 minutes Andy Warhol said we were all going to be getting.

This present life is naught but a diversion and a sport; surely the Last Abode is Life, did they but know. (29.64)

And here we are and we still haven’t got to the subject. What was the subject? Oh yes, A Western Approach to Islam. OK So what am I trying to achieve here, anything? I think I’d like the westerners to go away feeling that they got some kind of insight into Islam which they wouldn’t have got from a man speaking a foreign language. A fairly modest hope so far, one must admit. And perhaps a feeling that there might yet be hope for some point of common understanding between them and their bizarre muslim neighbours.

And as for those bizarre muslim neighbours, I hope I have something to offer that may be of some use in approaching the west and perhaps in the process do something to help save the loss of your children. It may be that the cultural differences I’ve mentioned will meant that you don’t understand a word I say, but I have spent many hours sitting surrounded by Arabic or Urdu speakers not understanding a word, and found the best solution is to just relax and smile and let the words float past your ears without trying to force them towards the brain. Many hours, actually, so it really is my turn. What I was saying about language and culture, however, is of course particularly relevant to those of you who are not just travelling through, because your children, whether you like it or not are growing up British not Pakistanis, and if you can’t show them a way to be British muslims as opposed to Pakistani muslims, then the chances are they will end up as just plain British. To do that, however, involves the tricky business of examining all those values that you have always unquestioningly accepted as Islamic, and seeing whether they might not in fact just be part of your culture traditions. Now this is thin ice, so we must tread carefully. But you have to consider what you grandfathers taught, and se just how relevant it is to you now, here and face it with honesty if you want to do what is right for yourselves as well as your children.

That is a nation that has passed away; there awaits them that they have earned, and there awaits you that you have earned; you shall not be questioned concerning the things they did. (2.134)

When I first mentioned the title ‘A Western Approach to Islam’ the first response was ‘But that might give the impression that there is more than one kind of Islam – and we all know that isn’t so’ Well, it may not be so in theory, but anyone with half an eye can see that it is so in practise, and I have practised my Islam in quite a few different countries, but this is my home turf, so like Frank Sinatra I’m gonna do it my way.

I was 33 when I began thinking of myself as some kind of muslim and had to deal with each question of muslim thought and behaviour consciously and as best I could. So what I’m eventually going to try and go through in this talk is a sort of Islam for fully grown infants. ‘You mean this talk hasn’t started yet? I hear you cry. Don’t worry, it’s a bit like a James Bond film, where it’s been going for half an hour before you get the opening credits – Bismillahirrahmannirrahim – and the movie starts for real. But we’ve finished the pre-credits, you’ll notice I just got in the Bismillah, and I promise you the exciting stuff is really about to start. After that we’ll wake up the sleeping and we’ll finally get to press the pause button here and have a break and tea and buns. So as you lot sit there wondering whether it was worth turning on the TV, you can console yourselves with the thought that although it’s all over for you, here the hard core will be back for questions and answers, if I still have any voice left. Is everybody comfortable? Does anyone want to have a break now? Don’t bother to answer that, they wouldn’t stop James Bond for you, and they won’t stop me. But first the credits, and as Max Headroom would say ‘Let’s talk about me”.

You know times have changed since I was born. When I was three years old the men came home from the second great war in Europe this century and tried to settle down and make things just the way they were before and hope things worked out better this time. Some of the early members of the Alvin Toffler generation had had enough, however, and it seemed like time for a change. But the time I was in my teens I was singing like Elvis Presley, had a haircut like Eddie Cochran, and had the smoothest of lines with the girls on the bus home from school. Mind you, I had to be quick, there were no girls allowed at the Catholic Grammar, so I had to indulge my teenage longings with maximum concentration during the journey home. Certainly I seemed to be getting a different set of behavioural instructions from the priests at school than the ones I was getting direct from my body functions on the bus.

There, perhaps, began the first breakdown in my trust and acceptance of the morals of my elders. They didn’t make too good a logical case for their arguments, but having had control over me since infancy, they could sure make me feel guilty for even thinking about what was in those less liberated days at the most an extreme improbability. Give me a boy until he is twelve and I will make him mine for life said some Jesuit, and they nearly did. But finally I left home to go to University, and away from the cage of church and family I discovered that my conscience was a great deal more flexible than I had thought, and it was no good the church fathers just telling those were the rules and I had no option but to obey them, because it was soon clear that I had lots and lots of options. So that was when I stopped thinking of myself as a Christian and started thinking of myself as an agnostic. I only knew that I didn’t know what the hell it was all about, and that I was going to try and find out for myself. After a few years as a student, and then working in the theatre, I had made plenty of mistakes, but at least I felt I was living according to a set of rules that had some grounding in my own understanding and experience. Even so there were some serious problems.

Part of the problem seems to be that you plunge into the deep end of life with the boundless self-assurance of youth, with the highest possible ideals and intention, and with the perfect plan of action , yet in a few months you are up to you neck in it, miserable as sin, and scared stiff of drowning. And some people do, but most people flounder to some unsatisfactory way out of their problems, reflect on it as a ‘learning experience’, get their breath, and jump right back in again. I did frequently, and by the time that I had reached the end of my twenties, I was finally beginning to consider that maybe I was going about things the wrong way. I was quite successful in my work. I could pick and choose what I wanted to do, and was being paid well for doing what in my youth I had done for pleasure. Through the sixties rejection of materialism, dogmatism, and the thought patters of the industrial revolution, I was working in a field conspicuous for its nurturing of personal creativity, and freedom of individual expression. Working in a job, a large part of the essential purpose of which was commenting on the human condition, only served to highlight the fact that I was unable to answer my own most important questions. How was it possible that I was a success in virtually everything I did, and was still miserable and dissatisfied. What I had was a philosophical crisis, and one thing I knew about philosophy was that there was no point in looking for an answer. The trick is to look for the right question. And so we come to the next theme “What is the meaning of Life?” – Part II – beyond Monty Python.

When I was a kid, sometime in my teens, I went to the Planetarium in London, and the wise old astronomer was talking of the immense distances of the universe and the mind-boggling number crunching enormity of it all, and he concluded by saying pretty much “If the thought of all this makes you feel small and utterly insignificant to the Universe then that’s because that’s the way it is.” And yes, I had heard all the big numbers, and seen the photographs of distant nebulae, but there was absolutely no question about it, I disagreed. Like I am sure most of the other kids, I knew that without me the Universe might as well not be there. It could be thought of as simple teenage vanity, but I like to think of it as an experiential certainty of personal importance, on the basis that if it’s something you shouldn’t have throw big words at it and turn it into something else. In school I was a maths and science whiz, though at home I was more into psychology and art. Mostly, of course, I was into rock and roll. I think we did a bit of philosophy in our Religious Knowledge classes, well I know we did actually, because I remember learning reams of Thomas Aquinas, and the teacher struggling valiantly with Hegel, but most of the teenagers I knew didn’t talk about philosophy too much. We all thought we were going to live forever, and there’d be plenty of time for all that later. Perhaps I was right. Anyway it was the philosophers I went to first when I was having my life crisis. I was having problems with the “I think therefore I am” bit and remember being quite fond of Nietszche’s “It thinks therefore I am” though I didn’t fancy all his ideas so much. Perhaps “It knows therefore I am” would have been best. But -

He knows the thoughts within the breasts. (35.38)

I remember spacing out on Berkeley and Hume and the idealists, and at one stage I was getting a bit worried as everyone I seemed to read and agree with died suicidal or in an insane asylum. While the Beatles were with the Maharishi I was in the twilight zone. But I came through it by the time I got up to Russell and Popper and Wittgenstein as it seemed to have come down to mathematics and linguistics. So Russell wrote about relativity, and that got me back into science. Which now seemed a whole lot less reliable than it did in my teens. It now seemed important to remember that when you are working in the lab you tend to throw away the results that don’t fit the theory, and suddenly I was reading about the non-objective role of the observer, and science not only changed its limits, but its quality. Going from the outer space of the Planetarium to the inner space of atomic theory didn’t present me with anything more solid. I just ended up with a great Heisenbergian uncertainty, and the Tao of Physics. Not to mention Einstein. Oh dear, there we go, and I said I wasn’t going to mention Einstein, but you have to admit that Relativity did put the cat among the pigeons. Whatever happened to the time? Well, it’s unlikely to be the same again. In the States I had a friend who lived near me in Santa Fe. He had previously been a research physicist, but he couldn’t reconcile working with non-linear time in theory and linear time in practise. So he gave it all up, studied Zen and Gurdjieff, started working as a plumber and eventually found time for a good time.

To Him the angels and the Spirit mount up in a day whereof the measure is a thousand years. (70.4)

So the scientists seemed to have some difficulty coming up with anything in the way of solid answers. But I though what about mathematics, you know two and two is four, you can’t argue with that can you? Well, as a matter of fact you can and they do. When I looked into it I found that what mathematicians deal with bears as much relationship to what you learnt at school as chalk and cheese. Cantor’s multiple infinities were tricky enough, and then along came Godel of Escher and Bach fame to prove fairly conclusively that numbers don’t have anything to do with the real world – they’re just intellectual systems.

How is it with this Book, that it leaves nothing behind, small or great, but it has numbered it?" (18.49)

and He encompasses all that is with them, and He has numbered everything in numbers." (72.28)

You know, if you take a number and multiply it by itself you always get a positive number. So plus two times plus two is four, and minus two times minus tow is four. To get a minus four you have to multiply plus two by minus two and they’re different numbers. So you can ask what number multiplied by itself gives us four and get the answer two or minus two, but there is no number that multiplies with itself to give minus four, so there is no point in asking the question. The same with the ones, plus one times plus one is one, minus one times minus one is one, so the square root of one is plus one or minus one, but there is no square root of minus one. OK so far? ~Then some mathematician decides that it would actually be quite useful to have a square root of minus one, he thinks of all these great equations he could play around with if he had one, so he decides to pretend there is one and the equations work a treat. Pretend sums we’re talking about here, and this is what they get up to in the universities with their government grants, making up numbers and playing with them. You can imagine what would happen if you tried it in Presto’s “Excuse me miss could you please add up my bill using this number I’ve just invented ‘cause it makes everything only half the price.” They’d send for the men in the white suits.

And then some physicist comes along and says Hey, look at this cute wee imaginary number - I want a go of that – and he likes it so much that he uses it all the time. So he’s away with the fairies as well, except that the next thing you know he uses it in some formula and we’ve got nuclear powered electricity coming out of our sockets made out of a number that somebody made up. When we switch on the light it’s just pretend electricity! And if you think that’s weird just ask a mathematician about the Banach Tarski paradox, where you can take a solid object, divide it into four pieces, and when you put it together again it’s two solid objects the same size as the first one, and I just can’t wait for some physicist to deal with the practical side of that. You take a can of beans off the shelf, put it in the Banach Tarski paradox box, press the button, then take one can out and eat the beans and put the original back on the shelf to use next time. Hey Presto’s.

In the earth are signs for those having sure faith; and in your selves; what, do you not see? And in heaven is your provision, and that you are promised. So by the Lord of heaven and earth, it is surely true as that you have speech. (51.20-23)

So I didn’t get a lot of answers from the mathematicians, though I did get a whole new bundle of questions, and it seems that they no longer make any claims to objective truth, and judge the rightness of their answers in terms of their Beauty. “How do you know that’s the right answer?” “Well it’s really pretty”. Mostly they seemed to agree with Jorge Luis Borges, who said that when God made the world He made it appear really solid, but in case we got to thinking that this solidity was the real thing, He left a couple of reminders that it isn’t and they are ideas of paradox and infinity.

Did you hear that sneaky little word “God” slip in there almost unnoticed? We must be getting close to the nitty gritty. You know, when I first started to try and deal with all this, I refused point blank to use the word. After all, I had given up my Christianity because that white bearded old man up in the clouds idea seemed more like pie in the sky to me, and any answers I’d got to subtler questions about an everywhere God had seemed confused and impossible to relate to “The Church” as I knew it. So I dropped the word “God” altogether as a bit of an intellectual embarrassment, and talked in terms of agnosticism, the search for knowledge, the truth, the ultimate, the infinite. Yet as I tried to understand what it was that I really believed in, none of the alternatives seemed to be enough. After Cantor, even the Infinite seemed inadequate. In fact, the only word that had the breadth of definition to express what I believed in – “God” seemed to have been reduced to some kind of meaningless all purpose sentence filler. God alone knows what the average punter out there thinks it means, for God’s sake. God help us. God’s dead isn’t He? Oh God! After months of intensive study, I end up concluding that the one word that sums up what I believe in has no meaning. There is no God. Except God.

It is God who splits the grain and the date-stone, brings forth the living from the dead; He brings forth the dead too from the living. So that then is God; then how are you perverted?

He splits the sky into dawn, and has made the night for a repose, and the sun and moon for a reckoning. That is the ordaining of the All-mighty, the All-knowing.

It is He who has appointed for you the stars, that by them you may be guided in the shadows of land and sea. We have distinguished the signs for a people who know.

It is He who produced you from one living soul, and then a lodging-place, and then a repository. We have distinguished the signs for a people who understand.

It is He who sent down out of heaven water, and thereby We have brought forth the shoot of every plant, and then We have brought forth the green leaf of it, bringing forth from it close-compounded grain, and out of the palm-tree, from the spathe of it, dates thick-clustered, ready to the hand, and gardens of vines, olives, pomegranates, like each to each, and each unlike to each. Look upon their fruits when they fructify and ripen! Surely, in all this are signs for a people who do believe. (6.95-99)

Or has he not been told of what is in the scrolls of Moses.
and Abraham, he who paid his debt in full?
That no soul laden bears the load of another,
and that a man shall have to his account only as he has laboured,
and that his labouring shall surely be seen,
then he shall be recompensed for it with the fullest recompense,
and that the final end is unto thy Lord,
and that it is He who makes to laugh, and that makes to weep,
and that it is He who makes to die, and that makes to live,
and that He himself created the two kinds, male and female,
of a sperm-drop, when it was cast forth,
and that upon Him rests the second growth,
and that it is He who gives wealth and riches,
and that it is He who is the Lord of Sirius (53.36-49)

With Him are the keys of the Unseen; none knows them but He. He knows what is in land and sea; not a leaf falls, but He knows it. Not a grain in the earth's shadows, not a thing, fresh or withered, but it is in a Book Manifest.

It is He who recalls you by night, and He knows what you work by day: then He raises you up therein, that a stated term may be determined; then unto Him shall you return (6.59-60)

Having realised what I was looking for, I thought that the obvious thing to do in the circumstance was check out the folks who make it their speciality, so I started to read up on religion. Having escaped the stifling clutches of formalised religion once, however, I was not in the mood to abandon my grey matter completely, and started off with the idea that if there was any fundamental truth concerning the body of mankind in its entirety, and how it should related to the surrounding universe, then this knowledge would probably be evident in all the great world religions. The Strange thing is that the similarities are so great that it is almost impossible to understand how the different religions have spent most of history butchering each other instead of trying to share their knowledge for the betterment of all mankind. But in the words of Kurt Vonnegut, “So it goes”.

man is the most disputatious of things (18.54)

And it’s not just the lineage of Abraham. When the Dalai Lama came to Glasgow, the chairperson talked of everyone there believing in God, and all the Buddhists round me were going “No we don’t! No we don’t!” The Dalai Lama didn’t, of course, he just sat there and smiled. But to any Tibetan Buddhists out there I would like to say to you – “Yes you do! Yes you do!” What we differ on is a linguistic problem. Any Buddhist knows that in attempting to describe anything we might know as a God, all we can do is describe the veils of our selves, our nafs, the limits of our imagination and understanding. That’s OK by me. I consider my God to be beyond description also. Yet to talk bout what is other than the manifest world, you need a word, a name. If you like you can call it the Great Void, the indescribable not-being. However you try to encapsulate it, no that’s not it. And out of the void, as we approach the manifestation of being, or creation as I call it, what is the first recognisable attribute. The Great Compassion.

Muslims have a phrase that they use hundreds of times every day. When they start to pray, when they start the car, when they start to eat. Bismillah, By the Name Allah, Only a name, not a description, as Allah is indescribable. But we do have words by which we may approach an understanding, and the first of these is Rahman, and the second is Rahim, the two aspects of Compassion and Mercy. That’s what I said at the start of the talk, Bidmillahirrahmanirrahim. By the name Allah, All Mercy, All Compassion, and there is enough in that phrase to fill more than one lecture. But if it’s all so airy-fairy and indescribable how does understanding come into it. How does one form judgements about what to believe. Is it faith or nothing? Blind Faith? What a band!

And some men there are who say, "We believe in God and the Last Day"; but they are not believers. (2.8)

When it is said to them, "Do not corruption in the land", they say, "We are only ones that put things right." Truly they are the workers of corruption but they are not aware. (2.11-12)

What, does not God know very well what is in the breasts of all beings? God surely knows the believers, and He knows the hypocrites. (29.10-11)

If there is one thing that most of the great religions men seem to agree on it is that the first thing you need is faith – usually in them – and that the desire for understanding is something if not to be frowned upon, at most an unnecessary luxury. Yet there are some strong traditions to suggest otherwise. When the Prophet first offered his message to the tribes in Makkah, he stood on a hillside and said “Do you trust me enough that if I told you there was an army approaching from the other side of this hill would you believe me? And they all said “Yes. Of course. You are an honest man.” He appealed to their experience and understanding first, and when they had made a judgement about that, he said OK – If you would have believed in that which you can’t see, then believe this which you can’t see, and they all went “One God? The man’s gone mad!” – except a very few. Most of them came around in the end though.

Is it not time that the hearts of those who believe should be humbled to the Remembrance of God and the Truth which He has sent down, and that they should not be as those to whom the Book was given aforetime, and the term seemed over long to them, so that their hearts have become hard, and many of them are ungodly?

Know that God revives the earth after it was dead. We have indeed made clear for you the signs, that haply you will understand. (57.16- 17)

Have they not regarded the birds, that are subjected in the air of heaven? Naught holds them but God; surely in that are signs for a people who believe. (16.79)

All the traditions agree on another thing also, which is that you can’t get it all from books, so after a year or so of intensive reading, I decided to accept the consensus opinion that if you are hungry for knowledge, then you can speed the process up considerably by going off and looking for it.

It is not for the believers to go forth totally; but why should not a party of every section of them go forth, to become learned in religion, and to warn their people when they return to them, that haply they may beware? (9.122)

Well, I had nothing much better to do, so I set off on what often turned out to be a pretty magical journey. It can be tricky putting the theory into practice, trying to find a method to combat the madness. Dumping the accumulated guilt and anguish over failures of the past, as well as learning to quell the fears for an uncertain future, and trust that these things would ultimately be taken care of. Living in the Now. A non-repeatable but ongoing method. Looking for guidance and learning to recognise it, and realising that one can in fact rely on Truth and patience.

Especially Truth. All my life I had been someone who like most people thought that truth was of course desirable in the ideal situation, but situations were so rarely ideal that I spent most of my time trying to remember what I had told to whom. To decide that the situation was in fact as ideal as it was going to get, so I might as well tell the truth all the time, and then find out how much easier it made things, was a revelation. After all those years to finally see that if you aren’t speaking the truth yourself, you can never hope to access the truth of what surrounds you. And then to find it in Islam, a rigorous concern for the truth. War is lies, said the Prophet, and that was just about the only excuse accepted.

We created not the heavens and earth, and all that between them is, in play; We created them not save in truth; but most of them know it not. (44.38-39)

It is He who made the sun a radiance, and the moon a light,   and determined it by stations, that you might know the number of the years and the reckoning. God created that not save with the truth, distinguishing the signs to a people who know. (10.5)

That is because God makes the night to enter into the day and makes the day to enter the night; and that God is All-hearing, All-seeing.

That is because God - He is the Truth, and that they call upon apart from Him - that is the false; and for that God is the All-high, the All-great.

Hast thou not seen how that God has sent down out of heaven water, and in the morning the earth becomes green? God is All-subtle, All-aware.

To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and in the earth; surely God - He is the All-sufficient, the All-laudable. (22.61-64)

I don’t have time to tell much of the journey, or show you my holiday snaps, but I spent my time learning that if you trust you are protected, and if you look for guidance you are guided, and after some months I was guided to the southern end of the Rocky Mountains, where I met my first group of real life practising muslims, and I bet that, considering the title of the lecture, you were beginning to wonder if it would ever happen, much like myself at the time.

Half way through, and we’ve just met the muslims.

So when did I become muslim? Like Catholicism, Islam tends to come in a complete package according to the most commonly heard opinions. To think of yourself as a muslim you have to take it all. Not so

The unbelievers say, "Why has the Koran not been sent down upon him all at once?" Even so, that We may strengthen thy heart thereby (25.32)

Now any westerner worth his salt is not going to let anyone else decide for him how much he is going to believe and when. And he will choose his own form of worship, thank you very much. Like the Quraish, who mostly ended up as the Companions. So if he accepts things a little at a time, when does he become a muslim? If he is a muslim anywhere between not being a muslim and the complete package, the package is not necessary. So what is? Witnessing that there is no God – except God. And recognising that there is no point in a life without that remembrance. Shahada. There is no God – except God. And what did the first muslims think about it? Well it was quite literally a matter of life and death for some. People were martyred for it. And to say it, even without belief could be enough to save your life. There is a story of how in one of the battles a muslim was chasing one of the enemy who turned and said “There is no God but God” very quickly, as you would, and the muslim said “Aye – I’ll believe you” and chopped his head off. So the Prophet hauled him over the coals and said “What do you think you were doing, killing your muslim brother?” and your boy says “He was not. He was just saying it to get off home in one piece.” The reply came “When you cut him open could you see what was written on his soul?”

La ilaha illa Allah. There is no god except God. My first night on the mountain was the first time anyone had spoken the phrase to me. And it was a woman by the way – if that makes it seem any less valid to the traditionalists out there. She asked me if I knew what it meant, and with the radiant confidence of ignorance I said “Yes, of course.” Now, a dozen years later I’m not so sure, but I keep trying.

What I had been learning while I was travelling, I was later to think of as Tawhid. The Unity of that everywhere God of my catechism I had almost forgotten. Not only with what was outside me

To God belongs the East and the West; whithersoever you turn, there is the Face of God; God is All-embracing, All-knowing. (2.115)

But also with what was inside me

We indeed created man; and We know what his soul whispers within him,         and We are nearer to him than the jugular vein. (50.16)

That then is God your Lord; there is no god but He, the Creator of everything. So serve Him, for He is Guardian over everything. The eyes attain Him not, but He attains the eyes; He is the All-subtle, the All-aware. (6.102-103)

The God of the nomad hitch-hiker.

Where I had arrived there were people of all sorts of religious persuasions, but all with a shared purpose of trying to find out the things that unite man, and if you look for them they are many.

God is He that created you of weakness, then He appointed   after weakness strength, then after strength He appointed weakness and grey hairs; He creates what He will, and He is the All-knowing, the All-powerful. (30.54)

Every soul shall taste of death; and We try you with evil and good for a testing, then unto Us you shall be returned. (21.35)

With this assortment of strangers I not only learned a bit about all sorts of strange practises, but I also began to learn more about the organ we have been given to help unify mankind, the heart. The muslims, however, were living somewhat apart, and I first really came to meet them when we all went to help them move some adobe bricks, and when it came to lunch time they all went off to the half built mosque instead of eating, though I wasn’t quite sure what was involved at the time.

the month of Ramadan, wherein the Koran was sent down to be a guidance to the people, and as clear signs of the Guidance and the Salvation. (2.185)

After a while, I heard this strange noise – La ilaha illa Allah – I just had to check it out, and when I saw it like wind in the long grass I thought – ‘Now that looks like fun’. So I saw the sheikh and asked if I could join in, and every Thursday I would meet with them to explore different kinds of Dzikr. It means Remembrance. A short phrase repeated over and over to remind you what you’re dealing with.

So, what are the most commonly repeated dzikr. After their prayers most muslims will repeat Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, Allahuakbar.

Subhanallah. As one Indian friend put it ito me “God is the most clean.” No spot, no blemish, no stain, no mistakes. I like to think of it as the embodiment of the fact that whatever was in the past was beyond recall, so one might as well accept it and get on with what comes next, and not waste any more energy having hot flushes over embarrassing moments that everyone else has forgotten, or suffering endless guilt for brief mistakes. We all make them. One careless prod of the finger and all hell breaks loose, and “I didn’t mean to do it! I didn’t mean to do it!” But worrying about it now is a waste of time, as now it is over and done with, so there’s no need to keep agonising about it, unless you happen to enjoy your agony. Then, however, it was exactly what we were supposed to get to deal with. It was not a mistake. Subhanallah.

Alhamdulillah. All praise belongs to God. Al-Ghazali talks of the Hamd being praise based in gratitude, which is the beginning of the straight path along with patience, though gratitude is superior to patience as mercy is to anger, as gratitude proceeds from joy and unlike patience is free from distress and sorrow. Free from distress and sorrow, the ideal way to experience the immediate moment, in fact. Alhamdulillah.

Allahuakbar. God is Great. Now, whatever the anguish or uncertainty over the future, God can change the situation with bravura demonstrations of power at any moment, and the future can be transformed for us with ease, and all the worry will have been wasted. How many times have we all been in a position where we couldn’t see our way past the end of the week. No way out. This is it. This is the big one. And now we look back and hey, it wasn’t so bad after all. The future was changed beyond our imagining. Allahuakbar.

So that takes care of living with the past, Subhanallah, the present, Alhamdulillah, and the future, Allahuakbar, and to sum it all up we can say La ilaha illa Allah.

Now I can see the muslims squirming in their seats because I keep saying La ilaha illa Allah, and they don’t understand why I haven’t yet tacked on the phrase that they would all join on to it without a moment’s thought, Muhammad rasul Allah. Now here we have a good case of what I was saying earlier about dealing with each aspect of Islam as a conscious adult. La ilaha illa Allah Muhammad rasul Allah was probably one of the first things that any of them learned to say. Yet after saying the first half, I couldn’t say the second half until I had spent three months trying to work out what I meant by it. Let’s start with the end first, as that is the easiest. Allah. God The God to be more precise, not any old god, but The One God. We have here just a slight problem in that the muslims like to call God Allah, because their lineage comes through the Arabic language. But for those who wish to create dissent, one of the easier ways is to suggest that because they use a different language they are talking about different things. Remember it’s not some heathen idol we’re talking about. Allah is Who the Arabic speaking Christians pray to as well.

Say: "People of the Book! Come now to a word common between us and you, that we serve none but God, and that we associate not aught with Him, and do not some of us take others as Lords, apart from God." (3.64)

And what do we mean by Rasul. A messenger? From God? How is that possible, let alone why would it be necessary? Here we are, poor mystified mankind, wandering in the dark, struggling throughout history to cope with living in an eminently unintelligible universe, desperately trying to make some sense of what we are doing here. We pick our way across this uncharted territory in the pitch dark, and every now and then there is a light, a flash of inspiration, just enough to help guide us a little further on the way, or just enough to scare the pants off us by showing us how easy it would be to step into a ravine or something equally nasty.

It is He who shows you the lightning, for fear and hope (13.12)

As in our day to day lives, so in history. A few special people have been given a window of understanding, the ability to see in our dark, and they pass on the directions to others. And they bring us good news that there’s a nice straight path with no thorn bushes, no potholes, no problems, just keep walking. And they also give us a warning of what happens if we insist on ignoring them and going our own sweet way – snakes in the grass.

We sent Messengers before thee; of some We have related to thee, and some We have not related to thee. It was not for any Messenger to bring a sign, save by God's leave. (40.78)

Indeed, We sent forth among every nation a Messenger, saying: " Serve you God, and eschew idols." (16.36)

And We gave to Moses the Book, and after him sent succeeding Messengers; and We gave Jesus son of Mary the clear signs, and confirmed him with the Holy Spirit; (2.87)

Surely We have sent thee with the truth good tidings to bear, and warning; not a nation there is, but there has passed away in it a warner. (35.24)

The Messenger believes in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and the believers; each one believes in God and His angels, and in His Books and His Messengers; we make no division between any one of His Messengers. (2.285)

And that brings us to Muhammad, and a sever stumbling block for those of us who come out of the Christian tradition. I don’t remember too much about what I learned of Jesus when I was very small, though I do member reading about the lives of the saints, and I watched various TV versions of the New Testament at times. But as with most children, I knew all about the nativity, as Christmas was the highlight of my year, though I suppose that if I had got the presents, I wouldn’t have cared if it had been in aid of Wodin or Thor. The old Testament needed Cecil B. de Mille and Charlton Heston, and it really seemed more like StarWars than something to be taken seriously, but by the time I was a man, I could tell you a fair bit about the life of Christ or the Old Testament prophets. There was one person, however, who had had a transforming influence on a huge area of the world for fourteen hundred years of Christian history, and of whom I had heard virtually nothing. I suppose I knew vaguely that he was some kind of anti-christ, and I had read Dante, so I knew that he was in something like the ninth level of hell, as close to the Devil as you could get, along with the people who ate babies and stuff like that, but one could largely say that the Christian west dealt with Islamic history by pretending it wasn’t there.

In fact later, when I started to take a more personal interest in what had been European attitudes over the years, I was amazed by the vitriolic quality of what had been written about him. Perhaps with the best of intentions, this intellectual extension of the Crusades seemed to carry on through the centuries with an unquestioning acceptance of the factual basis of any prior ill-informed polemic, while at the same time curtly dismissing the capability of the heathen to form any sort of intelligent or rational judgement about the matter for himself. The arrogance of Muhammad’s western biographers rises up off the page and hits one in the eyes with such breathtaking pomposity that it is almost impossible to believe that these people could be taken seriously. But there were, and sad to say, they still are. The world of academia changes very, very slowly. So all things considered, it is probably not too surprising if the average westerner has the impression that Muhammad was a violent sex-crazed epileptic camel driver. What is even more remarkable is that he seems to have persuaded thousands of millions of people to think he was any different.

So let’s look at another view of the man.

Muhammad. His name means the Praiseworthy.

Muhammad was forbearing, honest, just and chaste. He was the most generous of men. Neither a dinar or a dirham was left him in the evening. If anything remained and there was no one to give it to, night having fallen suddenly, he would not retire to his apartment until he was able to give this excess to whoever needed it. He was never asked for anything but that he gave it to the asker. He would prefer the seeker to himself and his family, and so often his store of grain for the year was used up before the end of the year. He patches his sandals and clothing, did household chores, and ate with his women-folk. He was shy and would not stare into people’s faces. He answered the invitation of the slave and the free-born, and he accepted presents even if they consisted of merely a draught of milk or a rabbits leg, while because of hunger he would at times tie two stones around his stomach.

He attended feast, visited the sick, attended funerals, and walked among his enemies without a guard. He was the humblest of men, the most silent without being insolent, and the most eloquent without being lengthy. He was always joyful and never awed by the affairs of this world. He rode a horse, a male camel, a mule, an ass, he walked barefoot and bareheaded at different times. He loved perfumes and disliked foul smells. He sat and ate with the poor. He tyrannized nobody and accepted the excuse of the one who begged his pardon.

He joked, but he only spoke the truth. He laughed but did not burst out laughing. He did not eat better food or wear better clothes than his servants.

He refused to curse his enemy, 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. He was always the first to extend a greeting. In a handshake he was never the first to release his hand. He preferred his guest over himself and would offer the cushion on which he reclined until it was accepted. One did not argue in his presence. He only spoke the truth. He was the most smiling and laughing of men. He never found fault with his food. If he was pleased with it he ate it, and if he dislike it he left it. If he disliked it he did not make it hateful to someone else. He did not eat very hot food, and he ate what was in front of him on the plate, within his reach, eating with three fingers. He wiped the dish clean with his fingers saying “The last morsel is very blessed.” He did not wash his hands until he had licked them clean of food. He quaffed milk but sipped water.

A man came to him who was overawed by his presence and became reverential towards him. He said to him “Be at rest. I am not a king. I am only the son of a woman of the Quraish who eats dried meat.” His answer to his name was “At your service.”

We have not sent thee, save as a mercy unto all beings. Say: "It is revealed unto me only that your God is One God; do you then surrender?" (21.107-108)

So here is a man who knew the way, always smiling and happy, unafraid, beloved of everyone who knew him. What was his secret? What was the most important thing in his life? Is there any unifying thread that distinguishes his life from ours, some behaviour pattern that we can emulate. Indeed there have been few characters in history whose behaviour has been detailed in such depth, so it shouldn’t bee too hard to find out.

Famous last words. Remember the muslims have their own academics ready to mould the information into a reflection of themselves. The behavioural form of Muhammad is known as the sunna, but what we have left of it is in the form of ahadith, sayings, things the prophet said and things that his companions said about him and what he did. And it is all now preserved as a vast academic discipline. What we have to remember is that in preserving something it is only too easy to kill the life force within it. This is not to say that there is no need for the study of the reliability of the ahadith and their transmitters, as this springs from a necessary concern for the truth of the matter, but in preserving the instances of what he did, the outer form, let us not lose sight of the inner form, why he did it. The what tends to tie us to the prophets own time and place, and indeed the world is full of muslims walking around looking over their shoulders back to a golden age, and walking into present day walls. Does following the sunna really mean that we have to end up with a stiff neck and bruises? Should we not be looking at what confronts us now to be dealt with, and attempting to understand how he would have approached the problem here in our place. The Caliphs, the representatives of the prophet were not just the successors to his political power. As muslims we are each and every one of us representatives of the prophet here in whatever situation we are in, and should try to act in the manner he would want to act. In the same way that as children of Adam we are the representatives of God in this world, and should try to act as He would want us to act.

And when thy Lord said to the angels, "I am setting in the earth a viceroy." They said, "What, wilt thou set therein one who will do corruption there, and shed blood, while We proclaim Thy praise and call Thee Holy?" He said, "Assuredly I know that you know not." (2.30)

So what are the most important aspects of the prophet’s behaviour. We can clearly see the inner form, compassion, mercy, gentleness, humility, generosity, patience, truth. But what of the outer form? Is it that he ate with three fingers and rode on a camel? Is there anything that he himself said was important? Well, as a matter of fact there was. He said whatever else you discard hang on to these things or everything else will fall apart. Live your own life in your own way, but these things are indispensable. They are easy enough to remember, there’s only five of them. They are usually known as the five pillars.

The first pillar we have actually dealt with about as thoroughly as is possible considering the time we’ve had available. Shahada. Bearing witness that there is just one God. Credo inUnum Deum. That’s it. Stop there, let’s not complicate the issue. We’ve done that one.

The next pillar takes a little more time and effort. It’s prayer

Prosperous is he who has cleansed himself, and mentions the Name of his Lord, and prays. (87.14-15)

I was busy exploring all the other religious practices that surrounded me at the time, and then exploring the American countryside for a while, but eventually I came back to the mountain, and though it was time I concentrated my efforts a bit. I was going to be taking part in a Vipassana mediation retreat, but decided to have a bit of a rest first, and went off to a hermitage for a week or so. While I was there I thought I ought to see if I could make any sense out of prayer, and what a surprise. As a kid, it had felt like just  a con. I mean, I went through the motions, but I really didn’t think there was anybody out there to talk to. Now I knew that there wasn’t any “Body” out there, yet when I used words, things started to slot into place. So Off I went to talk to the sheikh again, and over the next couple of months I learned the muslm prayer form, and into the bargain made my first Ramadan.

There are two kinds of prayer. One is Du’a, which is what one usually thinks of as prayer in this part of the world, asking for something or somewhat that you want. This is an excellent form of praying, but as I was trying to want what I got instead of getting what I wanted, I didn’t do it too much, which was OK as it is not the one that is important.

The pillar is the Salaat, or the namaz. It is not and asking for something different, but more like a recognition of the way things are and a submission to it and an acceptance of it. It is compulsory in that it is indispensable, yet it is only a hardship to those who can’t enjoy  it. Like eating it is a necessity, which can be relished or taken on the run, but nor rejected completely, else like the anorexic one is in a state of sickness. But starvation is easy to recognise, while the sickness of the spirit is much harder to appraise. For that reason we have been given guidance as to the essential for our health. It is made five times a day. At dawn, after mid-day, late afternoon, after sunset, and in the dark of the night. By examining our relationship with our salaat in this daily fashion, we have a yardstick by which to measure ourselves, and a fixed base from which to explore ourselves.

surely the prayer is a timed prescription for the believers. (4.103)

To make the salaat you must be clean. More than clean, you must be in a state of wudu. This is a specific form of washing the purpose of which is not only to cleanse, but to seal the inner from the outer. Once more we can see the distinction between sickness and health. As with animals each of which has its own daily pattern of grooming, the wudu is a norm of human grooming, and its neglect is a sign of sickness.

The essence of the salaat is contained in the intention to perform it. It is on that we are judged. In facing Makkah we recognize our three dimensional existence, uniting in circles radiating outwards from the Kaabah like ripples from  a stone thrown in a pond. We begin with a declaration of God’s greatness, and we close with a declaration of peace and mercy towards mankind.

The salaat is built up from a simple form, called a rakat, which is repeated a different number of times in the different prayers. There are libraries of books written about it, but I’ll give you the basics. For those who cannot speak the words, the salaat is contained in its actions. Standing in a position of service, a servant working for your Lord. Bowing in a position of humility, offering your neck to His sword. And prostrating in a position of complete self-effacement, no more than the dust beneath His feet. One is also permitted to sit at rest for a witnessing. La ilaha illa Allah.

The words of the salaat are drawn from the Qur’an. One short chapter, the Opening, is repeated in every rakat. After eleven years it can still surprise me, and I am certain that it can be studied for a lifetime.

In the name of God, All Merciful, All Compassionate.
All praise belongs to God, the Lord of the Worlds,
All Merciful, All Compassionate,
Master of the Day of Judgement.
You alone we serve, and You alone we ask for help,
Show us the straight way,
The way of those with blessings upon them,
Not those with anger upon them,
Nor those who stray. (1.1-7)

Along with the Surah of the Opening is appended as much or as little of the rest of the Qur’an as one wishes. And there you have the prayer. Easy, yet nine out of ten of the people who call themselves muslims don’t bother. For some reason they think other things are more important.

Say: "My Lord esteems you not at all were it not for your prayer." (25.77)

As you can see, the prayer and the Qur’an are inextricably linked. Without the Qur’an there is no prayer, and the prayer is the repository and protection of the Qur’an. So what is this thing we call the Qur’an Well I promise you it is something else! I’ve read some books in my time, but see that Koran – magic. Of course it has been massacred in translation, and disembowelled by academics eager to expose it as a fraud. That pomposity and arrogance leaps up off the commentators’ pages and hits one between the eyes again. Because they are incapable of seeing anything in it which fits their ideas of how a book ought to be written, they would have you believe that it was flung together by a bunch of idiots with no better idea as to how to collate it than that they should put the longest bits first and the shortest bits last, and the half-wits couldn’t even get that right. Even the best and most sincere of translations can only be a pale shadow. This is the one I use. Me and just about every English speaking muslim I know. A.J.Arberry OUP – I recommend it.

Another recommendation. Don’t treat it like a novel, starting at the beginning and working through. Dip into it and let it take you where it will. Read it from the inside our, it works better that way.

With the truth We have sent it down, and with the truth it has come down;   and We have sent thee not, except good tidings to bear, and warning;

and a Koran We have divided, for thee to recite it to mankind at intervals, and We have sent it down successively.

Say: "Believe in it, or believe not; those who were given the knowledge before it when it is recited to them, fall down upon their faces prostrating,

and say, "Glory be to our Lord! Our Lord's promise is performed." (17.105-108)

The Qur’an. It means a Recitation, a spoken reading. But a reading of what? The Book. What Book? Is this not the Book? Well obviously if this is the Reading. So what Book? Let’s see if we can hazard a guess. This is a book in my hand. We all know that. I am reading from it. However, I wonder what someone out of the New Guinea jungle might make of it, or even one of those little pygmies some of you probably keep in the playpen at home. Can you eat this thing? It doesn’t smell of much. Perhaps it could be worn as a hat. To them it’s not a book, it’s just some woody leaf like sort of stuff with odd marks on. Your learn it is a book, then you learn how to read it. But the Qur’an talks of a different kind of Book. A Book in which you can have no doubt? Can you think of anything in which you have no doubt? Well you don’t doubt that you’re here do you? You see, this also is a book if only you could read it. A different book for each person. I’m not seeing the same thing as you, and he’s seeing something completely different. The Prophets were taught to read their Books, and each was in sometimes miraculous harmony with his Book, and understood what it said. And that way a few men could defeat an army, a boy could slay a giant, a slave child could triumph over Pharaoh.

Come on – You mean we’re supposed to think of this as a book? Where do you get that idea?

Didst thou not know that God knows all that is in heaven and earth? Surely that is in a Book; surely that for God is an easy matter. (22.70)

No female bears or brings forth, save with His knowledge; and none is given long life who is given long life neither is any diminished in his life, but it is in a Book. Surely that is easy for God. (35.11)

And We have sent down to thee the Book with the truth, confirming the Book that was before it, and assuring it. (5.51)

Every term has a Book. God blots out, and He establishes whatsoever He will; and with Him is the Essence of the Book. (13.38-39)

And We have sent down on thee the Book making clear everything, and as a guidance and a mercy, and as good tidings to those who surrender. (16.89)

This Koran could not have been forged apart from God; but it is a confirmation of what is before it, and a distinguishing of the Book, wherein is no doubt, from the Lord of all Being. (10.37)

A Book whose signs have been distinguished as an Arabic Koran for a people having knowledge (41.3)

What signs? Some prophets had clear signs, miracles.

And Moses came to you with the clear signs (2.92)

And when Jesus came with the clear signs he said, "I have come to you with wisdom, and that I may make clear to you some of that whereon you are at variance; so fear you God and obey you me. Assuredly God is my Lord and your Lord; therefore serve Him; this is a straight path." (43.63-64)

The rest of us just have the day to day miracles to go on.

We shall show them Our signs in the horizons and in themselves, till it is clear to them that it is the truth. Suffices it not as to thy Lord, that He is witness over everything? Are they not in doubt touching the encounter with their Lord? Does He not encompass everything? (41.53-54)

And of His signs is that He created you of dust; then lo, you are mortals, all scattered abroad.

And of His signs is that He created for you, of yourselves, spouses, that you might repose in them, and He has set between you love and mercy. Surely in that are signs for a people who consider.

And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and earth and the variety of your tongues and hues. Surely in that are signs for all living beings.

And of His signs is your slumbering by night and day, and your seeking after His bounty. Surely in that are signs for a people who hear.

And of His signs He shows you lightning, for fear and hope, and that He sends down out of heaven water and He revives the earth after it is dead. Surely in that are signs for a people who understand.

And of His signs is that the heaven and earth stand firm by His command; then, when He calls you once and suddenly, out of the earth, lo you shall come forth. (30.20-25)

And of His signs is that thou seest the earth humble; then, when We send down water upon it, it quivers, and swells. Surely He who quickens it is He who quickens the dead; surely He is powerful over everything. (41.39)

See, I told you – magic.

And when was this Qur’an first revealed to the prophet? Ramadhan – third pillar

For one month each year, changing as the moon changes, muslims go without food, drink, sex and smoking between the dawn and sunset. In the way that our day is structured by the prayer, so our years are punctuated by the rhythmic reoccurrence of Ramadhan. Looking back over the years, I can remember a number of occasions when what happened in my prayers seemed extraordinary, a revelation. Mostly it feels more practical than inspired, but the month of fasting invariably has an intensity that gives each year a fierce individuality, often laced with the most eccentric of occurrences. Thus looking back it is possible to see the line of one’s life pegged on the peaks of successive Ramadhans. It is indeed a wondrous month. It is also the time for the gathering of a part of the Zakat, the alms tax.

Next pillar. From the earliest days of Islam, the surahs of the Qur’an were divided into two, the Makkan surahs and the Madinan surahs. Makkah and Madina reflect the two aspects of mankind, the inner and the outer, the personal and the social. There are things that a man has to do for his own well-being, and there are things that a group of men have to do for the welfare of the social unit. In the prayer a man helps the group by looking after his own welfare, and by paying the alms tax he helps himself by looking after the well-being of the group. In the formalisation of a tax on all accumulated wealth for redistribution to the needy, we see the Realpolitik of Islam. It’s not all prayer and philosophy, it’s social security. We are shown what is essential to the group as well as the man. Then in the final pillar we see the man stripped of all but a winding sheet, one drop in the ocean of his global society, annihilated in Arafah.

Hajj, the pilgrimage. The focal point of a lifetime. And what is required of a man when he reaches this peak of his spiritual life? It is said that the whole of the Qur’an is contained in the Bismillah, and the whole of the Bismillah is contained in the dot of the Ba. At the focal point of his existence, at the peak of the Hajj on the plain of Arafah, a man is required to do nothing. He stands, in silence, alone, amongst the believers.

And who are the believers?

The servants of the All-merciful are those who walk in the earth modestly and who, when the ignorant address them, say, "Peace" (25.63)

True piety is this: to believe in God, and the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the Prophets, to give of one's substance, however cherished, to kinsmen and orphans, the needy, the traveller, beggars, and to ransom the slave, to perform the prayer, to pay the alms. And they who fulfil their covenant       when they have engaged in a covenant, and endure with fortitude misfortune, hardship and peril, these are they who are true in their faith, these are the truly godfearing. (2.177)

Well, here we are on the final page, and we just about made it. It is a pity I spent so long talking about the approach that there was hardly any time left to talk about the Islam, but there you go.

Though all the trees in the earth were pens, and the sea - seven seas after it to replenish it, yet would the Words of God not be spent. God is All-mighty, All-wise. (31.27)

Anyway, before we go, I would like to apologise to the ladies for the masculinity of the language, all those “man”s and “he”s and “him”s require a little more mental effort on your part, but your were not meant to be excluded.

And I would like to give the final reminder to all of you. We are living just a few miles from the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in Europe. It only takes one cack-handed corporal to spill his coffee in the computer. Are you ready?

And when heaven is split asunder, and turns crimson like red leather - O which of your Lord's bounties will you and you deny? (55.37-38)

And death's agony comes in truth; that is what thou wast shunning! (50.19)

And the matter of the Hour is as a twinkling of the eye, or nearer. Surely God is powerful over everything. (16.77)

But I also have some good news.

What is with you comes to an end, but what is with God abides; and surely We shall recompense those who were patient their wage, according to the best of what they did. And whosoever does a righteous deed, be it male or female, believing, We shall assuredly give him to live a goodly life; and We shall recompense them their wage, according to the best of what they did. (16.96-97)

Ya Allah. Forgive me if I have strayed from the truth, or stained the memory of your prophet Muhammad. Astaghfirallah.

Well, I’ve already quoted about sixty-odd passages from the Qur’an, but to close the show I thought I’d read one more.

If We had sent down this Koran upon a mountain, thou wouldst have seen it humbled, split asunder out of the fear of God. And those similitudes - We strike them for men; haply they will reflect.

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-peacable, the All-faithful, the All-preserver, the All-mighty, the All-compeller, the All-sublime. Glory be to God, above that they associate!

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. (59.21-24)