In one of those quirks of history, a feature of today’s Britain is its quietly declining Christianity now offset by a conspicuous and vibrantly growing Islam.
But Muslims find themselves in a country; in fact, a continent, in an acute crisis of modernity and inner emptiness. Britain no longer has God. So beneath the surface of a complex modern society lies a complete deficit of meaning. Even those who fall in line with the latest fashionable beliefs about gender fluidity, woke ideology, or body worship find little healing or inner solace. Antidepressant prescriptions appear to have doubled in the last decade and therapy services almost double every two years. These reflect the now rising self-reported rates of loneliness, unhappiness, anxiety, apathy and low life satisfaction. In this crisis of meaning, people aren’t just struggling to live: they are struggling to understand why?
Islam says that fundamental to a sense of a life well-lived is for life to be rooted in meaning; in a sense of purpose to something beyond the self. The first verse above states that the entire cosmos was created: that you may know God. Thus, the Holy Qur’an says: God it is Who created the seven heavens, and of earth the like thereof. The command descends between them, that you may know that God has power over everything and that God encompasses all things in knowledge. [Q.65:12]
The next verse teaches that once God is seen as being the Hand behind all things, meaning is then about living a goodly life for God: He Who created death and life, that He may try which of you is best in conduct. [Q.67:2] As for true happiness, it’s the inner peace or sakinah that comes from living in harmony with God’s will, regardless of our external circumstances.
Living a meaningful life rooted in the worship of God, and trusting in His purposes for us, not only brings the soul inner joy, it anchors it and offers it resilience against the ravaging winds of existential despair. For a believer, life has meaning; loss has meaning; death has meaning. Nothing is fortuitous, nothing random. Everything is a meaningful part of God’s wise plan in which we may learn, be purified, grow in Spirit and be drawn closer as we make our way to eternity. One of God’s knowers (‘arifun) has said:
‘Indeed, existence is meanings set up in forms. All who can grasp this are from the people of discernment.’
If the revival of Islamic assertion is regarded by non-Muslims as chiefly one of the imposition of shari‘ah over a people, and not one of offering meaning or of restoring the remembrance of God back into people’s lives, then the da‘wah is failing and its hijacking by juveniles and extremists continues; those who see Islam as fundamentally about politics or political supremacy rather than God’s Holiness and Sanctity.
At its core, prophetic da‘wah was about restoration, as must ours be. It was about healing souls wounded by the world. It was also about optimism and hope in God, even against the odds. The callers must present to wounded humanity the offer of hope. For hope is a defining monotheistic response to disaster, to the vicissitudes of the world, or even to being made the otherised scapegoat for society’s growing anger. The prophetic way was nothing short of hope in God and optimism, as this hadith tells us: ‘I am delighted by optimism and a good, kind word.’ [Muslim, no.2224] Only by seeing, understanding and purifying our souls might we serve a redemptive purpose for a Britain that is now mired in meaninglessness and foundering in despair. It could even be said that offering hope to the human soul is Islam’s Redemption Song!
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