The Humble I

Knowing, Doing, Becoming

Archive for the category “a short read”

21 Nov 2022
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Be Modest, Not Timid, Red Pillish or Socially Anxious

WHEN IT COMES to gender interactions, Islam insists on decent and appropriate behaviour and dignified conduct between the sexes. In other words, gender relations must be built upon the virtues of modesty (haya’), dignity (waqar) and respectability (haybah).

In fact, it’s probably not an exaggeration to say that men simply can’t be men, or rijal, in Islam, without modesty. Rajuliyyah – ‘manliness’ or ‘masculinity’ in Islam is predicated on it (one just needs to look at the life of the Prophet ﷺ, and also the best ever of non-prophet men, sayyiduna Abu Bakr). In that sense, the only pill Muslim men need to take is the green pill of Islam. Any other pill, red or otherwise, is likely to be a sign of mental confusion, bigging-up the ego, or some other dark and unhealthy pathology. It will also be a perversion of the prophetic norms of how men ought to be rijal. Masculinity in Islam comes from a place of taqwa, dignity and modesty; not ego, anger or insecurity. Likewise, women cannot be said to have the type of femininity Islam celebrates without rooting in themselves the beauty of haya’. 

Islam very much sees itself as the religion about haya’ – modesty, shyness and a sense of reserve. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Every religion has a distinctive quality, and the distinctive quality of Islam is haya’.”1

We are reminded in the next hadith that: ‘Modesty is a branch of faith.’2

There are also these words from the Prophet ﷺ: ‘Never is haya’ present in a matter except that it beautifies it.’3

To be clear, although haya’ translates itself into words like modesty, shyness and of being unassuming in the estimation of one’s abilities; in Islam, it does not translate into being sheepish, timid or socially anxious or insecure. Rather, haya’ is, as scholars say: ‘a quality which induces one to shun whatever is ugly or reprehensible (khuluqun yab‘athu ‘ala ijtinabi’l-qabih).’4

Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali said: ‘What restrains acting in a shameful or deplorable manner is [the quality of] haya’. Therefore, one who has no haya’ will abandon themselves to any indecent or loathsome behaviour.’5

It is why the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘From the words still in currency from earlier prophets are: If you have no haya’, then do as you wish.’6

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Ibn Rajab goes on to write that the sense of modesty and shame are of two kinds. The first is an innate character trait that one is naturally disposed towards. The second is a modesty that is acquired through the fear of God, and through the voice of religious conscience which the teachings of faith nurture. He explains:

‘Realise that haya’ is of two types: Firstly, that which is an innate character trait which is not acquired. This is one of the noblest of qualities that Allah bestows on someone and fashions him upon. For this reason, he ﷺ said: “Modesty produces nothing except good”7 for it restrains him from committing foul deeds or displaying depraved morals, and spurs him onto honourable and virtuous character … Secondly, that which is acquired via knowledge of Allah, knowledge of His greatness and nearness to His servants; His awareness and complete familiarity of them; and [His knowledge] of the deceptions of the eyes and what hearts conceal. This is one of the most exalted traits of faith (iman). In fact, it is one of the loftiest degrees of spiritual excellence (ihsan).’8

So in the interaction between the sexes, a sense of modesty, haya’, is key. If innate modest is in short supply, modesty born of faith must prevail. If fear of God will not make people think twice before acting indecently or immodestly, the question for a believer is: What will?

And while there does need to be more discussion and better guidance on how Muslim men ought to be, in a growing demasculinised world, the irony seems to be that the Muslim Red Pill posse comes from exactly the same toxic place as Muslim feminists: They both share gender-biased worldviews and they seek solutions to their grievances from outside the healing light of Islam’s revealed guidance.

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1. Ibn Majah, no.4181. The hadith was graded sahih, due to its multiple paths of transmission. See: al-Albani, Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah (Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islami, 1985), no.940.

2. Al-Bukhari, no.9; Muslim, no.35.

3. Al-Bukhari, al-Adab al-Mufrad, no.601. It was graded sahih, al-Albani, Sahih al-Adab al-Mufrad (Saudi Arabia: Dar al-Siddiq, 1994), no.469.

4. Ibn Hajr al-‘Asqalani, Fath al-Bari (Egypt: Dar al-‘Alamiyyah, 2013), 1:80.

5. Jami‘ al-‘Ulum wa’l-Hikam (Beirut: Mu’assasah al-Risalah, 1998), 1:498

6. Al-Bukhari, no.3483.

7. Al-Bukhari, no.6117.

8. Jami‘ al-‘Ulum wa’l-Hikam, 1:501-2.

Posted in a short read, contemporary concerns, ethics & morals and tagged , , , , , ,
29 Sep 2022
2 Comments

Religion Is Not A Substitute for Science

According to the standard secular story that’s been repeatedly told to us for the past century or so, just a few short decades after the start of modernity, science was able to defeat religion with its sheer brilliance and power to explain. We’ve been led to believe that for centuries religion had been doing some extremely bad science. It tried to tell us how the universe began, how old the earth is, or where the sun sets each night, or why rainbows exist. But such lamentable attempts were finally put to bed when science came along and investigated reality with reason and evidence, thereby driving religion into near oblivion. As such, and as a result, we can put our worries aside, rest comfortably and enjoy the fruits of science and all the astonishing tech it spawns. At least, that’s what we are meant to believe.

As seductive as the story is, and as triumphant as it sounds, the story isn’t quite true. It intentionally and cleverly misrepresents the actual purpose of Religion, by first setting it up as something whose chief aim has been to do pretty much what science does: understand the natural world as well as the cosmic order, and then pointing out that it has done so very badly. Whereas science proceeded with its telescopes, microscopes, pipettes and equations, religion tried to interpret the workings of the physical universe with just an ancient holy book.

In truth, however, religion was never really interested in doing the things modern science does. It might have pointed out the odd fact or two about some aspect of science. It might have occasionally hinted at other facts. Its focus, though, was not really about explanations of the physical world or the physical workings of the cosmos. Its care and focus is altogether very different and profounder: guidance, self-knowledge and salvation; and the ways to actualise our core humanity and inner life. The framing of religion as a flawed, draft version of science needs to be seen for the myth that it actually is.

LIMITS OF SCIENTIFIC & RATIONAL PROOFS

Now this might seem something of a party pooper to some, but there is nothing in the logic of the created order that can irrefutably point to beyond itself. Be it scientific observations, philosophical arguments, mathematical equations or rational proofs – they cannot point to beyond themselves. They are part of the material world. It’s one of the greatest blunders in religion to think we can come up with a watertight, rational argument that proves Theism irrefutably, beyond any shadow of a doubt. That’s just not possible. Materialist arguments can prove material things. It’s a closed system. The physical cannot encompass the metaphysical, but the metaphysical can encompass what is physical. The Holy Qur’an says: Vision encompasses Him not, but He encompasses all things. [Q.6:103] That is, our fallible physical perception (basr) cannot encompass Him, nor can our fallible rational argument (nazr). Why? Because they are from the created order. What they can do, however, is cogently ‘point to’ Theism, rather than irrefutably ‘prove’ Theism. 

What you can do with scientific proofs, cosmological observations, or rational arguments, is point to the coherence of Theism and demonstrate how it best fits the evidence: how it’s by far the best available explanation. This is what rational theology in Islam has sought to do for over a millennium.

And Allah knows best. 

Posted in a short read, atheism & muslim apologetics, science & religion and tagged , , , , , ,
18 Sep 2022
13 Comments

A Few Thoughts On the Death of Non-Muslims

SOME MUSLIMS LABOUR under the mistaken notion that given the enormity of disbelief in Allah’s final Prophet ﷺ and Revelation, one must not speak well of a non-Muslim (kafir) when they pass away on disbelief. Islamic teachings do not, however, require or insist upon such an uncharitable approach.

Many non-Muslims died during the lifetime of our Prophet ﷺ. About some he ﷺ spoke more about their virtues than he did their actual disbelief. Mut‘im b. ‘Adi, a respected Makkan idolater, was one such person. The Prophet ﷺ was ever grateful for the support and protection Mut‘im offered him during the trying years of early Islam in Makkah. When his son Jubayr came to the Prophet asking him to release some of those taken prisoners during the Battle of Badr, the Prophet ﷺ said about his non-Muslim father: ‘Had Mut‘im b. ‘Adi been alive and spoken to me about the captives, I would have released them all to him.’1

The Prophet ﷺ would, occasionally, reveal how certain non-Muslims – known for their virtuous behaviour, but rejection of iman and tawhid, or Abrahamic monotheism – would perish in the Afterlife. The Lady ‘A’ishah once asked the Prophet ﷺ about ‘Abd Allah b. Jud‘an, saying: ‘O Messenger of Allah, in the time of pre-Islamic Ignorance, Ibn Jud‘an would keep ties of kinship and feed the poor. Will any of this benefit him? The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘It will not! For he never ever said: My Lord, forgive me my sins on the Day of Judgement.’2

Of course, no one receive Revelation today to know with certainty what specific individual does or does not perish; other than the general Islamic maxim stated in the rigorously authentic hadith: ‘No one will enter Paradise except a Muslim.’3 Who is blessed to be included among the saved and the sanctified, or what truth-seekers will be given an amnesty for not uttering the shahadah in this world, must be left to the Highest and Most Just Judgement.

As for most non-Muslims who died, the Prophet ﷺ generally remained silent about them: They are a people who have passed away; theirs is what they earned and yours is what you earn. And you will not be asked about what they did. [Q.2:141]

So given that prophetic silence was the usual precedence in such matters, surely it befits us to do the same if we have nothing good to say. There is no need to cuss or curse, as there is no need for false flattery. And there is no need to imagine that such a life lived in kufr was anywhere as significant in Allah’s sight than the passing away of his awliya and ‘ulama. (Regrettably, most of us Muslims have chosen to live our lives uninterested in who the awliya or ‘ulama of Allah are and how we might be inspired by them, let alone care about when or how they passed away.)

Islam recognises hubb tib’i – ‘natural love’ or ‘instinctive affection’ – so whoever feels a loss at the passing away of a non-Muslim (famous or otherwise) feels it; whoever doesn’t, doesn’t.

Moreover, the lives of non-Muslims, just like Muslims, are not all alike. Some have lived a principled and moral life, others have not. Some have been sympathetic to Muslims and to Islam as a whole, others have not. Some have worked for bringing justice to Muslim causes, others have done the opposite. Some have brought benefit to wider society in ways they thought best, others have not.

The shari’ah of course sees that condolences can be in order, and that true and consoling words may indeed be offered to friends and family of the non-Muslim deceased, wherever or whenever occasioned.

Beyond that, it is unbefitting for a believer to get caught up in any collective hysteria, or media manipulation of emotions – especially if the non-Muslim was a person of social or cultural prominence; for: They are a people who have passed away; theirs is what they earned and yours is what you earn. [Q.2:141]

If anything, we might wish to invest more energy in praying for right guidance, sound judgement and wise counsel for the living among the non-Muslims, especially if they have an influential role in society. Seeking to invite, or hoping for allies, is surely better than making enemies.

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1. Al-Bukhari, no.4024.

2. Muslim, no.365.

3. Al-Bukhari, no.4203; Muslim, no.111.

Posted in a short read, contemporary concerns, theology and tagged , , ,
13 Feb 2022
9 Comments

Is Today’s Islam a Failure or Success Story?

This is one of the shorter essays in my forthcoming book, God-willing, entitled: Modernity & Muslimness: Sixty Short Essays that Should Matter. As part of the introduction to the book, I wrote: In his travelogue on Islam in late nineteenth century England, Asmay started by saying: ‘Eight years ago, a faint sound began to come from the West to the East. Realising that the sound was significant, the Muslim umma sat up and took notice, cupping their hands to their ears. Giving all their attention to the sound, they could only make out this sentence, “Islam has started to appear in England.”’1 This book and its essays are a continuation of that sound, that faint murmur, which has only grown louder and more significant with the passage of time.

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ONE COULD ARGUE that Islam, despite what we are being led to believe, is actually a modern success story. Now this might sound strange to some, perhaps to many. So let me explain:

No doubt, media portrayals are negative, dark and gloomy. And of course, events around the world involving Muslims, or at least the ones we tend to hear about and that get most media exposure, don’t lend themselves to much joy or cheer. So perhaps we as Muslims could be forgiven for feeling somewhat overwhelmed; feeling like little corks bobbing up and down in a raging sea of Western liberal, modernity. Yet despite this, if we look at it more broadly, Islam is actually the unsung success story of modernity. 

How is that?

Well let’s ask ourselves what religion is for? That will indicate how well or not Islam is doing. Here, there’s much to give thanks for, much to admire about our current situation; and there’s much more to look forward to in the coming future too – God willing.

Islam, as religion, must be judged in terms of: Does it still offer authentic, practical guidance for salvation? The answer to that is a resounding, Yes! It certainly does.

In fact, Islam continues to be relevant and practical to a growing number of people, and accessible to them too. And one significant reason for this is that Islam is universal. The Prophet ﷺ said: bu’ithtu li’l-nasi kaffah – ‘I have been sent to the whole of humanity.’2 This echoes what we read in the Holy Qur’an: Say [O Muhammad]: ‘O mankind! Truly I am the Messenger of Allah to you all.’ [Q.7:158]

Islam, therefore, has the inbuilt capacity to be native to any soil. And we Muslims must remember this, and not practice Islam in a way which blurs this universality, or makes it appear that it is an Asian or an Arab thing. It ought to be remembered that one of Islam’s great founding stories is of a gentile, Egyptian mother; Hagar, along with her Hebrew Canaanite young child; Ishmael, and their inculturation into the native Arabian landscape, language and cultural life. That’s to say that Islam has the socio-spiritual technology to become native to any soil.

Another reason it’s a success story has to do with numbers. What the data shows is that the number of Muslims is increasing here in Europe, and that by 2030, there will be more Muslims than Christians in Britain.

Related to this is the number of people who continue to convert to Islam, despite media negativity and Islamophobia; and inspite of us born Muslims being asleep to our higher vocation of living and spreading the truths of tawhid. Islam’s message of tawhid, healing and hope, with its universality, still has a powerful appeal to people.

Yet another proof of its success is that its mosques are overflowing. Part of the reason for this, in fact a significant part, is because Islam remains practical and liveable today, even in the modern West, when other religions are capitulating to the juggernaut of modernity, or simply being stamped out by it.

All in all, then – and all praise is for God – Islam as a religion is doing what it says on the tin. It is still offering practical, liveable ways of connecting with God and living godly lives, even amidst today’s turbulence.

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1. In Yusuf Samih Asmay: Islam in Victorian Liverpool: An Ottoman Account of Britain’s First Mosque Community (Swansea: Claritas Books, 2021), 49.

2. Al-Bukhari, no.438; Muslim, no.521.

 

 

Posted in a short read, contemporary concerns, modernity & muslimness and tagged , , , ,
14 Oct 2021
6 Comments

‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: On the Path to Allah in a Nutshell

Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali opens his biography of the venerable saintly scholar, ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, with this highly profound and glowing tribute: ‘The worldly renuncient (al-zahid), shaykh of the age, exemplar of the knowers [of Allah] (qudwat al-‘arifin), sultan of the shaykhs, master of the people of the path in his time (sayyid ahl al-tariqah fi waqtihi) … possessor of spiritual stations and saintly miracles (sahib al-maqamat wa’l-karamat).’1 Further on, he quotes al-Sam‘ani saying: ‘Imam of the Hanbalis and their shaykh in his age … given to abundant remembrance (dhikr), continuous reflection (fikr) and swiftly brought to tears.’2 Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi’s famous words are also cited: ‘I have not heard about anyone from whom saintly miracles (karamat) are reported more than those related about Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir.’3 In fact, al-‘Izz b. ‘Abd al-Salam went so far as to say: ‘No karamat from any of the mashayikh have been mass transmitted, save those of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir. His karamat have been related via mass-transmission (tawatur).’4

In the English language, an excellent biography of this exemplary and peerless scholar can be found in Shaykh Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali Nadwi’s hugely inspirational and modern classic, Saviours of Islamic Spirits. A more scholarly or academic account may be found in Hamza Malik’s excellent treatment: The Grey Falcon: The Life and Teachings of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani.

While his biographies make mention of his extraordinary, out of the norms karamat, they also relate accounts of his less obvious karamat. His biographies record how thousands of non-Muslims were inspired to convert to Islam at his hands and through his spiritual discourses; or even just by his presence. And tens of thousands of Muslims repented at his hand, rectified their lives due to being stirred by his exhortations, and committed themselves to a serious path of suluk under his scholarly guidance and spiritual instruction. And this, more than anything else, is perhaps his greatest charismatic miracle; given that the true Sunni, spiritual path holds: a‘zam al-karamah luzum al-istiqamah – ‘The greatest saintly miracle is clinging firmly to uprightness.’ The scholars of his times and later, as well as his biographies, are a testament to the uprightness of the Shaykh’s life and to his reforming the lives of countless others, so that they too took to the path of uprightness and made God their only goal.

Previous exhortations of the Shaykh can also be found on this blog. One of them discusses the true nature of The Soul’s Contentment; another about Turning to God After All Else Has Failed Us; the third about See[k]ing Allah in the Shopping Mall. Below is another visit to his majlis of spiritual exhortations:

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In the second discourse of the Futuh al-Ghayb, his ‘Revelations of the Unseen’, the Shaykh, qaddasa’Llahu ruhahu, sums up the path to Allah in a nutshell. He said:

اتَّبِعُوا وَلَا تَبْتَدِعُوا، وَأَطِيعُوا وَلَا تَمْرُقُوا، وَوَحَدُوا وَلَا تُشْرِكُوا، وَنَزِّهُوا الْحَقَّ وَلَا تُتَّهَمُوا، وَصَدَقُوا وَلَا تَشْكُوا، وَاصْبِرُوا وَلَا تُجْزَعُوا، وَاثْبُتُوا وَلَا تَنْفِرُوا، وَاسْأَلُوا وَلَا تُسْأَمُوا، وَانْتَظِرُوا وَتَرَقَّبُوا وَلَا تَيْأَسُوا، وَتَوَاخَوْا وَلَا تَعَادُوا، وَاجْتَمَعُوا عَلَى الطَّاعَةِ وَلَا تَتَفَرَّقُوا، وَتَحَابُّوا وَلَا تَبَاغَضُوا، وَتَطَهَّرُوا عَنْ الذُّنُوبِ وَبِهَا لَا تَدْنَّسُوا وَلَا تَتَلَطَّخُوا، 

‘Imitate, do not innovate. Obey, do not renege. Single-out [Allah], do not ascribe a partner [to Him]. Affirm the truth, do not doubt. Be truthful, do not complain. Patiently persevere, do not grow impatient. Stand firm, do not flee. Ask of what you need, never grow weary. Wait and be watchful, don’t despair. Be brothers, not enemies. Unite in obedience, do not divide. Love one another, do not despise one another. Be cleansed of sins, not desecrated or stained by them.

 وَبِطَاعَةِ رَبِّكُمْ فَتَزَيَّنُوا، وَعَنْ بَابِ مَوْلَاكُمْ فَلَا تَبْرَحُوا، وَعَنْ الْإِقْبَالِ عَلَيْهِ فَلَا تَتَوَلَّوْا، وَبِالتَّوْبَةِ فَلَا تَسَوَّفُوا، وَعَنْ الِاعْتِذَارِ إِلَى خَالِقِكُمْ فِي آنَاءِ اللَّيْلِ وَأَطْرَافِ النَّهَارِ فَلَا تَمْلُّوا، 

‘With obedience to your Lord, adorn yourself. From your Master’s door, walk not away. From His acceptance, turn not away. In repentance, don’t delay. Offering sincere apologies to your Creator night and day, never dismay.

فَلَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ وَتُسْعَدُونَ، وَعَنْ النَّارِ تُبْعَدُونَ، وَفِي الْجَنَّةِ تُحْبِرُونَ، وَإِلَى اللَّهِ تُوصِلُونَ، وَبِالنَّعِيمِ وَافْتِضَاضُ الْأَبْكَارِ فِي دَارِ السَّلَامِ تَشْتَغِلُونَ، وَعَلَى ذَلِكَ تَخْلُدُونَ، وَعَلَى النَّجَائِبِ تَرْكَبُونَ, وَبُحُورِ الْعَيْنِ وَأَنْوَاعِ الطِّيبِ وَصَوْتُ الْقَيَانِ مَعَ ذَلِكَ النَّعِيمِ تُحْبِرُونَ، وَمَعَ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَاءِ وَالصَّالِحِينَ تَرْفَعُونَ.

‘Perhaps then you will be shown mercy and be gladdened; from the Hellfire be far removed; in Paradise, bask in its delights; to Allah, finally arrive; amidst the paradisiacal joys in the Abode of Peace, be fully immersed; in that blissful state, eternally remain; on the finest steeds, mounted; in wide-eyed maidens, voices of songstresses and other kinds of pleasures, be joyous; and with the prophets, saints, martyrs and the righteous, be raised.’5

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1. Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, al-Dhayl ‘ala Tabaqat al-Hanabilah (Riyadh: Maktabah al-‘Ubaykan, 2005), 2:188-89.

2. ibid., 2:190.

3. ibid., 2:192.

4. ibid., 2:192.

5. Futuh al-Ghayb (Cairo: Dar al-Maqtam, 2007), 21-22; the second discourse.

Posted in a short read, jilani discourses, sufism, suluk & spirituality and tagged , ,

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