InshAllah, I will be contributing to “Matters of Faith” column for the Home News Tribune. My khutba on “Finding God and Visiting the Sick” was published last Friday Feb. 23, 2007.
“Imam Faraz Khan talks about the Muslim faith and his role as an Imam”.
What is life all about? Life is nothing but choosing between right and wrong. It takes guts to stand in the face of the vulgar pop culture and say “I am a Muslim and I do not want any part of it”. From ‘Desperate House Wives’ to ‘Fifty Cents’, what culture are we adopting?
Are we that Generation Islam that will revive this Ummah or are we those ‘wanna be thugs’ who show up on MTV? What do we represent? Do we live Islam or do we contradict Islam?
Be honest.
Pop Culture is not Islam.
Serve ONE GOD.
Live ONE LIFE.
Live Islam.
The Koran talks about nations that came before the Pagans of Arabia. Every nation was destroyed for their wrong doings. Their main crime was shirk (associating partners with God), and that resulted in a moral degradation of society at large. Once the moral values gave way, the entire social structure collapsed. Thus, every nation was left in ruins whether it was ‘Aad, Sodom and Gomorrah, Thamud, people of Pharoah, etc. They were all destroyed for associating partners with God and immorality.
Keeping this background info, there is a sense of depravity. A sense that moral values is slipping away in this nation of ours. Where is the pop culture leading us? What was considered to be taboo yesterday, is the rule of the day. Popular culture affects us everyday but is there a way that we (Muslims) can change it for the betterment? Can we have an impact in this society to guide the pop culture back to morality? In the coming years, can Muslim community become the moral conscience of America or we will adopt pop culture and go with the flow? Only time will tell (what we did).
Ever wonder why we take courses on Islamic Studies? Why do we memorize vocabulary words like istikhara, tazkiya, ghusl, niyah, ikhlas, etc? What is the idea behind learning Arabic as a second language? Why do we even read Qur’an and Sirah? What is the purpose?
You may say that we have been created to worship God. True, but all Muslims worship God. What is the essence of this worship? The Prophet (s) came to teach how to live as Muslims – in submission to God. I believe the main goal of Islamic studies is not to produce people who regurgitate vocab words, or learn the rituals of the deen, rather to produce people with sound hearts – people of God. To produce individuals who would remind us about hereafter. Individuals who live an exemplary life – the life of sahaba and awliya Allah.
Past civilizations produced many great books, cites, inventions, monuments, etc. However, when we look at the life of the Prophet (s), he didn’t produce any of the above. He didn’t leave behind great books, monuments, cities that can compare to Damascus and Rome, or monuments in every corner, but he changed the entire social order. He brought the entire society from darkness into light. How? He simply worked on people. He connected them to God. Once this connection was established, he left them in the hands of God.
Thus, we inherit this legacy of the Prophet (s), to be amongst saliheen (good people) and use this alchemy to produce hearts of gold. The formula has been given to us by our beloved Prophet (s). Be people of God and you will make a positive change.
Back to God
from 2Pac to Malcolm…
“O You who believe, whoever turns away from the religion of God, He will replace you with another people who will love Him and He will love them. They are humble before believers and strong against disbelievers” (Koran).
Few weeks ago, I was invited to speak at Salam MSA’s event on Karbala at Rutgers New Brunswick. The room was full of students, each with a radiant face and an eagerness to learn. They belonged to both shi’i and sunni Islam. Obviously, it is a very emotional subject – the martyrdom of Imam Husain (r). I had to tread this path very carefully – without any bias.
After the introduction, I told them the condition of my heart; I knew that there were some sunni students there and they were probably thinking ‘Why does this person wants to talk about Karbala’? On the opposing viewpoint, there were shi’a students and I ‘m sure they were thinking ‘Can we really trust this sunni guy to talk about Karbala?
For this reason, the week before my lecture, I spent extra time asking God to give me wisdom to bring both sides closer to one another. I view both shia’ and sunnis as the Ummah of the Prophet (s). It is upon me as a believer to give them good counsel and look after their interest. I told the students that those Muslims who are busy debating shia’/sunna is like a family arguing over the color of curtains while the house is on fire. Are the curtains in the basement blue or green? Meanwhile, the fire is enraging. For God sake, put the fire out before debating “blue or green”.
The analogy provided the context for my talk. I quoted both shi’i and sunni sources and perspectives about the tragedy that occurred in Karbala – 95% agreement on both sides.
At the end, I gave them a list of lessons learned from the martyrdom of Imam Husain. We learn courage, self-sacrifice, integrity, honesty, vision, bravery, etc. But the biggest lesson we learn is the lesson on unity. When I said this there was silence in the room. I saw some heads turned, some eyes refocused, some whispered, and some questioned my statement. Unity?
I said to them, “It is this simple, look around you at the people who are present here: shia’, sunni, sufi, salafi, deobandi, barelwi, ikhwani, secular, arab, ‘ajam, black, white, and the list continues. However, if all of you were taken back to the plains of Karbala, who amongst you will join Imam Husain (r)? They were all in agreement that they were with Imam Husain in this battle of truth and falsehood.
Why then we divide and fight ourselves in their names? Why? …
Let us learn from the history and not repeat the same mistake. May Allah unite the hearts of believers. Amen.
salam alaikum