Reflections on 7 principles of Love as referenced by Imam al-Ghazali in Kimiya-e-Sa’adat.

Princeton University MSA Jumuah

speaker: Faraz Khan

The 21st Century Green Movement in Islam

Khutbah and Presentation on Islamic Environmental Ethics

Description

Inshallah, Faraz Khan will present…

1. the Khutbah (at 1:15pm, @The Islamic Center at NYU, 371 6th Avenue, Basement Level (St. Joseph’s Church), New York, NY 10014)

2. Lecture on Islamic Environmentalism (at 7pm, @Kimmel Rm. 803) .

Do you ever look at other faith communities and think why the Muslim community can’t be organized in the same way? Why do our communities feel so disconnected?

Come learn how each and every one of us can help in building a strong community that we so desperately need.

While the event insha’Allah is free admission, we will be collecting donations for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Please bring any amount big or small to give to the cause. Insha’Allah the funds will be going to Islamic Relief.

more info http://khutbaworkshop.blogspot.com

How would you describe your weekly khutbah experience?

Does it feel like an immersion into the deen or do you feel disconnected? Will you be the one to INSPIRE THE UMMAH? Do YOU have what it takes?

KHATEEB DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
more info http://khutbaworkshop.blogspot.com

Description:
The goal of this initiative is to identify and train the next generation of khateebs to meet the demands of a dynamic and diverse Muslim community. With this workshop, individuals will better understand the art of public speaking and be able to write and deliver meaningful and relevant khutbahs to a congregation of any size, age, or ethnicity.

When: January 18, 19, 20, 2010 (Monday – Wednesday)

Time: 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Where: Why-Islam Center
1320 Hamilton Street
Somerset, NJ 08873

Registration Fee: $25/person
Deadline: Saturday, January 16
Organized by Shomail Malik & Faraz Khan

Date: Sunday, January 17, 2010
Time: 5:00pm – 8:00pm
Location: Darul Islah, 320 Fabry Terrace, Teaneck, NJ 07666
Speakers: Faraz Khan, Sohaib Sultan, & Khalid Latif

Description: Ever have trouble making that last minute khutbah? Or how about feeling uncomfortable when talking in front of a big crowd? Is your halaqa topic dry and has no touch to it? Are you having trouble running your MSA or youth group? Then this workshop is for you!

Join us as Br. Faraz Khan, Br. Sohaib Sultan and Khalid Latif give us the lowdown on how to run an Islamic organization, manage our MSA’s, how to best prepare a khutbah, halaqa, or any other topic which we need to present in a big group gathering, and how to make a dry topic seem enlightening!

In addition to the above program, Br. Faraz and Sohaib will be going over topics such as how to live a purposeful life, dynamics of successful leadership, the making of a youth leader,a leader vs a dictator, and synergy & the power of one.

We will also have brothers and sisters who will be aiding us in the workshop. These brothers and sisters have ran halaqaat and organizations in the past and are now working with other organizations on a more national level. They will be working with each group, 1-on-1 to help better understand and relate the material. Come join us for a night of bettering ourselves to become the leaders of tomorrow! This is a seminar for all youth, brothers and sisters, in the New Jersey area!

Art Viewing at Islamic Society of Central Jersey (ISCJ)
The Makkah Collection
Artist: Faraz Khan
11am – 2pm, Friday, Jan. 8, 2010
Medium: Ink

Haj: A Spiritual Journey

By Faraz Khan • November 5, 2009

The Home News Tribune

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20091105/LIFE08/91105017/Haj–A-Spiritual-Journey

As my wife and I were leaving for Haj, one of my coworkers asked, “Is Haj like a vacation tour?” I could not answer. Another friend asked, “What will you gain from it?” Flabbergasted, I told him “well… it is a duty upon every Muslim”. My response lacked any insight. I was embarking on a journey with my wife for three weeks in Mecca and its surroundings for a hefty price of over $10,000, with no cruise or beach activities. They must have thought I was mad.

Haj, or pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the fundamentals of Islam. Every physically and financially able Muslim is required once in a lifetime to visit the Holy Mosque and perform the rituals of Haj as related by Abraham, the Patriarch and Muhammad, the last messenger of God. In his last year, Prophet Muhammad performed Haj and resuscitated a direct relationship to God by absolving all intermediaries – idolatry and clergy system that had enslaved the minds of people. He preached a universal message of equality and piety based on a direct relationship to God.

Once we arrived in Mecca, I went through an emotional roller coaster. We had heard some bizarre stories about people losing family members or their luggage, or going through great physical hardship to perform the rituals of Haj in a sea of over two million people. Initially, we enjoyed our stay in beautiful luxurious hotels and open buffets that shielded us from poverty and pollution on the streets of Mecca. I thought to myself that Haj is definitely a vacation.

Then the dreaded news came from New Jersey that my father had suffered a stroke and he was in critical condition. I chewed my heart while hearing my mother weep on the phone. Like the mountains in Mecca, my brothers were speechless. We were spiritually connected but thousands of miles apart. Lost for words, I saw my earliest memories of my father – a man whose shade I grew under, played back in a split second. I spent my days and nights in the Holy Mosque praying for his recovery and a revivial of my spiritual journey to God.

At our hotel I met a pilgrim guide, a Pathan (ethnic people from Pakistan and Afghanistan) who had not slept for four days yet he was always smiling and busy with pilgrims. While many guides would remain in the Holy Mosque, this man stayed in the hotel to assist new pilgrims. He rarely ventured out of the hotel. Once another guide taunted him, “You guys stay in this hotel but I love to sit in the Holy Mosque lost in devotion to God”. Upon hearing the statement, the Pathan guide said, “You could gain paradise by worshipping God but you can only gain God by serving people”. I thought it was great advice for religious people to consider.

In the mosque, I met an elderly Moroccan villager (northwest Africa) who was suffering from heat exhaustion and his feet had swollen from excessive walk. We conversed and I told him that I was from America. He then asked me how many kilometers it was from Rabat, the capital city. I could only smile at his simplicity. The man told me that he had come for Haj and left his country and faced great hardship only to please God. I was humbled.

On the way out of the mosque as I rubbed shoulders with rich and poor, people of all localities. I could recognize Malaysian, Chinese, Bosnian, Turkish, Persian, Indian, and other pilgrims who walked towards the Holy Mosque in a hurry but always smiled on their way out. It was as if they had found what they were searching for. There, at the door I saw two very old couples standing, raising their hands and outpouring their hearts. They spoke in Punjabi (regional language of Pakistan) about their longing for this day and search for forgiveness and His pleasure. People gathered around them. The old couples were engrossed in their supplication and disconnected from their surroundings; they spoke from their hearts and melted the hearts of those in their vicinity. As I watched their spiritual ecstasy, I felt ashamed of my own religiosity.

There were American students from the universities of Medina and Mecca who lived by the trademark, “What can I do for you?” They did not get paid or asked for tips. In fact, they were only interested in one thing, “Ya Haj! (O pilgrim) remember me in your supplications to God”. They viewed the pilgrims as guests of God and volunteered day and night. I asked them to pray for my sick father who was now recovering at home.

We stayed in the tent-city of Mina for three days with other pilgrims while reciting the Qur’an, performing prayers, and engrossed in conversations that often touched upon the question of our personal journey to God. Many proclaimed that they had come to start afresh and were no longer interested in “running after the world”. Interestingly, as required by Haj rites, we had to walk and run around the Kaba, a black cubical building originally built by Abraham and his son Ishmael. Afterward, we drank water from the spring of Zamzam.

Tradition notes that upon God’s command Abraham left Hager and her son Ishmael in the desert of Bakka (ancient name of Mecca), her provision expired in a few days. She ran from one mountain to another in search of water while keeping a constant watch on baby Ishmael. God loved this act so much that He gushed a spring (Zamzam) under the feet of Ishmael. Today this ritual of running and drinking Zamzam is performed by all pilgrims in Mecca. The pilgrims quench their spiritual thirst while running towards God. These rituals aid the heart in recognizing another spiritual reality.

During Haj a question followed me that this hustle and bustle of strangers, my inadvertently running into wheelchairs, losing my gaze in the glitter of shops, gaining appetite every hour, and yearning for my bed in exhaustion, how does all of this translate into something spiritually tangible that I could take back home? We often get this idea of spiritual experience in meditation – deep reflections in isolation from people and close to nature but Haj was different.

Towards the end of my journey it hit me that one had to seek God and remain loyal to Him despite all the surrounding commotions. Haj explained to me that our world is full of distractions and one has to focus on this journey to God. Our time is limited and we can only find God while serving others. I believe that spiritual experiences are not based in luxury and entertainment due to extreme self-indulgence of such habits. Rather, a spiritual journey begins when we recognize our dependence on God and commit to a life of sacrifice and piety.

Faraz Khan is a social activist and a thinker who is a frequent speaker on Islam and Muslim-related conversations on college campuses in the tri-state area.

Ya Allah written in Arabic with black and silver ink. It is a unique style of curvatures and waves that signifies an orientation that reads God in every difficulty.

I have decided to finally start selling professionally made prints of my artwork online. Please take a look ‘ART for Sale’ tab to take a quick look at my work. Fine Art America has made my art available with different sizes and custom design to fit a frame, stretched canvas, or a plain print. I have reduced price for this initial sale but do not expect the price to stay the same for these quality artwork.

Faraz Khan
Support Islamic Art

Khutba: Oct. 9, 2009
Princeton University
Faraz Khan

On Monday 8/17/09, I was on a field expedition jumping wetlands and streams, hoping to catch a glance of a few pretty birds. The water from the brook was trickling down as I walked up to the green riparian corridor with a few trees that the builders have not paved over to make a killing profit. Unfortunately I got to see a brook defiled with floating paint buckets near apartment buildings in Hamilton, NJ.

In disgust, I approached the stream hoping that these buckets would be empty. I could see a few fish swimming in the brook. But this happy moment turned belly-up when I found a thin film of blue paint on the water surface. I quickly jumped on the other side of the bank and put my hand auger to haul in the three buckets of death – paint is poisonous to the aquatic life.

Someone had painted their walls and decided to dump the remainder in the stream. I was shocked and outraged by the stupidity of those who decorate their walls and destroy homes of other living creatures. Every life is precious and their habitats are sacred. When we act blasphemously toward these sacred creatures of God, we risk our own demise.

In the words of James Speth:

“Half the world’s tropical and temperate forests are now gone. The rate of deforestation in the tropics continues at about an acre a second. About half the wetlands and a third of the mangroves are gone. An estimated 90 percent of the large predator fish are gone, and 75 percent of marine fisheries are now overfished or fished to capacity. Twenty percent of the corals are gone, and another 20 percent severely threatened. Species are disappearing at rates about a thousand times faster than normal. The planet has not seen such a spasm of extinction in sixty-five million years, since the dinosaurs disappeared. Over half the agricultural land in drier regions suffers from some degree of deterioration and desertification. Persistent toxic chemicals can now be found by the dozens in essentially each and every one of us.

Human impacts are now large relative to natural systems. The earth’s stratospheric ozone layer was severely depleted before the change was discovered. Human activities have pushed atmospheric carbon dioxide up by more than a third and have started in earnest the dangerous process of warming the planet and disrupting climate. Everywhere earth’s ice fields are melting. Industrial processes are fixing nitrogen, making it biologically active, at a rate equal to nature’s; one result is due to overfertilization. Human actions already consume or destroyed each year about 40 percent of nature’s photosynthetic output, leaving too little for other species. Freshwater withdrawals doubled globally between 1960 and 2000, and are now over half of accessible runoff. The following rivers no longer reach the oceans in the dry season: the Colorado, Yellow, Ganges, and Nile, among others” (James Speth in The Bridge at the Edge of the World 1-2).

Such is the picture of a world guided by a troubling ethic or perhaps lack of it. These episodes of environmental pollution are milestones or signs of humanity run amuck. The problem is not the environment but rather human stupidity, selfishness, arrogance, and the gluttonous bottom line.

Environmental Ethics

Environmental ethics is an emerging field of philosophy that deals with the moral implication of human interaction with their surrounding. Environmental ethics and environmentalism was a reaction or response to the environmental degradation due to the rapid industrialization. Humans are destroying this planet fast. All of us are in this boat that is fast sinking while nations and corporations of the world compete in capitalistic venture to outdo each other.

Muslims & Environmental Ethics

Islam calls for environmental integrity. The Qur’an reminds us “Eat and drink but do not waste”. God says about the planet “the Earth he created for all of the living creatures [not just humans]”. Modernity brought a new way of looking at the world as it is clearly demarcated in the new fields of Islamic bioethics, Islamic economics, and the emerging Islamic environmental ethics. There are experts in this new field as well. A few names that come to mind:

S. H. Nasr

Mawil Izzi Dien

Fazlun Khalid

Richard Foltz

Othman Llewellyn

Ibrahim Ozdemir

Ziauddin Sardar

However, this emerging field of ethics has yet to develop into an Applied Ethic (practical involvement of Muslims not just ink on paper about how Islam views environmental protection as a religious duty). Neither fish nor humans drink paint. If pollution kills marine life, it will surely not pardon us. We are not detached from the environment. I hope and pray that Muslims in the West would lead the rest of the world in protecting the environment.

Faraz Khan