IQRA

“It is from your own selves”

“It is from your own selves”
By Muneeb Nasir

An acquaintance of mine has a refrain that he utters ever so often to bolster his argument that the Muslim world is doomed to its current downward spiral unless each Muslim sees himself or herself as part of the problem and solution.

“Take him and multiply him a few million times and you have country X,” he would say after encountering Citizen X who he finds to be overly didactic or constantly nostalgic.

I was reminded of his statement recently after sitting through a Friday khutba (sermon) at a mosque in the city. The speech of the Imam and his arguments in support of his topic were based on two premises — the Muslim world was great — “We gave the world medicine, algebra, astronomy, etc”; and we can solve all our problems by “returning to the Qur’an and Sunnah”.

I agree with both these statements — the first is an objective truth and, as a Muslim who accepts the Qur’an and Sunnah as the sources of Islam, I cannot disagree with the second.
However, these statements which are used by many Muslim speakers perpetuate the mindset and condition we find ourselves in — where we live in a romanticized world of the past or dreaming of an ideal one which can be achieved by chanting the mantra, ‘back to the Qur’an and Sunnah’.

The Imam’s topic this Friday was about the invasion of Iraq. He gave a history lesson of Baghdad, its achievements and cultured ways prior to the bloody Mongol invasion of 1258. Dazzling the audience with dates and historical facts, he then went on to draw a parallel between the destructive habits of the invading Mongols and the invading Anglo-American coalition of Iraq.

The audience was clearly moved by his accounts of life in 13th century Baghdad and by his vivid description of the brutality of the invaders.

But what was the point he was getting at, I asked myself. Apart from creating the obvious moral reprehension for an imperial invasion, he made none that I could figure. Maybe he was hoping that the invading forces of current day Iraq would eventually become Muslim, as the Mongols eventually did. But I doubt it.

He then went on to cap his speech by moralizing that unless we return to the Qur’an and Sunnah, we will continue to be defeated and humiliated.

Nostalgic and didactic advice, but does it move the local community forward?

The speech certainly created a fleeting emotional comfort zone, but it did not challenge the overriding despondency and lethargy of the audience in this mosque and the community.

Wouldn’t it have been better in these times to look at ourselves and ask… Why have we descended to these depths? Why did this happen? And as a member of the human race, how did I contribute to this descent?

Didn’t the companions of the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) chide and probe themselves to find out if they were responsible for what befell them or contributed to the weakness of their community?

After the momentous events and setback at Uhud, they did ask the question: “How did this come about?”

“It is from your own selves,” was the response from Allah. *

If each of us were to do this critical self-analysis, vowing to correct ourselves, then the effect of the multiplying factor would be phenomenal.

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*(Qur’an, Surah Al ‘Imran, 3:165)

“We’ve to stop building mosques”

“We’ve to stop building mosques,” he said with an intensity and seriousness that stopped me cold in my tracks. These were the words of a friend who I ran into at the recent ISNA Canada convention.

He is a committed community activist who had dedicated many years of his life to voluntary service within the Toronto Muslim community.

His outburst caused me momentary consternation for what he was uttering. To say such a thing bordered on blasphemy, I thought.

Noticing that I was concerned by his statement he quickly tried to explain, “We’ve too many mosques, we should be putting our funds into providing services. Now in Toronto you’ve many mosques in the same neighborhood - don’t people speak to each other before starting projects?”

“And even the mosques that we have are trying to expand - just to accommodate people for 1 hour every week at Friday prayers,” he continued.

“What a waste of resources!” he exclaimed. “You’ve to do something about this.”

“What should we do,” I responded haltingly.

“We must look at the needs of the community,” he continued. I listened intently. He was warming to the subject and had obviously agonized over the direction of the Canadian Muslim community.

“We’re are now the largest non-Christian religious group in Canada, yet we have the poorest infrastructure to support the community – all we know to do is build mosques.”

What he was saying struck a cord with me. Our community is certainly growing yet our potential is unrealized.

“How can we change this situation,” I asked hoping for some direction.

“Well, we must ask questions,” he willing volunteered. “We must tell the Muslims to ask questions of those leaders who are trying to get donations to build mosques; and if they can’t give good reasons for their project tell them to put it into services.”

“The funds to build one mosque could fund a social service agency for ten years; could fund a fulltime staff to represent the community; could fund a few shelters for the homeless, could fund a library, could fund media and arts projects .…."

As he rambled on making his point my mind wandered. Yes, just imagine the possibilities for the Muslim community if we stopped spending millions of dollars on building mosques for the next 5 years and direct our resources into providing services to the community.

It’s time to start asking questions.

Let us change this community

Change. Ah! So difficult.

Why must we do it? To improve; to advance; to live up to our God given potential.

And to be emissaries for justice, peace and compassion in this world.

How can this change be brought about?

By changing ourselves – the way we think, the way we act.

Yes, we can continue to live mundane lives; to be blips on the radar of history; to live as separate entities never quite realizing the potential of our community.

And the potential is immense. The Muslim community in North America is the most diverse in the world with the best and brightest talents of the Muslim Ummah. We can be a beacon light of what Islam can offer to the world.

But to realize this potential we must live up to the advices in the Qur’anic revelation that tells us to celebrate our diversity (so ‘that you may know each other’) and seek out relationships with each other.

This is where the change must begin.

Each individual and each organization of Muslims need to develop a new action plan based on collaboration, exchange and partnerships. We must develop mutually enriching relationships with others – with our fellow believers from other ethnicities, language groups, nationalities and organizations within the Muslim community and with all others interested in the future of our presence in this country.

This means that we should look to derive maximum benefits from each other’s talents.

We should highlight involvement with our fellow Muslims and multiply the chances of dialogue at all levels while respecting each other’s diversity. We should develop our relationships on complimentary and common goals.

We need to weave these links with our fellow Muslims - this is our common responsibility of living up to the Prophetic advice of developing relationships that are mutually beneficial.

This new way of thinking and acting is far removed from our current ways – the artificial divisions that we have allowed ourselves to accept; the walls that we have erected around ourselves and which prevents us from seeing each other as brothers and sisters in faith.

It is also far removed from the unhealthy and perilous competitions, which says that my understanding of Islam is better than yours; that my group is better than yours, that my vision is more valid than yours; that my methodology is superior to yours.

This new way of thinking and acting draws us together because Allah and the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) taught us that we are nothing without each other.

Muslim Weddings in Canada

It is the time of year for weddings. Our community is maturing and many second generation Muslim Canadians are embarking on married life.

The wedding is one of the major rites of passage in an individual's life. The ceremony and all the customs associated with this day is an expression of a community's culture and values and provides a couple with memories that lasts for a lifetime.

In our Muslim community in Canada, old-world marriage customs continue to thrive, in diluted, disguised and often different forms at weddings. Within many of the ethnic groups the weight attached to old-world wedding customs and traditions is immense.

Many parents place a great deal of emphasis on recreating these customs at the weddings of their children. Nearly all of these customs are merely echoes of the past. Although the original substance is often lost, they are incorporated into weddings because they are traditional and ritualistic. However, for married couples who have been acculturated in this society, these marriage customs bear little relevance to them.

Some segments in the community have gone to the other extreme, stripping weddings of customs and entertainment. They have made weddings into mini conferences with many speeches on various religious topics. Such weddings tend to be an endurance test for the bride and groom and for the invitees.

Today, weddings in the Muslim Canadian community are increasingly seen as 'boring' affairs especially by the younger generations. There seems to be little value placed on making the ceremony relevant or on the lighter aspects of weddings which, when included, is from a distant culture that does not resonate with the younger crowd.

The result is that many couples accommodate their parents by having a traditional ceremony/feast and then they have a separate event, such as a 'reception' in which they can invite their friends and in which there is more 'fun.'

This tells us that the community has so far failed in evolving wedding customs, cultural expressions and entertainment that are uniquely Muslim Canadian, and which are in keeping with the religious values while accommodating the sensibilities of its younger generations. Now, we can appreciate the wisdom of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him, who encouraged entertainment at weddings recognizing the needs and culture of his community in Madina.