One World

One World

Arshad Gamiet/Royal Holloway University of London/4th March 2011

“A-úthu billáhi minash shaytánir rajeem. Bismilláhir rahmánir raheem

Al hamdu lillahi nahmaduhu wanasta’eenahu, wanastagh-firuhu, wanatoobu ilayhi, wana’oothu Billaahi min shuroori an-fusinaa, wamin sayyi aati a’maalinaa. May- Yahdillahu fa huwal muhtad, wa may- yudlill falan tajidaa lahu waliyan murshida. Wa ash-hadu an Laa ilaaha ill-Alláh, wahdahoo laa shareeka lah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan ‘abduhoo warasooluh”

All Praise is due to Alláh, We praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our own evils and our own bad deeds. Anyone who is guided by Alláh, he is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left astray, will find no one to guide him. I bear witness that there is no god but Alláh, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad, sws, is His servant, and His messenger.

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem! Ya Ay-yuhal-latheena ‘aamanut taqul-laaha, haqqa tuqaatihee wala tamu tun-na, il-la wa antum Muslimoon.”

O You who believe, – Fear Allah, as He should be feared, and die not except as Muslims.

Ya Ay-yuhal-latheena ‘aamanut taqul-laaha, wa qooloo qawlan sadeedaa. Yuslih-lakum a’maalakum wa yaghfir lakum thunoobakum, wamay yu-til-laaha warasoolah, faqad faaza fawzan atheemaa.”

O You who believe, – Be aware of Allah, and speak a straightforward word. He will forgive your sins and repair your deeds. And whoever takes Allah and His Prophet as a guide, has already achieved a mighty victory.

My Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Royal Holloway is participating in One World Week. This week promotes the idea of mutual respect and appreciation of people from different cultures and ethnicities. Our khutbah today will briefly touch on this theme. It’s a big topic and we only have about 20 minutes.

Muslims are probably more aware than most people of how dangerously polarized the world has become. High technology and global economics has broken down national barriers. The wide world has shrunken to a global village, but it has also thrown people into a crisis of identity. Now that we’re all Europeans, for example, some of us aren’t quite sure if we’re still British, or Welsh or Scottish or English, and in which order of priority? What’s more important? What comes first? And, does it really matter? Politicians in shaky alliances are looking for easy support by stoking these deep rooted fears, targeting immigrants, Muslims and other people of colour. Racism and xenophobia often go hand in hand. People are hated just because they are different. Older Jewish people who remember Germany in the 1930s will know that the distance between hating others and throwing them into a holocaust of gas chambers is a very short road.

Unscrupulous politicians, helped by unprincipled journalists, may win a few more votes at the next election but they risk creating a dangerously fragmented society that might take generations to heal. This I know from personal experience. I grew up in South Africa under the evil Apartheid system. The brutality of legalised racism took a few short years to implement, but the damage is still with us.

What does Islam have to say on the subject? I will take just two examples, one from the Holy Quran, and the other from the life of Prophet Muhammad, may Allah’s peace and blessings be on him.

There is a very beautiful verse in Sura Al Hujuraat, which sums up Islam’s view on multiculturalism in a poetic and succinct way. It says:

“O Mankind, We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may know (and respect) each other, not that you should despise one another. Truly the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah are those who are foremost in good deeds.”

(Quran 49:13).

Note the Quran does not say, O Muslims, or O Arabs, or O Pakistanis or O British people. It says, O Mankind, O Human beings!. It addresses us as a species, the human family. It reminds us that we have descended from common parents, Adam and Eve, the primordial human ancestors. Our differences of culture, race and language are superficial. They are there simply to let us wonder in sheer amazement at God’s infinite artistry and creativity. Our differences must be celebrated, enjoyed. They are not an excuse for Pride or arrogance. All over Europe and even here in Britain we face serious problems of violent xenophobia and racism, where differences are exploited to promote fear and hate. We Muslims have become the main targets of this destructive process.

Islam stresses our common humanity, and appeals to our higher instincts of love, truth and justice.

The Prophet Muhammad, may Allah’s peace and blessings be on him, was the living Quran. His life example illustrated how people of different backgrounds can live peacefully together. In the last days of his life, he delivered a sermon, his final sermon, in which he set out Islam’s own view of human rights. This is an extract from his sermon:

“O People, your life and property is a sacred trust. Remember that you will indeed appear before God and answer for your actions… “

“O people, your wives have rights over you and you have rights over them. Treat them well and be kind to them for they are your partners and helpers….”

“All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab. A white person  has no superiority over a black person, nor does a black person have any superiority over a white person, except by God-consciousness and good actions…”

“Know that every Muslim is a brother and sister to every other Muslim . You are now one brotherhood, one family of believers. ..”

This sermon is Islam’s declaration of Human Rights, delivered in 7^th Century Arabia. Nothing comparable was produced until the United Nations Declaration of Human rights in 1948…. over 1,300 years later!

We Muslims are very fortunate, to have such clear guidance from our primary sources, the Quran and the Prophetic Sunnah, on this crucial way in which people should regard human diversity.

Despite our many superficial differences, beneath the skin we are all basically the same. Did you know that if the whitest Caucasian patient lies desperately in need of a blood transfusion in hospital, his family, his friends and neighbours might be powerless to help him if they had the wrong blood type? Yet this very same white patient could be saved by the blood of the blackest African on the planet, if their blood types matched! Amazing! Our physical differences are only skin deep! We are more deeply and closely connected to one another than we think!

Imagine that you’re standing beside a flooded river. The strong current is sweeping down and you hear someone shouting for help, desperately struggling and reaching out to you. You have a rope and a lifebelt lying at your feet. What do you do? Do you first ask him whether he’s Muslim, Jewish, British, Christian, whether he’s a legal or illegal immigrant? For God’s sake, NO! You don’t ask questions. You just throw him a lifeline. You save a life! That could be you or one of your loved ones waiting to be saved! No time for silly questions, just throw the rope and save a life!

That’s really how the Holy Quran addresses its readers. It’s a lifeline to misguided humanity. On some matters it says, O Believers (Ya ay yuhal latheena aamanu!), but  on really crucial matters, it addresses all people, all humankind, saying “Ya ay yuhan-naas,” or “Ya Bani Aadam!” O Mankind! O Children of Adam!

For example, in the opening verse of Sura An-Nisaa’, Allah says:

“Yaa ay yuhan-naasut-taqoo Rabbukumul lathee khalaqakum min nafseew waahidah…”

“O mankind! Show reverence towards your Guardian-Lord Who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, his mate and from the two of them scattered (like seeds) countless men and women;― Be conscious of Allah, through Whom ye demand your mutual (rights) and (show reverence towards) the wombs (that bore you): for surely, Allah ever watches over you.”

So, really, we should see the message of Islam as a kind of lifeline, a firm handhold for people to hold onto, who would otherwise be swept away by the powerful currents of distraction and heedlessness. Islam came to save human beings from themselves. Left without divine guidance, we are prone to self-indulgence, and ever conflicting, expanding areas of self-interest. Islam is not some cultural heirloom to be preserved in a library or museum. It is a gift from Allah, to be lived and share with everyone. Islam offers us a way of living beautifully, virtuously, serving others out of love and gratitude to the One who created us all.

“Innalláha wa malaaikata yusallúna alan nabi. Yá ay yuhal latheena ámanu sallú alayhi wasalli mú tas leema. Allahumma salli alá Muhammad, wa ala áli Muhammad, kama salayta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali Ibrahim. Allahumma barik ala Muhammad, kama barakta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali ibrahim. Fil ála meen, innaka hameedun majeed.”

Second Khutbah:

“Soob’ hanallahi wal hamdu lillah, wala hawla wala quwwata illah billah yu althi yual theem”

Glory to Allah!  Praise to Allah! There is no power and no strength except from Allah!

My dear sisters and brothers,

We have to make a very important distinction. On the one hand, we have Islam, a universal belief system applicable to all times and places, based on high moral and ethical values, and on the other hand we have the Muslims, who comprise many cultures, languages and traditions which predate the Islamic era. Forced marriages, so-called ‘honour killings’ and the poor treatment of women in some Muslim societies have nothing at all to do with Islam. These are pre-Islamic practices that are totally forbidden to Muslims.

It’s very important to make this clear distinction between what Islam teaches and what some Muslims do, that their religion forbids. Please don’t judge Islam by the worst things that Muslims do. In the same way we shouldn’t judge any faith by the misbehaviour of some of its followers.

We Muslims have a big challenge. We have to put our own cultural house in order. We have to get rid of the cultural baggage that undermines our faith and gives Islam a bad name. We have to treat our womenfolk with respect and we must honour all our obligations. Once we have unravelled the tangled web of our misguided tribal traditions from true Islam, we can help others to understand how Islam works through our own beautiful living example.

Many people in the West are attracted to Islam. Despite all the prejudice and Islamophobia, many curious, educated and articulate men and women are discovering, or rather, re-discovering Islam. Large numbers of new Muslims take Shahaadah every day, and over 70% of them are women! Imagine that, in spite of all the vicious propaganda that says Islam oppresses women, for every new brother that joins our family, there are 2 new sisters! Allahu Akbar! Allah is Great! There’s definitely some food for thought!

Itha jaa anasral-Laahi wal fat-h, wara aytan naasa yad khuloona fee deenil laahi afwaa jaa. Fasab bih, bihamdi Rabbika wastagh fir innahu kaanat taw-waabaa.

“When God’s help arrives and victory (is achieved), and when you see people entering God’s way of life in crowds, glorify your Lord and seek His forgiveness.”

Sura al-Nasr

Brothers and sisters, to conclude our khutbah:

InnaAllaha, Yamuru bil adel, wal ihsaan, wa eetaa-i zil qurba; wa yanha anil fuhshaa-i, wal munkari walbaghi; ya-idzukhum lallakum tathak-karoon. (Sura 16:90),

“Surely Allah commands justice, good deeds and generosity to others and to relatives; and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you, so that you may be reminded.”

Fadth kuroonee adth kurkum, wash kuroolee walaa tak furoon [2:152].

“and remember Me: I will remember you. Be grateful to Me, and do not reject faith.”

wala thikrul-Laahi akbar, Wal-Laahu ya’lamu maa tasna’oon.” [29:45].

“and without doubt, Remembrance of Allah is the Greatest Thing in life, and Allah knows the deeds that you do.”

Ameen.                   Aqeemus salaah.