Facing the Forces of Hate

Xenophobia

Why are we afraid of the "others?"  What is it about other people that causes such a reaction in us?  

We are all humans, right?  Is it something innate within us that unleashes our anger, fear, and hate?  

Jane Goodall, in her lifetime's work of observing chimpanzees, watched as her beloved "tribe" of chimps, the ones she had seen born and grown to adulthood, systematically murdered a nearby group of unrelated chimpanzees.  They fought a "Hatfield and McCoy" style, on-going war of rivalry, for years, until not a single individual from the other "tribe" remained alive.  Why?  

In the time of our Prophet SAW, the Aws and Khazraj also fought a devastating feud.  For years, they killed each other in a series of revenge killings.  Finally, exhausted by all the strife, they called upon a man they had heard about, a man who was know as al-Amin, to help them stop the war.  He instituted a policy wherein for every person killed from one tribe, the tribe that killed that person, had to chose one person from among their own people to be killed --- by themselves.  They had to pick one of their own.  They had to look at the faces of their own people, and chose one to die.  And then they had to kill him or her.  Free for free, man for man, woman for woman, slave for slave.  This policy, we call Qisas, stopped the war.

Some think the ayat that revealed this policy has been abrogated by ayaat that give the penalty for murder.  This is false.  This ayat was revealed to deal with gang rivalry, feuds and social warfare.  And it works.

So, we understand that people have this potential to hate, to kill each other for no apparent reason other than the other group is "other."  That said, what can we do about it?  Our deen teaches many ways to achieve social harmony.  We are forbidden to backbite, slander, curse or condemn each other.  We are prohibited from any form of fitnah.  Fitnah akbar min al qatl.  Fitnah is worse than killing, and it is leads to killing.  When we say that we are 'forbidden,' we need to understand that this practice is haram.  And although it has not been judicially punished in the past, it needs to be.  There must be penalties for these crimes, because in Islam, they are crimes.  And we need to treat them this way.  It is a sin and a crime to backbite, slander, falsly accuse another of zina or of being gay, or of being a kafir.  These are sins and crimes, and those who commit them are mujrimoon!  They need to make tawbah!!!

So, the first way to prevent such Xenophobia is to follow our deen.  This is even more clear when we consider that Islam prohibits us from racism.  Whether we are rich, poor, black, white, brown, Arab or Ajnabi, we are only distinguished by our taqwa.  That's it!!!.  But instead, many people consider themselves superior to others.  Like Shaytan, they cry, "I am better than him.  He is Pakistani and I am Arab," or "He is African American and I am Pakistani."  I could go on and on.  I have observed this attitude of racism in our communities for 30 years. It is disgusting!!!

So, now we complain about the Xenophobia of Donald Trump and his followers.  Yes, white people are afraid.  Like all tribes, confronted with a flood of immigrants, they are worried about losing their way of life.  Some of us have greedily adopted their way of life.  We have wedding engagement parties, huge walimah, we send out invites, and buy table decorations, we celebrate Halloween.  And some us do not assimilate.  But for the most part, we are rather quiet about that.  However, other groups also do not assimilate.  Hispanics do not.  They retain their language and age old customs, in direct competition with those of the "white" community.  

In Arizona, where I grew up, we grew up with a shared culture.  It included pinatas and tamales, chili wreaths, matates, dried corn hangings, and dates - especially those golden ones that are still a bit crunchy and so sweet.  We grew up speaking English and Spanish.  But in other parts of the country they grew up with different cultures.  In places like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakota, indigenous peoples lived.  Then settlers from Scandinavia and Germany settled.  Each created a special culture, and grew to love their land.  Now people from Iran, Lebanon, and Somalia have arrived.  Now what?

Change is stressful.   We are afraid of losing something.  In the past, social change was very slow.  It could take multiple generations.  Now change is very rapid, too fast to keep pace with.  How do "white" Americans cope with losing cultural icons like baseball, football, Friday night high school games, marching bands, and the predominance of English?  With Trump and his followers, we are seeing an inability to cope.  They are afraid and are lashing out at anything that appears different.

Daesh is the same phenomenon.  Arab tribals in Iraq, long empowered by the regime of Saddam, lost their supremacy and are lashing out at anyone "not of them."  Ironically, they are hiring foreigners to do it.  The whole thing is Xenophobia to the extreme.

So, how should we deal with change?  Well, it's never easy, but we must begin with love.  We must follow our deen on all matters, not just fiqh al - ibadaat.  We must follow fiqh al muamalaat.  We must follow its fiqh regarding social interaction.  We must respect one another.  Then we can work to craft a culture that is inclusive.  

One way to do this is to learn the history of the place where you live.  Ask the older people about the town where you live.  Help record oral history.  One of the biggest problems with our Muslim communities is the lack of interest in the place where they now live.  We have one foot back home, and many who immigrated here hope to die back home.  This is not helping.  We must become engaged in our communities.  Fortunately, those who were born here are doing so.  But we must do more.  Help to carry on your community.  Understand that the struggles of others are a source of strength for all of us.

We have a very misguided understanding of Islam if we think that just because a person was not Muslim or not from our home land, their lives are worthless and unimportant.  This is just hubris, ethnocentrism as virulent as the Xenophobia of the Tea Party and its ilk.  Allah SWT tells us to look at those who went before us and learn from their successes and mistakes.  Early Americans were most successful when they showed their faith in God.  We, as Muslims, can help America progress on the foundation those who had faith laid for us.

Many Americans still have faith, even if the media discourages it.  When we reach out to the elders in our community, show interest in the stories of their fathers and mothers, and listen - listen - to them, we reveal ourselves to them as well.  Sitting at their feet and valuing them, gives them a reason for valuing us.  

People in your communities will appreciate when you show an interest in the community, and will also get to know you.  When we talk about history, we learn about the struggles the people went through to get where they are today. Americans are immigrants.  Even indigenous people have creation stories that detail their journey to this Great Turtle Island.  So we all have stories, and struggles.

So, we look at our neighbors and see them as prosperous, rich, comfortable.  They are as unknown to us as we are to them.  We believe in stereotypes as much as they do.  Stop it.  Get to actually know people.  Talk to the older people and learn about how they started out, what they did to get where they are now.  Learn about how they or their parents immigrated here.  Where did they come from?  What changes did they face in culture and language?  Do they still speak some of that language?  

Share food.  Food is a great equalizer.  We all love kabobs!.  But we can also learn to love latkes, kugel, tamales, lasagna, mousakah, kung pao chicken, and hamburgers and fries.  Share food, and share stories.  Share stories - stories of joy and stories of pain.

Henry Louis Gates is a world renowned scholar of African and African-American history.  Like myself, he grew up in an age when Americans were discovering their roots.  Alex Haley, with his book "Roots," reminded African-Americans of where they originated, and how they came to be here.  In doing so, he also also reminded all Americans that we all have origins.  It was an age when Indigenous people remembered their past, and when Europeans remembered they had immigrated here.  Recently, Mr. Gates became interested in DNA and the possibility of learning more about a person's personal roots.  So, Mr. Gates had his DNA tested.  The test revealed a wealth of information about our humanity.  Yes, he had African ancestors, but he also had Irish ancestors.

African Americans have long known that they had European ancestry.  But it was not always something that one would want to talk about.  White slave owners often raped black slave women.  But for Mr. Gates, facing the DNA evidence of Irish ancestry within himself opened a door.  He really was Irish.  Being Irish was part of himself.  So, he explored his own history, not just the African part, but the Irish part.  In doing so he discovered courage, strength, and resilience.  His ancestors from Ireland had faced the Great Potato Famine.  Like the ancestors of my adopted Mother, they had faced prejudice and scorn from non-Catholic whites.  Irish workers were beaten, tortured, and killed because of their origins.  They were forced to work in the coal mines, just as Gates' African ancestors were forced to work in cotton fields.

Gates discovered something that all of us can discover.  He discovered the great promise of humanity.  Allah SWT says that He created us as nations and tribes so we would know ourselves.  Ta'arifu.  So we would know.  So we would understand.  When He created us, He told the Malaaikah that He knew something about us that they did not know.  He knew our potential.  We are strong, resilient, and capable of abiding faith.  We are capable of serving Him, as the greatest of His servants.

We can fulfill this promise if we actually explore those other nations and tribes.  Even as Muslims, we will fail in that promise if we do not.  For if we succumb to Xenophobia by thinking we are superior to other Muslims due to ethnicity, then how are we any different from the Xenophobes who hate all Muslims.

The Power of Love

The only way to face the forces of hate is with love.  Love of Allah!!  and through that love, Love of His Creation.  Too many of us look at another culture and see only kufr.  We focus on negatives and in our judgmental sense of superiority, we fail to see how a culture shows us the strength of fitrah, and its limits.  We understand the need for wahy, and the great gift that it is.

This focus on the negative leads us to focus on differences.  Iktilaf is normal.  Allah says He created it on purpose, so we would "ta'arifu."  The word carries connotations of knowing, but also of "urf" or custom. "Urf" implies something we know almost innately.  We learn our cultures from childhood.  We do not think about them much.  We just know how to act, how to behave in our society.  It is only when we are exposed to other cultures, that we come to appreciate our own.  Iktilaf is a great teacher.  Fitnah, however, kills societies.  When we explore other cultures from a sense of respect for others, we gain the benefit of iktilaf.  When we approach other cultures with a sense of ethnocentrism, we gain nothing but fitnah and hate.  Iktilaf can actually unify different peoples; fitnah divides and conquers them.  Allah teaches us love and unity; Shaytan teaches us to divide and hate.

Through love and mutual respect, we can come to share our histories and learn that we all came from a core that is moral.  This profane devolution into unethical selfish behavior is rather recent.  All cultures share faith in something greater and a strong sense of morality.  As we share our stories, we will discover that all of us who share an ethical prospective are under attack by radical atheists and Xenophobic haters - the real Dawlat al-Shaytan.  Shaytan is our real enemy and we will need all hands on deck to defeat him.  Hubb Allah leaves no room in the heart for hate.  And the only force that will defeat Shaytan is LOVE.  

Subjective Virtuality and Islamic Reality

PETER PAN SYNDROME

In the story of Peter Pan, the story written by J.M. Barrie, the reader is transported to Never Never Land, where the essence of childhood, the wonder and the magic, is captured forever in the character of the eternal child, Peter Pan.  Childhood is magical.  The optimism of youth is full of light and the excitement of possibilities.  We can be anything.  I used to pretend to be an astronaut.  I pretended to be Asto Boy (yeah I am that old).  I pretended to be a cowboy.  I pretended to be a famous athlete, medaling in the Olympics.  

But, I also knew this was pretend.  The real wonder, the real magic came when I was able to make my dreams, real; when I rode a real horse, when I got to view the stars through a real telescope, when I practiced diving and swimming and entered competitions.  

I am a member of the first generation to be raised with the television.  I am a member of the first generation to be deeply affected by our obsession with entertainment.  Humans have always enjoyed being entertained. Long ago we sat around fires in the evening and told stories to each other.  Some of the stories were about real things that happened to us - the successful hunt, the interesting encounter.  Some of these stories were exaggerated to sound more exciting.  Some were just plain made up.  Later, we developed theater and other forms of large-scale entertainment.  But, one thing about these forms of entertainment is that they supported our collective world view.  They upheld our moral values.  They taught us proper behavior and helped us explore the consequences of negative behavior.  Greek drama is a good example of exploring how a bad decision can have horrible consequences.  The great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, also explores the consequences of actions over long periods of time.  

Early television also provided ethical entertainment.  Many of the shows I watched as a child taught moral lessons.  "Star Trek" is a good example.  Gene Roddenberry intended for his creation to explore values.  It is significant that this program featured the first interracial kiss, as well as the first significantly mixed race cast.  But, somewhere in the 1980's things began to change.  Programs like "He-Man" featured aggressive, violence ultra-men, who fought enemies but seemed to have no depth, emotion, mercy or love.  "Rah!!! He-Man!!!"  Young boys began to roar and posture.  And hate.  

Today violence and killing are entertainment.  We thrill to ever more violent and bloody murders of faceless stereotypes.  It's all a game.  But that game is spilling over into life.  Our youth spend so much time playing video games and watching "reality" TV.  They grow up in a virtual reality.  And that virtual world is subjective and personally programable.  "Have it your way."  

On social media we can be what ever we want to be.  What ever I used to pretend to be as a child, I can be in virtual reality on social media.  I can pretend to be a prince of some small state in India.  And everyone will call be by my social media name and treat me like a prince.  But, what am I in the real world?  What is the real world?

So, while I am being a prince on the Internet, I am failing in school and unable to find a job.  I have begun to fall through the cracks.  But, as long as Mom and Dad, or my friends, or free Wi-Fi give me access to the Internet, I can still be a prince.  But, now I am a homeless failure.  But, I am still a prince on the Internet.  So, what is real?  Reality is not entertaining.  Reality is not fun.  Reality is painful.  And now I am angry, because I am a prince and people are treating me like a pauper.  So now what?  What do I do in the virtual world when someone gets in my way?  I get into a virtual SUV and shoot everyone with a high powered rifle.  So that should solve all my objective problems as well.  Right?  

So we have Sandy Hook, we have San Bernadino.  Selfish, self absorbed subjectively virtual people whose objective reality has crashed in on them, come crashing into our objective reality.  

San Bernadino...  three gunmen storm into a center and kill 14 people.  The two people in a black SUV are killed by police.  Then we focus on their names and possible ethnic and religious backgrounds.  Then we join the entertainment frenzy as reporters and camera men swarm like cockroaches over the couples' apartment, with scenes of childrens' toys and family photos.  Then, we forget, the original 9/11 reports said there were three shooters.  What is real?  Do we really know any more?  

Fourteen people are really dead.  Two people in the SUV are really dead.  What else do we really know and what else can we trust to be real? 

Peter Pan has Tinkerbell sprinkle fairy dust over the world and we all enter Never Never Land, where we are forever children.  Virtual, eternal, unreal.  Pan is locked in an eternal battle with Captain Hook.  Hook is that ever present reminded of objective reality, that call to grow up, to be responsible, to follow rules, to do ones duty, to think of others.  Pan is free, he does as he pleases, he is irresponsible and refuses to grow up.

We love Pan.  We hate Hook.  

We crave the innocence of childhood.  But our childhoods are no longer really innocent.  They are filled with violence and pain.  We retreat ever deeper into Never Never Land.  And we cannot cope with the real world any more.

CHRISTOPER ROBIN

A.A. Milne also wrote a book about childhood and adulthood, "Winnie the Pooh."  Pooh's best friend is Christopher Robin, a real boy.  Winnie and his friends, Piglet, Eeor, Tiger, Roo and Owl are Christopher Robin's imaginary friends.  The old cartoons always start with the toys and then move to the animation of the characters.  Through his friends, Robin explores problems and morals.  And when he grows up, he actually grows up.  We know that he is now living in the real world, but that the 100 acre wood, where his imaginary friends live, will always be there when he needs them.  

Such is the role of pretend and imagination I understood from my own experiences.  Pretend helped me learn, but as I began to gain confidence in real life, I began to understand that my life was in the objective real world, and that the virtual world was still there to explore possibilities, practice real life scenarios, understand moral dillemnas, and contemplate consequences of actions.  It is still a valuable tool in my life.  

But too many of us are not Christopher Robin.  We are instead, Peter Pan.  And that obsession with rebelling against adulthood, responsibility and duty has left us with a total inability to cope.  

REALITY

What is real today?  We need to gain an understanding of what we are doing to ourselves.  We are brainwashing ourselves into a virtual world of violence and adrenalin.  We are losing ourselves.  We have become zombies, passively spending all of our time in front of screens, and finding reality to be empty and hopeless.  But, we have made reality empty and hopeless by spending no time in it.  How do we get back to the real?  Good question.  

Islam has many answers.  First of all, we must pray five times a day.  That is no longer just a break from work to reconnect with Allah, but a break from unreality.  We must really pray, make real movements, make real du'a.  We cannot phone it in, or do it on line.  We have to unplug from the virtual and reconnect with the real.  Take advantage of this time.  

We can also work on our tajweed and memorize Qur'an. Every moment we do is time we spend in reality.  We can also study history and tafsir of Qur'an.  Anything we do to bring us together in real time and space, and not on the internet is time spent in reality.  Don't just go on Online groups or classes, go to real classes, in time and space.  Spend time in jamaa.  It is essential.  

Never let anyone tell you not to go to masaajid or talk to anyone.  They are trying to brainwash you with something.  The truth does not require techniques to teach.  Qad tabayyana al rushdu min al ghay.  The truth shines above any error.  It shines, rushdu.  You will recognize it if you ask Allah to guide you.  Anyone who tells you not to listen to so and so, or that such and such is a  kafir, so don't listen to them, is trying to brainwash you.  A real sheikh will give you dalil, and explain why another's position is not sound.  

Anyone who tells you not to be in jamaa with other Muslims is not of us.  We are commanded by Allah to pray in jamaa and to seek shura, consultation, with one another.  This helps ensure we are not misled by Shaytan.  Shaytan isolates us and then whispers lies in our ears.  Anyone who tells you to stay away from the Muslims is from Shaytan.  Always consult with others who have real knowledge.  

Real knowledge is not just memorization of Qur'an or Hadith, it is understanding as well.  And that understanding must be based on sound methodology or minhaj, and on dalil.  Beware of weak minaahij that are not supported by Qur'an and Sunnah.  Just because some one says they follow the Salaf does not mean they follow the Qur'an and Sunnah.  Read original material by our classic shuyuk.  Do not get your deen from tele evangelists.  Many of these Internet shuyuk have only one year of Arabic classes, or one year of a course in Saudi Arabia.  Or they have a degree, but not in Fiqh or Usool al-Fiqh or Shariah, but instead, in Dawa.  They sound great, but when you listen in depth, you will discover they are misguiding you.  If they are, then a real sheikh will be able to go through their words point by point and give you the reasons for their mistakes.  

But, most of all, seek Allah's guidance, and mean it.  Do not seek to seen by others, or to feel superior.  If they tell you you are superior or of the "saved sect" and that you are better than others, they are false.  Kibriyya is the sin of Shaytan.  Anyone who says, I am better than you, is of Shaytan.  We are all human and the only thing that makes us better is taqwa, that clinging to rope of Allah.  And only Allah is the judge of that, not us.  Have taqwa of Allah, cling to Him as if you are child clinging to its parent, cling to Him for dear life, because He is the source and sole savior of your life.  

Allah is real!  Deen of Islam is real!  Stop this virtual Islam, leave it!  Come back to Real Islam!