Fasting: The Pathway to Taqwa

FASTING IS PRESCRIBED ON YOU

Allah SWT says in the Qur’an a;-Hakim

2:183  O ye who believe! fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you that ye obtain taqwa. 

Imam Bukhaari has recorded:

The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, "When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained." (Imam Bukhari) ...

Narrated Abu Huraira(r.a): The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:"... whoever fasts during Ramadan out of sincere faith and hoping to attain Allah's rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven." (Imam Bukhari).

[Narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah]

The Messenger of Allah (saw) addressed his companions on the last day of Sha`ban, saying, "Oh people! A great month has come over you; a blessed month; a month in which is a night better than a thousand months; month in which Allah has made it compulsory upon you to fast by day, and voluntary to pray by night. Whoever draws nearer (to Allah) by performing any of the (optional) good deeds in (this month) shall receive the same reward as performing an obligatory deed at any other time, and whoever discharges an obligatory deed in (this month) shall receive the reward of performing seventy obligations at any other time. It is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Heaven. It is the month of charity, and a month in which a believer's sustenance is increased. Whoever gives food to a fasting person to break his fast, shall have his sins forgiven, and he will be saved from the Fire of Hell, and he shall have the same reward as the fasting person, without his reward being diminished at all."

Ramadan Mubarak!!!!  We have entered the most blessed month, the month in which the Qur’an was revealed, the month with a night worth a thousand months.

"Indeed We have revealed it (Qur'an) in the night of Power. And what will explain to you what the night of Power is? The night of Power is better than a thousand months. Therein descends the Angels and the Spirit (Jibreel) by Allah's permission, on every errand: (they say) "Peace" (continuously) till the rise of Morning!" (Q 97:1-5)

The third pillar of this deen of Islam is fasting.  Why has Allah prescribed fasting for us?  He has done so consistantly.  All major religions prescribe fasting. The Jews fast for Yom Kippur and the High Holy Days, Christians fast for Lent, and Hindus and Buddhists also fast.  

Allah Himself tells us that He has prescribed fasting so that we may be of those with taqwa, so that we may acquire piety and an unshakable faith in Him.

Taqwa is an illusive word, difficult to translate. 

49:13 O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in taqwa. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware. Q 49:13)

Most scholars say taqwa comes from T-Q-W indicating to protect oneself.  Certain acquiring this trait will protect us from the Hell Fire.  Some have translated it as fear, but it is not fear of Allah as in Khashiyah Allah, nor is it the fear or apprehension we may have in hayyat al duniyah.  It is not like apprehension and nervousness we feel if we think the boss will fire us, for example.  And it is not the awe and quaking we might feel before a great personage or magnificent scene in nature.  That is more khashiyah.

Taqwa is more powerful.  It is that feeling in the pit of stomach, that catching in the throat, that utter sense of inevitability when we are faced with our death.  And at that moment, we cling, we grasp, as if we are grasping our mothers.  We hang on for dear life. 

Contained within this word is Q-W-Y – the root of strength, Al-Qawi is one of the Names of Allah.  We grasp al-Qawi with all of our might and main.

 

2:256 There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error. And he who rejecteth false deities and believeth in Allah hath grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer, Knower.

How does sawm increase our taqwa?

First, there are three levels of fasting;  physical fasting, mental fasting and spiritual fasting. 

Physical fasting – abstaining from food, drink and sex during the day light hours, increases taqwa by reminding us who is our Rabb – our Lord, our Benefactor, our Provider of all Provision and Sustainence – Allah SWT.

We become more grateful for all we have – our food, our drink, our families, our jobs.  Through understanding from whom our life stems, we can but cling closer to Him, fearing He will no longer support us, and hoping that He will.  Through our fear and hope, we cling ever tighter to our Allah.

Mental fasting – abstaining from negative thoughts and especially, their expression in speech, refraining from backbiting, slander, complaining, and negativity increases our taqwa by reminding us Allah is Al-Rahman Al-Rahim.  Allah is so merciful to us, so not only should we be grateful to Him and not complain about the state He has put us in, but we should be merciful to others.  Backbiting, slander and complaining and blaming others reveal our own lack of mercy. 

Yes, Islam obligates us to strive against oppression and to be just.  However, Islam also prohibits us from fitnah in the community and among ourselves.  Too many of us scream for what we think are our rights, but we do not always treat others fairly ourselves. 

The problem is our nafs.  We cry "Nafsi, Nafsi," and thereby we act selfishly and do not think about others.   While it is important to validate our own feelings, we also need to validate and not minimize those of others.  We need to inculcate empathy and respect for one another.  During Ramadan let us fast from our own nafs, and think only of Allah SWT and His Creation, our fellow human beings. 

Imam Malik narrates:   One day when Umar went in to visit AbuBakr as-Siddiq and found him pulling his tongue, he said, "Stop! Allah forgive you!" AbuBakr replied to him, "This has brought me down to dangerous places."

Imam al-Bukhaari narrates:   Some people asked Allah's Apostle (Sal-allahu-aleihi-wassallam), "Whose Islam is the best? i.e. (Who is a very good Muslim)?" He replied, "One who avoids harming the Muslims with his tongue and hands."

The month of Ramadan affords us a time to train our nafs.  The Qur'an describes three stages of the nafs.  The first is nafsul ammarah bi suu', or the nafs that commands to evil. This is the nafs, untrained and unrestrained.  It is selfish, and concerned only with satisfying its every whim.  And not just physical pleasures, but also mental ones as well.  Many people controlled by their desires for things of this world, food, money, luxury goods, status, control, power, - all of these become obsessions.  In our increasingly atheistic world, people have lost their ability to control themselves.  They have become slaves to every passion.  

During Ramadan we can begin to train our nafs to exercise self-control and self-discipline.  We begin with control over the physical desires such as the desire for food, drink and sex.  After the first week, we find that we no longer feel so thirsty or hungry. Once the physical appetites are under control, we move on the mental ones.  

During the second week we can focus on our thoughts and speech.  We can concentrate on negative thoughts and signs of fitnah in our communities.  We must be vigilant against backbiting.  This is especially important since during Ramadan, many people return to the mosque or come for the first time in their lives.  Many love to backbite such people, thinking themselves to be superior. But we must remember, that this sin of kibriyya is the sin of Shaytan - "I'm better than him."  So, now during Ramadan, we remind ourselves of our brotherhood, and learn to control our mental and verbal expressions.

During this second week, we develop nafsu lawwamah, the soul that reproaches or rebukes itself.  This is the soul that is self-critical.  It begins to act as a "conscience" and learns what is truly beneficial and what is truly harmful to mankind.  

Spiritual Fasting – abstaining from anything other than the dhikr of Allah SWT and seeking only His Pleasure increased our taqwa by pointing out to us how often we focus on things other than Allah, and reminding us that the only thing worthy of worship, of ulluhiyyah, is Allah. 

During the third week of Ramadan, after we have gained control over our physical and mental desires, we focus our attention on developing nafs al-mutmayyinah, the soul that is at peace, contented.  During the third week of Ramadan, we have become used to fasting, and we have spent our nights in prayer in Tarawih.  We have enjoyed hearing the Qur'an, and we may now even hear this blessed message from Allah in our dreams.  Now we become more peaceful and cleansed in the body, mind and soul.  We end our beloved month in the best state from which to re-enter the hayyat al duniyya, the life of this world with the strength to strive on this path for a whole other year.

And our souls can only gain this contentment if they are focused on their true objective, Allah SWT, in tawhid.

Tawhid is of three branches:  Tawhid al-Ulluhiyyah, Tawhid al-Ruboobiyyah, wa Tawhid al-Asma’ wa Sifaat.  Ulluhiyyah refers to the fact that Allah SWT alone is worthy of worship.  Ruboobiyyah refers to the fact that Allah SWT is the sole source of our support, He is our Creator and Preserver.  Asma’ wa Sifaat refers to His names and characteristics that He himself has mentioned to us.  When we fast from all but remembrance of Allah, we focus on Tawhid, and realize all that we do over the course of the year that violates this tawhid.  In doing so, we grasp tighter to that secure handhold to Allah, the only handhold that will not break. 

May Allah SWT give us the tawfiq to have a successful fast this year.  And may Allah SWT forgive all our sins.

Indigenousity

HUMAN EVOLUTION

91:1. By the Sun
And his (glorious) splendour;
2. By the Moon
As she follows him;
3. By the Day as it
Shows up (the Sun's) glory;
4. By the Night as it
Conceals it;
5. By the Firmament
And its (wonderful) structure;
6. By the Earth
And its (wide) expanse;
7. By the Soul,
And the proportion and order
Given to it;
8. And its enlightenment
As to its wrong
And its right;—
9. Truly he succeeds
That purifies it,
10. And he fails
That corrupts it!

No thoughtful, intelligent person can deny that materialistic consumerism and its underlying philosophy of human dominion and control, is destroying our earth, our air, our water, and our souls.  We are in grave danger of global system failure.  We are in grave danger of failing because we have fallen into imbalance and corruption.

The Tea Party and other brainwashed people, who run away from reality and live in a world of their own making may deny global climate change.  But denial does not make a problem go away.  How can they deny the fact that people in island nations in the Pacific are being forced to uproot whole communities, established perhaps thousands of years ago, and move to Australia, in order to survive. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/kiribati/9127576/Entire-nation-of-Kiribati-to-be-relocated-over-rising-sea-level-threat.html)

Ignorance is bliss - so the saying goes - but in fact, it is not bliss.  It is down right dangerous.

How did our social order get so unbalanced?

حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ يُوسُفَ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ سَالِمٍ الْحِمْصِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ زِيَادٍ الأَلْهَانِيُّ، عَنْ أَبِي أُمَامَةَ الْبَاهِلِيِّ،، قَالَ ـ وَرَأَى سِكَّةً وَشَيْئًا مِنْ آلَةِ الْحَرْثِ، فَقَالَ سَمِعْتُ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ ‏ "‏ لاَ يَدْخُلُ هَذَا بَيْتَ قَوْمٍ إِلاَّ أُدْخِلَهُ الذُّلُّ ‏"‏‏.‏

قَالَ أَبُو عَبْد اللَّهِ وَاسْمُ أَبِي أُمَامَةَ صُدَيُّ بْنُ عَجْلَانَ

Narrated Abu Umama al-Bahili:

I saw some agricultural equipment and said: "I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying: "There is no house in which these equipment enters except that Allah will cause humiliation to enter it."

(http://sunnah.com/bukhari/41)

I remember reading this rather odd hadith years ago.  What does it mean?  The Bible relates the story of Cabel and Abel with some variations we do not find in the Qur'an.  In the Bible, Abel is said to have made a sacrifice to Allah of a sheep, while Cabel sacrificed some grain.  Allah accepted Abel's sacrifice. While the Qur'an focuses on the intentions and sincerity of the two in making their sacrifices, the Bible focuses on the comparison between pastoralism vs agriculturalism.  The Jews were originally pastoral, raising sheep and goats. They looked down upon settled agricultural people.

The same prejudice against agricultural peoples can be found among the Aaraab or Bedouin people.  The Quraish used to send their children out to live in the desert with the Badu so they could learn manners, culture, language and the pure Arab ethos.  The Prophet SAW was also raised in this manner.  The Quraish felt that settled life in towns and cities had a corrupting influence.  

Allah seems to have also supported this notion that agriculture is a corrupting influence.  However, for Allah, this is not a matter of prejudice.  He is all knowing and has far greater understanding of such matters than do we.  And in his understanding, He advises us sincerely and sends us guidance.  

We know that humanity is born on fitrah, the innate knowledge of good and bad. Even the earliest peoples understand right from wrong.  In the movie, "The gods Must Be Crazy,"  Xi and his family of !Kung Bushmen live in a society where everyone is equal and they share all that they have.  One day a Coke bottle falls from an airplane.  The people find all kinds of uses for it, but there is only one bottle.  Suddenly, the people begin to want to keep it and they begin to fight over it, until someone hits another with it.  They realize this is a bad thing, and decide to have Xi go and throw it off the Earth.  

After Adam receives guidance from Allah, Allah tells humanity that He will send us guidance from time to time.  

2:38. We said: "Get ye down all from here;
And if, as is sure, there comes to you
Guidance from Me, whosoever
Follows My guidance, on them
Shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

When we study these incidences of revelation, we notice something.  All prophets were sent to settled peoples, and many came at a time when the society was in transition from a nomadic lifestyle to a settled lifestyle.  

Through most of human history, we lived in family groups like the Bushmen. Allah provided us our sustenance through provisions of wild game, plants, fruits, grains, nuts, and honey. We ranged widely.  Genome studies show diverse origins.  Humans are not the result of a great chain of evolution from one creature to the next. Instead, we are discovering a new paradigm, a much older paradigm. 

One of the most important lessons from science is that all things behave as either a particle or a wave.  When we seek to study light, we discover that we can either know its position in space or its movement over time. We cannot know both.  So, light is said to behave either as a particle - an extent located within the time/space continuum observed at a precise moment of singular duration; or it behaves as a wave - a velocity or movement observed over a finite duration. When we look at the development of life, we observe fossils.  

Fossils are discrete facts.  In order to explain these facts, we posit theories. One such theory put forward to explain fossils is Evolution.  

So claim Evolution is a fact.  This is false - it is a lie.  In Science and its rational support system, Induction, facts are listed as the particular premises of an inductive syllogism or qiyas - a simple version might be:

1. A fossil we call Homo Erectus exists and it dates to 70,000 years ago

2. A fossil we call Homo Neanderthalus exists and it dates to 50,000 years ago

3. A fossil we call Cro-Magnon Man exists and it dates to 43,000 years ago

4. Therefore, modern humans evolved from earlier hominids.

But, the conclusion is not really proven.  All we have shown is the relative probability of a particular conclusion, given the set of facts.  We could try another conclusion.  For example, Therefore, Allah created modern humans from Cro-Magnon Man.  We could also try other theories.  

Our purpose here is not to debate evolution versus intelligent design.  The point here is to show that induction does not produce certainty.  It produces only probability.  However, we will briefly note that the Theory of Evolution today is quite different from that of Darwinian Evolution.  Darwinian Evolution states that life evolved from one point to the next along a hierarchy of ever more advanced species.  So, life evolved from one celled organisms to more complex creatures like worms, to fish, to lizards, to mammals, to humans.  Darwinian Evolution has problems as a theory though - the "missing links" in this chain are often missing.  So modern Evolutionary Theory posits random jumps, perhaps caused by mutations and gamma rays, that just so happen to produce fortunate results. So, fig trees just so happened to develop inward blooming flowers, that were pollinated by tiny wasps that just so happened to have also developed at the same time. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus#Mutualism_with_the_pollinating_fig_wasps)

Personally, the probability of this theory is about equal to that of intelligent design. 

However, the point here is that when we look at the "particle" of human development the individual fossils, we are only seeing the points in time - a snap shot in time.  But, when we look at the complete genome, we see the movement, the wave, over time.  From this perspective, all life is a continuum from single celled organisms to the most complex. 

The conception of life as distinct species and the theory of speciation is not a complete picture. Humans developed and flowed across the landscape.  We met, traded, went off to other places, came back to our birthplaces.  We were nomads, co-operating, co-mingling, co-habitating. 

The "particle" view of humanity has produced several erroneous conclusions. One is that humans are naturally violent.  We assumed that each "particle" in the fossil record killed off the one before it.  Just a few years ago, scientists argued that modern humans killed off Neanderthals in Europe.  The debate became so heated that two of the leading scientists in the field refused to speak to one another.  A documentary was produced perhaps 10 to 15 years ago on this, but I was unable to find it at this time because the whole view on Neanderthals and human development has radically changed since the Human Genome Project results have become available.  A recent documentary, First Peoples," explores the new concept that human development is more of a wave, and that we co-operated with rather than killed off other human groups.

The Genome Project has also changed our understanding of the fossil record.  If you actually study how science looks at fossils and speciation, you will find that very slight variations in a tooth, a small bone, a skull, a leg bone, can lead a scientist to posit that he or she has discovered a new species.  Think carefully. Scientists depend on grant money.  Grant money is not easy to get.  You are not likely to get grants for the "same old bones."  But, a new species... And then, if its new, you get to name it.  With your name...  Scientists may like to portray themselves as unselfish monks, but they are not.  

So, fossils in a hierarchy or life in a continuum?  

We have a preference for hierarchies, as we shall see... and hierarchies mean something is better than other things.  That fits with Survival of the Fittest, that other part of Darwinian Evolution.  

Social scientists also liked the idea of Survival of the Fittest.  In the 1920s, fascists and racists used the idea of Social Darwinianism to justify racism, and capitalism.  It lurks behind the scenes of the 1% Society of today.  And this kind of thinking also justifies violence.  Survival of Fittest justifies killing the lesser peoples.  Hitler killed Jews, Slavs, Poles, Gypsies, and people with mental handicaps.  We can only wonder what our current proveyor of this philosophy, Donald Trump, will use it to justify.

So, Science, wedded to the Western obsession with hierarchy, assumed our ancestors were violent. All this projection of violence onto our ancestors is just that, projection of our behavior onto them.  

Not that we were never violent.  We may have been, but the old idea that Homo Sapiens killed off Neanderthals and other ancestral humans can no longer be supported by factual evidence in our DNA.  We are Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens.  

THE AGRICULTURAL DEVOLUTION

So what happened?  Well, Gobekli Tepe holds some clues.  In the 10 millenium BCE, Neolithic peoples built great megalithic structures whose purpose was clearly religious. (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665/?no-ist) Monuments like Stonehenge and Chaco Canyon were not built as housing blocks, but for religious celebrations, and for particular forms of religious celebrations - celebrations of the natural cycles of the sun, moon and stars.  

Many have speculated that we settled in cities first, and then developed "organized" religion.  It would appear this time line is false.  We developed "organized" religion before we settled in cities.  And what placed like Gobekli Tepe reveal is that we did, in fact, begin to "organize" religion.  

Humans began as hunter/gatherers, living in small bands and moving from place to place, as needed, in order to find food.  We moved into every environment possible, following migratory animals, following the seasonal availability of plants.  Later, as we became more numerous in the land, we began to move to gather with one another.  The recent research in Africa reveals that ancestral humans moved in trading webs and met up, traded and mated with one another.  What we used to perceive as distinct species were not so.  All of the archaic humans are living in our modern DNA.  Europeans carry Neanderthal genes; Asians carry Davidsonian and Erectus genes.  Our ancestors did not kill one another.  They traded and mated with one another.  

As we moved on the land and met at certain locations, those locations became special to us.  We began to meet there not only to trade, but to worship.  Chaco Canyon in the US, is one such place.  Makkah was another such place.  Both are places of little water and resources, but deep in spiritual meaning for the people who make pilgrimage to them.  Why did we choose such remote places to share our spirituality?  Allah ta'ala Alim.  Allah only knows, for Allah chooses them.   

Initially we did not live in these places.  We remained nomadic and only gathered there at certain times of the year.  Then, we began to move in.  We see this process in the Seerah when Qusayy decided it was easier to care for Makkah if he moved the whole clan there.  But, society began to change when he did that.  It began to degenerate.

The Quraish and their history in Makkah reveals much about what happens when humans settle in cities.  Whereas nomadic societies are egalitarian and communal, urban societies stratify along income and power lines.  Na'ibs become amirs, amirs become sultans, and the masses stratify into merchants and servants.  People can become property, become slaves.  As different groups move in, they bring their own ancestral "gods" and communal practices.  Powerful groups begin to dominate.  One way to dominate is to order the people into hierarchies, with the power groups on top.  As groups jockey for position in the chain, so their "gods" end up in pantheons.  Greek mythology, Roman mythology, Hindu pantheons, Egyptian polytheism all give us a view into who was who in those societies.  

As this hierarchy and organization arises out of the need to organize agricultural labor in urban/agricultural societies.  The Giza plateau around the Pyramids reveals the organization of the work gangs who built those structures.  Catholic padres recorded the organization of the Inca in work gangs to build monumental architecture.  We take our ability to organize farm labor and then apply it to support the perception of power for the king.  And the king then becomes a god himself.

What did Firawn say?  


79 : 24. Saying, "I am your Lord,
Most High".

Some think that the Firawn who said this was Ramses.  Allah Ta'ala Alim, but certainly, Ramses built a huge temple to himself, and had hundred of statutes of himself carved out, depicting himself as a god.  His mummified remains lie in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, a reminder that despite all the hype, he died. And all the power, money, and hierarchy fantasies could not keep him from dying.

THE LESSON OF CHACO

Around a 1000 years ago, the people of the Colorado Plateau also began to enter the Neolithic period.  They were a nomadic people who had begun to farm corn.  They moved in trade webs across the land, and began to meet in a place called Chaco Canyon, in modern New Mexico.  As they moved across the land, they notice movements in the universe around them.  Animals migrated, plants came and went at different times, and the lights in the night sky also moved. They noticed patterns in the movements and positions of the Sun and Moon too. They also noticed that on certain days, the lights from these heavenly bodies would fall in certain places, on certain rocks, in certain patterns, and so on. The whole universe seemed to have patterns of movement - of migration.  

Like many Neolithic peoples before them, they began to build stone structures. These structures replaced the temporariness of wood and hide.  The stone gave an illusion of permanence, absoluteness, certainty, finality - hierarchy.  And just like Qusayy, some one must have thought that such places need permanent care-takers.  A new hierarchy of priests and kings arose.  

Archeologists have noticed evidence of two types of settlements on the Colorado Plateau, southern facing pueblos, and pueblos with towers and T shapes. Archeologists have also noticed evidence of violence, brutal and unnatural - cannibalism.  Something terrible happened.  But, in the end, the sky centered hierarchy vanished, and the earth centered egalitarian pueblo culture continued. 

The people of the Colorado Plateau made a choice, a choice that no one else has yet made, that we know of... they gave up hierarchy and returned to an older, egalitarian paradigm. 

INDIGENOUSITY

A few years ago a skeleton was found in Kennewick Washington.  After dating the remain, scientists determined that he was perhaps the oldest skeleton found in North America.  Immediately, the native peoples of the area demanded that "the Ancient One" be repatriated to the tribe and reburied.  Scientists rebuked them.  There is no way this skeleton could be their ancestor...  

This is not a clash of facts, it is a clash of paradigms. No people today are "first people."  No one today is a "first person"!!!  We ALL have ancestors.  Being Indigenous is a point of view, a philosophy, not a biological fact.  The Umatilla People understand this philosophy.  Biological ancestry is not important.  Both the Ancient One and the Umatilla share something.  They can feel the webs of connection to him over time and space.  

The scientists, and their "superior" "educated" world view of hierarchies fought against the tribe for custody of the body of a human being.  Who really has the better interest of humanity at heart?  

In the end, a scientist from Scandinavia, in a respectful way, offered to help. He ran the DNA of the Ancient One and compared it to the present tribes.  In fact, the present tribes are carrying his DNA.  Science can be used for good and it can be used for evil.  It is a tool, but too many are treating it like a religion that cannot be questioned.

THE LEGACY OF HIERARCHY

This philosophy of hierarchy has brought upon us an unjust world.  We have noted before the original sin of Shaytan - Kibriyya/Arrogance.  "I am better than him (Adam), You created me from smokeless fire, and You created him from dirt."  Here is the first hierarchy.  The Greeks imagined all kinds of hierarchies - the Great Chain of Being.  This led to the idea that the physical world is lowly and evil, so man must have "fallen" into it.  That led to the doctrine of Original Sin.  

Now, this doctrine is leading us to utter destruction.  The 1% seemed to feel justified in having all the wealth.  We all feel entitled.  No one is grateful anymore.  We live in our own fantasy worlds, where we are the kings or queens, and when the real world crashes in on us, we go ballistic.  We have become the One of Plato's hierarchy of being, and nothing else matters.  

Like the people of Chaco, we are consuming one another.  We uses words like "competition" "survival of the fittest" "top this" "top that."  We have a culture of "est."  "Best" "Greatest" "Smartest" "This is the biggest of its kind to come out in the last five minutes..."  Everything must be a superlative.  

However, superlatives are not sustainable.

ISLAM IS INDIGENOUS

In order to survive, we must return to our origins, our roots as human beings, to our indigenous state.  To be indigenous is to remember, as Allah reminds us, that we are a part of Creation.  We are part of the web of life and we have a particular role in it.  We were created to worship Allah.  We were created to be the successors of the Malaa'ikah on this Earth, as its stewards and caretakers. We were created to be in communion with Allah and community with each other.  We were not created to be competition with Allah or with each other.

Islam means to surrender, to cease hostilities with Allah.  It is the essence of Indigenous philosophy.  To be at peace, the peace of the body, the mind and the soul.  To be in the correct relationship with Allah and His Creation.  To be in society with each other, respecting each others rights and performing our obligations and duties.  

It is unfortunate that many Muslims have also fallen prey to hierarchical thinking.  The Khalifaats did it.  Sultans did it.  Modern nations and their dictators have done it.  We have also fallen prey to arrogance and racism.  This is not Islam.

Like the people of Chaco, we should abandon the hierarchies and seek the webs that link us across time and space.  Only then can we link with our Islamic ancestors, the Sahabi and Ahl Al Bayt we all talk so much about.  Only then, can we overcome the years of "divide and conquer" politics we have all suffered through.  Only then can we appreciate the full potential of humanity, that potential that Allah SWT saw when He told the angels that He knew something about us that they did not.  

Striving Against Da'esh

9:73. O Prophet! strive hard against The Unbelievers and the Hypocrites,
And be firm against them. Their abode is Hell,—An evil refuge indeed.

74. They swear by God that they Said nothing (evil), but indeed
They uttered blasphemy, And they did it after accepting
Islam; and they meditated A plot which they were unable
To carry out: this revenge Of theirs was (their) only return
For the bounty with which God and His Apostle had enriched
Them! If they repent, It will be best for them;
But if they turn back (To their evil ways),
God will punish them With a grievous penalty
In this life and in the Hereafter: They shall have none on earth
To protect or help them.

In these ayaat of Surah al-Tawbah, Allah SWT commands us to strive against all who plot against our Deen of Islam, be they from without and from within.  The fact that there are those who have used our own Deen against us to seek revenge against us, should not be a surprise.  Such people have always sought to destroy us.  We only have to remember Abdullah ibn Salul and his followers.  They claimed to be Muslim.  They even prayed as we do, attended the masaajid, made salaat and paid zakat.  But, in secret, they plotted revenge on the believers, the Mu'minoon.

They swear by Allah, "Wa Llahi this, Wa Llahi that..."  But, in the end, they make all kinds of invalid, foolish arguments.  They use brainwashing techniques and separate our youth from knowledgeable people.  They uses ever trick up Shaytan's sleeve to destroy our Deen.

61:8  They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it.

Here is Surah as-Saff, Allah reassures us that they will not be able to extinguish His Light, His Deen of Islam.  

The followers of Shaytan, the Dawlat ash-Shaytan, cite ayaat of the Qur'an and hadith in support of their agenda.  They take ayaat out of contexts or purposefully lie about the meaning of ayaat.  The most abused Surah by these devils is Surah al-Tawbah.  They distort the meaning of the Arabic text and brainwash our youth into thinking that Islam calls them to violence, killing and terror.  Most of the followers of these Shayateen are not fluent in fusa'a Arabic and do not know the Seerah of the Prophet.  Hence, they are easily misled by these liars.  

Not only do they tell our youth lies, but they tell them not to speak to those who do have knowledge.  The problem with being ignorant is that you are ignorant of the fact that you have no knowledge.  None of us has knowledge. NO OF US HAS KNOWLEDGE!!  Only Allah is Alim.  ONLY ALLAH IS ALIM!!!.  

If you want to learn the Deen, learn it from Allah.  His Kitab, the Qur'an, is mubin.  It is clear.  Just read it. Read it in context all the way through before you even start to study tafsir or listen to anyone else try to interpret it.  Ask Allah, make du'a to Allah, as the Prophet SAW once made du'a to Allah for Abbas, to give you understanding.  Too many recite beautifully, yet do not understand a single word.  A Qari is not an Alim!!!!.  An Alim may be a Qari, but a Qari is not an Alim.  Do not be fooled.  

Dae'sh and the Hubb al-Duniya

Recently, a young man who had been brainwashed into following Da'esh pleaded to be allowed to go home. He said he wanted to come home because he was disillusioned by Da'esh and he was upset because his i-Pod no longer worked over there.  Look in the mirror.  Are you living in a virtual world?  Does Da'esh and its activities sound fun to you?  It's not a video game.  You will have to kill real people.  And why?

Da'esh is selling antiquities to raise money for its cause.  Despite the videos of blowing up Palmyra and bashing statutes, they are also collecting artifacts and selling them.  To who?  One has to wonder?  Who buys ancient artifacts?  Museums, art galleries, private art collectors, rich people... So that is who is financing Da'esh.  Did the Prophet take money from the Qur'aish?  Did he ask the Romans or the Persians for money? Did he sell statutes to them?  Why is Da'esh doing this?  It's certainly not the Sunnah. 

But then Da'esh has no interest in the Sunnah.  They have burned people alive.  The Prophet said this form of punishment is reserved for Allah alone.  Muslims are not even permitted to burn palm trees.  Da'esh is only interested in the money.  And where is the money going?  Remember, the leadership of Da'esh were all former flunkies of Saddam Hussein.  They got fat off his money, and now they want to get fat off of your money.  And all while you, the youth, fight for them, so they do not have to get their hands dirty.  They learned how to use people from Saddam, and now they are using you.  

Baiyyah

We hear alot about youth pledging allegiance to these Shaytans.  Do you really want to sell your soul to the devil?  In Surah al-Tawbah, Allah reminds us that the followers of Shaytan, the kafirun and munaafiq are going to hell.  It is they who are told to make Tawbah in Surah at-Tawbah.  Using the teachings of Islam for your own ends to get money and girls, and big screen TVs and i-Pods is to be a munaafiq, "one who spends himself wastefully." "One who blows his wealth and himself on foolish nonsense."  Keep in mind the hadith recorded in al-Bukhaari that we are rewarded according to our intentions.  If you migrate for a woman or for money or for an i-Pod, that's what you'll get, but what good will it do you in the end.  What will that woman, that money, that i-Pod do for you in hell?

And what about this pledge or Baiyyah?  The only Baiyyah that is Sunnah is to Allah and His Messenger. Yes, the community continued to use it after his death.  They made baiyyah to Abu Bakr, to Umar, to Uthman, to Ali, to Muawiyyah...  But, the only evidence in the Sunnah is that baiyyah is to Allah and Rasulallah.  That is it.  If we are really "ahl as-Sunnah" then this should be our baiyyah as well - to follow Allah and the Sunnah, the two sources of wahy, revelation from Allah SWT to mankind.  Anything else is interpretation and IS NOT INFALLIBLE.  Whether the interpretation is from Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali , Hassan, Hussein, Muawiyyah, Hasan al-Basri, Ibn Taymiyyah - whom ever, they are human beings.  They are not prophets, they are not infallible.  No matter who they are, to say their opinions are binding is to say that those opinions are somehow wahy.  THIS IS FALSE.  Allah SWT sent a prophet, Muhammad, SAW. We do not need another prophet after him.  He delivered the message.  We testified that he had completed his mission on his Hajj al-Wadaa'.  We need nothing else.  

What we fail to understand is the difference between Shariah and Fiqh.  Shariah is divine legislation, fiqh is human understanding.  Yes, fiqh is subject to change because it is subject to greater understanding.  Shariah, the objectives, basic principles and clear nass, are divine and do not require change.  They remain inviolate. Interpretation is important.  It is key to helping us apply the Shariah in our present circumstances. Because the Qur'an is the last revelation, it must be applicable long after its revelation.  So, each generation must look at it and apply it to its circumstances.  Understandings can change, but the Shar' - the Law and its objectives do not change.

So, again the Baiyyah is Sunnah, and the Sunnah is to make Baiyyah to Allah and to Rasulallah alone. The early Muslims not only stated the Shahadah but took the Baiyyah to Allah and to Rasulallah, when they became Muslims.  We should all do the same.  Even those who are born into Muslim families, must take the Shahadah and Baiyyah upon reaching majority.  Islam must become OUR religion, not just the religion of our ancestors.  The religion of your ancestors will not save you. Only submitting to Allah yourself will save you.

Munaafiq

N-F-Q means to spend.  We are encouraged, as Muslims, to spend fi sabillillah, in the path of Allah, to spend in Jihad.  Jihad, as we have noted before, means to strive in the path of Allah, not to be violent or to kill.  Qital fi sabillillah means to engage in military action for the sake of Allah and His Deen, but that does not necessitate killing either.  Striving, jihad, is physical, mental and spiritual.  Qital is military action in defense of the Islam.  Allah reminds us that violence is unfortunately necessary in this world.  

22:40. (They are) those who have Been expelled from their homes

In defiance of right, (For no cause) except That they say," Lord

Is God". Did not God Check one set of people
By means of another, There would surely have been
Pulled down monasteries, churches, Synagogues, and mosques, in which
The name of God is commemorated In abundant measure. God will
Certainly aid those who Aid His (cause);—for verily
God is Full of Strength, Exalted in Might, (Able to enforce His Will).

Islam means surrender and submission to Allah and to His Will.  Da'esh only calls to rebellion against Allah by calling people to destroy mosques, churches, synagogues and other houses of worship of other religions, and in killing anyone whom it unilaterally declares to be against it.  Allah has repeatedly said that if anyone inclines to peace, them we, as Muslims, must incline to peace as well.  (8:61).  

9:9. The Signs of God have they sold
For a miserable price,
And (many) have they hindered
From His Way: evil indeed
Are the deeds they have done.

10. In a Believer they respect not
The ties either of kinship
Or of covenant! It is they
Who have transgressed all bounds.

Not only has Da'esh killed thousands ahl al-Kitab, but they have butchered thousands of Muslims.  One recently slaughtered his own mother in the street.  Read the above ayaat.  This is clear evil and these Shayateen will take everyone to hell with them.  

Striving Against Shaytan

Allah SWT orders us to strive against all munafeeq and kafirun, all enemies from within and without.  We must strive against this evil that is destroying us.  Too many Muslims don't want to get involved.  On hajj, we kill one another to stone a brick pillar, but we do nothing against a real flesh and blood Shaytan in our midst. In the West, we just want to fit in.  Here's a piece of news.  I was born and raised in the US.  YOU WILL NEVER FIT IN.  Not because you are Muslim, but because you are not European, White and Atheist.  Even Christians today are being discriminated against.  Many are harassed for their beliefs.  Unless we act and speak out, we will end up like the Jews in Nazi Germany, the Japanese in internment camps, the intellectuals in Cambodia and Ethiopia... we will be the victims of the next pogrom.  And not only will that pogrom be carried out by Western powers, but by so-called "Muslim" governments.  These puppet states use Islam for their own benefit as well.  So do you think they want to have real Muslims in their midst?  They want compliant, greedy, worldly, atheistic, stooges, not thinking servants of Allah.  

Shaytan is winning against us.  What are we doing to fight back...  Physical violence is not working and only plays into his hands.  So what now?  Have we actually tried peace, have we actually tried understanding and seeking real knowledge?  Have we actually tried following the Sunnah?  

Strive against our age old enemy.  We must continue to strive.  We cannot give up. When faced with utter destruction of his mission, the Prophet prayed in the garden in Taif.  

"O Allah! I complain to You of my weakness, my scarcity of resources and the humiliation I have been subjected to by the people. O Most Merciful of those who are merciful. O Lord of the weak and my Lord too. To whom have you entrusted me?

To a distant person who receives me with hostility? Or to an enemy to whom you have granted authority over my affair? So long as You are not angry with me, I do not care. Your favor is of a more expansive relief to me. I seek refuge in the light of Your Face by which all darkness is dispelled and every affair of this world and the next is set right, lest Your anger or Your displeasure descends upon me. I desire Your pleasure and satisfaction until You are pleased.

There is no power and no might except by You."

Quranic quotes are from www.sacred-texts.com, and the prayer of Taif is from:
http://www.nuradeen.com/archives/CurrentIssues/PrayerOfTaif.htm

Remembering Death

Death Lies Waiting in the Wings

Once a woman came to Buddha, carrying a child in her arms.  The child was dead.  She cried for Buddha to bring her child back to life.  She clasped the child to her breast and begged.  The Buddha comforted her and said he would bring the child back to life if the mother could collect a mustard seed from a family that had not been touched by death.  

The mother cried tears of joy.  With hope in her heart, she set out to collect the mustard seed.  Just one tiny mustard seed.  She came to the first house and knocked on the door.  A boy answered.  She told him her story.  Yes, he would love to give her the mustard seed, but just the past week, his uncle had died.  He was very sorry.  At the next house, a woman answered.  Oh, she too would love to help, but two months ago, her father had died.  Another house, a man answered.  He too was sorry, last year his grandmother had died.  Another house, a child had died.  Another house, a grandfather.  Another, a mother.  Sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, children, adults in their prime, elderly in the old age.  

The mother returned to the Buddha.  She laid the child at his feet.  She understood.  Death is something we all share.  We are all born, we all live, even for a moment, and we all die.

Hans Ruedi Giger was fascinated with these realities.  His images airbrushed onto canvass are haunting.  We humans are composed of flesh, blood and bone.  Allah SWT describes the process in the Qur'an.  Sperm and egg join, then cling like a leech to the wall of the womb, then are shaped into a chewed morsel, then become skin, tissue, blood, and bone.  This physical creature is then born, moving down the birth canal from a world of fluids to a world of air.  We gasp, like fish floundering.  We cry as we struggle to adjust to breathing.  We proceed on through the physical process of maturing.  We grow strong, vigorous.  And then one day, we look in the mirror.  We become weaker.  Then we turn to face both the physical and mental consequences of ceasing to breathe.  When we do, our bodies will slowly decay into dust.  

Giger painted bodies. Living mechanisms, bio-mechanics.  Our bodies cry, laugh, orgasm and scream.  Our emotions, our body's reaction to stimuli that signal us how to react, trigger chemical responses causing us to take flight or fight, care or caress.  But is there more?  Is there a ghost in the machine?  

I am not a Cartesian dualist.  There is only one substance, Ruh.  What we call "physical" or "mental" are not two distinct substances, but are the result of our perceptions of the multitude of wavelengths at which the underlying Ruh vibrates.  Some of these vibrations are perceivable by the senses and hence ":physical;" while others are not perceivable by the sense, but are detected by their effects, hence "mental."  We are not ghosts in the machine.  We are a composite of vibrations.  That which I call "me," my nafs, is just a small part of me.  Allah SWT has said He will raise us up on Yawm Al-Qiyamah.  What ever that means, and Allah Ta'ala Alim, something of "me" will persist, will be judged, and will be saved by His Mercy.

Giger's painted bodies are disturbing.  Strangely beautiful, yet terrifying.  Paintings and statutes Allah SWT has warned us about.  They are disturbing because they are made of the same constituents as us.  They are mud, rock, stone, wood, etc; but they are soul-less.  Giger used his art, not to try to imitate nature or create something, but to expose something.  How macabre would be life if it had no Ruh.  Without Ruh, without the spark of life, the light of creation, the created universe would be cold, dark, lonely, and macabre.  

Several great men have written about the experience of dying.  Today, with the ability to record one's life in video, some have filmed the process of facing their own demise.  Recently, David Robert Jones, aka David Bowie died.  His presence was a great influence on my life.  He gave me courage to seek truth, even if that search took one out of the path upon which most people walk.  His last record was released on his birthday, Jan. 8th of this year.  He died two days later.  In his last work, he speaks of the reality of his own future.  He faces physical death, and what death means for the soul.  Every soul will taste it.  

Regardless of the nature of an after-life, we will all taste death.  I have tried to imagine ceasing to breath.  Sacratul-mawt,  The Death Throes.  What does this do to the body?  I have faced physical pain, and have experienced difficulties breathing - allergic reactions and such; but what will this be like?  And what will the nafs experience?  What I do know is that many have gone before me.  And Allah SWT will be with me.  

Moreover, I have died before.  Allah SWT says in the Qur'an that we have died before from the world of "alaisa Rabbikum?"  We died and were born into this world.  We also transitioned from womb to the world of air.  We have done this before.  We only need to remember.

Remembering Death

Many Daiyyas counsel us to remember death often.  Death puts our lives into perspective.  When we remember how we are going to end up, we do not seem so important, special, super-powered, as we may think we are now.  All those cars, TVs, iProducts, gold rings, fancy things are meaningless.  We cannot use them in the next life.  And what did they really get us here?  Where your friends really impressed by the fact that you could spend money?  That you could rack up debt for a bunch of toys?  They were all too busy trying to impress you, or talk about behind your back.  What did all those things ever really get you?

Only sincere belief in Allah, and demonstrating that belief through righteous actions will ever get you anything worthwhile.  Only Allah can save you, only Allah can reward you.  

Remembering death reminds us of the amazing way you came into this world.  That random change meeting of egg and sperm, that birth, and all the amazing things you have experienced during life.  Allah SWT shared a lifetime with you.  Only He knows what you have seen, heard, smelled, tasted, experienced.  The beauty of a sunset.  A single snow flake drifting softly to earth.  He shared it with you.  

After death, He will share those memories with all creation, and all creation will know that He chose you for those special memories.  Death is a reminder that Allah SWT loves each and every one of us.  

Some day He will call us home.  Until that day, let us not forget who created us, who sustains us, and to whom we will return.  Allahu Akbar!

Allah is Light

Al-Nur 24:35

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The similitude of His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass. The glass is as it were a shining star. (This lamp is) kindled from a blessed tree, an olive neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil would almost glow forth (of itself) though no fire touched it. Light upon light. Allah guideth unto His light whom He will. And Allah speaketh to mankind in allegories, for Allah is Knower of all things.

36 (This lamp is found) in houses which Allah hath allowed to be exalted and that His name shall be remembered therein. Therein do offer praise to Him at morn and evening.
37 Men whom neither merchandise nor sale beguileth from remembrance of Allah and constancy in prayer and paying to the poor their due; who fear a day when hearts and eyeballs will be overturned;
38 That Allah may reward them with the best of what they did, and increase reward for them of His bounty. Allah giveth blessings without stint to whom He will.
39 As for those who disbelieve, their deeds are as a mirage in a desert. The thirsty one supposeth it to be water till he cometh unto it and findeth it naught, and findeth, in the place thereof, Allah Who payeth him his due; and Allah is swift at reckoning.
40 Or as darkness on a vast, abysmal sea. There covereth him a wave, above which is a wave, above which is a cloud. Layer upon layer of darkness. When he holdeth out his hand he scarce can see it. And he for whom Allah hath not appointed light, for him there is no light.

In the midst of legislating the punishment for one of the most serious crimes, Allah SWT reveals on of the most beautiful of ayaat.  One of the gravest crimes is sexual crime.  In America, sexual predators are given harsh sentences and must forever register as sex offenders.  Allah SWT has consistently, through His revelations, told us that sexual crimes are heinous and that we should treat them seriously.  Even slandering another person by accusing them of a sex crime is taken very seriously.  Allah SWT says, "You count it as a trifle.  In the sight of Allah it is very great."  (al-Nur, 24:15).  However, in the midst of discussing the punishment for zina and qadhaf, Allah SWT reveals the most amazing ayaat.

Allah is the Light of the Heavens and the Earth.  Allah SWT makes it clear that He is using a mithlu or parable/similitude, a metaphor to explain something to us.  Then, for five ayat, He uses the concept of light to demonstrate the wonderous nature of His revelation and how it affects the hearts of mankind.  

Allahu Nur

It is reported on the authority of Abu Darr, "I asked Rasul Allah SAW,  'Did you see your Lord?' He SAW said, "He is Light, how could I see Him?"  In a narration reported by Abdullah ibn Shaqiq, Abu Darr said that Rasul Allah SAW said, "I saw Light."

Light upon Light.  What is Light?  Light is something primordial, apriori.  It behaves as a particle and as a wave.  We can either know where it is at a given instant or how fast it is moving over time, but never both.  A human can see one single photon of light, yet as waves we see a rainbow of colors, and there are colors we cannot see, but we can detect.  Ultraviolet light and infrared light are not visible to humans, but they are to other creatures.  And we can now detect x-rays and other wavelengths of light that no other creature can see.  

And now we know that light has a sound.  Scientist studying the sun notices vibrations on the surface of the sun. Upon closer study, they discovered that these vibrations were sound waves.  Of course, we may not hear these sounds as the sun is so far away.  Because light travels faster than sound, we see the lights, but we don't hear the sound.  And the speed at which light travels is a constant in our universe.  Nothing substantial or meaningful can travel faster.  

So what is Allah SWT telling us with this similitude of Light?  The hadith points out an important point.  How can you see a lamp in the dark?  You cannot.  The light has to be on in order to see the lamp.  How do we see Allah?  All we can "see" of Him is what he reveals to us - His Light.  Allah SWT then uses the mithlu to explain, there is a niche, and a lamp and a glass.  Remember that in our Prophet's time, they did not have electric lights.  My father knew Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb.  He remembered gas lamps and oil lamps.  We used them when I was a child for light out side or when the electricity was not working.  I remember the smell of kerosene and the burning cloth wick.  I remember the lamp black soot on the glass.  I also remember the light - warm - glowing.  It attracted moths who would sometimes disintegrate like dust in the hot wind created near the top of the flew of the glass.  And if you placed the lamp in a niche, the niche could act as a reflector and magnifier for the light, broadcasting it out into the night, out into the heavens and the earth.  

Here, the niche of the world reflects His ayaat out into the world.  We cannot help but see His signs everywhere, if we only pay attention and look.  And the light coming from this blessed lamp is there so that we cannot fail to see.  The oil is blessed.  It is so blessed that it glows even if it were not lit.  Light upon Light.  It overwhelms us.  But, understand, that even though this Light surrounds us, Allah SWT only guides those whom He will.  For that, we cannot be anything but totally and sincerely grateful.  Despite this overwhelming Light, many are in darkness.  

Allah SWT tells us about mankind.  This Light is found in houses.  What are these houses?  They are individual hearts - the houses of worship within each of us; and they are communal hearts.  The heart of a community is the masjid.  We are told in the Qur'an the Iqama Salaat, establish the salaat, and to do this, we must establish gatherings for that purpose.  A masjid is not a building, but it is an establishment - a jamaa - an ijtimaa of individuals who gather together to offer salaat in congregation, in jamaa.  Masjid, of course, means place of prostration, but that can be anywhere on the earth, as Allah SWT tells us in the Qur'an.  We are attracted to certain masaajid, not so much for the building, as for the community of believers we pray with in that place.  Islam is unique.  Our prayers are individual AND communal.  Other religions have community prayers, but we have communal prayer.  An essential feature of that prayer is that it is in jamaa.  We even make our pilgrimage together.  And this is in perfect conformity with human nature which is both individual and social.  

So the houses are our hearts and our communal heart, the masjid community to which we belong.  And the light shines forth from both,  It is warm, and inviting and it brings us guidance.

As for those who disbelieve, they have a mirage.  What is a mirage?  A false reflection, an illusion of light and water.  They are deluded into thinking that the illusion is life-sustaining water.  But when they taste the illusion, it is nothing but parching sand.  Lost in a desert, desperate for water, some have drunk sand.  Lost at sea, surrounded by water, yet you no matter how much you drink, your thirst will not be quenched for the water of the sea is salty.  If you keep drinking it, you will die.  And then veils and veils of darkness cover you.  In a dark storm over the sea, you cannot see where the sky ends and the water begins.  If Allah SWT does not guide you by appointing for you a light, there is no light for you.  May Allah SWT guide us and grant us light and save us from such a fate.

How many today are lost in the mirage?  We live in a virtual world.  Too many of us are not able to see anything.  When little rays of reality creep in, we freak out.  We are totally lost in iSpace.  And this iSpace is dividing us and preventing real community.  The light cannot penetrate the darkness of iSpace.

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.