Sikhism and the Natural Way of Life

The Punjab in the Indian Subcontinent has been the entry point to India for invaders, discovers, merchants, and travellers for mellinia. Thus it became a receptacle of very diverse ideas, philosophies, and ways of life over histroy. Muslim missionaries travelled there and beyond to teach people about the natural way of life, through personal example and righteous living. People from all communities were influenced by these teachers who they elevated to status higher than perhaps was appropriate, as is the case with such matters in the Indian subcontinent, where there has always been a tendency to exaggerate in respect and devotion to teachers raising them to semi-divine status. 

Today, we find the masses of all faith communities, going on pilgrimage to the graves of such teachers who are raised to the status of "saints". Many circummbulate these graves in devotion or prostrate to them or supplicate them for their needs. This has been the culture of the Indian Subcontinent, regardless of the faith community, as first described by Al Biruni in his antropological work on Indian society.

In the last millenia, the confluence of different faiths in the Punjab developed and intermingled, as the tendency of Hinduism which as been the main cultural force there is to amalgamate different faith and phiolosphies in a single all absorbing culture. This resulted in a common sense of spirtuality with ascetics from both Hindu and Muslim traditions practicing self denial and personal spirtual development, Just like the rivers of Punjab intermingle and flow into the Arabian Sea contibuting their essence in the discharge, likewise the different philospohies of this ferile land intermingled and developed into a common sense of spirituality with Sufi/Bhagti (personal spiritual development based on devotional remembrance of God which makes the devotee esctatic and reach haal -- causes them to "go in the zone").

Sikhism developed over several centuries based on the teaching of its primary (first) teacher, Guru Nanak, in the 1400s. As a deeply spirutal person, he went on a self discovery journey spiritually as well as physcially to understand and explain the sprituality he  personally got insights about. He did not claim to be a prophet of God, nor was his insights Revelation like they were for the Messengers of God in history. Nevertheless, he was a spiritual man, devotred to worshiping the One God from whom he got insights just like good upright men do. Thus he learned a personal way of living with many positive aspects and started teaching it to others. 

Some of the ideas that were important for him was the devotional personal connection with the One God, who represented the Truth. Through spritual practices akin to the Sufi/Bhagti tradition, and clean living, his inspirations and insights increased. With good intentions and mission for public service, they built upon each other. As a traveler and devoted man, he learned from many socieites and laid a lot of emphasis on learning, which became the basis of this new religion -- Sikh i.e. a disciple who is engrossed in learning.

Guru Nanak taught his disciples and chose the one he taught was best qualified to continue that teaching to others, thus his best disciple became the second Guru, and the line of gurus contined likewise till the 1700s. The gurus recorded these teachings and their personal phiolosophies in poems and books, which ultimately was completed and compiled by the 10th and last guru, Guru Gobind Singh. Rahter than choosing a suceesor to take over the task of teaching the community after him, this book of personal reflections of whole line of 10 gurus became the means of guidance for the Sikh community. 

Although, it is just a book of personal reflections of inspired people, the Granth Sahab is not the words of God, per se, nor are the words of prophets as none of the gurus were more than the wise inspired people. None claimed to be more than that. It contains the way Guru Nanak and the 9 gurus after him were inspired and lived a life which was meaningful for them, so that others who wish to do so might study it and try the same at a personal and community level based on the principles they had outlined in their personal reflections. 

Today, the Grarnth Sahab is given the status of a living person, Guru Granth Sahab, as the book is called in a living teacher like the other 10 gurus were once living. When devotees enter their places of worship, they prostrate to the book, and show devotion and reverance to it, whereas it might have orignially be intended just as a respository to principles to be studies, reflected, and applied to live a "good life" that the gurus intended their community to live. 

As compared to Islam -- the natural way of life -- Sikhism has interesting similarities and differences connsidering the gurus have quoted from two Sufis in their reflections -- Kabir and Farid. Guru Nanak also travelled to the Muslim world upto Baghdad and might have learned from other Muslim teachers. Among the ideas that are aligned with natural living, Sikhism is monothiestic, thus its disciples worship one God for inspiration, but strickly speaking the pure concepts of tawheed Al Uboodiyah (Monotheism of Worship) might be questionable with the degree of devotion and almost worship of the gurus (including the scriptural living guru - Guru Granth Sahab). This again is a characteristic of the people of the Indian subcontinent as we have discussed earlier. 

The concept of this world and the next world -- miri and piri (worldliness and spirtuality) is similar to Islam in that they are composite and not divorced from each other, whereas ideas of reincarnation and union with God are from Hindu and extreme Sufi tendencies which are not considered correct in orthoodox Islam, in which a person has four lives -- the life in the womb, that in this world, that in the grave and the everlasting life in the hereafter, not to return to this world again. As for union with God, that is not possible in Islamic ideology in which the Creator and His creation are distinct and canoot intermix at all.

Sikhism has some good ideas and principles. The emphasis on learning, self development, doing good to society, and living a clean, honest, chaste, upright life are all very positive attributes which the gurus taught their communities, but we need to realize that we can only rise to be an imperfect copy of our greatest teacher if we take them as absolute authority. Although, Sikhism is the 5th largest world religion, its followers are mostly from the Punjab wherevver they happen to live. It is very tied to a particular geograghy, culture, historical epoc, and teaching of a few men from that epoch. The lack of universality in its outreach might be because of its limited access to the principles of wisdom, as the words of 10 wise man, however inspirational they might be, cannot compare with the universal truth explained most eloquently by God Himself. Although, Sikhs might taste moments of estascy in music and dancing with the inspirational teachings of the gurus, it pales in comparision to the doing everything -- whether worldly or otherwise -- in complete worship ("in the zone") by following prophetic best practices that are authentically preserved in the natural way of life of Islam.

During the development of Sikhism, the Muslim Mughal rulers of India, saw these issues as herectic beliefs and forced the Sikhs to convert to Islam, which was not the best way to deal with the differences, in my personal opion. With hinsight, wre see that it increased differences and turned a people further away who have so much in common. So that now after the guru period of Sikhism, their religious dogma has fossilized and resistance to such force exerted by the Mughal rulers are part of their faith. 

It would be good to recreate goodwill so that we may consider the true value of our faith without any historical antagonism, as a means to optimize our efforts to live naturally, rather than force a version of truth we believe in on a people, as the Mughal rulers tried to do in their religious zeal. Athough, Sikhism is theoriticaly monothistic and based on the teaching of inspired and wise people with good intentions and good work, it is a suboptimum way to live a truly natural life that is possible with a holistic understanding of Islam and the modern world.

If intellectuals, scholars, and teachers from the Sikh community can try to reconsider Islam from its essential sources rather than the injustices of Muslim rulers who might have dealt with them in an inapprorpriate manner, perhaps they might rediscover some of the original thought pattern of Guru Namak in the inspiratation they get by studying Islam afresh.

How Does the Quran Transform Us

The process of memorizing the Quran is a journey that should be relished as it builds the Muslim personality. Memorizing properly for this end in mind, should be done in a proper way so that we benefit from the process. 

There are some prerequisites to begin. The foremost is to do it out of awe (tawqa) of Allah and in doing so to give up sins. It is not possible to memorize while continuing to sin. To memorize the Quran, we must love it and have a special relationship and companionship with it, by reciting a minimum set amount daily and engaging with it as much as possible. 

To benefit from it, it is highly recommended to recite it as Angel Gabrial (AS) taught it to Prophet Muhammad (SWAS) and that methodology has been passed down through certifications to our present day. Also, we need to understand what we memorize, by understanding the language it is in, i.e. Quranic Arabic which is a subset of Classical Arabic, which even many modern Arabs also do not understand well today. 

We cannot memorize the Quran if we do not schedule it as a daily appoinment at the same portion of the day. Thus, we need to set a dedicated time for it and seriously honour that appointment by fixing it in our schedule. As with time, the place needs to be fixed. It should be a place free from distractions where we memorize daily. As with time and place, the mushaf (copy of the Quran) needs to be fixed as well. It should be a standard copy and the same copy should ideally be used throughout the memorization. 

Before memorizing a new section of the Quran, we need to write it down by hand, with the paper to be shredded after memorization is accomplished. Finally, memorizing for Allah's pleasure requires making continuous supplication to Him to facilitate the process for it cannot happen unless it is sincerely for Him. 

Once the right conditions are established, we need to become familiar with the whole Quran, by reciting it frequently before beginning the memorization process. It should begin with the shortest chapters at the end of the Quran (part 30) for quick wins, and boost to confidence, as well as the fact that these chapeters are easy to recite in daily prayers by memory. Thus, we can proceed from part 30, to part 29, to part 28. Then, we can focus on memorizing the chapters that we are most familiar with like Al Khaf that we have been reciting every Friday, or Al Rahman, Ya Seen, etc. This will be easy to do and will set us up to memorize the whole Quran from the begining going forward (i.e. from Al Baqara onwards). 

The way to memorize is to take a section a day to memorize. Say we start with memorizing 3 verses. We do this by reciting the first verse 40 times without mistakes. Then we recite the second verse 40 times without mistakes. Once we have recited both individually 40 times, we recite the first with the second in combination 40 times without mistakes. Next, we memorize the third (last) verse 40 times without mistakes. Finally we recite the three verses of the section in combination 40 times without mistakes. 

Once we have memorized the daily section, we need to review what we have memorized before with this new section (3 verses). The reviewed section can be a quarter part of the Quran. After this is consolidated, we need to examine the section to memorize for the next day, prepare it and write it down to work on the following day. In the preparation, we need to read the translation and tafseer of that section we want to memorize. 

Memorization should be done 6 days a week, with one day dedicated for only revision in which all memorization should be reviewed. By using our free time for the wird of the Quran and reciting what we memorize in prayers in the day and specially at night, the memorization gets consolidated and part of our being and that is how the Quran transforms us. 

The Means Do Not Justify The End

If there is one thing I have learnt from life, it is that the means do not justify the ends. Since childhood, I observed my father who was vigilant to not break any rules as an expatriate worker in the UAE for 50+ consecutive years. I learnt that the laws of a society are made after considerable deliberation. Yes the are man made laws but a lot of work and consultantion goes to draft them. They are not perfect, but they are the best for that time for that place. By working within them we align with the natural processes of that society and live in peace and harmony with everyone. If we want to improve the society we work within the system to influence and change it for the better. Islamic laws are natural laws. There is tremendous flexibility in their scope and the way they can be implemented and exist within the system. As they are based on nature, practicing them sincerely within any system will influence the laws of any country and improve them naturally over time. 

The important thing is that we change ourselves, and that in itself will change our enironment and societies positively. When Islam spread worldwide it worked within the exsiting pre-Islamic cultures to refine them to become the best versions of it. During a casual conversation in a recreation center with a Canadian who spent his working life in Japan I learned that when he goes on vacations in India he prefers to stay at hotels owned by Muslims as Islam places a lot of emphasis on hygiene. The essential Indian culture is the same for Muslims and non Muslims, but Islam filtered the mainstrem Indian society in many ways over the centuries.

I remember how my father criticized newcomers to UAE in their carelessness in breaking the country's regulations. Yet many do not cringe at breaking laws when we immigrate to the West while emulating the Western systems blindly. Realize, that every rule we break has an impact on how we live. In general, it makes us deviate with natural living in that society. The fact that immigration status is denied to us in a country means that it is in OUR benefit not to stay there illegally, not for the fear of legal punishment but because it will have a host of negative repercussions that are not good for us in many ways. They will complicate our life and circumstances. So if we are denied a privilege by law, it means that it is beneficial for us not to have it. We may like a thing which is bad for us and dislike a thing which is good for us. The laws have been made with much deliberation for everyone's benefit including our own. The means do not justify the end.

Unfortunately, we see the same "by hook or by crook" mentality in new migrants to the West that we observed in illegal residents in the UAE in our youth. The West is a place where it is easy to deviate from natural living if we deliberately go against conventional and natural principles. So if there is a natural principle that engaging in riba whether in the form of home mortgages, car loans, or student loans is not natural, then we say OK, there is good in that for our holistic development and it will help us develop ourselves and our families in the long run and we do not engage in it. It is better not to be "touched by madness" that the Quran describes the dealing with riba causes, such that its effects do not allow us to live naturally, by constantly improving ourselves and others. Rather it causes us to become cogs in the Western system, enhancing its extreme nature rahter than improving it through influence and personal example to a natural equilibrium.

For some improvement and self development is aided through marriage or active participation in a particular community. Whereas others might thrive, producing great legacy by not marrying even though it it the Sunnah. Perhaps if Imam An Nawwawi married he might not have produced such great gems through dilution of his vision and efforts. Every case is different. For some Muslims, marriage in the West is obligatory, for some it is mubah, and for some it might be better not to marry. Similary, for some Muslims in the West, staying within a particular community might be obligatory, while for some interacting with a whole range of communities might be more beneficial to realize their unique vision. In any case, the important thing is to do the right thing which is uniquely right for the individual. without going against any conventional or natural principle. If we are violating any such principles, it is always possible to go back and correct our mistakes and build again to do things right, even though the matter might not be to our liking. If it means going back to our home countries because we are unable to upkeep conventional or natural principles, so be it, as the means do not justify the end. If it means to change our financial ways, it is always possible to reset to live more naturally in a society which has many benefits.

The Role of Wealth in Immigrant Muslim Communities in the West

They come mainly from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia speaking a gamut of diverse languages. All races, ethnicities, and economic classes are flooding Western urban centers. While some are unskilled laborers from rural villages, many are highly skilled professionals -- doctors, engineers, IT experts, accountants, financial wizards, and entrepreneurs. Some are refugees escaping war, religious persecution or oppression but a significant proportion of Muslims are migrating to the West for purely economic reasons, either as international students in Western universities or through professional migration schemes designed to attract the cream de la cream of the world.

The nature of capitalism in the West is that even religious non profit organizations are ecomically driven to solicit funding through donations. Unlike in Muslim countries where there are religious endowments (wafs) to fund religious activities, the religious institutions in the West are funded mostly through donations modeled on rules which originally goverened traditional Christian organizations. One local Islamic scholar described this public funding model as "beautiful" in terms of how many projects can be done through mutual cooperation.

Personally, I find some aspects of this model, which is rampant in immigrant communities, disgusting and sometimes against the Islamic ethos. When religious advice and services are influenced by donations, then they are not equitably dispensed in the community. As most immigrants are blindly focused on economic goals, they discount the importance of earning according to Islamic ethics, and encourage making wealth and properties based on riba and such exploitative economic practices that Islam explicitly prohibits. When such people gain influence through donations, neither is there blessing in the Islamic projects funded by impure wealth nor are the Islamic organizations able to cater to the needs of all the congregation equitably.

The waqf system needs to be established in the West whereby Islamic organizations become free from the addiction of perpetual fundraising. When Islamic organizations own properties and land which generate rent and harvest annually to fund Islamic projects there will be less need for perpetual fund raising.

How can Muslims in the West be leaders in astromony, history, research, etymology, social work, or a plethora of very interesting and fulfilling professions when everyone is expected to be a doctor, engineer, IT tech, or financial guru to make as much money as possible for influence and social status through donations? How can the best examples of humanity be so singularly money driven?

In medieval Christiandom, it was possible to purchase a certificate for Paradise from the Church for the right amount of donation. Likewise, we find Muslim elite financing their spiritual needs through donations, so it is possible for the rich to have a religious scholar recite the Quran beautifully for a terminally ill patient daily even if the patient does not try to perform salaat as long as they donate.

The concept of "pure" wealth and "impure" wealth was very clear even before the advent of Islam. When the Kaaba was reconstructed there was not enough funding to complete the whole structure with "pure" wealth so they did it without constructing the hateem (a semi circular adjacent area today). Yet Immigrant Islamic organizations have no qualms about the sources of their funds, just as Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan had no remorse to go to the dancing girls to collect funds for Aligarh Muslim University to revive Islam in India as did the public fundraising campaign in Morocco to build a giant mosque in Rabat recently which collected donations from even prostitutes.

There is nothing wrong with being wealthy in Islam just as there is nothing wrong with a lack of wealth. Wealth can be inherited or it can be a by product of productive and socially productive activities. The richest man in human history, Mansa Musa of Mali was a Muslim. Abu Bakr Siddique (RA), Uthman Ibn Affan (RA), and Abdulrahman Ibn Awf (RA) generated tremendous wealth, but wealth was never in their hearts. It was in their hands to do good with. For them wealth was a blessing. It came to them through ethically and lawfully as a by product of their good works and they used it for more good works and thus it kept multiplying in quantity and blessing. They did not hoard it, like it is hoarded today, but kept circulating it. Thus unlike Chistianity, Islam does not advocate shunning wealth to lead a righteous life. Nevertheless, we need to realize that in some circumstances wealth can be a curse, and in such individual circumstances it might be wiser not to pursue it and there is nothing wrong with that either.

Musab Ibn Umair (RA) was from a wealthy Makkan family, yet when he was burried after Uhad his shroud was not enough to cover his whole body. For many Muslims, especially of our present materialistic era, wealth can be a test and curse. Did not the Prophet (SWAS) explicitly single out the pursuit of wealth as THE fitna specific for his Ummah?

Islamic organizations in the West need to realize the repercussions of their actions with respect to funding their projects. Rather than perpetual fundraising, it might be more fruitful to establish awqaf for long term funding and take care of the spiritual need of their congregation irrespective of their economic condition. 

In the long term, such steps might lead to a more balanced flourishing of Islam in the West, free from the influences of oppressive Muslim regimes, while being immune from the blind pursuit of wealth and social status of our times which is one of the main spiritual illness that humanity suffers globally.

Disadvantages of Modern Muslim Groups

Maulana Syed Abu Ala Maududi has a small booklet in Urdu, advocating the importance of being formally part of an Islamic group. Among the cited advantages are protection, organization, accountability, feedback, development program, shared resources and ideology. I do not doubt these benefits, but there are definite disadvantages to joining any Islamic group these days which one should clearly consider before committing oneself.

Most Islamic groups differ in their methodologies even if they all claim to be following the Quran and Prophetic teaching. Their ideology and methodology are derived from the interpretation of their founder’s understanding on how the Quran and Sunnah should be implemented in our modern world. Due to human deficiency, their ideology is specific to a particular geographic and historic context. It is dependent on their intellectual maturity and understanding, which will always be less than that of the Prophet (SWAS) and His Companions (RA). Thus, we find one group emphasizing calling people to Islam, another spreading knowledge, another struggling to revive the khilafa, another emphasizing adopting Prophetic teachings, another following the pious predessors, and others calling for struggle. While the common man is entangled in fiqhi (jurisprudence) issues without understanding of the essence of the faith.

Each group is like a blind man examining an elephant. One feels its trunk and considering the elephant as a pipe. Another feels its tail considering the elephant as a rope. Another feel its feet considering an elephant as columns. Another feels its ears considering an elephant as a cloth. Another feels its teeth considering an elephant as a spear. Yet another feels its sides considerng an elephant as a hairy wall. In the elephant analogy, the blind men might represent intellectual founders of all modern groups and the "elephant" is Islam (with all due respect to all groups).

Whatever the ideology, it pales in comparison of the holistic vision of Muhammad (SWAS) who was able to see the whole elephant for what it is. Our duty is to follow the Prophet (SWAS) as faithfully as possible by espousing his vision. By joining a modern group, we automatically put limits on that vision. We give up the essential personal duty for deep contemplation to the leaders of the group we choose to follow. Joining a group makes us give up holistic study from the sources of Islam and limits it to the group’s literature. We tend to study specific curriculum designed by its education department, repeatedly emphasizing Quranic verses and hadiths cited in their literature to justify their methodology.

What turns off most non-Muslims from Islam and many Mulims from joining a group is observing the state of the members of such groups. Most people tend to follow their leaders blindly and not willing to hear anything negative about their methodology. It seems that their kalima (formal statement of faith) has become the mission statement of their groups. There is a lot of leader “worship” in such groups. The amount of backbiting one hears of other groups is just amazing. It seems that Muslims who have joined other organizations are fair game for backbiting as membership rules do not apply to them. We need to understand that although others are not members of their organizations, they are still Muslims and enjoy the benefits of brotherhood just as well. A lot of effort is wasted in these organizations in just trying to put down the other Muslims.

One should understand that most groups are working for similar goals even if they adopt different methodologies. Some cite a specific Prophetic saying, making it incumbent on a Muslim to join a group. This saying is specific to a bygone era when there was khilafa (Representative of the Prophet of God on Earth). In that case, a Muslim should not live without giving an oath of allegiance to a group leader. Our "group" is those we daily pray with in congregation no matter what their national origin, race, colour, ethnicaity, or modern Islamic group ideology. God forbid, if we study a coursse with a Muslim organization or even just "like" a Muslim's post because of its content, it does not apply that we give our allegiance to their "group". Is it not possible to learn from each other?

"Halal" - A Catalyst for Refining Culture

Many people complain about the "restrictions" that Islam applies to liberties in areas such as accepted male-female interaction, forms in art, literature,  media, entertainment, jokes, work, finances, food, and dress.  Muslims have a special word to describe the permissible forms of such activities. They call them halal (permissible) as opposed to haraam (impermissible).

Why halal?

Rather than leaving people to carry out activities with no guidelines, Islam places certain parameters that are according to the natural disposition of mankind. Doing them otherwise would violate the principles of their essential being which they are divinely created to operate on. These parameters on human activity, allow us to rise from our crude base selves and evolve into our full potential.

Islam does not change the fundamentals of culture, but it refines it based on correct thought coupled with halal action. This is evident in societies which Islam impacted whether they be North Africa, the Levant, Persia, Turkey, Central Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. Islam was the catalyst the filtered and refined the ancient culture to come up with the best, by subjecting them to the parameters of halal.

When people are forced to operate within halal parameters they develop their intellectual abilities to come up with something useful, exquisite, subtle, and elegant that did not exist before. Thus, it refines the culture from the easy, direct, base, and vulgar haraam possibilities that are common in non-Muslim cultures. 

• Male-Female Interaction

Unrelated men and women are to observe proper dress code and a degree of formality. They are not to meet each other in seclusion. They should be careful about the tone of their voice and their body language.

Such rules allow synergies between the sexes to achieve great achievements without opening the door for the development of unlawful desires among them.

• Art

Muslim art does not show created beings as their depiction can open the door to polytheism. Moreover, it is not vulgar or blasphemous. Such guidelines led to the evolution of new forms such as Arabic calligraphy, floral patterns, geometric motifs and, refined architecture that can be seen in masterpieces like to Mosque of Cordoba. In the Middle Ages, Muslim art was copied all over Europe. 

• Literature / Media

Halal literature/media are not vulgar, blasphemous, derogatory, and hateful. The eloquence of the Quran and the historical eloquence of the Arabic language set the standard for quality Muslim literature/media. The impact of Islam on every non-Muslim civilization resulted in a tremendous refinement of their language and literature. 

• Entertainment / Jokes

Believe it or not, even Muslims like to have fun. Nevertheless, their amusements are inclusive and devoid of negativity. Muslims cannot have fun at the expense of other, either individuals or groups, nor can their fun be vulgar, blasphemous, or based on falsehood.

• Work / Finances

Halal work is based on ethical principles. It should be based on fair effort, devoid of interest, deception, and ambiguity. Work should be constructive and beneficial.

• Dress

The Muslim dress code covers the hair and the whole body for a woman, except after the wrists and the ankles. There is a difference of opinion about if the woman's face needs to be covered. For the man, everything from between the navel to the knee needs to be covered. 

The clothing for both sexes should be loose and opaque.

• Food

Normally when we think of halal we just think of food. Halal food is devoid of pig products and alcohol. Furthermore, the permissible animals need to be slaughtered in an Islamic manner.

Jokes In Islam

Contrary to popular belief, enjoying jokes is permitted in Islam. In fact, the Prophet (SWAS) was known to jest to strengthen his relations.

Anas b. Malik narrated: A Bedouin named Zahir brought presents from the desert to the Prophet. As he was leaving, the Prophet also gave him presents and told him:

“Zahir represents us living in the desert and we represent him living in the city.” Although he was physically an ugly man, the Prophet loved him dearly. While Zahir was shopping, the Prophet hid behind him and asked “Who am I?” Zahir recognized him.

Then the Prophet asked, “Who is going to buy this slave?”

Zahir replied: “O Messenger of Allah, do you find me worthless then?”

The Prophet replied:

“Are you not a slave of Allah? You are very worthy in Allah’s presence (Ahmad b. Hanbal, Tirmizi, Kandahlavi, III, 1176).

Nevertheless, the following types of amusements are not permitted in Islam.

 

1.    Making jokes at the expense of hurting an individual's feelings 

 

2.    Making jokes about different groups of people, e.g. nationalities, etc.

 

3.    Vulgar jokes

 

4.    Jokes based on lies

5.    Jokes based on the religion

A Speech of Peace

 

Just before the arrival of the Prophet (SWAS) in Madinah there was great anticipation among those who had never met him before. Among them was Abdullah Ibn Salaam (RA) who was a Jewish Rabbi who later became a Muslim. 

He was a keen student of the Torah, where he had carefully studied the characteristics of the prophet to come. When it was announced that the Prophet (SWAS) was about to enter Yathrib, he was amongst those in the forefront. Upon observing the face of Muhammad (SWAS) he declared, “this is not a face of a liar”.

At this critical juncture in history, the first speech the Prophet (SWAS) gave was critical. It reflects the priority of a minority seeking refuge in a multi-religious host society. That  Hadith reaches us through the narration of Abdullah Ibn Salaam (RA).

Abdullah ibn Salam (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated: “When the Prophet (peace be upon him) arrived for the first time in Madinah, I went with everyone to see him. When I saw him, I knew his face was not that of a liar. The first words he said were, “O people, feed the hungry, spread Salam (greeting of peace), maintain your kin relationships, and pray at night while others are asleep. With this, you shall enter Heaven in peace.” (Al-Bukhari)

This hadith which begins and ends with Salaam (peace) and is reported by Abdulllah Ibn Salaam (RA) is known as the Hadith of Salaam.

Social Interaction of Prophet Muhammad (SWAS)

 

1. He was not confrontational 
2. He was not extreme with people
3. He did not involve himself in what did not concern him
4. He did not criticize people 
5. He did not pry into their personal issues
6. He spoke meaningfully and only if it was beneficial 

A Treasure at Home

The home library might seem like a burdensome fad from the past, especially now that books are produced with digital rather than paper formats. Libraries are now going virtual in the cloud rather than physically in our homes. It certainly makes moving easy and we can practice minimalistic living. Nevertheless, the advantages of a traditional home library outweigh those of a digital library.

The government of Sharjah campaigns for families to have a home library due to their emphasis on the education and development of their people. Every year, they hold the biggest international book fair in the UAE, which is visited by the whole population. The streets of the Buhairah Corniche become clogged and parking near the venue becomes elusive.

Amazon was a breath of fresh air in terms of the availability of books outside North America. In the early 2000s, it was considered a luxury to have the latest books delivered to your door through Amazon. Yet now online shopping is ubiquitous making the desirable physical books available almost everywhere. 

In those parts of the world where public libraries are rare or are for just show, there is little recourse but to purchase books to read. This is even more so when our subjects of interest are not very popular. It is rare to find Islamic books in English, not tainted with orientalism or popular Western bias, in the public library. We also struggle to find books on history, Islamization of the sciences, self-development from an Islamic perspective, etc. A home library should have books of interest to all members of the family.

In a home where a physical library exists, the likelihood that family members taking advantage of it is more than if they know that a digital library exists in the cloud somewhere. This is especially true if there is a culture of self-education in their parents. The home library can be better utilized if there are restrictions on digital distractions that most homes have, e.g. TV, movies, video games, social media, smartphones, etc. 

Oreo

 

Being a Muslim is independent of ancestral culture per se. To be faithful to Islam, we do not necessarily need to speak, dress or eat like our grandparents.

Similarly, being “White” is not about appearances. We have so many oreo cookies who are colored from the outside and white from the inside. The society we belong to is not determined by our inherited appearance and behavior per se but rather what ideology we have internalized.

 

With time, the internal beliefs result in an external culture which naturally springs from who we really are inside.

Islam in a Secular World

In an age where religion has become increasingly irrelevant, why is Islam the exception? Mainstream thought now equates all religious beliefs as originating from ancient myths and superstition. This is not surprising as the supremacy of reason in the last couple of centuries has a way of discrediting belief in all the matters of the unseen. It is understandable that this is the case with Western religious traditions and scriptures, as they have been liberally corrupted and used for selfish motives for millennia.

When the global thought leaders declare something from the experience of their own religious experience, it is expected that the whole world will follow, especially when the world’s religious beliefs are clearly based on myths as well. Who in their right mind can rationally justify the superstition in traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, etc. that have no clear messengers or intact authorized divine scripture.

Thus, the whole world feels little inhibition about jumping onto the secularism bandwagon. They believe in the rationality of science to explain the observable while being agnostic about the unseen. With regards to their ancestral religion, they now use it for just fossilized cultural traditions of their heritage, like the celebration of festivals, marriages, deaths, etc. With the death of their god(s), their religion has also died. 

In an increasingly secularized world this might be true for everyone except the Muslims. In contrast, Islam is the only real challenge to a godless world. Never before since its initial expansion, has the destiny of Islam been brighter than today when it is the world’s fastest growing religion. It is growing in all societies of the world.

The causes of this exception are many. Perhaps the simplest reason is that it is the Truth which is once again emerging to expose the falsehoods of the New World Order. It is the first and only religion of mankind. As a natural way of life for all humanity, other religious traditions were offshoots of this original which were later corrupted.

The presence of a divine scripture verbatim in God’s own words, a living miracle, preserved 100%, in a language which is still spoken and understood today, with centuries of scholarship makes the Quran's guidance accessible to each seeker of guidance today. 

The last teacher of Islam, Prophet Muhammad’s (SWAS) private and public life is extensively documented in a system of historical record taking that is so foolproof that the reference system of modern research was built based on it. Prophet Muhammad (SWAS) was sent as a teacher and example to the whole humanity so that they may learn from him by emulating his experience with the Truth of Islam.

In contrast to other religions, Islam is based on scholarship using the senses and critical thinking to arrive at conclusions like modern scientific inquiry. Nevertheless, it is not “blind” like it, in that if revelation from God says something it is believed even in the face of seeming “irrational” based on the human senses and experience. Indeed, reason is not infallible, and the believer is humble to recognize that God knows more that they do. The fact that the sources of Islam, the Quran and the Sunnah are intact means that this methodology can successfully applied even today.

If the West was quick to throw the baby of true belief with the bathwater of corrupted ideologies in its search for a modern methodology of global progress and learning based on reason, Muslims do not need to follow them. Instead, they need to re-educate the world about a balanced methodology of learning and development based on faith and reason.

The Philosophy of Work Life Balance

Work stress is killing us. Our health and family are suffering. We are becoming workaholics. How can we restore work-life balance in our fast paced lifestyles? If only there is a way by which we can fulfill all our responsibilities well while consistently delivering quality work.

There might be several approaches to work-life balance which work for different people. I would like to outline a generic methodology.

If we have a deep realization that we are not put on this earth haphazardly, but have a purpose and will be accountable for what we do with the gift of life, we will become very proactive. We will become program managers - managing and executing various projects for all aspects of our life. So, we have projects for our career, family, health, spirituality, education, finances and social circle. Each of these projects are important and cannot be neglected to maintain our natural state of happiness. For most people, there exists an all-encompassing philosophy that covers all the projects. Thus, they are integrated and lead to the overall vision.

We need to sincerely believe in our philosophy of life, whatever it is. For us it should not just be a philosophy, it should be reality. We must implement it and try to deeply understand it. When we try to understand it, we will start finding deep meaning in all our different responsibilities where everything is related to everything else. Thus, since we are working with a single overall personal vision, we will enjoy doing them all, even if it is something as simple as throwing the garbage out. We will strive to give every responsibility its due right – not neglecting anything.

We will have micro-visions and goals for every aspect of our life that fit with our overall vision based on our personal philosophy. Thus, we plan and track each aspect of our life as we tend to plan and track our professional work.

If we make our personal accountability based on our philosophy to be more important than anything, it will be easy to keep two steps ahead of the game by anticipating things that might happen and deal with them before they happen in all our projects. If we inculcate this proactive inner feeling within us, we will be pulled to do each activity of our life by being sincere to our philosophy rather than being pushed to do them without a vision. Thus, we would do each task with excellence and ease.

Professional work is one of our important personal projects within the program that an individual can manage well. If we do not manage other aspects of life well, we would become imbalanced, overworked and stressed. Our work would lack initiative, creativity, passion and quality. Our life would become miserable because it would become out of synch with the natural principles of well being.

Thus, we need to firmly manage expectations that others might have from us, otherwise we risk being burnt out. We need to set clear boundaries about what we can and cannot accept, then consistently deliver quality work based on it. We also tend to suffer most when our personal philosophy is not compatible with our corporate vision. If we work in an organization where we can grow our personal philosophy in line with corporate philosophy we can be more happy and balanced.

To keep ourselves motivated, we need to keep sharpening our personal vision by studying and reflecting on the sources of our philosophy of life daily so that we always increase in mindfulness and improve in all areas. We study the lives of successful role models who were able to achieve success in very different areas of their lives based on our philosophy.

If we become selfish and keep our secrets of success to ourselves, we risk drowning in the negativity of the people we interact with. Rather, we need to teach our philosophy of life to others by positively influencing them so that they can be empowered to self reform. Through this synergy, we become more efficient, balanced and happy as a society.

In terms of personal routines, we start the day before dawn, plan and execute each day as if we are strategizing a project. We just focus of getting one day right, every day until it becomes a lifestyle. We use the power of habits and scheduling to propel us. By observing our routine and experimenting with it, we try to find out what factors make us most productive. Removing distracting activities which do not add value, such as TV, too much news, social media and useless conversations, makes us focused. We have time to rest. We go to bed at the same time every night and get enough sleep. We eat healthy, exercise regularly and practice meditation at key stages of the day. Finally, it is essential to live with a supportive family who has imbibed these principles themselves.

In a nutshell, we need to willingly subject ourselves to the natural principles of our philosophy to stays happy carrying out the obligations of the philosophy. When we do this we would be subjecting ourselves to the natural system of all the elements of our philosophy. In that state of harmony, we can feel fulfilled, balanced and happy.

How to Pursue Dreams

The miracle of the Prophet (SWAS) was that there were no miracles. He became the most successful man ever by rational strategy to achieve his goals. The Sunnah is intelligent strategy so if we want to become successful, we should deliberately plan to achieve our dreams.

If we adopt the right methodology to pursue our dreams, we will be pulled to our goals rather having to push ourselves towards them. Even when we are tired we would be motivated to keep working towards them. What if we are automatically pulled towards every good thing we decide to achieve?

When we adopt this methodology everyone around us gets influenced including family, colleagues and community. When we work on one area of our life (e.g. career) all other areas of the life get affected, e.g. family, health, religion, relationships, etc. These are the different hats we wear.

We start off by trying to pursue our dreams in one or two areas of life. This pursuit is a journey. It needs to be strategically planned and monitored stage by stage. The Prophet (SWAS) excelled in all areas of life.

The heart of this methodology is the identity. When we decide to pursue a dream, wearing a specific hat, we take on an identity that is characteristic for that hat, e.g. someone wanting to perfect tajweed might take the identity of Abdul Basit Abdus Samad. When we take an identity, it psychologically conditions us to successfully achieve that dream.

The identity is enhanced by habits. When we adopt the habits, they enable us to believe in the identity which leads to our dreams thus success boils down to habits. Habits should be defined to be at a specific location and specific time. They should be of two minutes or less in duration.

Who we become during the journey - the identity - may be more important than the dream. The journey transforms us. If we are only focused on the dream we will be miserable after we get there. We might feel a sense of euphoria on reaching the goal, but nothing more. We must learn to enjoy the journey otherwise the journey will seem to us as an obstacle or something we hate which will discourage us to fulfill our dreams. We must love the journey in order to accomplish our dreams.

To live a good life throughout the journey, we should have faith and do good deeds. We can be happy, emphatic, loving, satisfied, etc. at any moment in the journey, not necessarily after we get to the destination.

We need to try to quantify the progress of the journey and try to measure it to see how we are doing at different stages.

There is some vital behavior which leads to the success of this methodology and needs to be determined scientifically through hypothesis testing. If we get the vital behavior right on a daily basis everything in the methodology can work out. It can be as simple as going to bed at the same time every night.

Knowing What to Know

Modern theory of knowledge is baffled by discovering a foolproof systematic method of differentiating true knowledge from false. Without knowing what to know and what to reject we will be overwhelmed in our age of massive volumes of information. Determining the truth from falsehood is essential to guide global human society to holistic success. Yet, without resolving this fundamental philosophical question, the modern world feels lost.

Classical epistemology states that to have knowledge of a proposition like “the earth is round” requires that the statement is true by our belief of it based on some justification. Since we believe that the earth is round based on observation from space, we can classify this as knowledge.

Unfortunately, the classical theory breaks down when we consider the problem the philosopher Gettier uncovered. He showed that even if we believe that a proposition is justified as true it might have just been true by luck. In fact, such statements should not be classified as knowledge. As an example, consider a stopped clock that shows the correct time of the day by chance that a person looks at it at the right time. The proposition that the “clock shows that it is 10 O’clock” is believed to be true by the person justified on his observation. The fact that it is indeed true does not mean that can be classified as being knowledge as you cannot get to tell the time by looking at a stopped clock. It was just by chance that the person looked at the clock at 10”.

How can philosophers decide if information can be classified as true knowing that there exists information out there that can be justified and believed to be true whereas it was only true by chance when it was being observed? This has confused philosophers as to what exactly is knowledge. They do not have a general theory of knowledge which they can apply universally to classify information as true knowledge.

How can humanity be sure what to believe? How can we be protected from delusions of the information deluge of our age? Can there be a general theory of knowledge? The Islamic paradigm provides answers to such elusive questions. In the Islamic paradigm, there are two sources of knowledge – this world and that world (the unseen world). Absolute knowledge comes from divine revelations. They provide natural basic principles which are universally at work in both the worlds. When we observe phenomena in our environment, we observe cause and effect rationally, guided by the principles of revelation, e.g. the fact that the revelations say that every man shall taste death, makes us exclude research into immortality as it is based on false knowledge that “man can live forever”.

To be classified as knowledge a proposition should be believed to be true when justified by universal principles either directly from revelations or by rational observation guided by such principles. If rational observation shows that something is true while revelation shows something is false, we believe it is false e.g. even if our previous knowledge that the divine command instructed dipping a fallen fly in a drink might seem irrational, we accept is as true knowledge. Rational observation can help take us to the truth but rational observation is not infallible. It cannot sit in judgement of the truth. This removes classifications of delusions like those into the realm of knowledge which is the problem with coming up with a universal theory of knowledge in modern philosophy.

Thus, we can attempt to improve the general theory of knowledge with the help of the Islamic paradigm. A proposition is believed to be true if it can be justified through rational observations in the light of divine revelations or by divine revelations alone. Islam acknowledges mankind’s ignorance with only Allah being All Knowing. Even with this theory, there might be propositions which cannot be completely classified not by the weakness of the theory but by human deficiency to find the justification. With this improved epistemology, humanity can be more confident as to what is true and false increasing them in conviction and avoiding delusions. This would result in better guidance of our global society which has lost the capability to judge right from wrong.

How to Develop Thought

Perhaps thought inspired on sound principles has become the rarest commodity in the 21st century. It is increasingly difficult to reason independently based on reality due to the dominance of global thought rife in its philosophical paradoxes. Think tanks with vested interests make political, academic, social, cultural, economic and moral policies globally. They set the agenda of governments, media, university research, social policy, religious control and economic reforms through international organizations. Media has almost 24/7 grip on humanity's thoughts. Unless one completely isolates oneself, one cannot protect oneself from the influence of their delusional thoughts. At the same time, one cannot develop correct thought to analyze a world which one is isolated from. The strategy to develop inspired thinking for the 21st century needs effort, sacrifice, patience and wisdom.

Bad intentions result in corrupt thinking which results in bad actions which result in bad consequences. Whereas, good intentions result in sound thinking which results in good actions which result in good consequences. To have sound thought we must have "good" intentions. Who defines "good"? our parents? our primary school teacher? our employer? our government? Good intentions are based on a deep understanding of the principles of Islam. Thus, to have sound thought, we must constantly be immersed in the Islamic paradigm by studying it from its sources, in a world which constantly streams ideas counter to it. To think properly we need to critically filter our culture, our social trends, our national trends, our media, globally promoted ideas and initiatives, ideas of deviant groups and ideas taught in educational institutes. We need to be global citizens having independent minds rather than minds tainted by nationalism.

By studying with and listening to a genuine Islamic scholars we reinforce our understanding. We must learn Islam academically in courses rather than just practice what our forefathers used to do. By doing this, we can glean principles of reality from it the same way we glean the laws of motion from the academic study of physics. Just like physics has natural principles which help us study aspects of the physical world from an internally valid systematic framework, Islam has natural principles which help us study reality of this and the unseen world. Whereas, western philosophy cuts off the stream of knowledge gleaned from the unseen realm, Islam uses that knowledge to guide intuitive reasoning to understand things more comprehensively. The vision of secular thought is monocular, that of Islamic thought is stereoscopic - using knowledge of both the seen and unseen universe to form it.

Intentions can be kept pure by living fully immersed in the Islamic paradigm and controlling exposure and influence of mainstream ideas which oppose it. This is possible by constantly studying Islam formally, thinking about it, implementing it and teaching it to others. The home environment can be kept pure when all family members have the same aspirations, living without a TV, controlling what is seen , heard and read on digital devices; keeping healthy and loving relations with family members. The more we implement and teach Islam, the deeper our thought becomes. When thought is not juxtaposed among Islamic, cultural and secular worldviews it will not be confused. It will be possible to just continue building everything on the Islamic foundation as one learns new subjects of knowledge.

The intentions to acquire beneficial knowledge continuously should be for our higher spiritual development - to develop the light of understanding by which we can see things as they really are so that we positively impact the world. Care should be exercised that the world does not distract us from this mission for the hereafter. We should not covet by it praise,wealth, status, fame and honor. Lives full of meaning might be more enriching than meaningless ostentatious lives.

To understand the 21st century world one needs to understand modern knowledge. It is relatively easy to acquire empirical and analytical knowledge like that of the natural sciences, engineering, computer sciences, mathematics, etc. because they are based on observed/measurable phenomenon of this world and do not conflict much with Islamic principles. We should not try studying the humanities without first studying Islam well. Nevertheless, after studying Islam significantly, we should study the social sciences by using Islamic principles as a criteria to judge the knowledge before we decide to incorporate it in our framework of personal knowledge. Thus knowledge streams from a variety of disciplines can constantly be acquired by such self-learning.

Pure intention and correct knowledge are insufficient by themselves in developing sound thought. They need to be supplemented with good life experiences and keen observation of the phenomenon we experience with our senses. Thought is developed by practicing thinking about one's observations in the context knowledge and life experiences. To enrich thought, one needs to increase variety and depth of one's knowledge and experiences, Thus living in different societies, learning different languages, working in different industries and having a diverse social network is essential for rich thought.

The more one thinks at a meta level about things, the more one's thought develops. Thinking is a muscle which needs to be exercised daily. Writing one's thoughts allows one to think about them systematically and deliberately. One train of thought leads to another connected one. As the thought network develops, one can see trends and patterns of deep realization like it is done artificially in data mining these days. This is the beginning of wisdom. With time, one can develop discerning insight (firasa) which is sudden intuitive understanding.

To see reality as reality, thought must be pure. Pure thought is thought based on the right intentions, correct knowledge, positive assumptions, good character, good speech, good morals, good deeds and good living. Constant effort is needed to keep thought pure by studying and implementing Islam genuinely. Impure thought results in distorted concept of reality causing one to suffer from delusions about aspects of reality. Modern thought lacks such a basis, diminishing humanity's ability to understand reality for what it is.

When most of humanity will be immersed in virtual worlds, sound deep thinking will become increasingly rare. The masses will have reptilian brains that instinctively react immediately to stimuli. They will be controlled by few social architects who see humans as animals and will decide when and what global populations will think and do. The masses will constantly be concerned with personal physical survival. People will become like machines and machines like people.

Among all peoples of the world, only Muslims have the sources and methodology of sound thought development which can restore humanity to humans. Rather than rushing to adopt Western thinking, should not Muslims take the means to reform their own and then teach how to think to the world?