If you are a good person God will protect you from money that will only cause you harm. There is an interesting story found in Rabi` al-Abrar of al-Zamakhshari and later al-Mustatraf of Baha’ al-Din al-Abshihi wherein Imam `Ali (عليه السلام, peace be upon him) displays a prudent lesson in choosing whether your income is through good or evil.

(ودخل علي بن أبي طالب ـ رضي الله عنه ـ المسجد وقال لرجل كان واقفا على باب المسجد: أمسك عليّ بغلتي، فأخذ الرجل لجامها، ومضى وترك البغلة، فخرج علي وفي يده درهمان ليكافىء بها الرجل على إمساكه بغلته فوجد البغلة واقفة بغير لجام، فركبها ومضى، ودفع لغلامه درهمين يشتري بهما لجاما، فوجد الغلام اللجام في السوق قد باعه السارق بدرهمين، فقال علي ـ رضي الله عنه: إن العبد ليحرم نفسه الرزق الحلال بترك الصبر، ولا يزداد على ما قدر له.)

`Ali bin Abi Talib radi Allahu `anhu (may God be pleased with him) approached the Mosque and said to a man who was standing at its gate, “Please hold my mule for me.” So the man took it by its bridle, but then walked on leaving the mule behind.

`Ali came out of the Mosque with 2 dirhams (silver coins) in his hand so that he could compensate the man for holding his mule. But he found the mule standing there without its ornamental bridle. So he climbed the mule and rode on.

He gave his squire the 2 dirhams to go buy another bridle. The squire found the very same bridle which the thief had sold to whom he bought it from for 2 dirhams.

To this, `Ali remarked:

“The bondsman made forbidden for himself pure earnings by abandoning his patience. And he received naught more than what was determined for him anyway.”

Not a single one of the world’s richest people made their fortunes by winning the lottery. You will not be the first. Work hard and honest for your earnings and you will be rewarded for it, but not at the cost of your honor.

Originally published in December 2013

From the Greek and Syriac sources of the Church Elders

There are those who love and there are those who hate. Of which were our pious predecessors and of which are you?

When the Muslims surrounded Jerusalem, the inhabitants said they would surrender the city only if the Muslim ruler himself —Omar, the second successor or “Caliph,” of the Prophet Muhammad— came to them. ((The Encounter of Eastern Christianity with Early Islam, Emmanouela Grypeou, Mark N. Swanson and David Thomas)) So Omar sojourned by camel from Damascus, Syria to Jerusalem in the Holy Land. As Omar approached the city, his servant became weary, so he ordered his servant to ride the steed while he walked it by the reins.

When they entered Jerusalem —records indicate it very well could have been Easter— the people of the city mistook the servant for the Caliph. When corrected, they couldn’t believe that this man in tattered and dirty clothes, leading on foot his servant who rode his steed, was the ruler of this new people who were conquering the Persian and Roman Empires, the greatest empires the world had ever seen, with such speed that had never been seen before. St. Sophronius, Christian Patriarch of Jerusalem, greeted Omar with a set of fresh regal clothes and insisted he wear them instead of the dirty rags he was wearing. According to the Greek chronicler Theophilus of Edessa (695-785CE), Omar refused saying, “It is not right for a man to take from another what God has not decreed for him, for God has given to each and every one of humanity from His Divine knowledge, and he who desires to receive something from his companion exceeding that, does so against God.” (( Theophilus of Edessa’s Chronicle- And the Circulation of Historical Knowledge in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, Liverpool University Press- Translated Texts for Historians, Robert G. Hoyland)) Yet, the Christians of the city were outraged and Omar sensed that they found it humiliating to concede the city to someone who looked so base and common. So he compromised. Theophilus further records from Omar, “Because you request it of me, and have shown me such great honor, please lend me these clothes and I will wear them while you wash mine. When mine are returned, I will return these clothes to you.” Michael the Syrian, 12^th Century Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, says about Omar, “He was certainly just and removed from greed, to the degree that from all the empire that the Arabs ruled, that is, from all the wealth and treasures of the Romans and Persians, he took nothing for himself. He did not change the simplicity of his habits, not even the piece of hide that was placed under him when he rode by camel and that he used for sitting on the ground or sleeping on.” ((Ibid))

As the time approached for the Muslim noon prayer, Sophronius invited Omar to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the holiest site in all of Christianity that contains the Golgotha, the Hill of Calvary where Christ was to be crucified, as well as the tomb where Christ was to be interred. Omar refused saying that he feared future generations of Muslims might seek to make it a Muslim holy site. So he prayed opposite the southern courtyard of the Church where, sure enough, they eventually built the Mosque of Omar that stands there to this day facing the empty tomb of Jesus Christ.

Patriarch Eutychius of Alexandria of the Greek Orthodox Church (877-940CE) records:

“When the gate of the city was opened, Omar came in with his entourage and sat at the aetrion of the Church of the Resurrection. When the time of prayer approached, Omar said to Patriarch Sophronius: ‘I want to pray.’ And he responded: ‘Commander of the faithful, pray in the place where you are now.’ And Omar said: ‘I do not want to pray here.’ The patriarch and then led him to the Church of Constantine [the Church of the Resurrection] where he spread a mat made of straw on the floor of the church. But Omar said: ‘I do not want to pray here either.’ He went out to the steps, which are at the gate on the eastern side of the Church of St. Constantine, and he prayed alone on the steps. Then he sat down and said to Patriarch Sophronius: ‘Patriarch, do you know why I did not pray inside the church?’ He answered: ‘I do not know, Commander of the Faithful.’ And Omar said to him: ‘If I had prayed inside the Church, you would be losing it and it would have gone from your hands because after my death the Muslims would seize it saying: Omar has prayed here. Give me a piece of pergamene ((A type of parchment named after the ancient city of Pergamum in Aeolis)) to write for you a document.’” ((The Encounter of Eastern Christianity with Early Islam, Emmanouela Grypeou, Mark N. Swanson and David Thomas))

Eutychius goes on to relate the terms written in that document protecting the Church and the churches surrounding it forbidding Muslims from congregating near its steps for their prayers.

While some Muslims bicker over whether they should bid their Christian fellows “Merry Christmas” or any other variety of holiday greetings throughout the year, I urge them to drop such vain harangues. Instead, reach into the psyche of Omar, inspired by the Prophet Muhammad whom he served and later succeeded, and how he treated the Christians who found themselves under his rule. Had he wished, he could have done away with the Christian and Jewish populations and history would have no less recorded him as yet another conqueror. When the Christian Crusaders invaded Jerusalem 400 years later, they did slaughter the Muslims, Jews and even those Christians of sects they deemed heretical in a stadium as if it were sport. No man, woman, child or even babe in arms was spared. ((“In this temple 10,000 were killed. Indeed, if you had been there you would have seen our feet colored to our ankles with the blood of the slain. But what more shall I relate? None of them were left alive; neither women nor children were spared.” Gesta Francorum Jerusalem Expugnantium, Fulcher of Chartres)) The year prior to that, in 1098, the Crusaders had actually cooked and eaten the Muslims of Ma`rrat al-Nu`man in Syria. It is said that babies were skewered on spits, broiled and eaten. ((“Some people said that, constrained by the lack of food, they boiled pagan adults in cooking-pots, impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled.” Citing Rudolph of Caen, The First Crusade: The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres and Other Source Materials, Edward Peters.))

But that is not our way and any who adopt such ways in God’s name profane the very core of Islam. Omar chose the path of love, compassion, and mercy. He gave the Christians freedom and brought the Jews back to the Holy Land from whence they had been driven out just a decade before and successively in the centuries preceding that. The city’s Christians entrusted the keys to the Church of Holy Sepulchre into the hands of the Muslim family of Nusaybah. Today, a millennium and a half later, a member of that Muslim family unlocks the Church in the morning and locks it up at night. The Christians of Jerusalem would have it no other way. ((The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought, Adrian Hastings, ‎Alistair Mason, ‎Hugh Pyper))

Will the Christians love you when you deal with them thus? Some will. Some won’t. In spite of acknowledging the magnanimity of Omar related above, Theophanes the Confessor (760-818CE) refers to him as a devilish beast and mocks him for entering the city in dirty clothes. (( Theophilus of Edessa’s Chronicle- And the Circulation of Historical Knowledge in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, Liverpool University Press- Translated Texts for Historians, Robert G. Hoyland)) God even tells us in the Qur’an, “The Jews and Christians will never be fully satisfied with you until you follow their respective religions.” ((The Holy Qur’an, Chapter al-Baqara 2:120)) It should matter to you naught! Be good and seek no reward. We do not let the pleasure of people guide our actions. We do not behave well towards goodness nor do we mete ill with evil. Jesus is recorded in Islamic sources as saying:

“Virtuous action does not consist in doing good to someone who has done good to you—that is merely returning a favor. Virtuous action consists in doing good [even] to those who have wronged you.” ((Walk on Water, The Wisdom of Jesus from Traditional Arabic Sources, Hamza Yusuf. This work cites Ahmad bin Hanbal as the source. Begging the esteemed Hamza Yusuf’s pardon, “[even]” added by the author for clarity and context.))

Thus, we behave as our beloved Prophet Muhammad, the servant and messenger of God, instructed and exemplified seeking only the pleasure of the very One Whom we —Jew, Christian and Muslim— worship as the One God who rules over all with Love and Mercy. Seek not the pleasure of mankind because they will never truly be pleased with you no matter what you do. Love and brotherhood in humanity are found in behaviors well beyond the realm of mere words. Ponder well. Let your attitude and behavior towards your Christian fellows speak louder than any bidding of “Merry Christmas” ever could.

After midnight until just a bit before Fajr (dawn) is a time about which the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) has stated that we are the closest to God. At that time He is anxious to hear us call out to Him in need. The Prophet ﷺ has said:

يَنْزِلُ رَبُّنَا تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى كُلَّ لَيْلَةٍ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا حِينَ يَبْقَى ثُلُثُ اللَّيْلِ الْآخِرُ يَقُولُ: مَنْ يَدْعُونِي فَأَسْتَجِيبَ لَهُ مَنْ يَسْأَلُنِي فَأُعْطِيَهُ مَنْ يَسْتَغْفِرُنِي فَأَغْفِرَ لَهُ ؟

“Our Blessed Lord the Most High descends towards the skies of the earth when there remains a third of the night left and proclaims: ‘Who is calling out to Me that I might answer them? Who is asking of Me so that I might give to them? Who is seeking My Forgiveness so that I might forgive them?’”

That gives me chills, glazes my eyes, and fills my heart. Every single night He is calling out to you.

Now the best mode of praying tahajjud (the pre-dawn prayer) is the prayer of David, King of the Children of Israel. The Prophet ﷺ said:

أَحَبُّ الصَّلاَةِ إِلَى اللَّهِ صَلاَةُ دَاوُدَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ ، وَأَحَبُّ الصِّيَامِ إِلَى اللَّهِ صِيَامُ دَاوُدَ ، وَكَانَ يَنَامُ نِصْفَ اللَّيْلِ وَيَقُومُ ثُلُثَهُ وَيَنَامُ سُدُسَهُ ، وَيَصُومُ يَوْمًا وَيُفْطِرُ يَوْمًا

“The most beloved prayer to God is the prayer of David, upon him be peace. And the most beloved fasting to God is the fast of David. He used to sleep for half the night, then stand in prayer for a third of it, then sleep for a sixth of it. He would alternate between fasting a day and then not fasting a day.”

You can pray between 2 and 10 rak`ah (unit of prayer) tahajjud (but the Sunnah—tradition of the Prophet ﷺ—is to not exceed 10) then pray 2 shafa` and 1 witr. Please note that our Hanafi brethren join shafa` into witr making it a 3 rak`ah witr prayer.

So at a minimum you will pray a total of 5 rak`ah (2 tahajjud + 2 shafa` + 1 witr) and a maximum of 13 (10 tahajjud + 2 shafa` + 1 witr). Note that the numbers 5 and 13 are odd numbers. The word ‘witr’ itself means numerically odd. Our beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ وِتْرٌ يُحِبُّ الْوِتْرَ ، فَأَوْتِرُوا يَا أَهْلَ الْقُرْآنِ

“God is numerically odd as One (witrun), He loves the numerically odd (al-witra), so perform the numerically odd prayer, O People of the Qur’an!”

Of the best supplications to make for tahajjud is the following prayer that the Prophet ﷺ used to make as Ibn `Abbas reported:

كَانَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ إِذَا قَامَ مِنْ اللَّيْلِ يَتَهَجَّدُ قَالَ:

اللَّهُمَّ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ أَنْتَ قَيِّمُ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَنْ فِيهِنَّ، وَلَكَ الْحَمْدُ لَكَ مُلْكُ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَنْ فِيهِنَّ، وَلَكَ الْحَمْدُ أَنْتَ نُورُ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ، وَلَكَ الْحَمْدُ أَنْتَ مَلِكُ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ، وَلَكَ الْحَمْدُ أَنْتَ الْحَقُّ، وَوَعْدُكَ الْحَقُّ، وَلِقَاؤُكَ حَقٌّ، وَقَوْلُكَ حَقٌّ، وَالْجَنَّةُ حَقٌّ وَالنَّارُ حَقٌّ، وَالنَّبِيُّونَ حَقٌّ، وَمُحَمَّدٌ ﷺ حَقٌّ، وَالسَّاعَةُ حَقٌّ.

اللَّهُمَّ لَكَ أَسْلَمْتُ، وَبِكَ آمَنْتُ، وَعَلَيْكَ تَوَكَّلْتُ، وَإِلَيْكَ أَنَبْتُ، وَبِكَ خَاصَمْتُ وَإِلَيْكَ حَاكَمْتُ، فَاغْفِرْ لِي مَا قَدَّمْتُ وَمَا أَخَّرْتُ، وَمَا أَسْرَرْتُ وَمَا أَعْلَنْتُ، أَنْتَ الْمُقَدِّمُ وَأَنْتَ الْمُؤَخِّرُ، لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ —أَوْ لَا إِلَهَ غَيْرُكَ

“When the Prophet ﷺ would rise in the night from sleep in order to pray tahajjud he would supplicate: ‘O God, for You is all praise, for You are the Constant of the Heavens and the Earth and all who are therein. For You is all praise as Yours is the dominion of the Heavens and the Earth and all who are therein. For You is all praise, for You are the Light of the Heavens and the Earth and all who are therein. For You is all praise, for You are the Sovereign of the Heavens and the Earth. For You is all praise, for You are the Truth. Your promise is the truth. Our meeting with You is true. Your statements are true. Paradise is true. The Fire is true. The Prophets are true. Muhammad ﷺ is true. The Final Hour is true. O God, for You I have committed to Islam, and in You have I believed, and upon You have I placed my trust, and to You do I turn, and with You do I confront those who oppose me, and to you do I present my decisions. Please forgive me for what I have done and what I do and for what I conceal and what I reveal. You are the First and You are the Last. There is no god other than You.’”

According Ibn Hajar in his Fath al-Bari, a narration from Imam Malik as reported by Ibn al-Zubayr from Tawus states that this was the first thing the Prophet ﷺ would supplicate with when he woke up for tahajjud before initiating the salah (prayer). He also gives the opinion of Ibn Khuzaymah that the Prophet ﷺ would supplicate with this after initiating takbir (the opening phrase “Allahu Akbar—God is Greater”) of the salah (takbirah al-ihram). Remember for voluntary supererogatory prayers such as this, you are allowed to hold a sheet of paper or a book to recite from if you don’t have the prayers you wish to recite memorized. So you can print out this du`a’ (supplication) and hold it and read from it in your salah.

So I am asking for you to interrupt your sleep for at least just one night and pray at least 2 rak`ah plus your 3 regular rak`ah you do with witr. It’s maybe 10 or 15 minutes of your time then you can go back to sleep. Can you do that and beg God to heal and strengthen the little baby boy of our friend, brother and teacher, Nouman Ali Khan?

I have given you all this information about tahajjud that—TRUST ME—is worth more than all the wealth of the world. This information can and will help you for the rest of your life. Can you spend one night using this information to help little baby Khalid?

When you’ve accepted and fulfilled this sacred mission, please say in the comments that you have done it. Maybe Nouman will stumble across this and seeing how many people have prayed for him will give him and his family hope and strength.

Jazākum Allāhu khayran (may God reward you for the good). Thank you.

Originally published in December 2011.

The Day of `Āshūrā’ means different things to different Muslims. To some it is a day of fasting to commemorate a day when Moses and the Children of Israel were rescued. To some it is a woeful day of lament wherein al-Ḥusayn ibn `Alī, the beloved grandson of the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ (peace be upon him), laid down his life in defiance against tyranny. To many –arguably most– it is both.

Yet, scholars have often speculated what fast the Jews were observing on the 10th of Muḥarram circa 622CE as recorded in our Ḥadith literature. Was it Pesach (Passover), Yom Kippur, or perhaps a lesser fast like Asher b’Tevet?

It is narrated in Imām Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ:

عن ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما قال: قدم النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم المدينة، فرأى اليهود تصوم يوم عاشوراء، فقال: (ما هذا). قالوا: هذا يوم صالح، هذا يوم نجى الله بني إسرائيل من عدوهم، فصامه موسى. قال: (فأنا أحق بموسى منكم) فصامه وأمر بصيامه

“Ibn `Abbās (رضي الله عنهما – May Allah be pleased with them) reported: The Prophet ﷺ entered Medina and observed the Jews fasting on the Day of `Āshūrā’ (10th of Muḥarram). He asked, ‘What is this?’ They said, ‘This is a righteous day. It is the day that God saved the Children of Israel from their adversary, so Moses fasted.’ The Prophet said, ‘I have a right to Moses greater than theirs.’ Thus, he fasted and ordained fasting for that day.”

There is little need for speculation when today one can calculate and corroborate Hijrī and Hebraic dates. Muḥarram in 622CE was the month of Av in the Jewish calendar. Specifically, the 10th of Muḥarram was the 9th of Av, better known to Jews as Tish`a b’Av (תִּשֽׁעָ בְּאָב). One may calculate the Gregorian date of the 10th of Muḥarram 1 Anno Hejirae, then convert that Gregorian date to a Hebraic date, being mindful of the sunset, resulting in the 9th of Av, 4382.

The Jewish exegesis Midrash Rabbah, Eychah, Petichta 33 relates the legend behind the fast of Tish`a b’Av and the holiday of Tu b’Av:

ר’ אבין ור’ יוחנן
אמרי יום שביטל החפר מן מתי מדבר, א”ר יסיף ר’ אבין ור’ יוחנן אמרי יום
שביטל החפר מן מתי מדבר, א”ר לוי כל ערב תשעה באב היה משה מוציא
,כרוז בכל המחנה ואומר צאו לחפור והיו יוצאין וחופרין קברות וישנין בהן
לשחרית היה מוציא כרוז ואומר קומו והפרישו המתים מן החיים והיו עומדים
ומוצאין עצמן חמשה עשר אלף בפרוטרוט /מספר מדויק/ , חסרו שש מאות
אלף, ובשנת הארבעים האחרון עשו כן ומצאו עצמן שלמים. אמרו: דומה
שטעינו בחשבון; וכן בעשור ובאחד עשר ובשנים עשר ושלשה עשר וארבע
עשר, כיון דאיתמלא סיהרא /התמלא הירח/ אמרו דומה שהקב”ה ביטל
.אותה גזירה מעלינו וחזרו ועשאוהו יום טוב

“Rav Abin and Rav Yochanan taught: The 15th of Av is the day upon which the grave digging of the dead stopped. Rav Levi taught: On the eve of the 9th of Av, Moses would announce throughout the camp: Go dig! The people of Israel would go and dig their graves and sleep inside them. When morning came, Moses announced: Let those who live separate themselves from the dead. The live ones would rise, separate themselves from the dead, and count –and each year 15,000 would die. On the 40th year since leaving Egypt they did the same thing. But in the morning –none had died. Perhaps we had miscalculated the date? They thought, and slept in their graves again the following night, on the 10th of Av, and so again on the 11th, and on the 12th, and on the 13th, and on the 14th –When the moon became full on the 15th, they declared: The Holy One, Blessed be He, cancelled the decree. They made this day into a holiday.”

One may wonder about the numerous narrations on the subject which relate a correlation between `Āshūrā’ and the Children of Israel being saved from Pharaoh and Pharaoh being drowned. This suggests a background more similar to Pesach (Passover) which commemorates the Jews liberation from Egypt and its Pharaoh. However, the dates do not coincide between Passover and `Āshūrā’ until over a decade after the Hijra and even then Passover falls on the 18th of Muḥarram, and not the 10th.

It is reported in other narrations that the Tribe of Quraysh would commemorate the Day of `Āshūrā’ as well as the Jews as is also recorded in Imām Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ:

عن عائشة رضي الله عنها قالت: كان يوم عاشوراء تصومه قريش في الجاهلية

“`Āisha (رضي الله عنها – May Allah be pleased with her) said: The Quraysh used to fast on the Day of `Āshūrā’ in the times of ignorance (before Islam)…”

Thus, in the various narrations it is possible that the plural verb قالوا, meaning “they said”, could refer to the non-Muslim Arabs of Quraysh just as it could refer to the Jews. What is interesting is the perspective of the following answer:

 هذا يوم نجى الله بني إسرائيل من عدوهم

“This is the day that God saved the Children of Israel from their adversary.”

Of course, it is also possible that a Jew was speaking of his forebears and, hence, referred to their adversary. Yet, it is also possible that this was a Qurayshī who simply related what he thought was the origin of the fast based upon his limited, and likely erroneous, information on Jewish religious practices.

Ultimately, the hardest evidence is the calendar itself which is relatively immutable. If the Jews were, indeed, fasting for Tish`a b’Av –as can plainly be seen by resorting to any Hijri to Hebraic calculator– then this would negate the suspicions of our dear brethren from the Shī`ah that the fast of `Āshūrā’  was created by the Umayyads as a distraction from the martyrdom of our Master al-Ḥusayn (عليه السلام – Peace be upon him). It is remarkable that such chronological accuracy was not only recorded but preserved over the ages and is a testimony to the overall veracity of the Sunnah.

The Germans have proposed taking in 30,000 Syrian refugees through its humanitarian admission program. That is a staggering number for a European nation. The entire country of Germany is about the size of the State of Texas and has a gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita income of $46,896. ((All figures for GDP PPP were taken from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) website http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2015/01/weodata/index.aspx ))

The Icelandic people are pressuring their government to take in more Syrian refugees saying they will host them in their own homes if necessary. Iceland is about the size of the State of Tennessee and has a per capita income of $45,269.

The United Kingdom has proposed that it should take in 10,000 Syrian refugees. The UK is about the size of the State of Michigan and has a per capita income of $40,676.

The United States of America has claimed it will accept the 17,000 Syrian refugees who have applied for entry. They took in 1,500 last year and have promised to at least double that number by next year. The USA has a per capita income of $56,421.

But let’s not forget those who have all the while been hosting 95% of all Syrian refugees for the past few years: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. ((All figures for the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt were taken from Amnesty International’s article Facts & Figures: Syria refugee crisis & international resettlement, 12/5/2014 https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2014/12/facts-figures-syria-refugee-crisis-international-resettlement/ ))

Turkey hosts 1.6 million Syrian refugees. Turkey is around half the size of Alaska and has a per capita income of $20,188, which is below the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average per capita income of $25,908.

Lebanon, a country of just 4.8 million people, hosts 1.1 million Syrian refugees making them 26% of the entire population. Lebanon is about half the size of the State of New Jersey and has a per capita income of $18,422, well below the OECD average per capita income of $25,908.

Jordan, a country of 6.5 million people, hosts 618,615 Syrian refugees making them nearly 10% of the entire population. Jordan is smaller than the State of Louisiana and has a per capita income of $12,213, below half of the OECD average per capita income of $25,908.

Iraq has hosted 225,373 Syrian refugees. Being a war torn country also currently beleaguered by ISIS, their reduced capacity is not surprising. In spite of this, they are hosting more than a quarter of a million Syrian refugees. Iraq is about the size of Montana and has a per capita income of $14,448, just over half of the OECD average per capita income of $25,908.

Egypt has hosted 142,543 Syrian refugees. It is between the size of Texas and Alaska and has a per capita income of $11,194, the lowest income on the list, and far, far below half of the OECD average per capita income of $25,908.

There are, of course, countries that have been far less helpful.

Slovakia, with a per capita income of $29,210 well above the OECD per capita average, says it will take in Syrian refugees but only if they are of the Christian faith. Syria is 90% Muslim.

Russia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, all nations with healthy per capita incomes, have expressed absolutely no intention of assisting Syrian refugees. Singapore, which has an impressively strong per capita income of $85,198, well over three times the OECD per capita average, has shown absolutely no interest in accommodating Syrian refugees.

But what is most lamentable is that some of the richest nations on the planet which also happen to be conservative Muslim societies have been woefully behind in accommodating their Muslim brethren from Syria. While the Gulf Arab nations of Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain have donated tremendously for humanitarian relief in Syria (Saudi Arabia being the single largest donor in the world, with well over a quarter of a billion dollars to help refugees in both Iraq and Syria), they have done nothing to actually accommodate Syrian refugees into their countries.

Qatar has the highest per capita income on Earth of $143,532, five and a half times the OECD per capita average.

The United Arab Emirates has a per capita income of $65,149 making it the 7^th highest in the world and well over double the OECD per capita average.

Saudi Arabia has a per capita income of $53,149, double the OECD per capita average.

Kuwait has a per capita income of $70,914, nearly three times the OECD per capita average.

Bahrain has a per capita income of $52,515, more than double the OECD per capita average.

These aforementioned Gulf nations could easily afford to accommodate, or arrange for accommodations, for each and every Syrian refugee. But they haven’t. Not a single Syrian refugee should have to apply for refugee status in Europe and America where they will be aggressively ministered to and pressured to convert to Christianity. Not a single Syrian refugee should sit in a squalid camp where Christian missions will go and manipulate their delicate emotional state and pressure them to convert to Christianity. It is happening! This is from a Christian missionary website:

“One Sunday when I was there we had 200 people in a room. We said, ‘Okay, you know that we are Christians and we believe in Jesus and we would like to pray for you.’ We shared the gospel with them. I’ve never seen so many people praying at the same time in my life, ever. All of them were Muslims. We said, ‘Do you want to give your life to Jesus?’ They said, ‘Yes,’ and they prayed. I don’t know if it’s because we were there, but I know they need Jesus. That’s all I know. That’s the maximum we can give them.” ((An Insider’s Glimpse into the Syrian Refugee Crisis, Christian Aid Mission, 10/24/2013 http://www.christianaid.org/News/2013/mir20131024.aspx ))

I didn’t quote the above to vilify this missionary. He’s doing what he believes his Lord has commanded him to do: Share the Gospel. Don’t we believe we are commanded to share Islam? But, regardless, neither Christianity, nor Islam, nor any religion for that matter, should be pushed on an emotionally vulnerable people like the indigent and hungry Syrian refugees. This is not serving God. It’s serving one’s self.

We need to step up our game because, quite frankly, when it comes to humanitarian causes for our own people we are being trounced by the Christian world while the wealthy of us think that throwing money at the problem will make it go away. Wealthy Muslim-majority nations need to stop with the multi-million dollar donations that are a drop in the bucket for them anyway and realize that the key component of the word “refugee” is “refuge”. Show-off donations are self-serving. Use that money to get involved, get on the ground, and start architecting programs to provide refuge for OUR refugees.

Part I addresses God’s promise to preserve the Qur’an, and Part II deals with how the Qur’anic manuscript reached University of Birmingham by way of Alphonse Mingana.

Part I- God’s Promise to Preserve the Qur’an:

Part II- How did Qur’anic Manuscript M1572 Get to Birmingham, UK?

As we near the end of Ramadan and the last 10 nights draw near, I must confess that I am terrified. Will I fail? Did I squander this Ramadan? Were my deeds acceptable to you, O Lord? Will I miss the Night of Power? It may seem odd —please excuse me if this is so out of place— but the words that come to my mind are those of Aragorn in Chapter 1 of The Two Towers: “Alas! An ill fate is on me this day, and all that I do goes amiss!” That’s really how I feel.

Then I came across this in the Qur’an:

(فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ )

“So be cognizant of God to the best of your ability.” [64:16]

I was struck by the language here and suddenly filled with hope. God just wants me to try my best. It’s as if He spoke to me with the Qur’an, and I believe He does.

The scholars of Qur’anic exegesis have mentioned that God had earlier revealed:

(اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ)

“Be cognizant of God with the cognizance He deserves.” [3:102]

Haqqa tuqātihī. “Cognizance He deserves.” Wow. When this was revealed, I imagine the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) and his Companions felt terrified as I did. How on earth can anyone be constantly obedient and cognizant to God as He deserves?

But the great interpreter of the Qur’an from the successors of the Prophet’s Companions, Qatadah ibn Di`amah, explained:

( فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ وَاسْمَعُوا وَأَطِيعُوا – هذه رخصة من الله، والله رحيم بعباده، وكان الله جلّ ثناؤه أنـزل قبل ذلك اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وحقّ تقاته أن يُطاع فلا يعصى، ثم خفَّف الله تعالى ذكره عن عباده، فأنـزل الرخصة بعد ذلك فقال: ( فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ وَاسْمَعُوا وَأَطِيعُوا ) فيما استطعت يا ابن آدم، عليها بايع رسول الله صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم على السمع والطاعة فيما استطعتم.)

“{So be cognizant of God to the best of your ability} This is a concession from God, for He is Merciful to His servants. Before this, God had revealed {Be cognizant of God with the cognizance that He deserves} and this means that one would be absolutely obedient and never transgress. However, God lightened His Word upon His servants and later qualified with the more conceding revelation {So be cognizant of God to the best of your ability. Hear and obey.} It is to the best of your ability, O Son of Adam! And upon hearing and obeying to the best of your ability did the Messenger of God ﷺ take covenant.”

And while God commanded us to be cognizant of Him, in His infinite Mercy and understanding, He was —and is— always the most cognizant of us and our disposition.

One can only imagine how the burdens of knowing what they knew of the unseen would overwhelm the Prophets of God. One time the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ told his Companions, “If you knew what I know, you would laugh less and weep more.” After this, Gabriel came to him and admonished him with a direct communication from God:

(لِمَ تُقَنِّطُ عِبَادِي؟)

“Why do you cause My servants to despair?”

Chills just went up my spine. God reprimanded the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ for saying something discouraging to his Companions and, by extension, us! That’s how much God loves you.

He told you to be cognizant of Him with a cognizance He deserves. But, realizing how difficult that is, He qualified that with, “Do the very best you can.” That is motivation!

His most beloved Prophet ﷺ told us a very factual statement that had we known what he knew of the unseen, we would laugh less and cry more. So God reprimanded him asking, “Why do you cause My servants to despair?” That is love!

So the Prophet ﷺ went back to his Companions and said:

(أَبْشِرُوا وَسَدِّدُوا وَقَارِبُوا)

“Rejoice! Set things right. Seek closeness.”

I leave you with the prayer that the Prophet ﷺ said was the master of all repentance. In it, again, we were instructed to tell God we’re doing the best we can.

(اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ رَبِّي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ خَلَقْتَنِي وَأَنَا عَبْدُكَ وَأَنَا عَلَى عَهْدِكَ وَوَعْدِكَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُ ، أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا صَنَعْتُ ، أَبُوءُ لَكَ بِنِعْمَتِكَ عَلَيَّ وَأَبُوءُ لَكَ بِذَنْبِي فَاغْفِرْ لِي فَإِنَّهُ لَا يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ)

“Dear God, You are my Lord. There is no god other than You. You created me. I am your servant, and I’m holding on to my covenant with You and my promise to You, the best that I can. I seek refuge in You from whatever evil I have forged. I testify to Your favors upon me, and I testify to You that I have, nonetheless, sinned. So please forgive me, for none can forgive sin other than You.”

Amin.

Originally published in December 2009

Introduction

I am tired of the pictures forwarded to me in email and of the videos posted on Facebook, Youtube, and numerous other mediums of internet media displaying a gross cornucopia of atrocities against Muslims across the globe. There’s the visibly overwhelmed Muslim woman getting her hijab (headscarf) yanked off, the Muslim being malevolently run over by a car repeatedly, and the countless dead Muslim babies buried in rubble. I loathe it all. It has become a sickness amongst Muslims to find some perverted sense of satisfaction in displaying to the world, “Look! I am the victim!” It is as if our era of glory was an opiate, and now we use self-victimization to ease the withdrawal. Some have identified that self-empowerment, rather than self-victimization, is more constructive. Yet, they still just don’t get it.

Peruse any variety of Muslim media sources and one will find no shortage of laudatory narratives on how the Muslims pioneered modern technology while Europe languished in the “Dark Ages.” Hearing that, a 16 year old European Muslim drop-out can beam with pride and feel that he, himself, bested the magnificence of the monolithic “West.” The Frenchman is no better than he, for his ancestors gave the world Algebra… albeit 1,250 years ago.

This leads to the oft-posited, and often frustrating, question: How do we get those glory days back? While patting themselves on the back for those long dead laurels, many Muslim proselytes and those inebriated by their opiates often miss is that this era of Muslim ingenuity was not founded at the hands of those who thirsted for the blood of their enemies. It was founded by a people who would be more concerned with the scientific study of apes and pigs, than calling their non-Muslim enemies the “descendants of apes and pigs.” It was founded by men of loftier priorities and ideals.

How do we get those days back? Perhaps, we should first identify how we lost them in the first place. We should rather ask: Where did we go wrong? My hypothesis is that we have gone backwards in how we view and treat our non-Muslim neighbors. We have regressed far behind the noble principles of coexistence dictated to us by the Qur’an, which were conveyed and displayed to us by our exemplary Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him). All cases of greatness in Islamic history will also yield remarkable examples of compassion and benevolence towards the Muslims’ non-Muslim neighbors.

Articles about the Muslim world’s contributions to science will be rife with names like al-Khwarizmi and al-Biruni. Muhammad bin Musa al-Khwarizmi and Abu Rayhan al-Biruni were both Persians of ancient Khwarezm who are iconic of the Muslim world’s contributions to science. The Prophet Muhammadﷺ had foretold that great knowledge was to come from the Persians ¹ to whom the baton of Islamic learning quickly passed. Yet, aside from the facts that both were devout and learned Sunni Muslims and polymaths, excelling in a jaw-dropping variety of scientific disciplines, they also strove to achieve a better understanding of the non-Muslims they encountered.

Abu `Abdillah Muhammad bin Musa Al-Khwarizmi (780-850 CE) penned his Treatise on the Extraction of the Jewish History,² which became the reference point for the later Jewish scholar Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, popularly known as Maimonides, in formulating the Hebrew Calendar which Jews all over the world use to this day. His work in this regard, and influence from al-Khwarizmi, is contained in his book Sefr Mishneh Torah.³ It is also worthy to note that Maimonides’ name is remembered today because of the freedom and liberty he enjoyed living under his Spanish and African Muslim rulers. Another famous Jewish scholar who used the works of al-Khwarizmi to codify the Hebrew calendar as it is known today was Abraham ibn Ezra,⁴ who in the process went as far as to fully translate Ibn al-Muthanna’s commentary of al-Khwarizmi’s Tables of Astronomy into Hebrew.

Another great Muslim genius who lived one hundred years after al-Khwarizmi was, likewise, a tremendous influence on Jewish scholars such as Maimonides and countless others from various non-Muslim demographics. He was Abu al-Rayhan Muhammad bin Ahmad Al-Biruni (973-1048 CE). Al-Biruni became a patron of the medieval Turkic Sultan of Khorasan, Mahmud bin Sebuktekin of Ghazni, and accompanied him during his exploits into India. Rather than immersing himself in all the glory, valor and riches, al-Biruni immersed himself into the non-Muslim population’s culture, language and tradition. He learned Sanskrit to such a high level that the Hindu clergy bequeathed him with the title Vidyasagar meaning “Ocean of Learning.”⁵ Al-Biruni did not limit his studies to their culture, but also became versed to a scholarly degree in Hinduism. He is, to this day, known as the de facto founder of religious anthropology. He contributed not only to the Jewish calendars but also to a greater understanding of the calendar systems of all religions and civilizations in his work The Surviving Monuments of Past Centuries.⁶

Some historians have sought to remove credit from Islam for the magnanimity and tolerance of these two scholars and many others like them and attribute it instead to the inherent tolerance of the Persians. However, a glance into the tolerance mandated by God in the Qur’an, embodied in the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and carried on in the manners of his closest Companions (radiAllahu `anhum – May Allah be pleased with them) may hold some answers.

The Qur’an

Though Muslims are commanded in the Qur’an to call towards the worship of One God without partner, they are also instructed to come to common terms with their non-Muslim neighbors and to refrain from slighting their religious sensibilities in the process. God instructs the Muslims to address the People of the Book: “Say, ‘O People of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you – that we will not worship except Allāh and not associate anything with Him and not take one another as lords instead of Allāh.’ But if they turn away, then say, ‘Bear witness that we are Muslims [submitting to Him]’” (3:64). The objective is to come to a mutual understanding. At the end of the day, we have to live with each other much to the chagrin of the extremists on all sides.

Furthermore, God instructs the Muslim believers in the Qur’an, “And do not insult those they invoke other than Allāh, lest they insult Allāh in enmity without knowledge”(6:108). Regarding this verse, the reputable Qur’anic exegete of Basra, Qatadah bin Di`amah, said, “The Muslims used to mock the idols of the non-Muslims, and the non-Muslims would, in turn, mock God. So God revealed the verse, ‘Do not mock those whom they call upon besides Allah…’”⁷ An atmosphere of mockery and derision is not something which God wants to foster between His devotees and those not privileged with a proper understanding of Him. Because the cycle is difficult to break, the Muslims are commanded to never initiate it. The late 13th century Islamic scholar, Ibn Taymiya, says about this verse, “It is known that the polytheists (of pre-Islamic Arabia) loved their pantheon of deities just as they loved Allah (as a part of it). Perhaps, they even loved their deities even more than they loved Allah and this is why they had no problem mocking Allah whenever their pantheon of deities was mocked. Hence, did Allah command, ‘Do not mock the ones they call upon besides Allah, for they will be driven in contempt to mock Allah in return out of ignorance.’”⁸

There is much in common between the three great Abrahamic religions . The Jews and the Christians know full well that “Allah” is the very same name of God, with slight variations, that they find in their sacred texts. The first verse of the first chapter of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, calls God by a direct etymon of this sacred name. ⁹ When Christ was on the cross, he called out to God in the Aramaic etymon, “Allaha!” This was even evidenced in the film The Passion of the Christ (2004). These are not facts unknown to our Jewish and Christian friends, yet none of it will matter when the cycle of derision has been initiated. We must obey God’s command in the Qur’an and not start such divisive conflicts. If we are subjected to it we must respond with what is better as God also instructs in the Qur’an: “And not equal are the good deed and the bad. Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better; and thereupon the one whom between you and him is enmity [will become] as though he was a devoted friend” (41:34). God really does know His creation as he also says in the Qur’an, “Does He who created not know?” (64:14)

The Prophetic Traditions

Zaid bin Sa`nah was a leading Jewish Rabbi who was a contemporary of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. His story has been authentically documented in the collections of Prophetic traditions, and it is a fine example of how Muslims should live with their non-Muslim neighbors. Rabbi Zaid related his own story to `Abdullah bin Salam, another Rabbi who had embraced Islam, who relates:

“Zaid bin Sa`nah said… Two or three days before the appointed time, the Prophet ﷺ went out for a funeral prayer of a man from the Ansar. With him were Abu Bakr, `Umar and `Uthman and some of his other Companions (ra). When he completed the prayer, he sought to recline against a wall upon which I grabbed a hold of him and gave him a mean-faced stare and held him by shirt and cloak. I said to him, ‘Repay me what is due, O Muhammad! By God, I have not known you folk from the clan of `Abdul Mutalib to be such procrastinators! Perhaps, my impression of you all has been wrong!’ So I looked at `Umar and his two eyes were beset wide on his face like planets! He then struck me with his stare and said, ‘O you enemy of God! Dare you speak to the Messenger of God ﷺ as I have heard and behave as I have seen?! By the One Who has raised him up with the Truth, if Iwere less God-fearing I would have struck off your head with my sword!’ The Messenger of God was looking at `Umar (ra) with serenity and an amiable smile and said, ‘O `Umar, he and I required something other than this from you. You should have instructed me to repay him in a better manner and you should have instructed him to follow up in a better manner. Go to him, O `Umar, and repay him what is due to him and exceed that by 20 extra measure of dates.'”

The narration in al-Bayhaqi’s Sunan ends here, but the narration in al-Tabarani’s Mu`jam goes on to detail the interaction that transpired when `Umar caught up with Rabbi Zaid. As it turned out the Rabbi had been following the Prophet Muhammadﷺ and was testing his behavior in the face of insolence. When the angry `Umar returned to him sober and friendly, he marveled at how the Prophet Muhammadﷺ could change this angry man into the docile character he was now dealing with. Rabbi Zaid embraced Islam and dedicated the rest of his life to its cause until he ultimately met his end at the Battle of Tabuk. He went from a widely reputed Jewish Rabbi to a hero of Islam, not because of any theological debates or polemics, but because of the goodness displayed by the Messenger of God ﷺ.

The Prophet’s Companions and Successors

This tradition of good conduct towards the non-Muslims carried on into the era of the Caliphs who succeeded the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ after his passing. The Fourth Caliph of Islam, `Ali bin Abi Talib, lived in a time when the Persian Empire fell before the feet of the Muslims. He was reported to have actually met with the father of the earliest of the four great Sunni Imams, al-Nu`man bin Thabit, popularly known as Abu Hanifa. Imam Abu Hanifa was from Kabul, Afghanistan,¹⁰ which was largely Zoroastrian prior to the Muslim conquests. Though they had become Muslims, the traditions and cultural practices remained. Imam al-Dhahabi, a highly regarded student of Ibn Taymiyyah, states about Imam Abu Hanifa in his voluminous work on the notables of Islamic history, Siyar A`lam al-Nubala’:

“Nu`man bin Marzban, the father of Thabit,<sup>11</sup> was the one who gifted `Ali bin Abi Talib with Faluda on the day of Nawruz (the Persian New Year). `Ali said, ‘May every day be like Nawruz!’ It was also said, ‘This is done as part of Mehregan (a Persian harvest festival with origins possibly pre-dating Iranian culture).” So he replied, ‘May every day be as Mehregan!” ¹²

`Ali did not belittle their cultural practices, so he took the gift, but subtly hinted that, according to Islam, this day was like any other day. He did not endorse the significance of the day, but he did not revile their cultural practice either. He exercised wisdom. Similarly, the other Companions behaved the same towards the Zoroastrians they encountered. The Prophet’s ﷺ wife `A’isha (ra) instructed the Muslims to avoid meats offered to them as gifts on Nawruz but to feel free to eat from the fruits and vegetables. Yet, was this mostly due to the general ruling regarding the meat of the Zoroastrians and not so much having to do with Nawruz? Mujahid said that in general only fruits and vegetables of the Zoroastrians should be consumed, but nothing else from them.¹³ Their slaughtered meat was largely viewed as unsuitable for consumption by the Muslims.

A Dirham for Thought

It is said that a picture can equal a thousand words and, in this case, hard archaeological evidence can speak volumes. In the time of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the two great mighty empires whom the Muslims encountered were the Persian Sassanids and the Greco-Roman Byzantines. The Sassanids, at their height, ruled everything between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. They reigned from 205 CE until they finally met their end when defeated by the Muslims under the 2nd Caliph, `Umar ibn al-Khattab. After the era of the Four Pious Caliphs had passed, parts of the newly conquered Persian domains fell under the rule of the Umayyads, the loyalists of `Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, and others. Yet, in spite of the turf wars that occurred between the various Muslim factions, one thing remained strikingly in common between them: the respect they showed to their newly conquered subjects. It was a time when all the splendor of the Persian Empire literally fell at the feet of the Muslims. This, like many of the events that transpired immediately after the passing of the Prophet Muhammadﷺ, was foretold by him. He warned the Muslims that, though they will have the power to do what they want over the Persians, they should not plunder them nor get tangled up in the priceless spoils they would acquire. Fortunately, the Companions listened, and those Persian lands are still Muslim today. It might have been different had the Muslims reveled in the riches and pounded the population into serfdom. The harrowing empty mosques of Romania, a land ruled by the Ottomans for hundreds of years yet yielding only a 0.3% of Muslim population today, bear a painful testimony to this.

So how did the Muslims treat their newly conquered Zoroastrian subjects? The story of `Ali ibn Abi Talib’s interaction with the Persian family of Abu Hanifa has already been told. Yet, there is more to be discovered when analyzing the archaeological evidence from the time period in question. One may be shocked to find that there are numerous extant Arab-Sassanid coins throughout the reigns of Uthman ibn `Affan, `Ali bin Abi Talib and Mu`awiyyah ibn Abi Sufyan with busts of Khosrow and the Zoroastrian fire altar.

Similarly, coins were minted during the reign of `Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, a close Companion of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, in the regions of Persia loyal to him (Sistan) with a bust of Khosrow and Zoroastrian symbols.

There are also instances of Arab-Byzantine coins from the newly conquered Roman territories where the crosses were very slowly and subtly removed from the coinage possibly over the period of a decade.

The horizontal bar would gradually be removed from the crosses on all mintage leaving just a vertical pole, and the Muslim declaration of faith was added to the obverse margins. So the coins would go from the original Byzantine coin:

To the coin following the Muslim conquests:

To, ultimately:

These coins¹⁴ are not great rarities. They are so abundantly available that if you look hard enough you can buy them yourself over the internet. So let there be no doubt about this. The early Muslims went through such great pains not to offend the local non-Muslim populations whom they had quite thoroughly conquered. They could have done whatever they wanted to them. Yet, out of the fear of their Lord, they refrained from offending their non-Muslim subjects.” Compare that to how Muslims today, many of whom can barely even rule their own households, and treat those around them with respect – Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

Conclusion

Albert Einstein supposedly said: “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.”

With all the apocalyptic clamor about ruling by Shari`ah and re-establishing a Caliphate in our times, what is sorely missing in these Muslim revolutionaries is an insight into the hearts of those who set the standards for establishing a successful society that was truly Islamic. As the answer to where we went wrong becomes increasingly clear, we can then go back to the question, “How do we get those glory days back?” Much work is to be done to achieve that, but it won’t be by strength of arms. It must be in the classrooms, homeless shelters, drug rehabilitation centers, mentoring programs and other social and civic means by which Muslims can forge a better society wherein all mankind, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, can flourish. Only then will we have exemplified God’s description of the role we play in this world:

“You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allāh.” (Qur’an, 3:110)

The Muslims were known for always dressing impeccably regardless of what social class they came from. There was a dignity and respect in the way they presented themselves, and this was markedly observed by even their adversaries. In the famous French prose “The Song of Roland”, which lauds the heroic deeds of the “Holy Barbarian” King Charlemagne in his battles against the Muslims, the leader of the Muslims is described as strikingly handsome and a noble equal to Charlemagne. The song praises him thus:

“An Emir of Balaguet came in place,

Proud of body, and fair of face;

Since first he sprang on steed to ride,

To wear his harness was all his pride;

For feats of prowess great laud he won;

Were he Christian, nobler baron none!” ((The Song of Roland, 228:3164, Translated from French by John O’Hagen))

In the end, the only way Charlemagne is said to defeat him is with the help of the Archangel Gabriel.

God says in the Qur’an:

يَا بَنِي آدَمَ خُذُوا زِينَتَكُمْ عِندَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍ

“O Children of Adam! Wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer.” ((The Holy Qur’an, 7:31, Yusuf `Ali translation, 1938))

Do we care for our appearance, cleanliness and attire when visiting the mosque? Even if not daily, do we at least in our Friday prayers? Sometimes we do. I often see Africans in their brightly colored gowns and hats, the Indonesians and Malays in their perfectly pressed shirts, gilded hats and sarongs, the African-Americans in their best suits, ties and/or bowties. But what I also see alarmingly too often are sweat-pants, t-shirts, tunics which you know alternate as sleepwear, long faces and disheveled hair. Sadly, I fear that may be the majority in too many mosques.

There is a Prophetic saying:

إِذا أَتَاك الله مَالا فَلْيُرَ أثَرُ نِعْمَةِ الله عَلَيْكَ وكَرَامَتِهِ

“If God has given you an income then display signs of His blessings and generosity upon you.” ((Recorded by Aḥmad, al-Tirmidhī, Abū Dawūd, al-Nasā’ī, and many others))

So, there is an element of gratitude and acknowledgement of God’s blessings when you take care of your appearance and utilize what He has blessed you with to look your very best. Yet, the Ottoman era scholar al-Munāwī is also careful to qualify this saying:

“‘And His generosity’ – that which He has bestowed upon you. For in attire is an indication of one’s overall condition, self-worth, self-respect, and hygiene. And it is so those in need will know to go to him, but he must be careful with his intentions and avoid all forms of excess.” ((Fayḍ al-Qadīr Sharḥ Jami` al-Ṣaghīr, al-Munāwī))

With this, he also relates an interesting story therein about the famous scholar and successor to the Prophet (ﷺ)’s Companions, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, wearing a shirt costing 400 dirhams. One time he met Farqad al-Sinjī, a known Sufi of the time, which sparked a telling dialog. In the early days of Islam, the Sufis wore coarse wool garments and, for this, some have speculated that the word “Sufi” may originate from the Arabic word for wool, Ṣūf. Farqad said reproachfully to al-Hasan, “O Abū Sa`īd, how soft is your clothing!” To this, al-Ḥasan replied using a lexical diminution ((Called Taṣghīr al-Ism in Arabic lexical morphology wherein a word is made diminutive, or to indicate “smallness”, by conforming it to the fu`ayl consonantal skeleton.)) of Farqad’s name, “O Furayqid! The softness of my clothes does not distance me from God, nor does the coarseness of your clothing make you closer to Him.” Al-Ḥasan then went on to quote the saying of the Prophet ﷺ, “God is beautiful and He loves beauty.” In another narration al-Ḥasan rebuked Farqad’s spiritual arrogance with: “They have piety in their clothing, but they have arrogance in their hearts.” ((Kitāb al-Zuhd of Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal, Fayḍ al-Qadīr of al-Munāwī, Muḥāḍirāt al-Adbā’ of al-Iṣfahāni, and others.)) Whether relevant or not, Farqad al- Sinjī later became considered a severely defective narrator.

So while we may feel that our theology is sound and we are the people of the true faith, there is something seriously wrong when Christians are in their finest clothes when visiting church on Sunday but we look like we’re running errands when we go for Friday prayers. It reflects our overall attitude, which comes across as clear as day in how we present ourselves and how we allow ourselves to be perceived by those around us. As al-Ḥasan al-Baṣri said, there are those who may dress simply but their hearts are full of conceit. Don’t be content thinking you’re the people of Truth if you don’t even look the part.

A Cornell University psychologist who chaired the conference When to Judge a Book by Its Cover: Timing, Context, and Individual Differences in First Impressions stated, “Despite the well-known idiom to ‘not judge a book by its cover,’ the present research shows that such judgments about the cover are good proxies for judgments about the book — even after reading it.” This research is particularly focused on impressions that are made within mere seconds of seeing someone and the results are that any negative impression garnered within the first few seconds can outlast any and all efforts to dispel them later through explanation or amiable conduct. So we can exhaust every effort in trying to convince our non-Muslim neighbors that we’re good people, but if we don’t look it, they won’t believe it. Fair or not, that is plain science. Would you find it easier to change human psychology or simply pay more attention to how you present yourself?

So, while the Vikings raided our coasts along the Caspian Sea and Charlemagne drove us out of Western France and invaded Muslim Spain, they were so impressed by us that they actually wrote poetry about us. We need to ask ourselves a very serious question: enemies aside, do we even leave that kind of impression upon our non-Muslim friends? Let us answer that honestly in the quiet of our conscience and, if necessary, make changes in our lives accordingly.

Photo: Shereen M

Yesterday. I sigh remembering it. What a blessing yesterday was. 

I met up with an old friend who lived across the street from me when we were kids. Back then we used to hang out either on his driveway or in his house just jamming on our guitars. I played the six-string and he played bass. But what often ended up happening were long talks about life and our dreams of “making it big” in Rock and Roll. It feels like last week, though good sense tells me it was a lifetime ago. And there we were yesterday, so many years later, talking over lunch just like when we were kids. The only things missing were the guitars. I’ve always struggled to keep all the friends I make, but times like yesterday make me feel that I did alright. I cannot begin to express to you the value in preserving your relationships from childhood. For those who ever followed the TV series Lost (or binge watched it on Netflix), there was the theme of having a “constant” serving as an anchor between two time periods in life. It’s a lot like that.

Later that day, I saw two souls, both individually beautiful, unite in marriage to create what could only be described as a radiant light. I kid you not: those in their presence who had never met them before got watery eyed at the sight. I never believed in love at first sight, because it has always been framed within the context of nauseatingly idealistic and film-grade romance. However, there is some truth in it. When you meet someone, the souls meet before our physical matter does. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) said, “Souls are of many differing types. When they meet, they recognize and incline towards the other, or they are repulsed and withdraw from the other.” What I actually witnessed at this occasion yesterday was my soul admiring the goodness I saw in other souls. It brought the aforementioned narration, which I had heard countless times before, into flesh and blood and gave it a pulse. The eyes can be not just a window to the soul, but also a periscope for the heart.

The night closed at my brother’s graduation party. Typically, at birthdays, grad parties, weddings and other such celebrations people get together, serve food, talk and then…go home. That’s pretty much the gist of it, and that’s how everyone probably thought this was going to go. But we had two esteemed scholars, Shaykh Joe Bradford and Shaykh Mamdouh Mahmoud, in our company, whose presence helped turn it into what I call “soul food”. Nourishment for the soul. We all, one by one, recited a verse from the Qur’an, any verse we were feeling, no matter how long or short. I could feel the energy, charge and enrichment it brought to our spirits. Cattle go out, graze, share a few nudges and moos, and then go back. Our gatherings should be more meaningful than that. The obvious benefit at my brother’s graduation party was that we all recited the Qur’an. But it was more than just that. Recitation of the Qur’an became a means of bonding. So, don’t let your get-togethers just be like grazing in the pasture.

Out of all life on this planet, we humans are the ones who will seek to preserve our relationships with each other—and even with other animals—for as long as we can. That brings me an indescribable hope. We were meant for something more than mere existence. We were meant to positively affect others in the relationships we create and foster, so that we can understand and increase our desire for the greatest of those relationships: our relationship with God.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “The Mercy of Almighty God is in 100 parts. One part He has distributed amongst all His creation, with which they show one another love and mercy. The remaining 99 are reserved for the Day of Judgment.” Many supplementary variants of this narration throughout the Hadith collections lend credence to the notion that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ must have stressed this on numerous occasions throughout his advent.

Imagine all the love and mercy that ever existed on earth in its billions and billions of years. That’s just 1/100th of God’s Love for YOU. Yesterday inspired me, and as your friend I wanted to share that in hopes that my reflections inspire you, too. After all, that’s what friends are for.