The Faceless Ummah – 21st Century Islam أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم All Praise is for Allah Almighty, all Rahma proceeds from Him and salutations upon the Most Noble of all Masters, the Leader of all Prophets, the Beloved of the Beloved, the Light of Creation and Distributor of all Blessings (sallAllahu alaihi wasallam). Salutations upon the most Honoured and Purified Prophetic Household, the bestower of Purity and Spiritual Maqaam and Revered Companions (radi Allahu anhumma). Our Beloved and most Noble, Hazratah Summayyah (radi Allahu anha) stared into the eyes of pure evil and malice. She retorted to the evil of Abu Jahl’ insults with strength only granted by the Honourable Shahadah. Knowing nothing more than that which released her heart from the shackles of this world (Duniya), he brutally murdered her. She was adorned with the highest honour in the Court of Allah Almighty as the first martyr of Islam; her story serves, unshakeably, to demonstrate that it is not Knowledge (ilm al-zaahir) that grants us beautification but instead our Eeman and identity as ‘Muslim’. The Ummah has become a corpse of its former self; a once glorified empire, resting upon the precipice of society – towering above all else. Now we, unfortunately, are no greater than 140 characters on Twitter or a quotation on our Facebook timeline which neither the writer nor those to whom the citation is for have the benefit of understanding its reality nor the reality of the original architect of its intrinsic beauty; Mawlana Rumi being a blinding example. My first piece was rather extensive as to deliver justice to the topic. I will, to assist readers, keep this post more succinct and to the point in sha Allah. We reside in that time wherein our identity, our morality & ethics and even our very way of life has become the topic of dictation from external sources whom seek not to reconcile our hearts with the Ultimate Reality, but instead seek to further encapsulate all people under the same branded culture of ‘existence’. For sure, there is no greater way than to weaken a nation except by removing their faces and their minds – Muslims have become both faceless and dimwitted, like a piece of heated metal malleable to the hands of its blacksmith into whatever structure he desires of it. Thus, we have a culture of men whom crave the ‘millions’ and women whom crave the Kardshian ‘lifestyle’ oft personified by all forms of media as being the ultimate source of fulfilment; not realising, of course, that we only see the controlled image – how often do we see such celebrities on the toilet with a stomach ailment? Naturally, the image wouldn’t quite serve the superficiality that we are not all striving for. Alhamdulilah, we have become unified – but the unification of this Ummah is in our striving for the lowly and worthless (daani) as opposed to the Ultimate. This whole notion was addressed throughout the Noble Qur’an by our Lord, Most High; أُولَـٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ اشْتَرَوُا الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا بِالْآخِرَةِ ۖ فَلَا يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمُ الْعَذَابُ وَلَا هُمْ يُنصَرُونَ ‘These are the people who bought the worldly life in exchange of the Hereafter – so their punishment will not be lightened, nor will they be helped.’ [2:86] Furthermore, we are then advised as to the value of each respectively; وَمَا هَـٰذِهِ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا لَهْوٌ وَلَعِبٌ ۚ وَإِنَّ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانُ ۚ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ ‘And this worldly life is nothing but pastime and game; indeed the abode of the Hereafter – that is indeed the true life; if only they knew.’ [29:64] Allah, Most High, has bestowed upon this Community (Ummah) countless generations (Tabaqaa) of Scholars whom are the poles of our society, who guide us, instruct us and bring us to the Shari’ah. Furthermore, we are blessed with those noble Ulema e Rabaani whom, as Hazrat e Ibn Abbas (radi Allahu anhu) informed simplify the complex for the masses, guide us to our Lord, Most High. Yet, there is an inescapable reality, with all of this knowledge (Ilm) we are in the dire state that we find ourselves in this time and thus it can be seen that knowledge is the light upon the path; but not the path nor the destination itself. Hazratah Summayyah (radi Allahu anha) only had on her noble tongue the Shahadah (Testimony of Faith) and sacrificed everything in this world because of her certitude (Yaqeen); such sacrifice was stemmed not in her expansive knowledge of different texts on the Din, but solely her love and belief in our Master (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) – such was the nature of this belief, she gave her life before her own child defending it. With all of the books we have, you will never meet a single individual in our time with such strength – that which purified and later led to saving her was, without doubt, her ‘identity’ or her ‘face’. We have degenerated and become ‘faceless’ and as a result of such ‘facelessness’ we have become aimless. Shakespeare beautifully expresses in Hamlet; ‘We know what we are, but not what we may be’ – Shakespeare Maslow describes the process of self-actualisation by his famous ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ which progress from the baseline physiological and psychological requirements to operate in day-to-day life through to the upper echelons of thought process such as self-confidence, self-esteem, morality, creativity and others. Yet, Islam sets its own benchmark as to what ‘self-actualisation’ truly is in the verse; وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ ‘And I created the jinns and men, only for them to worship Me.’ [51:56] Superficially, we feel that this verse would direct our sole ultimate purpose to a state of persistent worship (Ibaadah). However, when we look to the comments of Hazrat e Ibn Abbas (Radi Allahu anhu) in narrating from the Door of Knowledge (Baab ul-Ilm), Hazrat e Ali (karamAllahu wajjahul kariim) whom explained the latter portion of the verse to not in-fact mean ‘worship’ but, instead, Gnosis (Ma’rifah). Therefore, our state of self-actualisation within this Din is not to be in a state of persistent worship but a state of gnosis with God Almighty; naturally, the two are not individualised entities as to be in a state of gnosis is a persistent state of worship. Our ‘facelessness’ is as a result of our absence of true pursuit toward Him, Almighty. Whilst Hazratah Summayyah (radi Allahu anha) truly knew that the spear was not her damnation, but instead, the key that released her spirit (Ruh) from its timely constraint – for sure, Abu Jahl granted her the key to success and enabled her an even closer proximity to Allah Almighty. To conclude, the only way we shall endeavour to find our true reality is to re-connect with the very nature of our Ultimate pursuit; not to amass lipservice-like worship, but to become entrenched in a state of gnosis. Such a pursuit will release us from the physiological and psychological shackles imposed upon us by all surrounding circumstances, it will grant us a fruitful state whose roots reach the depths of our hearts and whose branches extend to the heights of our mind. I pray this article is of use, for certain, I am a lowly helpless servant and a student of the students of Knowledge. I pray that Allah Almighty accepts this mere work and forgives any errors I have produced herein – all Good comes from Him and any bad is as a result of my flawed human state. May Allah Almighty grant us Tawfiiq in sincerely pursuing a transformative change within ourselves and our communities to strive toward Him. Yours, Shaykh Esa-Alexander H. Student of the Students of Knowledge - The Suyuti Institute
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 21:00:58 +0000
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