Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Just Order
Al-Saff (The Ranks) - Chapter 61: Verse 9

"It is Allah who sent His Messenger, with Guidance and the True Way so that He may make it prevail over all other (corrupt) ways. Although those who associate partners with Allah may dislike it."

The noble Prophets of Allah did not limit their work to preaching and delivering sermons only, since through such efforts individual and social life is not usually much affected. On the contrary, they actively invited their people to God's message, organised them into a God-conscious community and engaged with them in efforts to challenge corrupt powers and to reconstruct and reshape social life in accordance with God's revealed guidance.

After the noble Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, it is the obligation of the Muslim world community to continue striving for building a just order, locally and globally. The Muslim world-community is not formed of people who belong to a particular nation nor is in a religious cult. Rather it is a global community, drawing together people from all nations and races - all connected together into one brotherhood and sisterhood by the Islamic faith and vision.

Compiled From:
"Building A New Society" - Zahid Parvez, p. 54

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Silence

A theme which has acquired prominence in the Sunnah of the Prophet, peace be upon him, is the relative value of silence, especially when speech would serve no useful purpose. There are numerous Hadiths on this subject, including the following:

"Whoever believes in God and the Last Day, let him utter what is good or remain silent." [Muslim]

To speak only when there is occasion for speech, or when one has a purpose in doing so, is a sign of piety as the following Hadith declares:

"Part of the beauty of a person's Islam is that they remain silent about that which does not concern them." [Mishkat]

The best form of speech is that in which a little removes the need to say more, and the meaning is self-evident in the words. A person ought to be reserved in speech, and to speak only when there is some benefit to be achieved by it. In the event of there being any doubt about the benefit of talking, one ought to remain silent.

Compiled From:
"Freedom of Expression in Islam" - Mohammad Hashim Kamali, pp. 127, 128

Blindspot!

Entertainment Culture

For the young as well as for adults, entertainment is a necessity of life. The standpoint of some literalist scholars or rigorist trends are untenable and absurd. They seem to want to force on us a kind of daily life devoid of entertainment, without reading, without imagination, without music ... without even spiritual rest. This cannot be and does not correspond to Islam's teachings. We hear that music has become the universal language of young people, that the images on television and in films agitate the minds of people the world over, that great sports events have become the ritual gatherings of modern times ... and we should act as if this had no impact on the minds, hearts, and daily lives of believers wishing to live in harmony with certain principles and a life ethics?! The question is not to know whether we should entertain ourselves, but what the meaning, form, and nature of that entertainment should be.

What is at stake are the welfare, balance, and sound development of the children, teenagers, men, and women of our time, both North and South. Entertainment and play must represent "pauses" of a sort at the heart of more serious intellectual, social, and political preoccupations, but they should by no means promote values contrary to the higher goals and general ethics.

The point is not, as in "the carnivalization of life," to promote continuous play and an endless quest for entertainment that dominates everything else, which acts like a drug and transforms us into slaves addicted to our sensations and emotions. It should be the opposite: devising entertainment that makes human beings balanced, independent, and freer.

Muslim societies and communities are so afraid of the effect of alienating entertainment that they produce amusements and games that are either packed with religious references (and thereby no longer provide actual, necessary recreation) or childish (as if to enjoy recreation as a Muslim, one must refuse to become an adult or pretend never to have become one ...).

Women and men who possess the inclination and skill ought therefore to be invited to show more creativity, to integrate modern techniques of communication, to specialize in that Universe, and to show discriminating professionalism.

Compiled From:
"Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation" - Tariq Ramadan, pp. 196, 197