The Sarc-House

Laal Bujhakkarr (لال بجھکڑ)

2007-02-22T00:25:00.000-08:00

I apologize for having delayed my posts for such a long time inviting a lot of snide comments online and offline about how I promised a lot of stuff that I never wrote. I've come to the conclusion that blogging is a game either for the most organized or the most useless. Since I am currently neither, it is hard for me to keep up with my promises too well. Here is one of the posts that I promised and was really dying to write until now that I have written it.

Of all the different characters that I have encountered in real life or otherwise, my favorite one is Laal Bujhakkarr.

Back in the day in villages of Indo-Pak; when the ability to read was hard to come by, let alone a passion for news reading; where electricity was considered a magical phenomenon, let alone television and cinema; village men used to gather somewhere “downvillage,” if you may, at night and share their events of the day (with rather spicy details added as convenient). In this crowd, there was always this one person who happened to possess just the right mix of knowledge of some random facts, the confidence to present them, and some dramatization skills. This person consequently became known in Urdu literature as “Laal Bujhakkarr”. In effect, Laal Bujhakkarr knew very little, but had the ability to persuasively present that little information to people who knew even less.

We, too as an ummah, are infested with Laal Bujhakkarr’s: as executives in our governments, as politicians in our parliaments, as intellectuals and students in our institutions of learning, as imams in our mosques; just about everywhere you go. (I consider myself to be one of them). So many people, claiming to be this and that, trying to fix things (or break them) in an unorganized fashion that bears no foresight and no vision. Just using bits and pieces of what they know (or in some cases, of what they do not know), spicing it up, and presenting it with unparalleled confidence as if they know what they’re talking about and everything else. Some Laal Bujhakkarrs are even delusional. No one accepts them as being anything out of the ordinary, but they still continue to portray themselves as being something and try to externalize their underlying self-image of Laal Bujhakkarri.

I will cite a very specific example without mentioning any name, only in order to prove my point. I attended this qiyam during the break that I didn’t really plan on attending initially. It turned out it was mostly planned out as a night with a young brother visiting from another state. Now, notice that this brother has already been hyped up for me quite a bit; and I was kind of curious, even excited, to hear what he had to say. What I did end up hearing provided me with a terrible insight into the state of our ummah, and the expanse and extent of the institution of Laal Bujhakkarri in our collective culture. Now, I don’t mean it as anything against the brother himself, I am sure he is sincerely trying to do his best and I reserve the best of my suspicions for him. He is not really the one who bothered me, what was hard to accept was the fact that people listening to him were able to swallow all the misinformation they were fed, were able to find it “cool,” and were able to pay more attention to the usage of certain “ghetto” words than to what was being said with them. And of course my classification of it shouldn’t be taken for granted, let me paraphrase from my memory, what was said so that it is clear what I am talking about. He mentioned this Stanford University student walk home/escort program that the University spent around $230 million on. That, in and of itself, is hard to swallow for anyone who knows what that figure represents; but again, let’s not jump to conclusions, anyone can make factual errors. So at first he exclaimed a little bit about the ridiculously large amount of money that was for something as trivial as a student safety program. When he was done with that, he took his exclamation a bit further and claimed, “give me $230 million, and I will buy all (or a significant part) of Africa. I will buy their people, their cars, their houses, their clothes, their kids, and everything else that they own.” Now I don’t claim to know everything there is to know about real estate and slave trade, but quite honestly, that is just too much to even be allowed. Again, what I mean to prove is not really the problem in the brother’s rhetoric, because there are many people with faulty rhetoric and I can continue to point out a whole host of examples; but the more important, and ultimately the underlying problem is that people are quite happy with it. The ummah is ok with being fed unprocessed, crude, and even evidently wrong information as long as it is done by someone who has the “coolness” factor around them; regardless of whether they associate it with Ebonics in one part of the world, and with English in another.

Another huge and ever-emerging institution of Laal Bujhakkarri is the so-called progressive Muslim movement, as if other Muslims are regressive somehow. Every Zaid, Bakar, Ahmad, and an occasional Tim; with no knowledge whatsoever of the primary sources of Islam (from which all the rules are derived), of Arabic language (in which the primary sources are), and the well-established rules of jurisprudence (that form the basis of interpretation from the sources); finds the need and the ability (we salute the internet) to put their voice out there and be picked up by the media and by the ummah. All of a sudden, our deen is defined by schizophrenic individuals who realized one day that there was something different about them and that they “decided to merge” their two identities together and still call it Islam. All of a sudden there are people who have read some translations from here and there and think they’ve done their “research” on the matter and know exactly what all the scholars and the ummah has been missing for over 14 centuries and a quarter. The same people who would not be found debating with a medical doctor about medicinal matters can be seen debating with contemporary and non-contemporary scholars about what Islam is and what it should be. What is not understood is that this “progress” is calculated in relation to the Western ideals of progress. Since the Western ideals of democracy, freedom, individualism, and equality are cool and rather intimidating; Muslims find themselves forced to back off from, apologize about, find loopholes in, and manipulate their own ideals of democracy, freedom, individualism, and equality to make room for “progress.”

A similar budding Laal Bujhakkarr, belonging to the rather delusional stock, showed up as an attendee at one of the panel discussions that the School of Journalism put together on Islam and Muslims. Apparently, she wanted a more “liberal” definition of Islam. It turns out that the khutub in our traditional mosques don't quite “do it” for her. Now, if you have already decided what you want Islam to be, why not just go with what you liked in the first place? Why try to fit Islam on what you like when there is already something you like better? But I am getting ahead of myself into a whole different debate.

We, as an ummah, need to refine our thought processes. We need to start thinking more objectively. We need to rise above the beards, the degrees, the language, the intellectual sounding rhetoric, and other similar things that define superficial coolness for us. We need to be able to identify the Laal Bujhakkarr’s from genuine knowledgeable people. The need is to be more critical of ourselves and of others around us. Of course not to make it a mental illness or a criteria to judge people by, but to use it as a vehicle to get to a point where we are able to separate superficial effect from the spirit of the matter; and hence the solution.

Upcoming

2006-07-26T09:56:00.000-07:00

Subhan'Allah. I have so many things going through my head that I'm soon going to explode if I don't let them out. Here's a list:

Finish post on Saudi Arabia.
Laal Bujhakkarr.
Bollywood.
Works of Allama Iqbal.
Works of Syed Maududi.

I hope I can work on all of these.

A Crime Punishable by Death

2006-07-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna save my breath, seriously. If you wish to read a fiery, angry, argumentative post about the situation in Palestine and Lebanon, please try one of the links to my fellow bloggers and I am more than sure you'll find at least one raging post about the issue.

I am, however, going to save my breath.

I am not going to pretend to be surprised about the fact that Israel is bombing civillians without so much as mild condemnation from the world leaders.
I am not going to draw a parallel between Israeli civillian bombings and Palestinian civillian bombings.
I am not going to ask why it is terrorism when a Palestinian does it and self-defense when Israel does it.
I am not going to claim a similar right of self-defense for the Lebanese and the Palestinians.
I am not going to ask why my brothers and sisters can't be as precious as the Israeli citizens.
I am not going to ask why their men are worth dying and fighting for and why mine are not.

Why? Because I am a Muslim who knows his reality -- well-behaved some may call me. I know my place in this world and I know my place in history. And that place is to be kicked around and pushed about. I understand that I am to turn my face around when slapped. I am not going to claim what I have not rightfully earned. A well-behaved Muslim knows that self-defense is the right of the powerful. Israel has tanks and guns, planes and missles, bombs and mortars; therefore, what it's doing is not terrorism. Terrorists throw stones. And everyone knows that no sympathies are reserved for terrorists. Let us all focus on the "larger struggle" here.

Such is the real state of this world. No one cares about our rhetoric of peace and justice; heed is given only to power and strength. There is no such thing as an international conscience, it is pure might that decides the fate of nations. This is where winners write history and losers are mindless "Barbarians". This is where the powerful hide behind international laws and conventions when they want; and when they don't, these laws and conventions "do not apply."

Allama Dr. Muhammad Iqbal -- a great Urdu and Persian revolutionary poet once said:

"Taqdeer kay qazi ka yih fatwa hay azal say:
Hay jurm-i za'eefi ki saza marg-i mufaajaat"

"The justice of fate has eternally decreed:
Weakness is a crime punishable by death"

"Allahummansur ikhwaanana fi Filasteena wa Lubnan," cried the khateeb on jumu'ah... "Inna ha huna qaa'idoon," he should've added too.

Yeah, weakness is indeed a crime punishable by death. Go "Zayn al-Deen!" Defend your honor for us. Go Allah! Help our brothers and sisters. We're gonna chill!

Saudi Arabia: Part I

2006-07-13T01:13:00.000-07:00

As my short visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia begins to reach its end, I think it would be a good idea to collect my thoughts and feelings about this country. Why do I decide to do it now, whereas this is where I have literally grown up and where I have spent every summer for the past 10 years? But in this question lies the answer, that after living in the US – a country and culture most detached from Saudi Arabia itself – for two years, I am perhaps ready to give a somewhat unbiased perspective… an outsider’s perspective. This perspective, however, is built around what I have felt and seen, not necessarily around what I know for sure and what is based on facts. This is, of course, not to say that there is nothing factual about what I have to say, but rather that what I am going to be presenting is a layman’s analysis rather than being an expert’s study. This naturally implies that this “analysis” is going to have a lot of holes and imperfections.

First off, let’s get the niceties out of the way. I believe if you are a Muslim and you have any concern for your Islamic development and care enough to want an environment in accordance with Islam, this is mostly the place to be. Of course nothing guarantees a person’s journey on the straight path except the Will of Allah, but if you want to provide good means for it and put ample restrictions on straying from it, then rush to Saudi Arabia. I say this after having lived, and not just physically existed, but socially inhabited, three different Islamic societies and after having experienced several Islamic subcultures. If Pakistan’s middle-class to me represents an Islamic culture almost gone astray and the Muslim-America a culture clearly young, learning, and fighting for it’s survival amidst a sea of ignorance; then Saudi Arabia represents an Islamic culture, though flawed and defeated at many fronts, yet fighting for it’s integrity with enough energy to carry on with this fight for a while. In addition, the lifestyle is somewhat luxurious and relatively easy (plus there are no taxes as of yet), which makes it an ideal place for those who want to bring their children up in a positive manner while providing them with a sufficiently good quality of life. It is like meeting the world halfway while holding on to Islam. There are several catches of course that will be manifest as we discuss some finer points.

Let us delve deeper into this dissection and discuss some individual aspects of this society.

Economic and Political
With the throning of King Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz of the family of Saud, a new era of development and reform has commenced in the Kingdom. Cities are crowded with construction vehicles and laborers working at sites of construction. New commercial, residential, and industrial sectors are being built; not to mention the several city-sized projects that are being undertaken throughout the Kingdom. Investors from all over are pouring their money into commercial mega-projects. Interestingly enough, work is underway to provide postal service, hitherto limited to P.O. Boxes, to residential units. Projects are in planning to connect the Holy Cities and Jeddah through a railway line. Gasoline which was SR 0.90/litre ($0.90/gal) is now SR 0.60/litre ($0.60/gal), compared to a can of soda (355 ml) which is SR 1 apiece. This economic development has created a plethora of job opportunities in every field of work. Saudi Arabia has recently been inducted into the World Trade Organization, something that has opened doors for many labor reforms and initiatives in the right direction. Residence restrictions have been loosened and property ownership is being made possible. Overall the buying power of the individual has increased.

This should of course not paint a very rosy picture of the situation. These reforms, though revolutionary, are not necessarily changing the infrastructure of the country. Their specific moral and social implication will be discussed later, but economically, it might have widened the gap between economic classes. Another problem with development is that it has to be maintained and looked after, and Saudi authorities do not necessarily have a good record of maintenance (except in the case of the two Holy Mosques). Unless special attention is paid to it, this new life that has sprung will soon deteriorate under pressures of time and age. Furthermore, princes are still allowed monopoly over certain regions and sectors; an unhealthy trend that discourages local entrepreneurship in major business ventures.

Another serious issue is Saudiization which, though social in implications, is political in nature. The theory being that Saudi citizens deserve jobs in Saudi Arabia more than non-Saudis. The government has thus put a limit on the number of non-Saudi employees each organization can have. This policy wears a mask of sense over blatant nationalism and nepotism; for under it meritorious non-citizens are denied their own jobs in favor of less favorable citizens. It should be understood that this non-citizen has no right as of yet to live in Saudi Arabia unless his previous employer has nothing against it.
I don’t even want to start about Saudi bureaucracy. Everything in Saudi Arabia is done bukra insha’Allah: tomorrow, God-willing.

To be continued insha'Allah...

"An Ungendered State of Being": Part III

2006-04-23T01:17:00.000-07:00

...Continued from previous

Ok, I join the blogsphere once again. And let me start by finishing my series on hijāb.

Disclaimer: Most of this discussion is based not on my personal opinions, but rather is in line with the opinions of various scholars that have commented on this matter. My personal thoughts have mostly been used to put them into context.

Let us now turn to our final misconception: that hijāb has something to do with the hair and covering the hair somehow does the trick. To find out if this is the case or not, we have to look at the texts that propose, or rather legislate, hijāb for Muslim women.

In the Qur'ān, it is said (Khan and Hilali translation):

And tell the believing women to lower their gaze, and protect their private parts and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils all over their Juyūb (bodies; necks; bosoms; and in some interpretations, faces) and not to reveal their adornment except to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husband's fathers, or their sons, or their brother's sons, or their sister's sons, or their women, or the persons whom their right hands possess, or old male servants who lack vigor, or small children who have no sense of feminine sex. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And all of you beg Allāh to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful.
[al-Nūr – 24: 31].

Among other things, following points can be clearly derived from this āyah:

That hayā’ is the characteristic that is sought after in hijāb.
Hijāb is to hide adornment of a woman.
It is achieved by covering Juyūb (bodies; necks; bosoms; and in some interpretations, faces).
Further, this covering is achieved by an extension of veils all over the Juyūb.
There is no special one-to-one connection between hijāb and the hair.
This adornment can be revealed only to specific people listed in the āyah.
Even such actions as reveal the adornment are forbidden.

Furthermore, it is evident that this whole thing would be pointless if the beauty of a woman is ‘covered’ in a way that it is visible over their clothes. The truth of this statement is as clear as the sun. No male, unless they fall in the category of small children who have no sense of feminine sex, would have a hard time figuring out that there is more to a woman’s beauty than just her hair. If the hair is covered such that the rest of the outfit is tight enough to highlight all the – forgive me – cuts and curves of the body, than the hair might as well be let loose. This fact has been pointed in the following famous Hadīth of the Prophet (SAW) (indigenous translation):

Women that are dressed, yet naked: they attract (men), and are attracted (to them). They will not enter Jannah, nor will they find its smell: and its smell can be found at a distance of five hundred years (worth of traveling).
[al-Bukhārī]

One might still argue that covering the skin hides the adornment and should be enough. Luckily, the Prophet (SAW) addressed this reasoning too.

Asmā’ bint Abū Bakr (daughter of Sayyidnā Abū Bakr and Umm al-Mu’minīn `Ā’ishah’s half-sister), came to the Prophet (SAW) while her veil was woven out of a very thin cloth. The Prophet (SAW) was gravely displeased and he addressed Asmā’ saying (what amounted to) that when a girl reaches puberty, it is no longer lawful for her to reveal her figure. And then he had `Ā’ishah give her a thicker veil.

If the rationale of covering for the sake of covering does not extend to thin veils, than it definitely does not extend to tightly-fitted clothes.

Another angle that this issue can be looked at from, is that the āyah does not say, “cover their Juyūb,” rather it says, “draw their veils all over their Juyūb.” This makes a huge difference, because as anyone would be able to notice, if you draw a veil – a loose piece of cloth with little form – over your Juyūb, your body-figure and what attracts men is very much covered; whereas, other forms of clothing can be designed to reveal body-figures.

It is also important that we pay attention to the last of our points from this āyah. Women in the age of ignorance (before Islam) used to fashion a lot of ornaments and as they would walk in the streets, they would stomp their feet such that their ornaments would jingle and attract people. A modern equivalent of this might be – and I am speculating here – women wearing a lot of face make-up and fragrances that carry way beyond their bodies. It is even such practices that have been forbidden by this āyah. This is basically saying, “once you’ve covered yourselves in ways described above, do not come up with other ways to attract people.” Here, we can notice how far Islām goes to ensure induction of modesty and hayā into its followers.

In the light of the above discussion, I believe the minimum directions are clear and simple: Muslim women’s hair, bodies, necks, and bosoms are to be covered by an extension of their veils over the said parts. If only the hair is covered and the rest of the body is open to detailed study and interpretation by inquisitive eyes, then the purpose is not served and vice versa. And of course, once that has been done, avoid other such practices as might attract other men’s attentions.

Now once again I would like to repeat that I do understand that it is a great feat for Muslim sisters to even put on a scarf that covers their hair. I honor all of them and respect them for taking this step for the sake of Allāh (SWT). I also believe in progression and taking baby-steps one at a time. Yet I argue that if this end result is not clear in their minds, or if there is confusion about this complete hijāb being the final goal, then there is little to be achieved by covering of hair.

A corollary to this whole discussion resolves another misconception that exists about hijāb in the minds of many Muslims, which is concerned with the level of obligation that exists with respect to hijāb. Some think that it is something left to personal choice and does not form the basis of Islamic practice. Others feel that it is a suggested practice, and not necessarily something that Muslim women are required to do.

Yes, it is left to personal choice, in the same way that proclaiming shahādah is left to personal choice and praying five times a day is left to personal choice. Hijāb is one of the most basic tenets of the Islamic society and sits at the very core of its family system. It is a practice that has been made obligatory for all believing women by virtue of a direct command from Allāh (SWT); that they choose to follow it or not, it up to them. I would however, encourage that Muslim sisters and brothers, especially while raised and living in a society that has a different basis than an Islamic one, familiarize themselves with the Islamic theory of society and family; and its views on gender roles, etc so that their hearts are content and their minds are focused with their decisions to follow it.

And Allāh knows best.

Should there be any discrepancy in my references, I expect to be corrected.

Of Civilizations, al-Rahmān, and A Phone Number: The MAS/ICNA Convention 2005

2006-01-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

So I attended the Muslim American Society/Islamic Circle of North America National Convention 2005. On the whole, quite good alhamdulillah, but for me there were three highlights; well two highlights and a third... something that happened.

Anyway, first was an insightful lecture by Dr. Tariq al-Suwaidan on the dynamics of civilizations; a condensed version of his research and consequently a book on the same topic. It was one of the lectures that make you regret not being a notebook person -- if indeed you are not one. His findings made me quite happy as they were very much inline with my ideas on the culture of Islam, or rather my ideas were inline with his.

He started his speech by laying out the many laws that govern the rise and fall of civilization in light of his research. Laws that have been witnessed throughout the course of human history to hold true, laws that have been spelled out in the Glorious Qur'ān, and yet some others that he himself deduced from his study.

His main point was this: civilizations are not based on their apparent development and projects, but rather on their underlying principles and intellectual systems. The better the intellectual system, the more chances that civilization has of progressing. Moreover, a civilization is like an organism that can catch diseases and has an immune system to defend against them. The strength of a civilization's immune system is directly linked to the strength of its intellectual system and the civilization's connection with this intellectual system.

This might just pass as fairly obvious, but when one thinks about it, problems that arise from the oversight of this understanding can be seen all around us (as Dr. Tariq rightly pointed out). The Muslim civilization was not based on the Masjid al-Harām, or the Masjid al-Nabawī; it was not attached to the magnificence of Damascus and Baghdad, the minarets of Istanbul, or the beautiful architecture of Tāj Mahal and the Lāl Qil'ah; it was indeed built on the Qur'ān, the Sunnah, and the rightly guided understanding of both. When this connection was broken, the immune system was destroyed; the buildings stood and the cities remained, but the civilization vanished into encyclopedias. Now all we have is a diseased civilization with an amazing intellectual system, but no connection to it.

He also had a lot to say about modern western civilization is following a similar path, but let's not get into that.

My second highlight came in the middle of the entertainment session. Organizers usually try to garnish these sessions with some spiritual talks, which more than often are not really all that entertaining. Not only did they have a really good spiritual talk in the middle of this session, it actually made the whole thing worthwhile. Better still; the very gentle person who delivered this talk connected the whole entertainment business to Jannah and the joy that awaits the righteous therein. But it was a wonderful Hadīth he mentioned that blew me away. I had no idea about this.

The Hadīth goes as such (heavily paraphrased):

After everything and everyone has settled into the wonderful life of Jannah, enjoying it to the fullest, Allāh (SWT) will ask the people of Jannah if they are enjoying themselves. They will reply and say that it is unlike anything they've ever imagined and it is the best that they could have ever wished for.

Allāh will say, "I have something better," and He will order Sayyadnā Dāwūd (AS) to recite from earlier Scriptures, which he will and the people of Jannah will be spellbound. Then Allāh will ask them if they enjoyed it, and they will give a similar response saying that it is the best thing they have ever experienced.

Then Allāh (SWT) will say, "I have something even better," and He will order our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to recite Sūrat Yāsīn, which he will and the people of Jannah will be yet more affected by it. Allāh will ask them again if they enjoyed it, and they will give a similar response saying that it is better than anything they could have ever imagined or wished for.

Then Allāh (SWT) will say, "I have something much better," and then He will recite Sūrat al-Rahmān HIMSELF and the people of Jannah will just listen to it, mesmerized and captivated and it will be better than anything they could have ever imagined or wished for. Aw kamā qāl.

I don't know about anyone else, but I was completely blown away by this revelation. Seriously, I might want to go to Jannah just because of this (and of course, also because I don't want to go to Jahannam). Before this, my motivation was beholding the Face of Allāh (SWT), but now, it is watching Him recite from the Bride of His Last Revelation. Subhānallāh. In many ways will Allāh bless His righteous servants and bestow them with His Bounties and Mercy.

My third... well, a memorable event of the convention involved a sister that I was recently introduced to (let's call her sister a); another sister (sister x) whose identity was concealed from me by sister a; a brother attending the convention from Chicago (brother y); an attempted hookup between x and y by asking y for his parents' contact information; the person who retrieved this contact information, namely Mus'ab; a lot of embarrassment and awkwardness; and the brother whose information was actually retrieved, namely y-prime (sitting next to y). I don't wish to explain any of this.

Stephen Gaghan's Syriana: A Rarely Seen Mostly-Accurate Depiction of Reality

2006-01-05T21:03:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Warning: If you haven't seen this movie, then I suggest that you do so and then read this review if you have to. It might contain details from the story that might annoyingly reveal parts of the story.

I've gotten used to Hollywood movies made from the so-called Western point-of-view.
That was until I watched Syriana; and I have to admit it, I did not expect it to be this honest.

What I liked the most about it was of course the fact that it actually showed the United States of America as having clear interests in installing and supporting corrupt leaders in Middle Eastern and neighboring countries for the purpose of extending its empire.

It also transcended the simplistic people-hate-America-because-it-is-the-standard-bearer-of-freedom explanation and actually cared to investigate the socio-economic struggle that goes on behind the condemnable acts of terrorism, showing how deprived people are the ones that can be easily exploited to carry out these activities.

It also exposed the eccentricty of the rulers of such countries that clearly do not take heed from the situation and while possessing all powers, choose not to correct it. However, it also showed how other powers move to annihilate anyone who might wish to improve the situation for their people against their wishes.

I wish for two things to happen from "Syriana," and I know that two opposite things will happen.

One, I wish Muslim rulers, leaders, and public would watch this movie and derive the right lessons from it; while I know that even if they do watch it, they'll slip back into their luxurious lives, petty problems, and silent slumbers.

Second, I wish the American people would watch this movie and understand the true reality of the horrific situation: that it is not just a simple matter of people hating America, things actually happen that make people hate America, and killing them will only increase the problem, let alone solve it. That they should actually move to persuade their elected officials to consider the human situation in these countries more seriously and act accordingly. That by pursuing military actions, they are only providing fuel to the cause of the people who act against innocent civilians. That by making an argument of patriotism, they're allowing the other side to make a similar argument. And that it is time for a serious discussion and dialogue.

But I am almost certain that this will not happen. The movie will make more impact because of its thrill and action. The missile deployment will gain more attention than the fact that it killed someone to make way for oil corporations. The death of a CIA agent (who incidently killed people too) will pull more tears than the self-destruction of a troubled youth.

But then, it was his own fault: Why was he not born in the USA?

Oh and by the way, the whole thing had nothing to do with Syria. I don't know where the name came from. I guess it just sounds cool.

And did I mention that I believe in political action and condemn terrorism in any shape or form? Because I do.

"An Ungendered State of Being": Part II

2006-01-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

...Continued from previous

This might be a bit harsh. I personally might have been in violation of many of these, but this is more to help me than anyone else.

Let us now turn to the more lengthy part of our discussion: the question of hijāb for women themselves. Is hijāb the name given to a piece of clothing? I don't believe so.

Just as salāh is not a mere sequence of movements, hijāb is not a mere piece of clothing. Just as the salāh of a person should transcend the apparent movements and enter a person's heart, in the same way, hijāb should exceed the piece of cloth and enter a person's heart and manifest itself in their actions. It is an attitude that is hijāb, not a mere scarf.

Often times while observing hijāb, many people tend to forget its purpose: which is to bring out their hayā. To the obvious result that their heads are covered by scarves, but their actions are as bare as their hands. They flirt, play, and tease; they attract men and are attracted to them (haphazardly): hijābs remain as fashion statements, in reality they're wearing mini-skirts and worse.

Allāh (SWT) expects certain qualities from each of us. And glory be to Him, not only has He specified which ones, but has also created amazing mechanisms to help us develop them. These mechanisms definitely work, as long as we do not lose sight of the ultimate purpose behind them. Moreover, He has made both the end and the means obligatory on us such that the means is not useful if it does not achieve the end, and the end is not acceptable if it is not achieved through the means specified.

Taking the example of salāh again, it is a means to show His ultimate obedience (among many other things). As much as a person would like to express his obedience to Allāh, it would not be complete without salāh; and as much as a person would observe salāh, it would be a waste if the person is not obedient to Allāh otherwise.

Among these expected qualities is hayā or hijāb; and the mechanism for having us develop it has been placed by Allāh in the severe punishment for fornication, the command to protect one's gaze and body from it, and for women, in addition to that: the covering of body.

Covering of body, thus, is a mere restrain if hayā is not developed through it, and hayā is a mere good quality (that might not necessarily stop other diseased people from being attracted) if bodies are not covered in accordance with the Will of the Almighty. You would have definitely come across women that observe hijāb and yet display the worst characteristics of un-hijābiness (forgive me for making up that word); and many others that are without it and yet display the best manners of hayā. And don't get me wrong, I am neither shunning the first type, nor praising the second; I am merely pointing out the fact that the scarf in itself is not the complete hijāb. Just as a person with good hayā cannot get away without putting on the outwardly hijāb, in a similar manner a person who observes apparent hijāb has no excuse for not developing good hayā to back it up.

Let's see what the Qur'ān has to say about this:

O wives of the Prophet! You are not like any other women. If you keep your duty (to Allāh), then be not soft in speech, lest he in whose heart has a disease should be moved with desire, but speak in an honorable manner. And stay in your houses, and do not display yourselves like that of the times of ignorance, and perform Salāt, and give Zakāt and obey Allāh and His Messenger. Allāh wishes only to remove evil deeds (and sins) from you, O members of the family (of the Prophet), and to purify you with a thorough purification.
[al-Ahzāb - 33: 32-33].

Let not the simplicity of the opening address to the wives of the Prophet (SAW) distract us. It is just like saying, "Ahmad, you're not like any other kid, you should respect your elders." Which of the believing women would not like to take the Ummahāt al-Mu'mininīn (mothers of the believers: wives of the Prophet) as their role-models, especially in commands that Allāh (SWT) has given them with a guarantee for purification? Also, let not the command for staying indoors detract us from our discussion, for provisions have been made in Ahādith and Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW) that we must already be aware of.

The āyah asks women not to talk to men in manners that are enticing and seducing; but in manners that are graceful and dignified. And not to display themselves, when they are outdoors for business, in manners that are enticing and seducing to men around them. And this is so that they be pure through the Divine process of purification. That is the model of hayā that we ought to follow: pure action complementing pure appearance giving rise to pure hayā, and eventually a pure culture.

To be continued insha'Allah...

"An Ungendered State of Being": Part I

2005-12-04T11:48:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: The phrase, "an ungendered state of being," has been borrowed from Taqee Khalid without permission.

Hijāb, as an Islamic concept, is perhaps the most used, and being that, the most misunderstood of all. Several misconceptions have found roots in the current Muslim society (I am talking more specifically about the American Muslim society) and its practice. More important of them being that Hijāb is only prescribed for women; that it is the name given to a piece of cloth; and that it has something to do with the hair.

Before I start off, I would like to say that I truly and deeply respect and honor all my sisters in Islam, who against all societal odds, put on this piece of clothing in accordance with the command of Allāh (Subhānahū Wa Ta’ālā). This alone, I strongly believe, is a complete struggle, or Jihād. I also understand that many sisters are still trying to perfect their hijāb, and in no way do I intend to undermine their efforts. Moreover, I perfectly am aware of my shortcomings in this area and hope that this acts more as a reminder to myself than to anyone else.

Hijāb, as the term is used nowadays, refers to the piece of clothing used by women to cover themselves up according to the commands of Allāh (SWT). I would like to argue here, that this hijāb is just a practical implementation of the Islamic quality of hayā, best described as shyness. The Apostle (Sallallāhu ‘Alayhi Wasallam) of Allāh (SWT) placed great importance on it when he described it as being a part from the 70 parts of Imān. Thus, when we talk about hijāb here, not only do we talk about this particular implementation of it, but the concept of hayā on the whole. I am, therefore, going to use these two terms interchangeably.

Having that said, let’s take dissect these misconceptions one by one.

Women do not have a monopoly over hayā, although it is one of the things that they are better at. It is as equally required of men as it is of women, just the means differ and the apparent results vary. It is said in the Glorious Qur’ān:

Tell the believing men to lower their gaze, and protect their private parts. That is purer for them. Verily, Allāh is All-Aware of what they do.
[al-Nur - 24: 30].

Thus the hijāb for men is simple: protect your eyes from seeing evil and protect your body from committing it. The Rasūlallāh (SAW) was the person with the most hayā amongst the people, and so were his companions after him. The emphasis that has been placed on this quality can by no means be overstressed. The narrations regarding this issue are countless and well-known, and therefore I am not going to go into a lot of detail about it.

To be continued insha'Allah...

The Culture of Islam

2005-12-02T00:16:00.000-08:00

Such an interesting idea: a set of values and limits acting as an umbrella for many cultures that can subscribe to it and be part of it, allowing all these cultures to be bonded together under the principles of Islam and yet be unique in their own ways. The model that a Muslim is supposed to follow is: his/her connection to his local culture through the global culture of Islam so that if the local culture starts losing its connection with the global one, the individual is supposed to either fix it or break ties with it.

Islam does not suppress culture, it only put limits to it, for cultures are born out of human experiences and Islam is the divine wisdom that channels these experiences so that they don't waste their time destroying themselves in experimentation. Allah (SWT) says:

وَعَلَى اللَّهِ قَصْدُ السَّبِيلِ وَمِنْهَا جَآئِرٌ وَلَوْ شَآءَ لَهَدَاكُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ

And it is up to Allah to show the right way. But there are ways that stray. And had He willed, He would have guided you all.
[al-Nahl 16:9].

It is interesting to see how Muslims have this guidance, while people are still experimenting with their cultures.

Look at the financial systems. They cure feudalism, capitalism is created. They try to fix capitalism, communism is born. They try to put an end to communism, and end up getting stuck with capitalism again. It is an endless cycle of bad experimentation.

Look at gender relation models. They grant freedom to consenting adults, they're stuck with unwanted babies, teenage pregnancies, STD's, and all sorts of things. They create a bunch of preventive measures, and contraceptive devices; end up destroying their family systems. Way off the mark every time.

What are the Muslims doing? They're watching all these experiments fail, and repeating them just to be sure (or at least wanting to repeat). What's more, they claim to be holding on to the directions to a path that is guaranteed to be straight.

Here's how many Muslims seem to work, whether they like to acknowledge it or not:

I don't care if this book here likens it to declaring war on Allah and His Messenger, but why can we not have an interest-based economy?
Or...
I think it would be really cool if women could show-off their adornments and physical characteristics although they have been clearly asked not to in the Qur'an.
Or...
I am going to have a girlfriend/boyfriend although I know that Allah has put very tight limits around fornication.
Or...
What's the deal with this book anyway telling me what to do and what not to do?
Or...
At least I am definitely not following Hadith because I don't like they way it sounds.

Why do we have to do what we've seen other people fail at? The Prophet (SAW) said, and I paraphrase here, that a time will come when you will do everything that the nations before you did, to the extent that if they entered a lizard-hole, you will enter it too.

We have definitely entered a lot of lizard-holes. And one of them is of cultures -- such as are supposed to subscribe to the Islamic culture -- exceeding their bounds. Muslims have over time started loosing their direct connection with the global culture of Islam and giving more importance to their local cultures, such that a person from a certain culture will, in the good name of culture, engage in activities that are totally unacceptable by the culture of Islam. In doing so, they will have practically given preference to their place of birth or descent over their Creator and His commands.

In light of the above discussion, I think there is very little benefit that can be extracted from Muslim regional or ethnic cultural organizations. I have very specific reasons for saying this. I will just point this out: In a way of life that prohibits women from showing off their physical attributes and adornments in front of non-Mahaarim (a strictly defined subset of close relatives), I see no room for a fashion show involving women showing off their beauty and fashion in front of an open audience; In a religion that asks women to talk to strangers in a business-like manner, there is little appreciation for women singing to a body composed mainly of strangers.

We have chosen Islam, or at least we should have, because we do not wish to enter these lizard-holes. We have chosen it for its superior values and culture. We have chosen it because it is guaranteed to be the right Path and the gateway to Guidance. We have chosen it so that we do not have to engage in the endless cycle of experimentation. Why make it useless? We should prefer the culture of Islam over all cultures that we may subscribe to and not vice versa.

Living with the Living Qur’ān

2005-11-27T23:11:00.000-08:00

Since I do not have time nor anything in particular to post right now, I decided to keep myself entertained. This is a paper that I wrote for my English Comp class.

My parents had a wish: to have a Hāfidh (alternatively spelled Hāfiz) in the family, one of the preservers of the Holy Book of Qur’ān. And I, being the eldest at seven, was the one chosen to realize it, a choice that was to fundamentally shape the style of my life.

Ever since its revelation started more than fourteen centuries ago, countless number of people, children and adults, both male and female, have engaged in the process of Tahfīdh, or preservation, to preserve the Holy Book of Islam in exactly the same manner in which it was revealed. Making sure that even if all the written copies of the Book are somehow extinct, hundreds and thousands of Huffādh (plural of Hāfidh), or preservers, will be ready to dictate it in its entirety and exactness from their memory.

At roughly 600 pages of Arabic text and 1.6 billion potential readers (every Muslim being a potential reader), Qur’ān can rightly be claimed to be the most published and read book in the world. The content is divided into 114 chapters of different lengths, each of which is called a Sūrah. Every Sūrah is in turn divided into a collection of verses, or Āyahs. Apart from the Sūrah division, to make reading and estimation simpler, the Book has 30 volumes of almost equal lengths, each being called a Juz. That might give an idea of what I was looking at: I was to memorize a book of that volume by heart and in a language that I was completely unfamiliar with – a phenomenal undertaking to me, but just an exciting trip to a seven-year old mind.

The trip started as I was sent to a special school meant for Qur’ānic learning. This school was located in a small building, with separate classrooms for students at different stages of the memorization process. The teacher and pupils, mostly young boys, sat on the floor behind short desks set in a rectangular or circular order, moving back and forth in rhythm as they recited from the rhyming Āyahs of the Holy Qur’ān.

Now, Arabic is a difficult language to pronounce, and the verses of Qur’ān are to be pronounced exactly in the fashion of the native Arabs. Arabic not being my native language, nor being in the list of languages that I knew (then, a short list at one item), the first step was to learn reading fluently and master the art of pronouncing Arabic words. This is traditionally managed by a guide book called the Qā’idah (literally, base), and does not include understanding the language itself. By going through the Qā’idah with my teacher, which in itself took quite a lot of time, I finally could read and pronounce Arabic words in the best way, and could thus be proceeded to the actual task: that of memorizing the actual Book. I can still recall the excitement that it promised. After having spent much time watching others take lessons from the Holy Book, and not being quite able to do so, the desire for it was as real as that of a child who longs to grow up in a flash. What the child does not understand, is the responsibility that essentially follows knowledge and authority.

Memorizing the Book was, needless to say, a tedious job, and at any rate, not a short one either. Due to this demanding nature, the school administration required us to attend classes from morning to night. We used to have lessons to memorize each day, the length of which started off with short passages, but increased as we advanced further. As a typical day would kick off, we would have a test of the lesson from yesterday, a revision of parts we have memorized so far, and finally a reading of the lesson for the next day. There were essentially breaks for prayers, meals, naps and games – which were a relief – but most of our time was reserved for the process of memorization and revision. As we would get back home tired and exhausted, happy to be with our families once again, our minds would still be on getting up early for the next day and preparing for the next lesson. A sense of responsibility started to grow, preparing us, unconsciously perhaps, for a greater one that was to come.

Any account of an educational process is incomplete without a mention of its educators. The very sensitive and arduous nature of the memorization process required our teachers to be quite strict – which of course we failed to realize at that point – and sometimes even to adopt traditional punishment techniques such as requiring a student to stand as he recited. But as a rule, they were nice and respectable people, highly learned themselves in the art of Qur’ānic recitation and memorization.

And so it went on for more than 2 years: lesson, revision, lesson again, and occasional punishments, until I finally was a Hāfidh: I had memorized the Holy Book of Qur’ān completely by heart, making my parents and family proud, but that was not the end of it. For me, Tahfīz has greatly shaped my life and what I am to be. It is now as important a part of me as is my brain. Wherever I go and introduce myself accordingly, I am received with awe. Most of my Muslim fellows hold me in high regards because of it. Though a privilege and an accomplishment it may seem, I have discovered that it in fact is a great responsibility. I am expected to possess more religious knowledge and practice than the people around me. As a Hāfidh, I am to live up to the standards of the Muslim community. I have to be more careful with my actions, because if any of my actions goes against the principles of Islam, my being a Hāfidh is considered a reason enough for me to have refrained from it. And most important of all, I am to repeat what I have memorized over and over again, lest I might lose it – for a person who forgets the Āyahs of the Qur’ān after knowing them, will be resurrected blind on the Day of Judgment. I do not consider it an accomplishment either. Instead, I attribute it all to the Grace of Allāh, my Creator and Sustainer, who made such a seemingly impossible a task, possible for me and many others, and still is making it possible.

This tradition of Tahfīz is one of the factors that have kept the Holy Book of Qur’ān alive and preserved in the exact form as it was four hundred and a thousand years ago. Not a single person in the world can claim otherwise, or he’ll have countless Huffādh and a similar number of matching copies of the Book from all over the world, along with the original manuscripts dating back to as early as a year after the Prophet (May Peace and Blessings of Allāh be upon him) himself, and yet accompanied by a complete history of the preservation process to counter their claim. It is a specialty indeed, a unique phenomenon. For that is what it is meant to be, Qur’ān: a Book to be read over and over again, forever to come, and after it.