Ighsaan Taliep – Life & Legacy of Moulana Ihsaan Hendricks
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AI: Transcript ©
Walu,
honored, respected
imamt with awaline
administrators, beloved elders, brothers, mothers and fathers,
brothers and sisters, respected children. Asmaa dullahi,
wabarakatuh, Abu indeed a privilege and an honor to
have received the invitation, which I very readily accepted, to
address our gathering here today. It's
an honor to be in mashal goods always, but it's a double honor to
always be talking then and Inshallah, we hope to be able to
reflect continuously
on a life that was that was well lived, a life of a good friend,
a life of a great leader,
life of a family man,
the life of a person whom I am sure, as I've reflected on some of
the experiences with Moline Ihsan Hendrix, there's lots and lots to
be learnt. And so indeed,
he has left for us the kind of Ibara legacy that all the most
high in the Holy Quran,
really,
as one of the major themes of the Holy Quran
relates to us
the narratives
of nations that have gone before, but also The narratives of some
important and leading men and personalities
in history and ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala very clearly indicates that
in there, there are rebar, there are lessons to be learned, and so
too, when we reflect on A personality like Maulana Hendrix,
who meant lots of things to many different people,
and surely
as Allah sunnah in the Holy Quran is that lives are worthy of being
reflected on,
and that lives that have been well lived
are more worthy of being reflected on.
And so when we talk about Malay Hassan as a scholar,
he's an Alim of the Islamic tradition.
And for me, personally, and to many of our friends and
colleagues,
it's this aspect of his life that is more natural to us to look at
and so
when we look at tradition,
then tradition may have sometimes positive connotation and sometimes
negative connotation.
We seemingly try linguistically to differentiate between the two
connotations. And we speak about
being a traditionist and being a traditional list.
And so being traditionist
is then being referenced as being the living traditions of the dead,
that people who have lived on this earth, whose traditions have been
worthy of emulating, and those traditions carry on living.
And then we have traditionalism,
where you have the traditions, which are the dead traditions of
the living.
And that is that we mindlessly pursue certain traditions whose
value and usefulness have long expired,
and they belong in the graves of the people who used to live them,
and so in our beloved Nabi Muhammad, sallAllahu, alayhi wa
sallam. This is in a very famous Hadith
Allah ulamatul.
Well, ambiya Lam, you worry to Dirham and wala dinaran wa ina ma
warra to Alma.
How come I call a sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that the scholars
and here Malani as.
Will concur with me that in the general part of the balance and
the vocabulary of our deen, when the word ulama occurs,
then the word is intended to be, in its most general sense, Allah
ulama.
We who are here in this space today and in the one that Mullah
and Ihsan have been, we are a category from among the ulema,
ulema of Deen.
But the balance of the Holy Quran
is far more broad than that.
It's not exclusive in its applications, and that knowledge
is celebrated in the deen of Islam.
So the scholars are the inheritors of the prophets,
but the prophets do not bequeath money in the form of dinars and
dirhams. What they do bequeath is knowledge.
This is a very central reflection point for me on Malini Hassan
Hendrix. For indeed,
Malini st Hendrix
was an Islamic scholar in the true sense of the word.
Was an Alim in the true sense of the word.
He was also an Imam,
a religious leader
in the true sense of the word.
And so when we reflect on his role that he performed and that he
played, that he had played,
we link it to this text of the Prophet saw him, and we link it to
ayat of the Holy Quran in which the role of prophets are being
explained.
And these are in numerous ayat, but of those, Allah, subhanho wa
Taala says,
Man Allah, who are all meaning if barata, fee, rossoulan mean ampu
sahim,
yet Lua, Ali him a Yeti, he
will use a key him while you Ali Muhammad will hekma. When can you
mean Kabul? If you do Ali Mubin, and
so Allah subhana wa Taala illustrates here
the overall
project and agenda of prophets.
And the overall agenda of and the role of prophets is one of
community development and transformation.
And so Allah subhana wa Taala speaks of how the role of the
prophets as Allah had blessed the believers that he had sent and
commissioned among them a messenger from themselves.
He rehearses unto them the signs of Allah and our ulama are at
pains
to demonstrate and to make the point that ayat here are of two
kinds,
and these are ayat which are quraniyah and ayat which are
koniya,
ayat which comes from the book of Revelation,
which is the verses of the Holy Quran that must be reflected on,
that is to be contemplated and that is to be the source of
edification and elevation of thought,
the verses Al qurania and then
the Ayat al qurniya is from the book of creation,
which the Quran is then also alluded to as being, when
reference is perpetually and consistently To the creation of
Allah for reflection and for it to be used as the basis of
contemplation, in order also to live with the man Yat Lu alayhim
ayati. And again, this reinforces the notion that knowledge, in all
its facets, in its broadest conceptualization, is what is
advanced and advocated
as being noble and ennobling.
Us a key him Ali, him a Yeti. He was a key him. And that the works
of Prophet in this transformative process is to bring transformation
of the spiritual kind, transformation of the innate human
nature,
transformation of tazkiya, the purification of the soul and
that, all of that becomes the basis for.
Real transformation within society and community. And then also wa
YALI Muhammad kitabah, and he teaches them the book. Look where
Allah Tala brings in
the book, teaches them the book. And this is important, as Allah
always brings it, not just this book, not just this book, which is
the Holy Quran, which is the Alpha and the Omega of our entire lives,
wal hakmah, and also
wisdom, wisdom,
it is too much
to be ignored that in the times in which we live that knowledge can
abound and information can abound, but wisdom is
too much in short and scarce supply,
and so the wisdom of the Holy Quran is referenced to the living
example the sunnah of our beloved Nabi Muhammad, sallAllahu, alayhi
wa sallam, and so Malina Hendrix's role as a for me,
is quintessentially
reflective of these characteristics of a leader. So
these are the dimensions of social development, community development
and transformation, and in addition to that, finally, one of
the very, very important roles of
a leader, religious leader. But we can understand leaders in general,
leaders in all spheres, in all facets of life which shape the
agenda from that of the prophets. That is when Allah subhanho wa
Taala says in Surah Al hadidah, Bill Bay in earthen leakum And
NASA
Bill kissed and such it is that we have sent messengers after
messengers after messengers to this earth
with clear evidences. And in addition to that, they have been
provided with the book and with the Mizan.
Here again, Allah's reference to the fact that this book is
accompanied by a criterion, this criterion of balance,
this balance of Mizan in other parts of the Quran, of wasatia,
of middlemostness,
because this is what Christ or Adela or justice is all about, is
being about what that which is balanced. That is why, when the
word balance, or even the
symbol of balance is reflective of justice. And so those three areas,
for me, are very, very quintessentially central to the
methodology of leadership that Moline Ersan Hendrix has reflected
for us, or has bequeathed for us to reflect on.
And so the notion of knowledge, therefore,
what
for me, has shown is that he has undergone many travels, has
traversed different and we've heard about all of this many ways.
But the one thing after his formal journeys,
he has never stopped.
He never ever stopped to learn
he was a perpetual alim,
because in Islam, we have a aphorism
that says mankala, an alim,
fahu wa jahil, that a person who says that I have now arrived in
him, and I now don't need to learn anymore.
He is an ignoramus.
This is an aphorism in our tradition.
And so he was a perpetual he was a voracious reader, ardent reader.
He would never, ever be at a point in his life where he's not reading
a book.
And so that, for me, is the essence of what an island is an
island.
Because if you're not doing it, even though you don't say it, but
you're doing it,
then you're acting as if you know all,
and therefore the greatest of his qualities is the qualities of an
Alim which I've seen in him is that of tawadur, humility,
humbleness.
And despite his own voracious endeavors of continuously
increasing his knowledge as an alim, he would always almost all.
Is prefer others to go forward in front of himself,
unless there's times when he needed to say something which
needed to be said, then he will do it himself.
But that tawador
is what again, we cannot omit these issues for reflective
purposes of learning is too much in short supply.
This humility, this tawadur, which brings us to the other quality
that an Ali must have, this tawadur and this humility, Which
Imam Shafi in Abu Hanifa Lim would say, you know, I know my opinion
is the right opinion, but there's a possibility that I may be wrong,
and I know that this person who opposes me, his opinion is wrong,
but there's a chance he may be right.
And so this brings us to the kind of value that Mulana espoused in
us as an alim, which are really reflected on and really became to
appreciate anew, and that is the sense of tolerance of the views of
others, sense of tolerance of the views of others. And this is such
a central such you cannot claim to be an Alim of the Islamic
tradition if you do not have these virtues.
And so molinev sanchendics career, in terms of knowledge, is one
which you have heard of. But perhaps what I would like to in
addition to his
continuation and those values. He was so
linked internationally, globally with leading scholars, that the
exposure made him even more humble.
The exposure allowed him to see things that the average Alim like
myself and many others would not be able to see because of the
vantage point that Allah has gifted him and granted him, and so
therefore many of his studies
would be ones where we are looking and listening to the cutting edge
of discourses among all
I remember back in 2009
when we were having a program about Muslim political
participation in the South African democracy. And Monaro is bringing
out the cutting edge of discourses of among the Ulema in terms of the
role of Muslim minorities. How do we interact in a context like
ours, the role of the relation between Muslims and government,
etc, etc. And then all of you, or many of you, must have heard, and
this is even a far more fresh development of fiqh, where the
fiqh of minorities, and it was then further developed into the
fiqh of moatana citizenship and monana became so, became so
fascinated, but also ardently passionate to empower around the
understanding of what it means to be a citizen in a country. And so
these are some of the issues, I think, for us as ulama and for us
as scholars, that that really brings the point home, is that
you can never stop learning,
and as in many professions where you have upgrading of courses,
upgrading of skills and qualifications, this is what
should be happening among ulama,
and then this community development dimension. For me, I
would like to perhaps also just the
development of community, the agenda setting of the prophets of
Allah subhanahu wa
for me, I would like to reflect on he was an imam as a religious
leader in Worcester. He then went to belhar. He then went to mashul
Owen. One thing he said to me, Sheik,
I believe it's not healthy for an imam to stay in a position for
more than five years
so that he can forever refresh, and that the leadership can be
fresh, and so that when you carry on, you go to another context, and
now you're being challenged again.
And for me, when Moline Ehsan was I did lots of things in the other
context as well, but when he was at Masjid Al ower, the one thing
that really struck me was his deep thought that he embarked on on the
life with Tong guru. Remember, he was the successor of Tong guru as
an imam of Al Masjid Al ower.
And it really.
Really, it really struck me how reflective Mawlana had become on
the life of tungur. And this is something which I think all of us
must learn from, and especially religious leaders, but leaders in
every sphere that really, for me, the strength of leadership was
also galvanized and supported by strength of self identity.
And when you look at how Tong Yusuf on gurumav, you know, built
the Masjid Al O in 1794
and then attached to that the building of the madrasa, and then
building the structures of society, the history around that
is fascinating, of how after the abolition, or during the time
around the time of the abolition of slavery, Muslim or people who
then flocked into trends of urbanization become so attracted
to these structures within the Muslim community. It is said that
number one
to anguru, it had set up a structure of a fund for the
liberation and the emancipation of slaves.
Number two, this is one reverend. His name is Reverend. Someone
Lightfoot is his surname. He was an Anglican in charge as a as a
reverend of Muslim Commissioner that was to make Dawa the Muslims.
And he says, In the 1900s it became clear that many of the
black tribes, people from the black tribes, converted to Islam.
This is in the 1900s the beginning of the 1900 converted to Islam.
And that the saying in the Dutch among the Dutch at the Cape, the
saying among the Dutch at the Cape was that the Church of the slums,
this is how they wrote it. The carat van D slums is the character
of the zwartman.
He says that the reason for this, according to him, is because, as a
result of the openness with which the Muslim community conducted its
affairs.
Now look at those lessons for us today when you think about the
isolationist attitudes that we have of inward looking on the
contrary, Islam, at that time flourished. He speaks about the
stats and the proliferation, and at times, during periods, short
periods, where the numbers of Muslims doubled in those periods.
And so that, for me, Malik San Hendrix's own, you know, real
vociferous
advocacy against racism, with his own
narrative and story about his heritage and the pride with which
he expressed himself to be, to be of the Son And the koi of a ethnic
origination, and that that was a source of pride, and that that was
a source of manifestation of the greatness of Allah subhana wa
Taala is creation of diversity among human beings. So that, for
me, was just profound, and I think that those historical lessons are
important for us. And lastly, I think the social justice activism
which ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala refers to the work of prophets in
the in the in the context of Kiss and adalah and all of that, I
don't think many of us will disagree that the Muslim ummah has
lost an icon, not just locally, but internationally, and I'm not
only talking about the Palestinian cause, but the Palestinian cause
is the most prominent one that comes to mind, but Wallahi of our
interaction with ulama globally, we have lost an icon in the Muslim
community who is a pioneer, as well as a fervent advocate of
social justice, particularly on human rights issues, and as it
relates to the question of Palestine, during this hour of
ijab,
we pray that Allah subhana wa Taala welcome our colleague and
friend with Allah Taala infinite mercies of forgiveness, and that
Allah allow that such a rich life
be preserved for continuous reflection for us as posterity,
especially during these times when there's lots of confusion, and we
pray that Allah AJ elevate his rank and status in Jannah.