Jeffrey Lang – Pillars of Islam The Spiritual Dimensions
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Here I am.
In the book,
I'm trying to take a new angle or
at least what I perceive to be a
new angle in discussing the
5 pillars of Islam.
When I was studying Islam,
as a non Muslim,
and I came across
books that dealt with this subject,
I inevitably found that it was covered in
a very dry and sort of mechanical fashion.
The pillars were described
in detail as far as how to perform
them.
Several hadith
about their merits were quoted
and that was the extent of it.
And
as a non Muslim, as an atheist, as
a matter of fact,
considering this religion,
out of curiosity mostly,
I found that this subject was perhaps
one of the least inspiring
as it's often
covered in texts on Islam,
was inevitably the least inspiring
chapter.
The reason being because,
as an American,
when I think thought of faith back in
those days, I thought of the spiritual side
of faith. To me, as an American,
faith
meant something
spiritual.
So when I came upon the Islamic rituals
I explai
I expected
to find something deeply spiritual and profound.
And, inevitably, I found it to be very
dry
and matter of fact.
And I was greatly disappointed.
So
today, I would like you to sit there
for a while and think about how you
would take a fellow like me back in
those days and how you would
explain to him
your experience of the pillars of Islam.
What do they mean to you? What do
they do for you?
What do you get out of them?
What
do you accomplish by doing them?
And remember that you're talking to somebody that
didn't didn't grow up in your tradition.
So even though I know this subject that
I'm about to discuss is well known to
all of you, I want this to be
an exercise for all of us.
An exercise in trying to communicate
one of the most important elements of our
religion
to those who are not of our religion.
This is my own my own attempt
and
I hope you will formulate your own. Because
when you do
communicate
your belief, your faith,
experience to non Muslims,
You do have to do it, I believe,
in a way that's personal.
So that they that is what will move
them. Them. That will that will be what
will make them appreciate your faith experience.
So, in other words, I don't want you
to mimic what I'm saying here today. I
want you to internalize these questions yourself
and hopefully
and to communicate
that personal experience of faith to others.
It's important to remember that when when I'm
about to give this lecture that I was
a atheist for many many years. From the
time I was about 16 to the time
I was 28.
Because that'll help you to understand
the first story I'm gonna begin with this
lecture with.
Because when you're an atheist, you reject God
outright.
And when you do such a thing, you're
committing a grave
and dangerous wrong.
Grave and dangerous because you are harming yourself,
your soul, your person
in very profound ways.
And when
you convert to Islam,
there's a lot of repair work to do.
Because you've done such damage to yourself.
You've built up so much pride,
so much vanity,
so many
harmful qualities that it's going to take some
time to break them down and to build
all over again and to construct your character.
The account I'm about to begin this story
with is not flattering to me.
It's actually very embarrassing.
And I have a difficult time sharing it
with you because it doesn't put me in
a very good light.
But I do think it says something about
the mercy and the glory and the grandeur
of God, of Allah, the Almighty and the
Merciful.
And for that reason, I share it with
you.
Before I begin it, I would that story,
I would just like to tell you something,
a quote that, Imam of the Masjid in
San Francisco once said to me when I
asked him about his experience of prayer,
he said, and when we pray
and put our nose to the ground,
we feel a joy,
a rest,
a strength
that is outside this world
and no words could ever
truly describe.
You just have to experience it to know.
Of all the words I ever heard in
my life, those words were the words that
unlocked
the key in my soul that got me
to the stage where I was ready to
become a Muslim.
On the day I converted to Islam,
the Imam of the student Masjid gave me
a manual
on how to perform salat,
the Islamic prayer rituals.
Take it easy,
the Muslim students told me. Don't push yourself
too hard.
It's better to take your time.
You know,
slowly, slowly.
First time I heard that expression,
slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly.
I'd hear it a lot after that.
I was
dumbfounded. I was surprised by their concern.
How hard could it be to pray? I
wondered.
When I was, back in my childhood, I
prayed all the time. It didn't seem pretty
effortless effortless.
In any case, that same night,
I decided to ignore their advice,
which I typically do, and I decided to
start performing the 5 prayers at their appointed
scheduled times.
So I sat for a long time on
my couch in the small, dimly lit living
room of my Diamond Heights apartment in San
Francisco,
studying and rehearsing
the prayer postures.
I also studied and rehearsed the verses of
the Quran that I needed to recite
and the supplications that I would have to
make.
Now much of what I had to say
would be in Arabic. So I had not
only to memorize the meaning but I had
to memorize the Arabic transliterations
and their interpretations that the manual provided.
So I poured over this manual for a
couple of hours at least, maybe 3 and
even 4, before I felt confident enough to
attempt
my first Islamic prayer.
And it was close to midnight,
so I decided to perform the Daisha prayer.
Well, I walked into the bathroom
where the vanity is,
placed the manual on the sink counter,
and with it open to the section that
described how to perform,
the washing for the prayer,
I opened it up and I started to
follow the instructions very meticulously.
I was like a cook trying a recipe
for the first time. I was sort of
following the instructions and looking over here and
doing this and they gave pictures.
When I was done, I shut off the
faucet and returned to my living room.
And with water still dripping from various parts
of my body,
for the instructions stated that it's preferable not
to dry oneself with a towel,
after who washed for the prayer, I stood
there dripping
and trying to find the approximate the right
direction.
So I stood in the center of the
room,
aimed myself in the direction of what I
hoped was Mecca,
although I'd never been there before.
I glanced back over my shoulder then to
make sure that the apartment door was secured
and locked.
As frankly, I was a little bit embarrassed
and nervous. I didn't want any neighbors passing
by or knocking on the door, pushing it
open and saying, what's Jeff doing
that?
Turned around, looked at the door, it was
locked, it was bolted, checked again just the
second time, making sure again, definitely, it was
locked and bolted.
And then I looked straight ahead,
straightened my stance,
took a very deep breath,
raised my hands to the side of my
face with my palms open and my thumbs
touching my earlobes,
and then in a very hushed voice
I pronounce,
Allahu Akbar.
And I hoped no one heard me.
I felt a little bit anxious, a little
bit embarrassed,
even a little bit humiliated.
I couldn't re rid myself of the feeling
that someone was out there somewhere spying on.
Me. Then I suddenly realized,
and I was seized with panic,
that I had left the curtains to my
living room open.
What if a neighbor should look in and
see me? I thought.
I stopped what I was doing,
went to the window,
flashed the light outside,
looked around the backyard,
thank God I was empty.
Okay. So I drew the curtains carefully to
a close,
made sure that they overlap so nobody could
perceive peek through any crack.
Turned to my position
in the middle of the room.
Once again, approximated the direction of Mecca.
Stood straight, raised my hands to where my
thumbs were touching my earlobes and whispered, this
time even more quiet than I did the
first time, Allahu Akbar.
In a barely audible tone,
I slowly and clumsily
recited the first Surah of the Quran
and then another short Surah after that in
Arabic.
Although I'm sure that any Arabs, if they
had heard me that night, wouldn't have understood
a word I said.
I then quietly said another
a long leg bar,
and bowed with my back perpendicular to my
legs and with my hands grasping my knees.
I never bowed to anyone or anything before
and I felt embarrassed.
I was glad that I was alone.
And while still in bowing pro position, I
repeated several times the phrase, Subhanahu Rambi Al
Bayn,
Glory be to my Lord the Great.
I then stood up and recited as best
I could, Sami'Allahu Alim Alhamida,
God hears those who praise him and
then rabina wa laqal ham.
Our lord and to you belongs all praise.
And at that moment, I felt my pulse
racing and my heart pounding
and my anxiety mount mounting
as I meekly called out another
a lot less.
I arrived at the moment when I had
to perform
a sedge,
a prostration,
And I stood there frozen.
I was petrified.
I stared at the area in front of
me on the carpet
where I supposed to be down on all
fours and with my face to the ground.
And I couldn't do it.
I just could not do it.
I must have stood there 30 seconds.
I could not get myself to lower myself
to the floor,
to humble myself
with my nose to the ground, like a
slave
groveling before his master.
It was as if my legs and back
had braces on them that would not let
me bend.
I felt too ashamed and humiliated.
I could imagine the snickers and cackles of
friends and acquaintances
watching me make a fool of myself.
I envisioned how ridiculous
and pitiable I would look to them.
Poor Jeff, I could hear them all say.
He really went Arab crazy in San Francisco,
didn't he?
Please, please,
please help me do this, I pray.
I took a deep breath, and then I
forced myself to that floor.
Now on my hands and knees, I hesitated
for a brief moment. My neck was stiff.
I couldn't put it down.
I then pushed my face to that carpet.
Ridding my mind of all other thoughts, I
mechanically pronounced 3 times I didn't think about
what I was saying, I just didn't allow
even a whisper to enter my mind. SubhanAllah,
SubhanAllah, SubhanAllah,
SubhanAllah, SubhanAllah, SubhanAllah,
robotically. I said it 3 times, glory be
to my Lord in the highest.
A lot lack bar, I called out and
sat back on my heels. I had memorized
this part, I knew what to say, and
I wasn't gonna do anything else but just
get through it. I kept my mind blank,
refusing to allow any distractions to enter it.
A lot of that part, I pronounced again
and stuck my face once again onto that
carpet.
With my nose touching the ground, I called
out mechanically.
Glory be to my Lord in the highest.
I just wasn't going to stop myself. I
was gonna get through this even if it
killed me. Allahu Akbar, I called and lifted
myself from the floor and stood up straight.
3 cycles I go to go, I told
myself, reassuring myself as if I was swallowing
some bitter and difficult medicine.
I had to wrestle with my emotions and
pride the entire rest of the prayer.
But it did get a little easier with
each cycle.
I was even almost calm
during the last prostration.
While in the final sitting posture, I recited
the teshahood
and then entered ended the prayer by saying,
Assalamu Alaikum Urahmatullah.
Calling it over my right shoulder. Assalamu alaikum,
Arathmatullah,
peace be upon you in the mercy of
God calling it over my left.
And I sat there spent
completely exhausted.
And I remained there on the floor
reviewing the battle I had just been through.
I was extremely embarrassed
that I had to struggle so hard to
get through but a single prayer.
With my head lowered in shame,
very much in shame, I prayed,
please forgive me for my arrogance, for my
vanity,
for my stupidity.
I have come from very, very far
and I still have very far to go.
At that moment I experienced something which I
had never felt before
and which is therefore very difficult for me
to put into words.
A wave of what I could only describe
as coldness
swept through me.
Which seemed to radiate from some point within
my chest.
It was rather intense and I was initially
startled
and I remember shuddering.
However, it was much more than a physical
sensation.
It affected my emotions as well in a
strange way.
It was if mercy had taken on some
kind of objective form, and it was now
penetrating and enveloping me and flowing through me.
I cannot say exactly why,
but I began to cry.
Tears began to run down my face and
I found found myself weeping,
uncontrollably.
And the harder I cried, the more I
felt the embrace of a most powerful kindness
and compassion.
I was not crying out of guilt,
although I probably should have,
nor was I crying out of shame or
joy.
It was as if this huge dam
of pain,
this huge dam of anger
had been unblocked.
And all that pain and anger and suffering
was pouring out of me and being released.
As I say these words to you, I
cannot help but wonder,
if God's forgiveness
is more than his mere absolution of our
sins.
If his forgiveness is not also
soothing and repairing,
curative and assuaging as well.
I remained on my knees, crouched to the
floor with my head in my hands,
sobbing for some time.
When I finally stopped crying,
I was completely
exhausted.
The experience I just had
was, for me, too unfamiliar and overwhelming
to try to rationalize at that moment.
And I also thought it was too definitely
too strange to tell anyone about right away.
Although in the months years to come,
I had other intense spiritual experiences during prayers.
I'm sure you all have as well. And
with conversations with Muslims, I came to realize
that there was nothing unusual or bizarre
about that prayer experience.
However, at that moment, I did realize this
much.
That I needed Allah, that I needed God,
and I needed prayer for the rest of
my life
desperately.
Before getting up from my knees, I made
one last supplication.
Oh, God.
If I ever gravitate towards disbelief again,
please,
please kill me first.
Take this life from me.
It's hard enough to live with my imperfections
and weaknesses,
but I cannot live another day denying you.
Hasten to salah.
Hasten to prayer. Hasten to falah. Hasten to
success.
Our Adhan urges
us. If our main purpose in life is
to grow ever nearer to Allah, to God,
then towards this end, prayer
has to be essential.
For Muslims,
salat is one of the most important ways
to pursue
and experience this goal of growing ever nearer
to Allah, to God Almighty.
Salat is a Muslim spiritual compass by which
he or she repeatedly checks
his or her progress and direction in life.
And it is his or her lifeline
to paradise
in her after. Because through that experience,
they could almost
feel God's mercy in an intimate and powerful
way.
In a way that no other thing on
earth could provide.
Through the experience of Salat, a Muslim tries
to stay alert to the fluctuations
of his faith. A Muslim will ask himself
or herself,
am I becoming lazy about my prayers lately?
Am I rushing through them without feeling any
benefit?
Are my experiences of prayer weaker or stronger
than they used to be? Do I feel
closer or farther from God in my prayers
these days?
Although, each of the 5 pillars helps a
Muslim gauge his growth in faith, the salat
is the principal day to day measure of
a believer's submission to Allah Almighty.
To perform the Islamic ritual prayer
5 times every day, day in day out,
at the appointed times
requires considerable
commitment to Islam.
A single salah,
ritual prayer,
is not very taxing. It takes but just
a few minutes.
But to rise out of bed before dawn,
every day of the year,
weekday or weekend,
workday or holiday,
no matter what kind of day it is,
every day of the year, day in, day
out, for the rest of one's life, to
make the Fajr prayer on time, before the
crack of dawn,
already demands considerable commitment to Islam
and considerable determination.
All of Islam's rituals
test and challenge and help to build a
Muslim's willpower
and self control
in various ways.
And in so doing,
these rituals help to build those qualities in
us.
Determination,
self control,
stick to it iveness,
persistence,
willpower,
strength.
The shahada tests a person's allegiances.
Are you a Is your main allegiance to
Allah
or is it to something else? Is your
main allegiance to this community or is it
to some other community? Is your allegiance to
the Muslims or to another nation? Is your
allegiance to God or is your allegiance to
your boss at work?
Which comes first?
The shahada is a continuous and persistent test
of that allegiance.
The fast of Ramadan
tests to control our control over our physical
needs. The zakat
tests our ability to discipline our material desires
and to extend the bounty that had God
given us and to share with our fellow
man.
The pilgrimage to Mecca, in some ways tests
all of the three things I just mentioned.
But,
this a lot may not be as emotionally
demanding
as a convert's first shahada.
And it might not be as physically and
material demanding
as the other three pillars of Islam.
But the ritual prayer, more than any other
ritual in Islam,
test constancy
and perseverance,
test our ability to stick to it.
I have known many Muslims
who fast every Ramadan
and don't miss a day,
and do it right.
I have known many Muslims who not only
do that, but pays a cut every year,
and pay what they owe and even more.
I have known Muslims who do not only
those 2, but who have made the Hajj
and have followed the sunnah and followed it
to the tea when it comes to making
the Hajj. And I've known those same Muslims
and among them I've known a considerable number
of them who can't make the 5 prayers
every day, day in and day out.
Most of us
most of us are capable of great moments
of virtue or religiosity
on occasion.
We can rise to the occasion
on rare occasions.
Almost all of it had all of us
had it within us.
But very few of us, only a minority
of mankind
could be consistently
religious, Could be consistently
virtuous.
In terms of our moral and spiritual growth,
we are too often,
like, persons who decide that they're going to
go and get physically fit
by going out and run
a 20 kilometer marathon.
We say, oh, my goodness. I'm getting out
of shape.
It's stunning.
Or as the Arabs say, the kersh. Is
it kersh?
Getting a little flabby. I gotta get in
shape. So the guy goes and puts on
his jogging suit,
sweatshirt, jeans, goes out and buys new sneakers,
new socks,
sunglasses, headband,
gets already
watch, but glass of water, goes out, tries
to run 20 kilometers,
comes back exhausted,
dead, falls in the bed, blisters all over
his feet, can't get up the next day,
lies in bed for 10 more days, puts
on £16 because he hasn't moved.
It does sound ridiculous but many of us
approach faith in the same way.
Everyone knows that in order to get physically
fit you have to find or follow a
regular and steady
program of exercise.
But somehow we feel that to become religious
we're just gonna get out the beads and
we're gonna recite Quran all day and we're
gonna make supplications and do extra prayers and
fast all day and we get really religious
for 2 or 3 days and then we
get so burnt out that we just give
it up and take it easy for a
while and think, Oh, I'll get religious later.
That type of attitude whether in the physical
sphere or the spiritual sphere is damaging
because it teaches us failure.
It teaches us that we can't.
It helps to encourage us to be lazy.
Failure,
continual failure
produces a failure.
Continued success
produces a success.
So in the physical sphere, we understand that
we need a regular program to follow.
When you go to your high school football
coach I played high school football.
No pain, no gain, boys. Get out there
every day.
Gotta run this. You gotta do these exercises
every day.
No pain, no gain. Gotta stick to this
program. Don't stick to this program. You're not
gonna make it. And we understand him. It's
as plain as rain. We know he's right.
We walk into the classroom. Our teachers gotta
do your homework every day. Gotta work hard
every day,
brain will atrophy,
work hard, keep studying.
You're gonna be a failure, you wanna be
a success, Gotta work hard. We know he's
right.
But somehow we think that there's a whole
different law that comes with our spiritual development.
You think it's like
magic. But Islam teaches us that we have
to find a regular follow this regular program
which begins with the 5 pillars of Islam.
And we can't forget that most important pillar,
the Islamic prayer.
The Quran repeatedly
repeatedly exhorts the believer to develop
Sabr.
The Arabic word that con connotes patience,
perseverance,
fortitude,
stick to itiveness,
a quality that is essential to spiritual development.
It's not it's essential to any kind of
development.
Very often these exhortations
that talk about summer
occur
with exhortations to do what?
Establish the regular prayer.
Those are the believers who established prayer and
our patient and adversity.
How many times do we see those that
connection made throughout the Quran?
Because the 2 obviously
complement each other.
Yet the rewards of salat
far outweigh the demands.
Just want to check if I'm running over
time. No.
Yet the rewards
of salat far outweigh the demands.
A Muslim student once informed me, as I
mentioned in the beginning of this lecture that
the power of salat
is indescribable. If you'll let me quote him
again,
he said that when we pray and put
our nose to the ground, we feel a
joy,
a rest, a strength
that is outside this this world and no
words could ever describe.
You have to experience it to know.
But you, my brothers and sisters, are not
ignorant of that experience or at least you
shouldn't be.
You should know.
The day he told me this was the
day I became a Muslim. It was not
long before
I began to understand,
begin to understand what he meant.
For there are moments during Salat,
moments of truth,
of true honesty,
sincerity
and humility.
When a Muslim
perceives
the infinite presence
of God's most merciful
and compassionate
light.
These are not moments that can be anticipated.
For you as you all know, they almost
always come unexpectedly.
But when those moments come, and they do,
a Muslim feels the caress
of the most tender
and most overpowering kindness.
This is an utterly humbling experience
because a Muslim knows that it's too infinitely
beautiful
to be deserved.
It is a tremendously
intoxicating
experience
because with your hands, feet and face firmly
to the ground,
you feel like you are suddenly lifted into
heaven, into paradise and you could breathe its
air and smell its fragrances and soil and
feel its gentle breezes.
It feels as if as if you were
about to be raised off the ground
and to be placed in the arms of
the most benevolent benevolent
and affectionate love.
These moments of divine intimacy
create in the worshiper
and overpowering
longing
to be near to God.
And the hereafter,
and growing nearer and nearer to God becomes
a focus
of that person's living
and striving
and dying.
This helps us understand why devout Muslims
are so zealous about their prayers, why they're
so strict about them.
Why they could seemingly prefer death
to missing but a single ritual prayer.
So you could And that is why you
that these Muslims, these pious Muslims
who know the power and the beauty of
prayer, you could see them.
You could see them at airports
and you could see them on city sidewalks
and in city parks, in public buildings,
alone or in congregation,
standing, bowing, sitting, and prostrating,
paying no attention to the hustle and bustle
around them as if they were in a
world all their own.
This is because they have come to need
the salat so desperately.
It has become their main source of spiritual
sustenance.
And their most personal and powerful means
of relating
to Allah,
to God Almighty.
A devout Muslim cannot risk missing a single
salat.
For he knows that his spiritual center,
what people refer to symbolic symbolically as one's
heart,
he knows that that is real and that
it grows in its ability to receive and
experience the the divine
with the continual and steadfast
performance of the ritual prayer.
This is conviction
born of study as he finds in the
Quran.
Statements in the Quran and also statements in
the sunnah to that effect. But more than
that is a conviction that is also born
of experience.
A Muslim comes to know firsthand
that his spirituality
and spiritual re receptivity
receptivity
receptivity
increases with and depends on the persistent exercise
of prayer.
But as I have stated on many occasions
and the Quran makes perfectly clear
and so does the prophet's teachings, peace be
upon it.
A Muslim growth is also tied to his
deeds and his relationship with others.
Perform prayer
and do righteous deeds.
A fact that is also reinforced by the
form of the congregational
prayer.
Because even in the congregational prayer, our dependence,
not only on Allah, but our commitment to
our fellow man is
emphasized by the very form in which we
pray.
As you all know, we stand shoulder to
shoulder, foot to foot in tight formation, leaving
no gaps in between us.
The visual beauty and gracefulness
of our ritual prayer depends
on our obeying the instructions of the imam
in unison
and moving as one.
Have you ever seen the pilgrims pray in
Mecca during Hajj?
They're all bowing and coming up at one
time, that beautiful sea of white,
where all the pilgrims bow and come up
and prostrate as one. It's a beautiful
confluence you see before you,
especially if you see it from up high,
as if you traveled to the Middle East
and seen the cameras come down on that
beautiful sight. All of that depends on the
believers living and acting in that moment as
one and following each other's
anticipating each other's movement and following the instructions
of the imam.
A Muslim student once informed me that he
could not understand why the prophet ordered his
companions, peace be upon,
Prophet Muhammad.
To pray in such close contact with each
other
when they're trying to devote all their attention
to Allah.
He said to me, how can I concentrate
on Allah when I have this person rubbing
against me on my right and rubbing against
me on my left and kneeling and sitting
against me on my right and left,
squeezed in there like sardines?
Then he said, please don't say this to
any of the other brothers.
You know, you're a convert. I can talk
about these.
I told him
that perhaps he had confirmed with his question
an important Islamic theme.
That even in our most intense worship,
we should not forget that our relationship to
Allah Almighty
is tied to our relationship with our fellow
human beings. That we should never forget our
brother on our right and our brother on
our left, nor our sister on our right
or left as well. That our future in
the hereafter
depends on our relationship to them.
There's a well known saying of the prophet,
peace be upon him.
We insist that a Muslim should not leave
a gap between him,
herself and his her neighbor
during the prayer.
Otherwise, they will leave an opening for as
you all
know, shaitan, for satan.
Another Muslim student also had the courage to
come up to me and I don't blame
him, I wish more would do this. We
learned by it. Come up to me and
he said that, that sounded so silly to
him.
He said, how could Satan come up? You
know, you leave a door by leaving a
little space.
He said, you creep in there and reach
over,
you know.
And he got very animated about it. He
said, well that always sounded very ridiculous to
him.
So I asked him. I said,
when you were performing a congregational prayer did
it so happen that the person you were
praying with ever intentionally or at least you
thought intentionally left a space between you and
him?
And he thought about it for a minute.
He said, yes.
That's happened to me several times.
And I said, how did you feel? I'm
very angry.
What? Did he think he was too good
for me?
He could not pray beside me?
If I come from some great family or
something?
He was somehow a superior believer to me.
Believe me, I've seen him walking around campus.
He looks at all the ladies. I've seen
I come from a big family. He comes
from a small family. My ancestors are so
great. His are nothing. I come from this
country.
I looked at him and I said, see.
A door to satan was open.
A door to temptation
was left open.
As time passed,
I grew more and more to appreciate the
student imam statement.
That the beauty of
Salat
cannot be truly described.
Its beauty seems to have no upper bound
and it increases
over time with the consistent performance
of the 5 daily prayers.
And as it does,
the believer comes to see with ever greater
clarity
just how much is at stake in this
life.
How much there is to gain?
Because he gets a hint of it
through the beauty of that prayer.
And how much there is to lose.
A pious Muslim parent
can certainly understand the urgency
beha- behind prophet Abraham's prayer, peace be upon
him, as described in the Quran.
When he said, Oh my lord,
make me one who establishes regular salat
and of my descendants,
our lord.
My lord,
was a desperate plea and
prayer. I came to appreciate that in a
very real way one day when I was
praying the noon prayer with my daughter, my
oldest daughter, Jamila.
We had just finished the noon prayer
and then she said something that just sort
of
wasn't anticipated.
She said, the kids ask the simplest questions
and yet they're the most poignant sometimes. She
said, daddy,
why do we pray?
And the question caught me off guard.
I didn't expect it from an 8 year
old although I know she's quite clever.
I knew of course the most obvious answer
that as Muslims are obligated to.
But I did I didn't wanna waste the
opportunity to share with her
the beauty
and the power of the experience of prayer.
Because if you miss those type of opportunities
with your children and you just give them
a dry answer,
that doesn't really come to the depth of
that question they ask.
We as parents are blowing an opportunity.
We have an experience of prayer
but just
to give them just a
curt response,
well we have to.
Means that we're not willing to take the
effort
to can really deeply consider that questions, those
questions they ask and share with them
the experience we've gained of practicing this faith
over time. Nevertheless,
before answering her I tried to buy a
little time
by giving the usual response.
Well, hon, we pray because God wants us
to.
But I knew that wouldn't do. I still
say that Jamila's gonna become a lawyer someday.
She never lets a question remain half answered.
But why daddy?
What does praying do for us? She asked.
I told her it's
hard to explain to a young person.
I told her that someday,
she performs the 5 prayers every day.
I'm sure she'll begin to understand.
But I told her, nonetheless,
that I'll try to do the best I
can to describe her to answer a question
From a personal point of view.
I told her, You see, Jamila
God is the source
of all the love,
mercy,
kindness,
wisdom,
of all the beauty
that we experience
and feel
in this life.
You know how the sun is the source
of the light we see in the daytime,
I told her.
God is a source of all these beautiful
things I just described
and so much more.
So that the love I feel for you
and your sisters
and your mommy
is given to me
by God
to feel.
The mercy
that I feel in my heart
towards you and towards others is a tiny
fraction.
The tiniest fraction of the mercy that God
has imparted
on this world,
which represents only a tiniest fraction of his
great mercy.
For he is a source of all the
mercy that exists
everywhere.
And in his kindness
and in his generosity,
he allows that mercy to
flourish inside of us, to grow inside of
us, to fill our hearts.
So that we could know his mercy
approximately,
but so beautifully.
Because in his kindness he shares that with
us.
I said, for example,
I told him that I told her
this,
when we pray
we could feel God's love and kindness and
mercy
in a very special way.
In the most powerful way.
I told her, think about this example.
You know that mommy and I love you,
I told her. By the way, we care
for you but but and the things we
give you. But when we hug and kiss
you, when we embrace
you, you could feel that love,
that mercy,
that feeling we have for you
flow through us to you.
I told her, it's not something you can
measure.
It's not something you could calculate.
It's not something you could even describe to
your friend. But when you feel it,
you know.
I said when you feel it, it is
more real to you than the ground you
walk on.
And you could identify it.
And you respond by telling us mommy, daddy,
I love you
Because you've just received ours.
I said, in a similar way, we know
that God loves us by all that he
has given to us, in all the beautiful
things that we have and that he bestows
upon us and he protects us.
But when we pray,
we can feel his love, his mercy,
his kindness
in a unique and very special way.
Does praying make you a better daddy?
She asked.
I said, I hope so.
And I told her I would like to
think so.
Because once you are touched by God's love
and kindness in the prayer,
it is so beautiful
and so powerful
but you cannot but want to share it
with others.
When you experience something that's so beautiful,
that's so powerful,
that fills you to such an extent,
You have this We in humans have this
natural
desire to communicate that to others.
On the simplest level, think about it when
you're walking around in life and you look
up walking around, you're walking down the street
and suddenly you look up and you see
this beautiful cloud formation
or a beautiful sunset
and it strikes you as so beautiful
and you sit there looking at it. What's
the natural thing you do? You look to
your right and left to see if anyone
else is enjoying it.
It. Maybe you'll even say to another person
standing there gazing at the same same scene
you are, isn't that beautiful?
Because you want to share that with others.
When God touches us with his love and
mercy and salai,
In a way
that is the prophet used to always say
peace be upon him that is more beautiful
and greater than this world and all it
contains.
You naturally wanna share that with others.
And those, especially those most closest to you,
which mean your family and your loved ones
and your children.
And so that is what I told you.
You. I said,
you know when I come home from work,
I said a lot of times I'm tired,
I'm exhausted,
I put up with that department head all
day and those goofy colleagues and I come
home and I am frustrated and I'm angry
and I'm tired and I just want to
come in this house and I don't want
to hear a sound and I just want
to go to my room and be left
alone and to just be quiet for a
half hour.
But I told her when I make that
salat,
then I suddenly look around.
And because of the beauty that God allows
us to feel,
I look around and I see the gifts
that he has given me. In you, Jamila,
and your sisters, and
your mommy.
And it just makes me feel
how much he has given to me
and how much I owe him. And you,
as my daughter
and your mom,
as my as my wife.
I asked her, am I making any sense
to you at all?
Because I got sort of into it.
And she looked at me and I don't
know if she got a 100% of what
I said, but she did say this. She
said, but Jamila is very honest.
And she said, I kind of understand what
you mean.
And then she hugged me and said,
And I love you, daddy.
And I told her, I love you too,
sweetie pie.
And I love you too.
And in the peace and mercy of Allah
be upon you all, assalamu alaykum.
It says, what did you tell people when
you became Muslim and how did they act?
I told them I became a Muslim.
No,
when I became a Muslim I hardly had
to tell anybody.
Strange thing happened. I was working at a
Catholic
University.
Christian University.
Run by the Society of Jesus.
And,
I was an atheist at the time but
I didn't tell then.
Just wanted the job.
Well, and I have a Catholic name and
Catholic background, so,
you know, let them assume what they will.
I got the
job. Well,
I was not on a job but 3
months
at the University of San Francisco
and I became a Muslim.
And there were only 2 or 3 people
in the mosque that day, well, about 4
that day I became a Muslim. A student
ran masjid so I didn't assume that the
news would travel very fast or far.
Well, the next day I'm walking on campus
and all these Muslim students are coming up
to me saying,
are you the professor who became a Muslim?
They're looking around and thinking,
are they gonna kill me or what?
I looked at them, yes.
And then a big smile would come on
their face, and they'd say, congratulations.
Congratulate all day long. Congratulations.
Congratulations, everywhere I go. Congratulations.
Well, some students who walk by me, Middle
Eastern looking students who just walk by me
smile and say, congratulations.
So I started to get nervous.
And I swear if I walked into class
and a professor said congratulations,
I was gonna really get scared.
But in any case, it didn't quite work
out that way.
With all this news about the Muslim community,
that very same day one of the professors
on campus found out that I had become
a Muslim.
Up. And he was another professor. I had
was hired a tenure track job. He was
just hired as a temporary but he thought
if I got fired, he could get my
job.
So he went around the entire campus telling
the administration,
every professor he saw, every secretary, any person
he could run into
that Jeff Lang became a Muslim.
And no sooner or not, I within,
honest, this was in from the beginning of
day to the end of day. I had
professors walking by me saying,
is it true?
Did you become a Muslim?
So my start in Islam was I didn't
have to tell anybody anything.
Within a couple of weeks, I was probably
the most famous Muslim in San Francisco.
Believe me, I didn't wanna be.
I just wanted to
just relax somewhere, you know, just be like
everybody else, But I was immediately in the
spotlight.
So I didn't have to tell anybody. I
had to sort of defend the decision I
made right from the start. But my reasons
for becoming a Muslim were essentially this, I
was an atheist with very strong objections to
the idea of God. Very strong rational objection.
At least I thought I had.
Through the process of reading the Quran, not
only did I find a solution for those
objections but I discovered
God in the process
and I became a Muslim.
So it was easy for me to defend
my choice.
I told them I was not as an
atheist for these reasons, I became a Muslim
because these were the answers I got for
my religion.
And they would just stand there and say,
not bad.
Makes sense.
If I ever become a religious person someday,
I'll think about it. You know,
so I had no difficulty defending what I
had done.
So, like, from the moment I became a
Muslim, I was put in a position of
having to defend myself. The only difficulty I
really had was telling my mother that I
had become a Muslim
because
she was a very devout Christian
and then, I became an atheist. That was
a big shock in her life. But when
I became a Muslim that was even worse
as far as she was concerned.
And, I had a difficult time telling her.
The couple days after I became a Muslim,
I called her on the phone and she
was the first person that I personally notified
about what I had done.
And,
it was
a very emotionally
charged
3 weeks that that semester break when I
went home and I had to defend what
I had done to my parents.
Because,
I had to explain Islam to them from
a to z.
And,
we spent we were up till 5 in
the morning every night, my mother and I,
discussing religion
for like 2 weeks straight,
exhausting each other.
But in the end she came to have
a healthy respect for my religion. At one
point she said, I understand why you became
a Muslim.
A person who thinks the way you do,
I wasn't quite sure what that meant. But
a person who thinks the way you do,
I can understand why that religion would definitely
appeal to them. And then she said to
me, but I'm sorry but I can never
become a Muslim. And I told her I
never even suggested the idea.
And,
after that we agreed to discuss it for
a long time and we did but finally
she asked me at one stage not to
discuss it anymore.
And so we just
hardly ever discuss it anymore. Unless she brings
it up, then I'll discuss it with
her but I'll never bring it up first
because she immediately becomes defensive and has a
very difficult time on it.
So thank
you. Okay. It's not the last.
Michelle, the next question is,
when people tell you I want to learn
about snap,
but because of my studies
or at that moment cannot find time, how
should we respond? Is it because
of their fear or they are can't they
truly not find the time? I don't understand.
So they say they want to learn about
Islam but they said they don't have the
time?
They they say, like, they are studying so
they don't have they can't find the time
to pray or Oh.
So they want to learn but they can't
find the time. Right. It could be they
miss their prayers because they ask too much
to like Oh. Well, I don't know. If
you're talking about a non Muslim who says
he's interested in learning about Islam but he
this is not a good time for him.
You know,
I always say to people, well, I mean,
you've got it's your choice. I'm I'm not
gonna ram my religion down your throat and
I and I never will.
But, you know, I I tell them that
I think that
I'll usually reinforce them. I'll tell them that
the search for one and for truth and
the search for
a relationship
with god
is very important. I don't see how it
could be more important than anything else in
the world.
And I usually tell them to start learning
about Islam, you don't have to look very
far.
All you have to do is pick up
a,
pretty good interpretation of the Quran in English
and just read a few pages a night.
Takes 4 or 5 minutes.
I said, it's really no
great commitment of time. In no time at
all, I told them. By the time you
finish
even the second Sura of the Quran, you'll
have a pretty good summary knowledge of Islam.
Oh, well that's sort of how, and the
reason why I said that is that's how
I sort of started.
I had received a copy of the Quran
from some friends
and I decided I
would just read a few pages a night
just to get an idea.
And I
read the opening surah of the Quran.
When I got done, it dawned on me
that I had just read a prayer for
guidance.
And I felt like I had almost tricked
into it.
So I got to the end and I
said, hey, I just read a prayer for
guidance.
I'm not a Muslim.
I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God.
I just read a prayer for guidance.
So you can imagine
my reaction
when I opened, went on to the next
page,
which began the 2nd Surah of the Quran
entitled the Tao.
And it began Alif, Lam, Meen.
That is the book wherein no doubt is
guidance
for those
who have fear.
At Taqwa.
I was shocked.
Because since a voice from heaven was calling
down to me. I had no sooner just
prayed for guidance,
semi consciously
and now the next Surah was answering my
prayer.
That.
They translated it this, but this author happened
to translate it as that and I'm glad
he did because that's the literal
translation.
That, what? That? This? This book? That book.
What book? This book? That book is the
book we're in, no doubt, is guidance for
those
who have fear. Leftaqa.
Religious consciousness.
I was stunned.
And so as I read through the Quran,
I was intrigued immediately. What does it say?
So I started reading through the Quran
and in the beginning it describes the people
will be guided by this revelation.
It's as if it was written for a
non believer.
I'm only surprised when Muslims think that it's
read for believers and you shouldn't share it
with non believers.
Its principal audience originally were mostly non believers.
They're the ones that heard it.
When I read it, I felt it was
definitely read for a non believer. I'm not
saying it is only it's written for everyone.
It's revealed for everyone.
But I could feel it talking to
me. Begins it begins by describing its audience.
Who will benefit most by this? Who will
benefit least by this?
Who will be in sort of the middle?
Describes the believers and their qualities.
3 or 4 verses.
Talks about the people of completely closed mind.
They won't even consider this.
They won't even think about it. They don't
want to be bothered. Talks about them in
about a line and a half.
They won't consider it.
No use wasting time on it.
Then it talks for about 12 lines verse
8 through 20 of the 2nd Sura, 13
lines about all those people in between.
Which was me.
I may have been an atheist,
but I was willing to listen.
I may have been an atheist,
but I was curious.
Wasn't an outright rejector.
Just couldn't satisfy my doubts.
But here I was
in the middle
and that was me and I knew it.
As you read through that second surah, it
summarizes
Islam's major themes.
And then from there on out you're sort
of hooked. Right?
What's your first question?
Well, your first question is what's the purpose
of life? Why did God create us? Did
he put us here just to punish us?
You start reading the second sword and it
begins to answer that question.
The angels ask, why create this being?
Who
creates suffering and sheds blood
when we celebrate your praises and glorify your
holy name?
You know what reaction was when I read
that?
Wait a minute. That's my question.
Why put us here on Earth to suffer?
Why make this creature who could commit terrible
wrongs and put him in this environment
where he could
exercise his most negative and destructive tendencies?
Why didn't you make us angels and just
put us up into heaven
if it was within your power? That was
my question.
I had asked it of priests. I had
asked it of rabbis. I had asked it
of asked it of Buddhist monks. I had
asked it of of Hindus. I had asked
of Hare Krishnas on campus. I had asked
it of everybody.
Everybody said, I don't know.
Just gotta fade.
Here I was, not but several lines into
the Quran. Verse 30 of the second Surah
and my question is put there in the
mouth of the angels.
Slowly but surely the Quran begins to unravel
and answer.
And as it does, it takes you through
so many different facets and angles of life.
It interjects different parts of its message as
it lures you into its design.
So as I read the Quran and
proceeded along, I was trapped. It was written.
I felt it was written perfectly for
a
non believer. And so I would very much
encourage you, if you have somebody, and he
is honestly interested in Islam but feels he
doesn't have the time, point him in the
direction of the Quran.
A good interpretation.
One that you found that you trust in
English
and get him in that direction. Nothing
is more powerful
in showing people the way to Islam than
the Quran.
Mister Zaklakir,
next question is pretty brief. It says, the
speech you just gave was taken from your
latest book. If so, when will it be
published?
I don't know. You have to talk to
a man of publishers. No. I'm
I am right now on page
170 on
my computer.
I'm just finishing the 4th chapter. It's called
The Pillars of Islam. I have 2 more
chapters to write. They're sort of brief.
One is about the trials and tribulations a
typical Muslim convert faces when they enter the
Muslim community,
the things I think that we Muslims do
to
dissuade people from staying in the community
and the positive things we do that I
think help people to
find comfort and peace within that community so
I discuss the Muslim community.
And then in the 5th Surah, 5th
the last chapter, very briefly,
I discuss what I my hopes and dreams
for my children
as, Muslims in America
and my hopes for the future of Muslims
in America
and the problems I think we'll have to
face. So I think I have about 40
pages left.
So it should be about 210 pages long.
Sorry I have to talk about it in
these terms, but I'm envisioning it as my
head in the typewriter as I'm talking to
you. Yeah. I'm a mathematician.
Forty pages usually takes me about
40 days to write.
So I think in about 2 months, I'll
be done and I'll send it off to
the publishers and they'll start editing it and
we'll start communicating back and forth. Maybe about
a year and a half. Well,
you know, it takes time.
Then they gotta print it. They gotta manufacture
it. They gotta publish it. Once again once
I send it to them, it's out of
my hands, though. I have nothing to do
with it except for checking. You know?
Okay. Sorry.
Okay.
The next question,
is regarding prayer. If you guys could keep
the the question topics according about prayer, that
would be very helpful because we have so
many questions.
The question says, how do you put all
your concentration into your prayers?
Well, you do the best you can.
You know, when I'm praying,
and I think you probably found this useful
as well.
When you pray it's very difficult, I mean,
to have total concentration
during your prayer.
But I think it's good that while you're
performing your prayer to interrupt yourself at times
and think about,
genuinely think about
something that you're grateful to Allah for.
Think about a deep concern you have
for someone close to you and you communicate
that to a lot during your prayer.
Think about something that
you feel you may not have done quite
right.
A doubt you have about yourself.
And ask God to forgive you for
that. And to help you with that.
Most importantly,
try to adopt
an attitude
of humility
during your prayer.
I think, this is just my personal advice,
The more I find the more humble,
sincerely humble
you are in your prayer.
The more when you turn to prayer
you acknowledge
and admit to Allah
your dependence upon him.
The more
you turn your heart totally
over to him
and concentrate on that.
The more you try to envision
his greatness
compared to your smallness,
his kindness
compared to your humanity.
The more you concentrate on his beautiful attributes,
most powerful names
I find the the more beautiful is the
experience of your prayer. So as you recite
the Quran,
interrupt yourself at stages.
Just don't recite your prayer as a formula.
Stop yourself at moments.
Whenever you feel so during your prayers, stop
yourself at a verse and
communicate to Allah
your deepest feelings about you.
And be thankful for what he has given
you.
And ask for his help, sincerely
from the depths of your heart.
And tell him
although he already knows
how much
you need him
and you want to grow near to him.
Because when you do that you are opening
your heart
to his light.
And like I said, those most beautiful moments
almost never come as when anticipated. Sometimes they
come and you're not even trying.
When you're not you're just standing there in
your prayer and you're saying that and all
of a sudden you'll feel this
beauty take take over you.
But still,
I think it's the attitude with which you
approach that prayer. If you approach it just
as a burden that you wanna get out
of the way,
then it's probably gonna be a burden that
you just get out of the way.
And you will receive a reward for it
because it'll develop your steadfastness, persistence etcetera.
But if you approach it as a humble
servant
of God Almighty, as one who depends on
him, totally,
that has total trust in him, I think
it'll enhance
the beauty of your prayer all the more
and God knows best. But I will say
this,
to all of us we need to remember
this and we have to remind ourselves of
this,
don't miss the prayers.
Don't skip the prayers.
Skip the prayers,
you're taking a step backwards.
And then you'll have a difficult time getting
back to where you were before.
Pray day in day out
as prescribed
and you will slowly but surely notice a
progress in your spirituality.
You will notice that the beauty of the
prayers increases
with that performance of prayer. You will notice
that if you compare your experience of prayer
to the way it was 3 years ago,
there is something greater about it now than
it was then. Provided that you're also trying
to live the life of a Muslim.
Sincerely trying to be humble and compassionate to
others, to be truthful,
to be clear to your neighbor, to be
just, to be honest etcetera etcetera.
But most of all with all that
don't miss a prayer
Because you take a huge step backwards
and you gotta start again.
I'm not saying you go back to step
1. I frankly, I don't know. But you
do go back
and you gotta bring yourself forward again.
Least as I am as I perceive it.
There's one question they asked about which, translation
of the Quran do you think was more
beneficial for non Muslims?
Well,
depends on the non Muslim.
You know, the one that moved me the
most,
strangely enough,
was one that and I'm not recommending it,
I'm just saying for me personally,
was one that came with
no commentary
and was done by a non Muslim.
His name was Arthur Arbery, an English
professor,
an English professor but he wasn't a professor
of English. He was an Englishman, a professor,
scholar
of Arabic
who worked at in,
I forgot the university, Oxford or I'm
not quite sure, in in English. And he
did this translation and that was the first
one I stumbled on, this in his interpretation.
It didn't move me great. After that, I
stumbled on, what's his name? Dawood,
no, not Yusavali.
Marmaduke Pickthal.
And I found his very enlightening. Also, I
like the fact that he didn't provide so
much commentary. For somehow that was a distraction
for me in the beginning.
After that, I read,
Yusuf Ali's.
I found it enjoyable.
I found that I got things out of
it. I didn't get out of others. I
didn't agree with him on all the points.
He's exercising his opinion very frequently
But still I found it valuable. But you
have to realize that these are men and
they are providing their opinions on so many
things. They don't tend to be perfect.
After that I read, Mohammed Assad.
He had some interesting ideas in it.
I found some of the things he said
very enlightening. I took some, I discarded
others. After that,
I read,
Muhammad Ali's.
It seemed that he was one of the
earliest interpreters of the Quran into English. He
did a fair good a fairly good job.
I had a lot of respect for that
interpretation.
Let's see. Who else did I read? I
read,
who? Ahmed. Yeah. Ahmed Asad. I read,
oh, lots of people. I just read about
everyone I could find.
Recently I've read the one that the Saudi,
Saudi Arabian,
Organization For the Propagation of Islam put out.
I like that very much. That one I
think is very nice. Almost any of those
are
are suitable.
Pardon? T. V. Irving.
T. V. Irving had a very nice did
a very nice job. I like that. He
did it for people who
don't like Shakespearean English. For some reason, most
Muslim
interpreters
inevitably
use Shakespearean English.
I don't know why. You know?
A lot of people have difficulty with it.
I happen to like Shakespeare so I enjoyed
it. But, T. V. Irving, a lot of
people pre be prefer his work.
I would suggest
that you
use the interpretation of a sincere Muslim
because that sincerity will show forth the intensity
of his faith will also come out in
his work, and that I think will be
very inspiring and helpful as well.
Any other questions? Okay,
a large portion of these questions are about,
the atheists and how what did you what
would you tell an atheist
that would spark interest in Islam? Or how
would you discuss Islam with them or prove
the existence of God to them?
I
don't really try to prove the existence of
God
to an atheist. An atheist doesn't really come
at you and said, prove God exists to
me. Most people don't expect that much. They
Most atheists believed in God at one point
in their life
and because of various
rational or emotional
things
rejected that belief at one state. So they
have the seed of belief in them at
one stage in their life but because of
the bitter experience within the the religion of
their birth they reject religion altogether.
So usually I wouldn't suggest for you to
come to an atheist and say, I'm going
to prove the existence of God. If there
were an empirical proof of God,
a proof that we could use simply with
the 5 senses that would be convincing to
everyone
no matter what.
Then we Everybody on earth would automatically believe.
But that's There I I There is no
such
simply and purely
empirical proof.
And I've studied them all. I've even studied
the ones by Ibn Sina and others
and you'll have to make certain very strong
assumptions for them to work, those arguments.
And an atheist might not accept those assumptions.
What I am saying is this,
that with an atheist you're taking the wrong
approach if you say I am going to
prove to you that God exists because you
get in a circle, circle, circle. Let him
start. His starting position is this, that I
have reasons
why I do not believe in God.
And then he'll start to explain them to
you. I don't believe in God because I
can't explain the suffering and this is why
we're here to suffer.
I don't believe in God because if there's
a God, can he make a rock that's
too heavy for himself to lift?
You know? Let's say goofy things sometimes.
If God is omnipotent,
can he kill himself?
You know, and things like that,
you know? Or, I don't believe in God
because he could have made us angels to
start with and he made us men, inferior.
I don't believe in God because this world
is imperfect.
A perfect God, if he creates an imperfect
world, means he's somewhat imperfect.
So he'll start giving you various arguments that
he's invented
over the years for why there is not
a god.
And then,
if you study the Quran carefully
and study your faith carefully I think you'll
be begin to point him in the right
direction.
I'm not saying you'll be able to answer
all those questions for him but you should
think about what the Quran says about those
issues and say, Oh, you know, the Quran
says this.
And the Quran does talk about that.
I personally don't quite understand it but I
know that there are atheists who converted to
Islam who found their answers in the Quran.
I know this one in particular.
This blonde guy.
Professor from the University of Kansas.
He became a Muslim
through the Quran. He was an atheist. You
know, just and then let him go from
there. You know, and he might say,
What did he say? What did he do?
Do you have a tape? Do you have
a leg? Not I wouldn't suggest that I'm
the one to do the trick
but I'm just saying. He might say, you
know, he might get something out of seeing
what another atheist went through.
But most importantly, get him in the right
direction.
But don't just come to them, walk up
to them like you have a suit of
armor and say, I am going to prove
to you that there is a God. No.
No. Say, I believe in God very much
and because of my religion I do this
and I do that. He'll say he or
she will say,
well, I respect your
faith
but I personally don't believe in that. And
these are the reasons why. And then you
could get into a good good discussion.
Shoot.
Please.
She is a Muslim. I met her through,
Muslim families in San Francisco
and I went about it in sort of
the semi traditional way.
You know, they had me over for dinner,
they had me over for outings and picnics
and stuff like that. They realized I was
an Enrique and, you
know.
Most
most of the families that introduced me to
their
daughters
or aunts or relatives,
they were a little bit flexible with me.
I mean, they allowed me some
maybe I noticed that among Arabs, they're very
strict with each other. You know, decide right
now. You're sorry. You had 30 seconds. You
know? It mean they allowed me many, many
visits lots of discussion, telephone conversations,
and dinners. Lots of dinners. Food is very
good.
I gained about £15
looking for a wife.
Okay. Is that good? Now we have 3
beautiful children.
Okay. And you miss them very much. Right?
Yes. I miss them very much.
Okay. The next, there's a whole bunch of
questions that deal with,
what exactly led you to becoming a Muslim
and have you ever had any second thoughts
about any other religions?
Second thoughts. After I became a Muslim or?
After you became a Muslim. After I became
a Muslim, I never had any,
I mean, you have to remember. I had
so much
anger inside me
and so what I felt were such strong
objections
to Islam to religion in general.
And that I had searched
really every other religion
major world religion
before it comes even considering Islam
Because Islam has such a negative reputation
in the West
that I thought, well, this one,
this this religion of the terrorists, I definitely
don't wanna consider.
Any religion that fosters terrorism.
I don't know why I was felt so
easily into that prejudice. I know that Western
authors could be very prejudiced, but somehow I
believed it when they spoke about Islam.
Because they were also unanimously
prejudiced against, hated it. But in any case,
so that was the last one I considered.
So I considered others
and then I came up empty.
My feelings against religion were so strong by
the time I became a Muslim I was
so or began looking into Islam, researching it.
I had lost all hope in ever believing
in God, really.
So you can imagine that after I became
a Muslim
there was no real reason to have second
thoughts about whether another religion could do the
job.
First of all, I knew they couldn't because
I had already
tackled those.
And the second thing is
is that
once you felt the power of this religion,
it's that power
that becomes your confirmation.
I mean, suddenly,
it was the rash it's the Quran's rational
approach to faith that made, helped me to
become a Muslim.
It was the answers it provided to my
questions that helped me to become a Muslim.
But once you've tasted
faith,
once you felt
Islam,
that becomes
your justification.
I saw I can't even remember all the
rational arguments I had anymore
because once I felt the power of this
religion, they seemed insignificant.
I'm not saying they weren't important. They were
important. They stood as roadblocks.
The Quran smashed those roadblocks.
But once it did,
and once I felt
the beauty and power of this religion, there
was no turning back.
Why would I want to?
Wouldn't make sense.
You know, it's as if I was blind
and I was looking for something and people
were telling, no go here and go here
and go here. You get if you go
here, you'll get your site. Another one says,
you go here, you get your site. If
you go here, you get your site. See
this doctor, he could get you your site.
Go to this clinic, it'll get you your
site. And you're looking around and you try
one and it doesn't work. You try another,
it doesn't work. You look into this, it
doesn't work. You don't look into that. And
finally, you come to this institution
and you get your sight.
Well after that,
you don't need any more proof you're gonna
get your sight, you've gotten
it. I hope I'm making sense.
And like my daughter, you're saying, I think
so.
Okay.
Okay, the next question is
the next question says, Why did Allah make
this world if you already knew what would
happen?
Yeah, that's always an interesting question. It's like,
predestination.
Right?
And, you this is a very ancient question.
This is a typically Christian question. Also a
typically Zoroastrian question.
The idea
of predestination. If God
determines everything in advance, if in the past
he determined everything that's gonna happen in the
future
then what's the purpose of all of this?
But,
I think if we approach this we have
to stick very close to the Quran, that
type of question. I'm just gonna touch on
it briefly.
One thing for sure that Quran maintains
is that God transcends
this very space time environment he has created
for us to live
in. He is not bound by the limitations
of space
that this space time environment this creation contains.
Me is not bound by the limitations of
time.
The spatial The fact that he is
infinite
in relation to space we could readily appreciate.
None of us in this audience would say
that God could possibly be on a bus
between Chicago and Toledo at 4 o'clock in
the afternoon.
The reason being because we understand that God
transcends space.
He's not bound by his limitations.
We do not think of God as finite
in space.
In the same way, we do not think
of God as finite in time,
like we are.
We are bound by the limitations of time.
He transcends time. He is outside of time
and outside of this space. Space time environment
we live in. He is not limited by
it in any way.
The reason why I say this is because
the question you just posed
situates God in time as we are.
If you say that how could if God
in the past knew what was happening in
the future
we assume that somehow God
was is bound in time as we are.
And at some point in the past, he
was looking forward to the future
that situates God and time as we are.
But that's erroneous assumption. That's, I believe, a
weak and false assumption that God is finite
in time. That he is, sometime in the
past, looking forward to the future. He transcends
time.
That's the wrong question. We should say if
God's knowledge encompasses
all time and space,
this entire space time creation that we exist
in,
if it is all that knowledge, it's like
a single speck for him, like a moment,
a single
atom of wisdom,
of everything that happens in space and everything
that happens this time is encompassed by God's
knowledge,
then why did he make this happen?
Suddenly, the question loses its force.
He made it happen even though God controls
all.
That all space and time is one for
him. That he is not bound by its
limitations.
That doesn't mean that God
does not allow us to make choices. That
as far as we're concerned, we progress in
space and time.
Doesn't negate that at all. So the point
I'm trying to make is is that the
question that you ask assumes a false
makes a false assumption to begin with.
That God is limited in time.
The notion of other, God's infinite power, that
God's power encompasses all in space and time,
should not be framed
as the ancient
Greek philosophers framed it. That God is somehow
finite in time looking forward to the future
as we humans are.
The notion of other is that God's power
and his knowledge encompasses
all.
Oops, I got loud. Everything.
And as far as we are concerned we
make choices etcetera and he responds to them.
But we just should not assume that God
is finite in time. We could readily appreciate
that God transcends times because a little bit
we have the notion that if we get
up really high, transcend means sort of get
up high,
It's what the root comes from. If we
get up high enough, we could see many
things happening below in different spaces
at once. And so we can somehow appreciate
what it means to transcend time.
Our knowledge, space. Our knowledge can encompass what's
happening at different points in space simultaneously.
But God's being also transcends
time. This is philosophy. I hope I'm not
boring you all today.
But God's knowledge transcends time. So for him
all things that happen even though they appear
at different points of time are as one.
And he's not limited by that in any
way shape or form. So a Muslim would
have no difficulty answering the question. You would
just tell the person who asked it that
you're asking it in a way that naturally
leads to a contradiction because your question contains
a false assumption to begin with. And any
time you begin an argument with a false
assumption, you're gonna be led to a contradiction.
Here's a simple example that's analogous to the
question that was just asked me. And I
don't blame the person for asking it. It
was a beautiful question and an important question.
And I know you're all probably thinking, what
is he saying?
But here's another example of how if you
begin a question with 2 with a false
assumption with a contradiction it'll naturally lead to
contradictions.
Assume a circle is a square.
Then I ask you, does a circle have
corners?
Well, let me see. If I concentrate on
the properties of a square, then the answer
is yes.
But if I have proper concentrate on the
roundness of a circle, then the answer is
no.
Oh my god. A molecular contradiction.
And then typical
foolish person will then say, Oh, well, I
don't know what's going on and get frazzled.
What that person should do is go back
to the question. Does the assumption make sense?
Assume a circle is a square.
And similarly, if you begin a question and
say,
if God in the past
predestined the future
go back to the original question,
is God stuck in the past?
Is God finite in time?
Is he limited by time as we humans
are? Does he sit in relation to time
as we do?
No.
And the Quran makes us perfectly clear.
A day for God is like 50000 years
of your time.
A day for God is like a 1000
years of your time. Showing that time for
God is nothing like time for us.
The day of judgment.
What was this life on earth?
I'll say to you, oh, boy. I lived
65 years.
You'll say, I lived 70 years. How will
it appear on the day of judgment when
we when the reality suddenly comes to us?
Our notion of time will suddenly seem confused,
like it wasn't objectively real.
You'll say,
let's see. Was it an hour?
Was it less than that? Was it a
day? Was it 10 days?
So, like,
suddenly I we're confused because
time as we perceived is no longer an
objective reality.
Finally, when the Quran talks about the Day
of Judgment
talks about it in the past tense,
future tense, think even the present tense.
Which shows that this happens in a whole
another order of creation that is not limited
by our space time concepts.
The long and the short of what I'm
trying to say is be careful when you
answer questions.
Think about the premises of which which those
questions are asked. If you seem to be
running yourself in circles and contradictions,
go back to the premises and analyze them.
There may be a contradiction subtly
placed there.
Sorry about the long
discussion,
but I have these with my daughter all
the time.
I really do. And we get into them
for hours. Daddy, what does subtly mean? What
does
sorry about that.
K. We had we had a lot of
questions that dealt with the cut with, hijab
and asks, when you were before you became
Muslim, what did you what did you think
or what did you feel when you saw
Muslim women with hijab? And what do you
think about it now?
I can't wear one.
I tried.
Got
people taunted me and I gave it up.
Now,
when I saw, Muslims before I
let's see before I became a Muslim.
I didn't know who those people were.
I frankly thought they were either nuns or
Seventh day Adventists or
I didn't really know. Nowadays, I think people
know better because back when I became a
Muslim, you just didn't see ladies wearing that
in America.
Nowadays, I think it's clearer to people.
Now what do I think when I see
them? But to be frank, I'm kinda happy,
you know. I I know it's very difficult
for a lot of the sisters
and I realized that,
a lot of them face tremendous hardship
which we men
seem to be completely insensitive about.
But most of them face terrible difficulties, tremendous
hardship,
put up with terrible sacrifices
that many of us
males would fail to do.
Could wouldn't be strong enough to do.
So I have a tremendous amount of respect
for the sisters that do. For those that
don't or can't or are struggling with it,
I understand it's very difficult
and I certainly
realize
the the hardship and the difficulties they're facing.
And I,
could definitely appreciate it. Especially here in America.
That I understand.
But still what I see personally when I
see a Muslim sister walking down the street,
I feel and I can identify her as
such. It's a very pleasant feeling
and because they are upholding an alternative to
the
to the style, to the morals, to the
mores,
to the,
direction
that the Western culture is pointing women. And
I think that takes a tremendous amount of
courage especially when there's such a tiny minority
of this society. So I have a tremendous
amount of respect for them. The only thing
is I wish when I would pass them
on the street and I say, Salaam Alaikum.
They would respond to me and say, Alaikum
Salam.
I don't know if it's because I look
very American or what but they always look
at me like
And or maybe they just don't like saying
hello to fellow Muslims. I don't know. But
the prophet, peace be upon him, used to
say,
when he saw all the ladies passing on
the street and they would spro respond.
But nowadays, I think some of the sisters
get offended when I say that And I,
don't understand why. Maybe it's, something that, I
don't
a cultural thing maybe?
I don't know.
Oh, it's the brothers?
Thank you thank you're, uptight about it.
Probably.
Yeah. I find that most of the problems
in our community begin with the man, of
course.
Okay.
Here's an interesting question. It says that I
know people who are kind and good and
they're not hurting anyone.
And they're wondering if having they're not fulfilling
their Islamic objections,
obligations,
and they're wondering if it's if it's merely
enough to have good character.
Well, let me ask answer that question in
extreme form. The question is, if somebody's kind,
good, and humanitarian,
merciful towards his fellow human beings, helps his
friends, his neighbors,
is, compassionate to others,
Is he, from the Islamic point of view,
what,
gonna achieve success in this life and the
hereafter? Something to that effect.
And let me take the extreme. Let's say
the person is an atheist.
Well, God knows best.
And God it depends on what that person
knows.
It depends on so many things that are
beyond
my knowledge.
How God will how that person will stand
on the day of judgement.
Maybe
he was no one ever explained to him
the truth. Maybe he, was
incapable of perceiving the truth. Maybe his circumstances
I really don't know. I do know this,
that god never holds a person
to account for something until that person has
had a true warning. True warning.
But
I will say this
that the Quran does not so much deal
with these sort of gray cases.
It deals with
real
practical cases because when the Quran approaches the
reader, if he's gotten into that stage where
he's approaching the Quran, he's ready for the
message of that revelation.
And once that revelation starts calling to him,
it presents things in very stark terms.
And the message seems to be essentially this.
If
you're a good person
and
you refuse
to have a relationship with God,
You refuse to even acknowledge God.
You're free to refuse to have anything to
do with the idea of God.
I think generally
that person is in a lot of trouble.
And the reason why I say this and
I'll give you an analogy.
Because that person is not cultivating the most
important relationship
in his life.
We are here to come to know and
grow nearer to God.
That person
might be a fine human being. He might
be a great humanitarian.
He might be making himself feel very good
inside by everything he does. He might be
getting a lot of peace and well-being for
it, but the only real relationship that matters
really in that person's life is not being
developed at all.
God's love is there for him to turn
to. But if he doesn't turn to it,
he's never gonna receive it.
Because
love is a two way street.
God's love and mercy is there to shower
on all but you have to enter into
that loving relationship with God.
You have to turn to him in love.
Let me give you the following example.
Let's say I have 3 daughters,
hypothetically.
And let's say one of them for some
reason or another chooses not to acknowledge that
I exist
to such an extent that she never even
knows that I exist, never even cares whether
I exist, Never does anything to even observe
the fact that I exist.
And so no matter how much love I
shower in that daughter's direction,
my heart how much mercy I pour on
that daughter, no matter how many gifts I
bestow on that child,
and no matter how good he is or
she is to all the other people in
this earth,
that daughter will never experience my parental love.
That daughter will never know
my parental mercy and caring.
Will never develop a relationship to receive that
and experience that.
So it'll go throughout life having totally missed
that. I
see the situation of an atheist who does
good deeds towards others and is a great
humanitarian in a similar light.
No, I am not God to judge that
person's ultimate
faith
But frankly,
if it was my friend and to raise
this question with me I would say that
you have something very serious to
consider
and I don't have much hope for such
a person.
You know, life is full of choices.
Nobody simply is born to disbelieve in God.
Disbelieve in God is a choice and it
is made at a point in a person's
life.
And we're responsible for the choices we make.
And believe me, as an atheist I'll tell
you this, I'm not an atheist anymore but
I was for many years.
You're presented many opportunities
to think about God.
I'll give you one last example.
I had a friend,
an atheist,
very good friend, still a very good friend,
colleague as a matter of fact,
came down with cancer,
Pancreas cancer. They said the cancer was as
big as a football, almost.
Doctors gave her no hope.
Went to the hospital.
Called from the hospital.
Said, I don't know what to do. Would
you pray for me?
Said I can't pray for you.
I said of course I could pray for
you but I said what's the point of
me praying for you if you don't pray
for you?
Nobody could do anything for you unless you
want to have it done yourself.
Like an alcoholic that has to give up
drinking, I can't do it for you. You
gotta turn yourself.
In any case,
I don't know what happened but she said
that if I ever get cured from this
disease
I will definitely strongly consider that religion
that you adhere to.
Low and behold,
they deformed the operation
and she's alive today.
Now I'm not saying it was because of
that statement of hers. God's mercy encompasses all
things and he does what he wills according
to his design. I'm not trying to presume
that I know why things turned out the
way they did but I do know this
that today
when I talk about my religion she mocks
it.
When I talk about my religion, it says,
oh my god. I don't believe in that.
The point is, is that she has already
gone back on her promise
to God.
She was given the opportunity and the choice
and now she rejects
And believe me, aside from
her obstinate and rebellious rejection of God,
she's a nice person to people.
She helps neighbors, gives gifts to friends,
etcetera.
And she's miserable.
And she's miserable because there's something empty and
missing in her life.
But she was given that choice and I
know as an atheist you've given many.
God makes them
come to you.
And so I don't see where I don't
having lived that life I don't see where
many people have many have an excuse.
You know, we have a brain to think
with.
God gave us hearing, sight
and senses to proceed with.
He gave us minds
to utilize
and he gives us opportunities
to learn.
And we either reject them or take them.
We're a creature of choice.
I got over I got too long into
that. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Okay. Next question
says,
what do you say to an atheist when
he she asks who created God?
I say no one.
No. I you know, just
it's obvious, you know. I mean, I just
tell them
that one of the attributes of God is
he is the creator. If you don't want
to accept that, I mean that's up to
you. If you don't want to believe that
there is a creator, you know. But we
believe that God is the creator. There's some
things that are silly to argue about,
you know. Who created God? What are the
attributes of God? He's the creator. Obviously, from
our point religious point of view he's not
created,
you know. And that's it. There's nothing, yeah,
there's nothing to there's nothing to argue. You
know, there's sometimes you just have points of
difference.
I know how the argument usually goes. You
say God is the creator of all things.
That's why I say it's silly to say
that try to prove to somebody this is
God by saying, well, who created all this?
Because then he'll say, well, who created god?
That argument simply will not
work with an atheist. They've already rejected the
idea of a creator.
And so you're getting yourself into pointless arguments.
You need to know the mindset of the
person you're arguing with.
But remember this,
at some stage in every atheist life that
person consciously rejects belief in God.
And so when you present your belief in
God they're gonna give you rational objections to
that belief.
Protect the rational objections. Don't try to come
at them with a proof.
Okay?
I'm tired. You guys wore me out.