Tariq Ramadan – Ramadan Chronicles #01 The path, Ashshari’a

			This is the first day, and we are
		

			starting to fast, and we are starting our
		

			journey to understand what is the very meaning
		

			of resistance in Islam.
		

			All types of jihad that we have, once
		

			again, has nothing to do with the holy
		

			war. It meaning
		

			of
		

			the very meaning of resistance if we don't
		

			come back to the very understanding of what
		

			shari'a means. And shari'a has nothing to do
		

			with,
		

			the penal code and have nothing to do
		

			with this very narrow understanding that we are
		

			talking about,
		

			the law or or the Islamic law. It's
		

			wider than this. In fact, it's a path
		

			that we have to follow, and we have
		

			it in the Quran.
		

			So so we put you on the sharia
		

			that you have to follow.
		

			Follow it. And do not follow the desire
		

			or the passions or the instincts of those
		

			who do not know. And it has to
		

			do with knowledge. It has to do with
		

			knowing the path and following the path. And
		

			on in another verse, which is referring to
		

			the meaning of,
		

			sharia with the word
		

			what do we find?
		

			Do not follow their desire, their instincts,
		

			and their blind passions,
		

			and you forget to follow,
		

			the the the sharia
		

			and for to to forget,
		

			to to follow the truth that came for
		

			to you from God.
		

			And thank and then
		

			and we give to every religion, every,
		

			spirituality
		

			a path
		

			and at the same time a praxis, a
		

			methodology.
		

			So what do we have to understand here?
		

			At the very beginning of,
		

			the notion of
		

			jihad and resistance is that the very the
		

			starting point of our understanding of the cosmology,
		

			the the the the the the order of
		

			the universe and our concept of,
		

			universe of god and human being is that
		

			we have to to to make a choice
		

			between the right path and the wrong path.
		

			So the first resistance is to resist our
		

			instincts, to resist our passion, and to come
		

			to the truth with knowledge. So it has
		

			to do with the choice of knowledge,
		

			as opposed to ignorance, and then it has
		

			to do with education,
		

			and then it has to do with reforming
		

			the self,
		

			in the name of this path, in the
		

			name of our faithfulness to the path. So
		

			there is no sharia
		

			as a path without jihad and resistance
		

			as the means for us to fulfill
		

			our
		

			responsibilities
		

			as human
		

			being. This is the starting point of the
		

			journey, and it would be wrong only to
		

			speak about resistance without understanding
		

			that it's a process
		

			within the path that we are trying to
		

			follow to start with god and to come
		

			close to him through our
		

			struggling for a better human being through education
		

			and a better society
		

			through resistance
		

			to what is wrong and what is bad.
		

			Inshallah, we'll carry on, and, we'll come back
		

			tomorrow.
		

			And for now, don't forget to tell the
		

			people you love that you love them. Life
		

			is fragile.