A Balanced Nation

• This past week there was a conference held in St. Petersburg, Fl. that saw the coming together of figures that some would call “the other radicals”; because on one side of the Islamic continuum we have people like Usama Bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and others who are so radically conservative that if you don’t follow there version of Islam strictly, and to the letter, then you are an unbeliever;
• But this conference was being held, as I mentioned, with people who I will call the other radicals, like Ibn Warraq who wrote “Why I Am Not A Muslim”, Efshin Ellian – who on threat of execution, fled Iran in 1983, and finally someone we might all be familiar with because she is from Vancouver, Irshad Manji, the self described Lesbian who wrote the book “The Problem with Islam” where she didn’t have one salient point about Islam was to blame for anything, confusing the difference between the practices of Muslims and the teachings of Islam
• But we have to realized that the answer to people like Usama are not people like Ibn Warraq, because polarization gets an ummah nowhere; the answer is to look into the Qur’an and find verses like:

And that we made you a just nation, to be a witness onto mankind”

We have made you the best of nation created from mankind, enjoining good, forbidding evil, and believing in Allah

• And it is interesting to note that the first verse I mentioned above occurs in the longest sura of the Qur’an, talks about the middle way, and appears exactly in the middle of the sura, v. 143;
• The context of the verse is the changing of the Qibla for Muslims living in Medina from Jerusalem to Mecca, and in the midst of this confusion, Allah revealed these verses talking about strict obedience to Him and following the change, but also mentioning the middle way; thus the middle way is strict obedience to Allah but with moderation; unfortunately, people have the wrong idea of what moderation really means, because some say that moderation might mean praying some times, and not always, being Muslim but not practicing…. What moderation truly means is that you follow the obligatory in Islam and be moderate about the Sunnah and nawafil:

Do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately. . .Always adopt a middle, moderate, regular course, whereby you will reach your target (of Paradise)."

• So for the other radicals, and those leaning towards that way of thinking, my answer is that we must follow what Allah has made obligatory and we must not let go of them; and if you want to do just the minimum, that is fine, as long as you do them properly and sincerely; and obviously the biggest obligations are the 5 pillars of Islam and based on the hadith of the Prophet, if you just do them, you will enter paradise.

One time a Bedoien Arab came to the Prophet and held him and said that he was Muslim and he would only pray, fast, give zakat, and go on hajj….. and then he walked away. The Prophet is reported to have said that if he only did these sincerely, then he would enter paradise

• For those who are the radicals or lean towards that way of thinking, that think that they have a right to call anyone who doesn’t follow them an unbeliever whose blood is lawful, I remind them of a hadith of the Prophet where he mentions a group of Khawarij; after mentioning that they would be the ones that kill his nephew and son in law, he mentioned that they appear outwardly Muslim (in their practices), at night they stay awake reciting qur’an and praying, and when you (the sahabas) look at them, you will think yourself as deficient in your practices, because of their outward piety, BUT, the Prophet said, they are farther from Islam than when an arrow leaves it’s bow
• And I have heard many Muslims tell me that there is no way Usama could be a terrorist, just look at how much sakina he has, he looks so pious, and I remind them of the khawarij; may Allah protect us from being both khawarij and the other radicals, and adopt a way that is the middle way;
• So Brothers and Sisters, as mentioned earlier, within our lives we must always follow the middle course; staying far away from what is radical in either direction of the continuum; but if you look at what is the middle way from your own perspective or from the perspective of the mankind, the middle way becomes relative; but Allah has given us a middle way that is absolute, it is only for us to read about it in the Qur’an and follow it;

The Prophet said that Islam is like a horse when you are riding it, if you don’t hit enough, it will never go anywhere, but if you hit it too much, it will die and then also go nowhere

• The beauty of Islam is that it is the middle way; if we follow it, then Allah promises us that we will be a witness (example) to mankind and be the best nation:

And that we made you a just nation, to be a witness onto mankind”

We have made you the best of nation created from mankind, enjoining good, forbidding evil, and believing in Allah

• And Allah also mentions in the Qur’an that He has made Islam and easy religion and not meant for it to be a burden; so if you look at the teachings of Islam with the interpretation of the scholars, you will find that with very few exceptions, every one way, there is an easier alternate, but you have to follow one; so if you can’t pray 5 separate prayers, then combine dhuhr and asr, maghreb and isha; if you are too sick to fast, don’t and postpone it or give expiation;
• So for whatever injunction there is in the Qur’an and sunnah, Allah has made it easy; and different people and different strengths and weaknesses and we should know our own, what we excel at and what are our limitations; and so if you are a strong person, then you should do more than the obligatory; but for whatever reason if you are weak, then you should do the minimum; either way, if you do it with sincerity, Allah will reward you and allow you to reach Paradise
• Finally, in speaking about moderation and the radical extremes on both sides, it is important to note a sunnah of the Prophet, that he was always harder on himself than he was on others; and unless it was a revelation, he never imposed his feelings, likes and dislikes on others; i.e. the example of him not liking lizard meat; he attended a dinner where it was being served and all enjoyed it except him; a ruler would never stand for this and would likely have the meat thrown out and would be angry; the Prophet, on the other hand, although disliking it, took a bite of it, to make sure no one had the misunderstanding that he was forbidding it;
• Likewise, we have to be very careful about how we impose our beliefs and our views about Islam on others; and like the Prophet, for whom it was mandatory to wake up at night and pray tahajjud, maybe for you, you are strong enough to do this, but that doesn’t mean that you make people lesser because they don’t do it; it might be that Allah accepts their little good deeds and rejects your thousands;
• And the middle road when looking at the qur’an is to weigh all things in totality and then come to a conclusion; so in the case of fighting and war, we should balance that with what Allah says about peace and justice; for those verses that speak about how non-Muslims will never befriend you and how they are lost, we should balance it with those verses that speak about how even some of the people of the book will enter paradise because of their sincerity and obedience to Allah;
• So moderation is to choose the middle way, practice it sincerely, tell other people about it without imposition or excommunication, and pray to Allah that He accepts it from us; when we begin to do this, which is very hard in this era of polarization, then as a Muslim Nation, we will be a witness to mankind