Voices of Islam (5 page)

The chapters in this volume are called
Voices of Tradition
because they not only introduce the reader to some of the most important traditions of Islam but also provide a glimpse of how Muslims engage tradition in their life and experience. The authors of these chapters originate or live in regions that span the world of global Islam: Afghanistan, East Africa, Egypt, Malaysia, South Asia, Turkey, and the United States. They are scholars, jurists, imams, government officials, community activists, and poets. All speak from years of experience with the traditions about which they write. Abu Madyan (d. 1198), one of the greatest teachers of the Sufi tradition of Islamic Spain and North Africa, said: ‘‘The Qur’an is a divine inspiration and a revelation, both of which remain until the Day of Judgment.’’
7
Each of the chapters in this volume details how the Word of God is manifested across time in the founda- tional and historical traditions of Islam. Abu Madyan also said: ‘‘The truth is on the tongues of the scholars of every generation, according to the needs of the people of their time.’’
8

Each of the chapters in this volume was written with two audiences in mind. The primary audience is the non-Muslim reader, who will use this vol- ume as a sourcebook for the traditions of Islam and for school assignments, background information, or general knowledge. However, another impor- tant audience for this volume is the Muslim reader, especially the young Mus- lim, who can use the information provided in these pages by internationally recognized Muslim scholars to present an alternate voice or even a corrective to the information that may be given in mosques and Islamic centers. Finally,

Introduction
xxiii

the voices of Islam in the present volume, as in the volumes that follow, pro- vide answers to two questions that have been often asked since September 11, 2001: Where are the Muslim voices that speak out against extremism? Where are the Muslim voices that speak for the traditions that made Islam a world religion and gave birth to a major civilization?

NOTES

1. Jaroslav Pelikan,
   The Vindication of Tradition: The 1983 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities
   (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1984), 65.
   

2. Jacques Ellul,
   The Subversion of Christianity
   , translated by Geoffrey W. Bromley (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986), 96, n. 3.
   

3. Pelikan,
   The Vindication of Tradition
   , 70.
   

4. See, for example, Wilfred Cantwell Smith,
   The Meaning and End of Religion
   

   (1962; repr., Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991), 80–82.
   

5. The idea of Islam as a system (Ar.
   nizam
   ) appears to have come from South Asia around the time of the Second World War. In 1943, Mawlana Hamid al-Ansari Ghazi used the term to refer to Islam as a political system. In 1942, the modernist reformer Abu al-‘Ala al-Mawdudi (d. 1979) used the Urdu term
   Islami nizam
   (Islamic system) in a speech about Islamic ideology. The concept was later popular- ized in the Arab world through the works of the Muslim Brotherhood activist Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966). Ibid, 274, n. 10.
   

6. On Sabti, see Vincent J. Cornell,
   Realm of the Saint: Power and Authority in Moroccan Sufism
   (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1998), 79–92.
   

7. Vincent J. Cornell,
   The Way of Abu Madyan: Doctrinal and Poetic Works of Aby Madyan Shu‘ayb ibn al-Husayn al-Ansari (509/1115-16— 594/1198)
   (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1996), 116.
   

8. Ibid., 118.

1
‌

M
IRACLE OF
S
OUND AT THE
K
A
‘
BA

•

Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore

What sounds are heard around God’s House?

First, utter silence, silence within silence. Then its echo,

more silent still.

A silence that sits deep under the Throne of God— all other silence surrounds it and

slowly turns.

Every other silence partakes of that silence. Silence in eyes, silence in tongues, silence in the

womb, the silence of death.

The Ka‘ba sits in the

shaft of that silence from the height of heaven, and generates silence.

Then, just around this great circle of silence the sound of an ocean, not of water or salt, but of human longing, aswirl with

sound, slow roar, slow-motion crash of surf, suspended animation of all

tremendous sounds in creation, the exhalation of giant beasts, outbreath of earth as God created caves and

sea depths and

seismic shifts.

2
Voices of Tradition

Then more distinctly,

articulating what shines through both silence and sound,

the Word of God,

that aural text that floats from the

Heart of Light into the hearts of mankind, tongue-tripped into articulate words, formed and

filled with breath,

flowing like the sea, but from sea-depths of meaning,

light to the eyes and sweet relief to the heart.

Then out from that circle,

the sound of all human speech, words of admonition, snatches of

conversation, starlight of

God’s Compassion sprinkled throughout it, Turkish bursts, Arabic stutter, a child’s distant cry, then roar again, sea-surf,

silence,

silence above all, and the twelve-dimensional

echo of that silence.

Then a phrase of Urdu, Afghani, Malay, low rumble of

Qur’an recitation, pauses, people looking around, metallic

clatter from far away, the

rhythmic supplications of a group of pilgrims circling God’s House.

Then the click sound of a microphone in sonic superspace turning on.

Then words enveloped by the Word, the Word enveloped in a roar,

the roar enveloped in silence,

the articulate silence of God, then the silence of silence.

Miracle of Sound at the Ka‘ba
3

Then the echo of that silence. Then the looking around.

NOTE

This poem fi appeared in Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore,
Mecca/Medina Time- warp.
Reprinted here from a Zilzal Press chapbook, by permission from the author.

2
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P
ILLARS OF
R
ELIGION AND
F
AITH

•

Karima Diane Alavi

Proclaim! (or Read!)

In the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, who created— Created the human being out of a clot of blood.

Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful— He who taught by the Pen—

Taught the human being that which he knew not.

(Qur’an 96:1–5)

Like many Muslims, I am often called upon to speak about Islam at churches, synagogues, and schools. Part of my job at a New Mexico Islamic educational center is to present workshops about our religion at schools and conferences. I enjoy meeting people from across the country, and many of my encounters have been poignant, like the time a Jewish boy reached into his pocket and handed me a bunch of half-melted M&M’s after my presentation on Ramadan. ‘‘I know you cannot eat these for lunch,’’ he whispered. ‘‘But once you’re done fasting today, you can have these for dessert and think of me.’’ Though I never ate one of those mashed-up candies, I often think of him.

With the increase of immigrant and U.S.-born Muslims in American com- munities, I have encountered both teachers and students who can list the Five Pillars of Islam with ease. They have studied them—in terms of what Muslims
do
—but most have not taken the next step, which is asking what Muslims
believe.
In other words, what are the reasons behind the Five Pillars, and are there other foundational beliefs within Islam that go beyond the pillars? How can non-Muslims avoid reducing their impression of Islam to these Five Pillars? This chapter not only covers the Five Pillars of Islam and the Articles of Faith but also touches upon other elements of Islam that are not considered pillars but are nonetheless essential aspects of a Muslim worldview and impor- tant criteria for living one’s life the way a pious Muslim should. These include things such as harboring a deep reverence for nature, reflecting on the signs of