Reviving the Individual.

Arshad Gamiet/Royal Holloway College/Univ. of London /UK. 30April99

from Khutbahbank.org.uk

Al hamdu lillahi rabbil ‘alameen. Was salaatu was salaamu ‘alaa ashrafil mursaleen. Sayidinaa wa nabi’na wamoulanaa Muhammadin wa’ala aalihee wa sahbihee wasallim.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters

Today’s khutbah is about reviving the Individual, so that we can become more effective as a community. It is based on an article by Khaled Is-haque, and was published in a magazine called "the Muslim" some years ago.

Individuals committed to serving Islam, are like building bricks fused together to form a solid wall. Each individual, like a brick, must be strong and capable of withstanding the loads and stresses that it is called upon to bear. Just as each brick must be fully burnt and purified in a kiln and pass certain minimum standards, so too an individual has to go through a process of training and development in order to be an effective ambassador of Islam. But what is involved in this construction of the individual? What has the individual got to do in order to prepare for this God-given role? These are fundamental questions – because, a pre- requisite to the revival of Muslim society is a revival of the individual or the self.

The starting point in this process is what the Qur'an calls the qalb – the human heart. Look at yourself and you will find inside you a whole universe - emotions, desires, urges, instincts - which motivate you from within. The qalb does not mean the pump which pushes blood around the body -- it means the centre or locus of the personality which is pumping motivations, desires and urges and which makes us do what we want to do. The Qur'an goes on to explain that this is the key to ourselves. Our success depends not on what we are physically, nor on what we do, but on what lies at the centre of our personality.

The Qur'án declares that

"Except the one who comes to Allah with a sound heart on the day of Judgement,"

no-one will be successful in the eyes of Alláh. Another hadíth of the Prophet - peace be upon him – says,:

"Beware, there is a piece of flesh in the human body. If it is right, then the whole body is right and sound; and if it is corrupted then the whole body is corrupted. Look, this is the 'heart'."

According to the Qur'an, the basis of corruption stems from within ourselves. The social institutions may be corrupt, there may be exploitation and abuse in the economic sphere and politics, but the basis of all these diseases lies inside our heart.

The Qur'an says 'The disease (is not somewhere in the body, it) is inside their heart."

What it is that stops man from seeing right and doing right, that turns him blind?

The Qur'an explains 'It is not the eyes which go blind but it is the heart inside you which goes blind."

This then is the basic starting point for any [Islamic] Movement, and any effort to improve human conditions. It should be our starting point. [It is] - to purify the heart and then summon it to the service of Alláh, through service to mankind, whether it be in a professional career, in government, in political institutions or in economic ventures. For us who are committed to Islam as a Movement and who are involved in the path of Jihad, attention should always remain riveted on keeping the heart - the centre of our personality - pure. Our whole attention must be focused on this continuous struggle. All the rites that have been prescribed by the Qur'an reach out to purify the deepest regions of our self.

The Qur'an states "It is not the flesh and blood that reaches Allah, it is the taqwa within your heart that finds acceptance. "

If the individual is the primary building brick of society, then the heart is its foundation within each man. The important question is therefore how should we set about preparing this most basic of building bricks. First we must understand that the 'heart' must submit totally and exclusively to its Creator. It cannot be compartmentalised - we cannot dedicate one piece of it to Allah, and another to some other god, like our wealth, our status, our career, our families and so on.

There is a beautiful verse in the Qur'an, which throws light on the absurdity of such a situation. It tells about some of the Mushrikin [those who associate partners with Alláh] who sacrifice animals and then say that one part of the animal is for Allah and another is for their other idols. Then it asks us to remember that whatever is assigned to Allah is also, in reality, assigned to the idols, because Allah does not accept something divided. He is One, indivisible, and wants us to be undivided in service to Him. So long as we remain divided within ourselves, so long as our heart lies in a hundred places, so long as our eyes are set in a hundred directions, so long as our destination is not one but many, we shall never be able to achieve that first condition for building a strong and pure Islamic personality.

innalláha wa malaaikata yusallúna alan nabi. Yá ay yuhal latheena ámanu sallú alayhi wasalli mú tas leema. Allahumma salli alá Muhammad, wa ala áli Muhammad, kama salayta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali Ibrahim. Allahumma barik ala Muhammad, kama barakta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali ibrahim. Fil ála meen, innaka hameedun majeed.