Tarek Elgawhary's Blog

Making Sense of Islam

All Saints Cathedral
Cairo, Egypt October 13, 2022

RELIGION IN THE MODERN WORLD
Were one to cast a glance back at the past two hundred years of human history, it would be hard to miss the growing gap between thought paradigms of traditional revealed religions and thought paradigms of the globalized modern world. Perhaps it is the rapid pace of the later, often compared with the unrushed pace of the former; or even still perhaps it is the notion that everything new is good and everything old is used that might inform such a judgement.

Whatever it is, this gap, at its core, ignores the very important fact that these ancient, traditional revealed religions are at the very foundation and core of modern civilization. In fact, I would go so far as to argue that without these religions and their traditional structures, no civilization can prosper nor last.

Traditional religion, which I define as a set of first principles associated with original revelation, unchanged or adulterated throughout time, contains within it the seeds of language, morality, law, culture, art, and all the things we associate with civilization. The deeper we look and examine the world around us, the more we will find these links and origins. And when these links are established, acknowledged, and respected, we recognize that what they give birth to represent, not the outdated nor the irrelevant, but rather the very best ideals of our civilizations. Ideals that we are willing to defend at all costs, even if it means giving them our last full measure of devotion. If the principles and ideals we claim to cherish are not connected to these first principles, they will easily buckle at the first onset of pressure and give way to other principles and ideals that are better argued and more firmly rooted.

To come back to the gap between paradigms, then, it would seem that there is not so much a gap between the two, but rather a misunderstanding and misplacement of where each belongs. Rather than see these paradigms as in conflict or opposed to one another or even unrelated, we should see them as concentric circles; the first principles of religion in the center moving slowly at their own velocity, but impacting other aspects of civilization connected to it, on circles further from the center, but still connected to the center, and appearing to move faster. In this example, then, we can see that not only is religion central to civilization, but first principles help us understand why certain things stick and why others do not; why certain policies or political decrees instigate revolution, and why others win the support of people.

Unfortunately, as essential as this lesson is, it remains elusive to many people in our society whom one would have hoped know this better than others. It is very common to find politicians, diplomats, and even university professors, all too ready to relegate religion to the category of the useless and the unimportant, or to the even more mysterious category of “not our concern.” They should heed the words of Gibbon who wrote, “The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful.” To which I would add, but they all considered it nonetheless.

While there is no doubt in the ancient world there were many who looked askance at these polytheistic religions, these traditions were part of the bedrock of ancient Roman society. They informed their philosophy, moral system, legal system, and governance. It was not until Constantine’s conversion followed by the persuasive force of Christianity that the old order gave way to the new, but this necessitated the collapse of one civilization to give birth to another one, backed by its new faith and own set of first principles. This same pattern can be found in every great civilization’s decline and collapse. It represents a universal truth, a first principle in its own right, and bears reflection and contemplation.

Those in the business of power who ignore religion, and the first principles that are attached to these religions, do so at their own peril. To not be concerned with the first principles that form one’s civilization, one’s society, one’s legal system, etc., is to not be concerned with the ultimate source of their own power, legitimacy, and authority. This lack of concern is often reflected in their inability to bring their people together, raise the level of national conversation, and restate, with appealing flare, the first principles that unite their nation in the first place. It is not necessarily the direct concern with the paraphernalia of religion that can do this, but rather with intimate knowledge of these first principles.

Perhaps President Lincoln may serve as a coherent example of the importance of paying attention to first principles.

Lincoln said in his second inaugural address, itself a historic feat since no national election had ever taken place during a civil war:

“What has occurred in this case must never recur in similar cases. Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good. Let us therefore study the incidents of this, as philosophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged.”

Commenting on these lines, novelist and historian Shelby Foote says, “[Jeferson] Davis could never match that music” and that “all Lincoln had said or written would be cherished as an imperishable legacy to the nation.”

FINDING FIRST PRINCIPLES
One might find citing Abraham Lincoln in this regard rather odd, for Lincoln was not a scholar of religion, a man of the cloth, nor was he even known for his personal inclinations towards faith. My point in using him as an example, however, is not an accident. Lincoln was able to do what no one else could at his time; unite the nation around the first principles upon which it was created, and in so doing give America a new birth of freedom. His carefully crafted words, particularly his two inaugural addresses as well as his Gettysburg address are forever enshrined in the canon of the English language as one of the most articulate and moving statements of democratic government.

What is it about people like Lincoln, Churchill, DeGualle, Umar Bin Khattab, Tariq bin Zayd, Sadat amongst many, many others who were successful in bringing their people together, winning against the odds, and charting a new path and trajectory for their nations? It was their understanding and use of first principles to tie the cause to what is dear and deep within their people. Now, in my example of Lincoln these first principles might be principles of government, or high politics, but they are first principles, nonetheless. In fact, many of these first principles themselves have origins in religion, and as I argued a few moments ago, it is these very central first principles that are at the heart of the concentric circles of civilization moving the other circles around it.

But to be able to do what these greats did, one first need be able to first find these first principles and to do so requires that one acquire the skills of archeology. One must be able to dig out from the world around them those clues and artifacts that lead to greater and deeper truths. One must recognize in the other concentric circles of civilization that appear to move at a much higher velocity than the slower moving center those very radii that emanate from the center penetrating each and every circle until the outer most limits of the entire sphere.

It is in this act, more than any, that most people of religion fail by becoming too attached to the paraphernalia of religion, which, at times, can mask the very principles they signify. Not that the practices and outward forms of religiosity are not important. Far be it from that. They are, in reality, essential for first principles are in need of an object, either physical or non-physical, to carry them forth. However, by stopping at the object, one can easily miss the origin and mistaken the former for the later thus sacrificing the later for the former.

To make sense of this, perhaps another example is warranted. If you think of the commodities that we consume we rarely consider their origin. We do not see the tea leaf, coffee bean, cotton plant, cacao tree. Instead, we see the brand of a product. However, the reality is that behind these brands are raw materials that are grown in specific environments, with specific conditions, and require specific practices to cultivate. This is the job of the farmer. However, the farmer is in need of a trader who will buy this raw material in bulk and sell it to a manufacturer who will in turn process this raw material, package it, market it and sell it to consumers.

Most people most of the time consume these products without thought, but there are a select group of connoisseurs of commodities, think of a coffee connoisseur, wine connoisseur, etc., who are in touch with the aforementioned supply chain and have developed a refined enough pallet to distinguish between pure substances and non-pure substances; between the very best and the very worse. They are considered experts, if you will, of that commodity and in the process of their procurement of the very best, they define for the rest of the market what is considered good or bad and upon this judgement comes the whole gambit and industry of the millions of products we consume almost every hour of every day.

And yet.

We rarely think of this example as it applies to ideas. However, the ideas we consume, the ideas that we base our opinions on, the ideas that inform the decisions we take, are really no different than the physical commodities we consume. They are taken from some origin as raw material and packaged every second of the day for us to consume as information, usually without filter.

For the archeologist in search of first principles, therefore, the task ahead is enormous as the entire job of the supply chain: farming, trading, manufacturing, marketing, etc., all falls on them.

To make the task easier, then, were one to turn to the first principles of religion, at least one would have certainty that these are the principles upon which all else is based.

I should say here, with regards to the West in particular, one would need to include within the scope of their archeological dig an understanding of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy along both the Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic lines as unlike Islam, the spread of Christianity in Europe did not entirely eliminate the pagan past, but rather the two coexisted in a semi-syncretic manner. And while this is simply a side point, it bears mentioning that this is perhaps why many people in the West ignore religion arguing that it has no practical relevance. What they are really stating is that they align with another set of first principles from another central circle that informs their civilization.

ISLAM RISING

So why Making Sense of Islam?

The current global Muslim population is approximately 1.9 billion, equating to just over a quarter of earth’s inhabitants. This number not only speaks to the rapid growth of the faith around the globe since WWII, but it also represents a statistical reality: within the next 30-50 years, Islam will surpass in numbers both Christianity and Hinduism as well as the nebulous and largely undefined category of “non-religious.”

The important thing about Islam’s global spread is not that it is on the cusp of becoming the dominant religion of mankind. what is important to keep in mind, however, is that as Islam becomes dominant in numbers, so too are the problems that Muslims face the dominant and largest problems consuming large amounts of the world’s resources.

Of the nearly 100 million worldwide refugees, both internationally and internally displaced peoples, the majority are Muslim. Of the major political and military conflict areas around the world, the nations where there are failed states, civil wars, unstable economies, the majority are Muslim. Of the global persecution and genocide of people, the majority of victims continue to be Muslim.

And if these problems are not addressed with swiftness and proper allocation of resources we are certain are at the disposal of global powers, if people persecuted are not granted freedom and afforded basic human rights, if the question of Jerusalem is not settled to ensure the protection of both Christian and Muslim holy sites as well as the dignity of the Palestinian people, if the genocide of the Uyghurs and Rohingya is not acknowledged, addressed, and solved with great expediency and justice, if the balance of global power is not checked to avoid the indiscriminate destruction of vast populations of Muslim majority regions, then these conflicts and struggles with their large numbers will represent a global catastrophe unparalleled in the annals of human history.

The issues of which I speak are not endemic of Islam or Muslims. Rather they are a confluence of factors, some natural and regional, but some also imposed from without. Whatever their origin, whatever their cause, the time for blame is long past. The truth is that in many instances it is almost impossible to redress the wrongs, and what matters most today is that these problems effect the entire world and can no longer be thought of as simply regional or isolated. Any and all efforts to mitigate them should be the concern of all, as it should be if the situation involved another people, another race, and another religion.

While some of these issues are of course the purvey of government, there is another aspect to this complex situation that informs the rhyme and reason behind the Making Sense of Islam platform.

Due to the disproportionate number of problems facing various Muslim populations globally, there is a tendency amongst Muslims to attach non-first principle-based solutions to legitimate grievances. It is far too easy to see the current state of affairs as a type of systemic oppression; a new crusade against Islam stoking the flames of hatred and violence.

In this fog of false interpretation, followed by and endless cycle of action-reaction, Muslims continue to create a parallel religion for themselves. A religion they call Islam, using the paraphernalia of Islam, yet absent of many of its first principles, frustrating their own advancement and liberation. It is here where the destructive force of extremism lives and breathes. It is upon these false narratives that our youth are recruited, sheep to the slaughter.

At the same time, many of the modernist Islamic solutions have also not worked because they too are false attempts at archeology. Instead of finding first principles and working on restating them, these solutions have largely been a lazy borrowing of the “other,” unvetted, unfiltered, and largely misappropriated.

Asking Muslims to simply adopt western democracy and western modes of secularism is no different than if Lincoln had asked the Confederacy to follow the hadith of “the hand of God is with the majority.”

Rather, one needs to invest the time and effort to make sense of Islam; to become an archeologist of ideas and help find the fossils of those first principles in the world around us that constitute the true rhyme and reason of Islamic civilization and breathe into them new life by rearticulating them with a rhetoric deserving of their status.

And it is to this aim that I have dedicated by work. To help my co-religionists; either in the Muslim majority world or in various Muslim minority communities scattered throughout the world. To help give them the needed tools to properly understand their predicament, to fight relentlessly overtly and covertly against extremism, to revive the first principles of Sufism, itself an integral and inseparable part of Islam. To teach Muslims how to contribute to their society, and to imbue them with a spirit that unlocks their creative power, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship. All of this based on the first principles of the Islamic tradition that consistently produced for over a millennium these very same results to the generations before us.

While the road ahead is long and the problems are many, I take comfort in the belief that nothing is impossible when one places their trust in the Almighty to which I say, inshaAllah.



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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

In the origin story of Japan, it is written that the sun goddess Amaterasu was once found hiding in a cave, refusing to come out. Avoiding the potential disaster of having no sunlight, no sun rise, and no sun set, the deity Ishikoridome placed a mirror at the cave’s entrance to distract her. Upon seeing this new shiny object, Amaterasu was intrigued and slowly emerged from the darkness following the shiny reflections in the mirror. When Amaterasu was ultimately sent by her family to rule over Japan (literally the land of the rising sun), she was given three objects to serve as a sign of her power and authority: the mirror symbolizing truth, a jewel symbolizing benevolence, and a sword symbolizing virtue. These three objects, collectively referred to as the Imperial Regalia of Japan, are considered the most sacred objects to the Japanese people and a sign of the both the legitimacy and continuity of the Chrysanthemum throne: the oldest, continually running monarchy on earth. These objects are so important to the Japanese people that they have never been seen, not even by the emperor himself! They are always presented at imperial coronations in boxes covered with beautiful Japanese silk as a sign of authority and Imperial rule. They are also kept in three different locations throughout the country to provide maximum protection. As long as these three objects exist and remain safe, so too is Japan her people.

Mirrors are peculiar objects and there is hardly a culture, civilization, or religion that does not have a story, myth, or legend about mirrors and reflections. In our modern culture, we are perhaps most familiar with the story of Snow White in which the evil queen asks her magic mirror every day, “mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” Since, like in the origin story of Japan, mirrors stand for wisdom as they only reflect the truth, the mirror one day informed her that Snow White was the fairest and thus ensued a tragic tale of arrogance and jealousy.

Mirrors are objects that are supposed to provide accurate reflections of what is placed in front of them. Whether beautiful or ugly: nice or bad, mirrors simply tell us the truth. Islam too has the same basic teaching, but instead of an actual mirror, Islam speaks of the moon as an object that reflects. Not just any moon, but more specifically the full moon which appears in the middle of each lunar month. The full moon shines bright in the night sky, but it is not its own light that it emits, but rather the light of the sun that it reflects down on earth. And since the full moon is in essence a mighty mirror for an even mightier star, Islam commonly refers its Prophet ﷺ as the full moon in the night sky, reflecting the Light, Beauty, and Mercy of God Almighty. In verse after verse, tradition after tradition, and poem after poem, Muslims are reminded that the Prophet of Islam ﷺ – who is referred to as the perfect person (al-insān al-kāmil)- reflects to us Divine Perfection and Beauty. One of the reasons the Prophet ﷺ can do this is because his mirror is polished, allowing him to perfectly reflect and transmit wisdom and truth. There are no blemishes or rust on his mirror. There are no cracks, or missing pieces. Rather, it is a perfectly intact mirror that perfectly reflects.

This teaching is linked to an even greater one and serves as Islam’s unique contribution to the age-old story of mirrors and reflections: that each one of us too have mirrors and we reflect in our speech and deeds that which is imprinted on our hearts. If the images of this world are our focus, this will manifest in what we say and what we do. If we are obsessed with the latest this and the latest that, this will show. If we are used to seeing and hearing about violence and hate, this will show. If we are into this and that, this will show too. The list goes on and on. Whatever we choose to let into our heart will reflect out truthfully, because like all mirrors, our hearts reflect what is presented to it. For this reason, the Arabs say that the tongue is the interpreter of the heart.

So, if we are surrounded daily by images, news, social media, advertisements that are not necessarily of our choosing, how can we clean our hearts to reflect better? To this point, the Prophet of Islam ﷺ said, “everything has a polish, and the polish of the hearts is the remembrance of God.” The reason Narcissus fell in love with himself when he saw his reflection in the water is because he was already in love with himself. Why else would he reject the advances of all those potential lovers? Yes, the reflection in the water was true and honest, for that is the nature of reflections, but his internal mirror was clouded to begin with, he just didn’t know it. What this tradition of the Prophet teaches us is that by countering the thousands of images imprinted on our hearts daily by the remembrance of what is ultimately good and true, we clean the rust, fix the cracks, and polish our inner mirror. The more we do that, the more we ourselves will stand for truth and honesty. The higher will be our moral character and the more virtuous we will become.

The Stoic philosopher Epictetus said, “you become what you give attention to.” The images that we allow to sit on our hearts turn out to be our true focus points. They are the motivations that drive us to do things we do and say the things we say. Accordingly, if we make the effort remember God and His Prophet ﷺ more frequently, these images will replace other images and therefore alter our focus. It’s not that complicated, just something we might not have been aware of before, yet hopefully now its urgency will be understood.

Japan’s sacred mirror is a fascinating story. For not only is it part of that great nation’s origin story, it also has had dramatic consequences in modern times. While we commonly attribute Japan’s surrender in WWII to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there is more to the story. As devastating and destructive as the bombings were, I would go as far as to say it was immoral, it was the fear of a land invasion by Emperor Hirohito that urged him to surrender. He would later reflect that he feared a land invasion would allow foreign forces to confiscate Japan’s sacred objects, including the mirror, and since it was his sworn duty to protect them and preserve them, he had no choice but to surrender. Here was an emperor surrendering his entire nation to preserve a mirror (the symbol of truth and wisdom to his people) he has never seen. What will you do to preserve and protect the mirror you carry inside you every day?!



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Towards Islamic Mindfulness

It was a perfect spring afternoon in Kyoto, Japan. The light rain of the morning subsided, and the sun began to shine through the droplets on the leaves and trees. I entered a local Buddhist temple with great anticipation as I was eager to meet one of the head monks to learn about Zen practices in mindfulness. We took our seats on comfortable cushions provided by the temple and the monk guided us through a meditation session. As I closed my eyes, settled my breath, and took in the sounds and smells of my surroundings, a great calm swelled inside me. I was at ease, happy, grateful, and most importantly completely content with the here and now. I don’t get many picturesque moments in my life, but that day was certainly one of them. It left a mark I carry till this day because it was at that temple and in conversation with the monk afterwards over a warm cup of matcha that a light of inspiration struck and from whence was born the Making Sense of Islam platform.

After about nearly an hour of fighting to tame my running thoughts, the monk asked us to draw our attention back to our breathes and prompted us to open our eyes slowly. He gave us all feedback on the way we were sitting and coached us through ways we could carry on as we journeyed back to our respective homes. He also gave some informed remarks about the mind, wandering thoughts, and asked us to retire in the next room for light refreshments.

I have always felt the need to settle my mind as it races throughout the day, and since I am a long-time student of the Dharmic faiths, I was used to the idea of meditation and mindfulness. I struck up a conversation with the English-speaking monk and he tried his best to make comparisons with the working knowledge he had of Islam. In our back and forth he introduced me to the Pali word “sati” and its Sanskrit counterpart “smrṭi,” both sharing a root meaning of to remember, to recollect, to bear in mind – as in the Vedic tradition of remembering Sacred texts. The first of a series of light bulbs went on for me as I shared with my interlocutor my own Sufi practices of dhikr and fikr (I will define these shortly) and he responded that he was familiar. However, he pointed out that the point of Zen practice is to empty the mind of all things and train it to settle and calm, not necessarily an overtly religious practice. A second light bulb went off.

At that time in my life, I was going through a lot of difficulties with one of my businesses and it was making me miserable. As a matter of fact, it was just a few days prior when I took the picturesque train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto that I came to the decision to cut ties with our main distributor as he was essentially killing the quality and price of our product. It was a bold step to take and came after months and months of struggle and hustle. In the thick of all that, I realized that I needed to find a way to take care of myself in order not to buckle to the pressure (it didn’t help that I was also in the middle of a lawsuit against a vendor who happened to rob me!). I looked at many models of mindfulness, especially those coming from the Buddhist tradition, but I was ultimately led back to my roots where I realized I had a toolkit for Islamic mindfulness all along.

I began reexamining my own spiritual practices as taught to me through my study and practice of Sufism. I started to realize that for me, and in the context of Islam, mindfulness is much larger than simply resting the mind, although that is an important part of it. For me, Islamic mindfulness is to be present and connected to both my beliefs and daily practices. It is to be aware and “mindful” of what I do, whether mundane and secular, spiritual or religious. To do these acts with purpose and appreciate the opportunity of having to do them. I also started to realize that- and I mean no offense to any specific practice, group, or persons – much of what I found by way of mindfulness practices were essentially commercial products taken from their original and native teachings and reworked for a wide market to help give people a quick high and keep them coming back for more. I, on the other hand, am interested in practices that are squarely within the Islamic paradigm and hope to develop tools that help Muslims achieve a level of mindfulness with their daily practice and beliefs, allowing them to thrive without crutches. I want Muslims to excel in both their spiritual & secular life by achieving a level of mindfulness that can link the two seamlessly. It is to this aim that Making Sense of Islam is dedicated.

Meditation, Remembrance, and KindnessMeditation (Fikr)

God constantly praises those who think and reflect on both the revelation of Islam (Quran and Hadith) as well as the world around them. In fact, Islamic scholars refer to one as the revelation that is written and the other as the revelation that is observed. Accordingly, meditation is the practice of linking what we observe, perceive, feel, experience to the first principles of Islam, i.e., revelation. One of the most famous lines of Arabic poetry is: “indeed in everything there is a sign pointing to His Oneness.” Our experience of life, therefore, is nothing but an experience of God’s creation; His manifestation (tajjalī) upon the created world through His Divine Attributes. In contemporary approaches to mindfulness where the focus is on settling the mind there is, in my opinion, a great loss of opportunity to use this settled mind to make these connections and appreciate them to their fulness, which leads to immense self-transformation. Settling the mind is essential, for without it we cannot make these links, but by not moving passed the settled mind, it will, by nature, find an object to cling to and if it is not the Divine, it will ultimately be the self. In this manner, mindfulness without faith and Prophetic guidance can turn into a practice that increases the ego and leads to arrogance or, and even worse, self-worship. Islamic mindfulness, therefore, is the precise practice of taking the major aspects of the world around us: the natural environment, our physical selves, our social interactions, etc., and training the mind to focus on them (one at a time in different sessions) and make the journey from observation to appreciation; from fear and heedlessness of the Divine to love and longing for Him.

As mentioned previously, there are numerous aspects that the practitioner can take as areas of focus. However, one of the most useful, especially for people starting for the first time, is to take one’s personal behavior as the focus of meditation. By focusing on one’s use of the five senses in addition to emotions they tend to experience and display, through a guided meditation practice one can gradually move from sinful acts to acts of piety; from feelings of guilt and fear to hope and relief; from frustration to relief; from tension to relaxation; from misery to lasting happiness.

As I mentioned at the outset, this is not a theoretical topic only. Rather, meditation is meant to be a daily practice that takes a little time out of one’s day and gives dividends multiple times over.

Remembrance (Dhikr)

Mediation is a wonderful tool that yields many, many gifts. It helps strengthen the mind and releases tension we hold throughout the days and weeks. However, these are also fruits that can be easily lost if they are not reinforced and constantly anchored deep within. For this reason, remembrance is an essential component of Islamic mindfulness. In the self-help world many people talk about the importance of incantations: the idea of constantly repeating a phrase or concept to oneself and by so doing have this concept seeded into the subconscious where it eventually points you in that direction night and day. In fact, this is a true concept and without doubts yields results. However, and like the modern practice of secular mindfulness, this approach misses another great opportunity. Islamic spirituality teaches us that the greatest journey is the journey within where real transformation takes place. The point of remembrance, and indeed the entirety of Islamic mindfulness, is to help each of us be the best versions of our selves. We are not focused just on our worldly life, but more importantly self-transformation. Secular incantations operate on the horizontal plane: you repeat worldly things you want to attract to your own sphere to eventually achieve them. However, at the end you are fundamentally the same within. Remembrance works on the vertical plane to help you unlock your hidden potential. Part of this is not to approach remembrance as a transactional tool. We don’t want to get into the mindset that we are invoking God’s name or the Prophet’s name (God bless him and give him peace) because we want something from this world in return. The purpose of remembrance, as stated, is to help each of us in our journey within and by so doing help us all achieve a higher level of mindfulness throughout our daily lives.

The practice of remembrance is typically done through morning and evening litanies: Quranic and Prophetic prayers that are recited day-in and day-out and incorporated into one’s daily routine. The more dedicated and consistent one is in reciting these litanies, the greater chance they will have a transformative effect. They also become one’s “self-talk” when the going gets tough and help settle the heart in difficult times. For this reason, God says in the Quran, “verily by the remembrance of God is the heart settled (13:28).” A settled and sound heart is the key to a mindfulness life and a source of salvation in the hereafter: “except those who come to God with a sound heart (26:89.”

Kindness (Rifq)

There are two hadith traditions that explain kindness. The first is called “the first hadith” as it is the first tradition a student hears from any teacher. The Prophet (God bless him and give him peace) said, “the merciful ones receive mercy from the Merciful One. Show mercy to everything and everyone on earth and you shall be shone Mercy from the One in the heavens (narrated by Tirmidhi).” The second is, “kindness is not introduced into something except it beautifies it, and it is not removed from something except it ruins it (narrated by Muslim).” These serve as the pillars for understanding the importance of kindness as a key practice to Islamic mindfulness. In verse after verse, tradition after tradition the Prophet (God bless him and give him peace) is referred to as the merciful one, a merciful gift, only sent as a mercy for all mankind, etc. These two traditions, therefore, underscore one of Islam’s greatest first principles which is that everything we do and say should be through the lens of kindness and mercy.

We often harm ourselves and others through what we say and do. Unfortunately, being mean, rude, harsh, and curt are not illegal. In fact, in some manifestations of our modern culture these qualities are praised as essential qualities to get ahead and succeed in the game of life. How many biographies have we read of the wealthy and famous, people society hails as the lucky ones who made it, only to find that on a personal level they were utterly miserable human beings? For many, it is almost impossible to conceive of success without some sort of scandal, controversy, abuse, meanness, and total selfishness. However, this need not be the case for kindness and mercy are not qualities that hamper development and success. Rather, they are qualities that are essential to lead a good life and succeed.

Part of the Islamic practice of kindness is to practice kindness first to oneself. The Arabs have a famous saying, “one who does not have a quality cannot give it.” If you are not kind to yourself, if kindness is not a core value and trait, as the hadith we began with state, the rest of your character will eventually be flawed. In addition, you will not be able to practice kindness and mercy towards others. The deep work-the hard work-is for us to begin within and start to practice kindness to ourselves. This begins with an audit of where we are vis-à-vis kindness and mercy towards our physical health, our social health, and our emotional health. Within each of these is a corresponding kindness practice associated with it that helps us move from destructive behavior to kindness, love, and mercy. To help in this regard, we look at God’s Divine Names of Beauty, for example: Mercy, Compassion, Love, Kindness, Subtleness, Forgiveness, etc., to determine how we manifest and demonstrate these qualities in our own lives. By first mastering the self, only then can we begin to live a life of kindness and mercy to others.

The Path Forward

This simple overview of Islamic mindfulness is the main reason I created Making Sense of Islam. First, to help myself in my personal and professional life. Second, as tools and practices to pass on to others who seek the same benefit. However, and this is an important concluding thought, the tools, courses, and practices I develop in the space of Islamic mindfulness will not be very effective if there is no basic understanding of Islam as a religion, paradigm, and civilization. It is for this reason that much of what I do on the platform is offer courses that increase one’s literacy of Islam in many of its various facets. If we don’t all share the same first principles, it will be very difficult to live a mindful life.

Well, this is just a sketch, the beginning of the beginning, and I can’t wait to share with you all these tools and practices in the coming months and years, online and in person. I hope to see you all on this exciting journey!

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7 Keys to a 20 Year Marriage

When I got married on June 23, 2001, I had no idea or concept that my marriage could/would last for twenty years (alhamdulilah!). Of course, I didn’t get married with the thought that it would end, I just never actively conceptualized what 20 years of marriage would look like. And now that I am about to celebrate this unbelievably awesome milestone with the love of my life, I want to pass on to you some of the lessons that helped make our marriage last and keeps the love and passion burning bright.

FIRST, I got married at the age of 22 (and my wife, well let’s just say she was younger than me!), which many would consider relatively young. However, because I had the approval of my family and my wife’s family, there were always multiple layers of support, especially in the early years. This support was essential to helping us start our life together. Yes, we were on our own, but we are not alone. We had family around us that wanted us to succeed and gave us the distance we needed to do that but at the same time were always there to help if and when we needed it. I know that at the time of my marriage my parents did not agree 100% with my decision since I was young, but this did not stop them from throwing 100% of their support to make sure we thrived.

TWO, my wife and I talked about our first principles when we first start talking about marriage. We made sure that there was 100% alignment on the important, meta-issues, and this meant that we had the same view of religion and faith. For us, Islam is the most essential aspect of our lives; both public and private. This means that no matter how difficult things get, we always manage to find our way back to each other because we know deep down inside, we share the same set of values. First principles are essential as everything flows from them. Sharing a life with someone who doesn’t share your principles is nearly impossible.

THREE, we always have clear and constant communication. Despite the many challenges we face together and individually, we are always able to speak and listen to one another. It’s also important to realize that communication is not limited to words, and you need to learn how your spouse communicates through other means. I admit, this took me some time, but it’s one of the most fundamental components to a successful marriage.

FOUR, each spouse has to have their own life. While marriage makes you both a unit, you can’t dissolve the individual identity of each person. As long as you respects one another and no one is engaging in the immoral or haram, each spouse needs to find their own way, own hobbies, own individual life.  This will help you thrive and grow as a couple. You learn to empower one another and cherish in seeing each other grow.

FIVE, never go to sleep angry! Yes, this means there are some nights you don’t sleep, but addressing problems right away is the best way to deal with them and not let them grow. When you go to bed angry, you send a subconscious message that I am ok with this problem and it’s not big enough to inconvenience myself over. This can be dangerous in a relationship. Not necessarily in the beginning, but as time goes on.

SIX, date night is essential. I admit that this is not always possible, especially with children and other distractions like quarantine, but it is fundamental to make time for one another. You don’t want the essential bonds that brought you together to dissolve in the distractions of day-to-day life. It is important to make time for one another, for the sake of one another. These small outings will become an oasis of happiness and refreshment. Don’t over think date night. I’m not talking about elaborate outings, although these are important and fun to plan, but it’s also the simple ones that matter.

SEVEN. You need to check your self (nafs)). Our self/ego gets the better of us all the time and we find out that most of our problems are that “I” want something, that “I” placed my needs ahead of someone else’s.  You can’t thrive in a relationship if you are thinking about “I” and “me”, rather you need think about “we”, and to do that you have to be able to know when your nafs is acting up. Sacrifice your nafs, not your partner; check yourself and humble it, don’t dissolve your union because you are selfish.

There are many, many more lessons that I plan to share soon, but these are the top ones that have worked for us. Remember that it takes a lot of effort to make a relationship thrive and keep going. It’s important that you seek advice and adapt so that you too can experience the joy of love for years, and years to come!

 

 

 

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Islamology and the Making of Fake Islam, Part 4: The Political Activist

A citizen of a Western republic or commonwealth nation is familiar with the concept of having their voice count. From a young age it is ingrained into us that without having our voices heard, our rights will be trampled upon and that we have a civic obligation to vote and actively participate in the political process. This type of rhetoric might be even more common if, like me, you are part of a minority community. However, this concept is not 100% accurate. In fact, it’s a common misconception that Westerners, both minorities and majorities alike, have regarding their government. Our individual voices really don’t count for much because there are existing political superstructures that control the political process. Maybe our voices can count within these superstructures if they are numerous enough. However, to get to that point you have to compromise so much that by the time you have a critical mass of voices within an existing superstructure, your individual opinion is lost in the new majority. If you don’t believe me, read this Princeton study that demonstrates that the Unites States is no longer, by definition, a democracy. The renowned British strategist B.H. Lidell perhaps said it best when we wrote in Why Don’t We Learn from History:

we learn from history that democracy has commonly put a premium on conventionality. By its nature, it prefers those who keep step with the slowest march of thought and frowns on those who may disturb the ‘conspiracy for mutual inefficiency.’ Thereby, this system of government tends to result in the triumph of mediocrity, and entails the exclusion of first-rate ability if this is combined with honesty. Ut the alternative to it, despotism, almost inevitable means the triumph of stupidity. And of the two evils, the former is less.

While it is certainty part of our civic responsibility to be involved with our elected government, it will only be effective if we are realistic about what it is we are actually getting involved with. In other words, what are those superstructures and paradigms that really control the political game, the nation, and ultimately policy. For many Muslims in the West, the superstructure they engage in is the liberal left. Amongst many things, this superstructure and paradigm claims to stand for diversity (which is not true), and therefore, our involvement with them is as a “Muslim minority” so that they can continue to claim that they are the party of the many, the spirit of the nation, etc. This rhetoric moves certain Muslims so much that they actually join this superstructure in the name of Islam, not realizing that by so doing, however, they have already compromised their identity and diluted their beliefs. Now that they have converted to this new civicism, they turn their energies upon the Muslim community hoping to recruit others to their cause. In so doing, they represent another type of Islamologist, the Muslim political activist.

Compromise & Paradox

Regarding actual participation in a republic, Machiavelli writes, “in all republics, in whatever way organized, positions of authority cannot be reached by even forty or fifty citizens.” The political activist Islamologist, however, is completely blind to this fact and lays prey on innocent Muslims, usually those of a voting age, and seeks to convince them of the obligation to join the liberal-left political superstructure (or whatever superstructure they belong to). This obligation is framed with the common misconception of “your voice counts”, “if you don’t get involved, they will never hear us”, “we have to be part of the system to make a difference”, etc. And to make this obligation palpable to Muslims, arguments are wrapped in Islamic messaging; precisely the moment when their Islamology is on true display. To convince Muslims to join their new political cause, they misquote, partially quote, and even manipulate primary sources (Quran and Hadith). The verses in the Quran of shura are a reference to republican democracy, hadiths of mercy serve as a justification for policies against discrimination, Quranic injunctions to “enjoin the good and forbid the evil” are seen as injunctions to elect our guy not the other, hadiths of speaking truth to power become the fuel for the cancel culture, etc., etc., etc. However, by attempting to link Islam to broad and completely undefined concepts such as justice, liberty, equality, and democracy, the political activist Islamologist mismatches the use of one paradigm’s concept for another’s. Without doubt there is a place in Islam to discuss these concepts; these are essential first principles the Sharia advocates for. However, these concepts have different meanings as used by the political superstructure than what they mean in an Islamic context. The biggest difference is that political superstructures use these terms to drive home a very specific policy agenda that is an extension of worldly power; Islam’s agenda is submission to God irrespective of worldly power. Sure, some of the soundbites from particular political superstructures appeal to Muslim ears. Who would disagree with statements such as, “freedom for all”, “no discrimination”, “black lives matter”, etc. Yet, these slogans must be pinned to their paradigmatic origin for a true assessment to be made. It is for this reason that I am against the use of any form of religion (any religion, not just Islam) in partisan/low politics. Since the political activist Islamologist has thrown themselves completely into the realm of low politics, they are constantly substituting essential parts of Islam for civicism. They wrap this new pseudo religion in Islamic garb, but it is simply not Islam. In so doing, they present a great paradox: they want Muslims to get involved in low politics, but in order to convince them, they have to alter parts of Islam to fit into the greater political superstructure to which they now belong. The reason this is the case is that by definition political superstructures are not interested in religion qua religion. Rather, they are interested in organized groups that can add to their base of voters. Therefore, they work to make these groups feel comfortable and heard. Herein lies the comprise; herein lies the paradox.

Comedy

In his Poetics, Aristotle writes, “as for comedy, it is an imitation of men worse than the average; worse, however, not as regards any and every sport of fault, but only as regards one particular kind, the ridiculous, which is a species of the ugly.” In this regard, the Muslim political activist is the most comical of all the Islamologists. The Islam that they present is so far removed from true Islam, its imitation so grotesque, it belongs, not in a classical Greek comedy, but in a Monty Python skit. While the other types of Islamologists I discussed in this series take time to learn and create some sort of thought paradigm, even if flawed, the political activist Islamologist has one the most superficial understandings of Islam’s first principles. Their paradigm is, perhaps unbeknownst to them, the paradigm of the political superstructure they have sold themselves to. Want to become politically involved, fine, but please don’t make it in the name of Islam and sully that which, by definition, is elevated.

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Advice for all Seasons by Sayyid Muhammad Siddiq al-Ghumari (d. 1354/1936)

Have constant awareness (taqwa) in public and private.
Stay away from actions that cause the Divine to withhold blessings upon us; asking for Divine assistance without preparation is like traveling without packing.
Monitor every breath you take and protect all your senses.
Be content with what is present and be patient with what has gone.
Honor all your promises.
Increase your prayers.
Stop overthinking and overplanning for the future.
Practice not choosing and rely on what God has planned and chosen for you.
Follow the Sunna and the ways of the Imams.
Be like the person who strives for God and increase your presence at the gatherings of the pious.
Be constantly in a state of reflection and remembrance.
Have a lot of knowledge, great character, and show compassion to others.
Let your laughter be in smiles and your questions a means of seeking knowledge.
Give advice to those who are heedless and teach the ignorant.
Don’t harm those who harm you.
Don’t involve yourself in matters that don’t concern you.
Don’t be happy in seeing others in calamity.
Don’t pollute your tongue with back-biting.
Be honest in your speech, free from ignorance, and don’t fall into grey matters.
Be a father to orphans.
Outwardly show your happiness and let your sadness be internal.
Be concerned with yourself, don’t spread other people’s secrets and don’t breach other people’s privacy.
Be often in a state of worship.
Ask God for increase always.
Be silent often.
Be patient with people who harm you and forgive them.
Have mercy towards the young and honor the old.
Be worthy of carrying a trust.
Be far from treachery.
Be patient with calamities.
Be one who requires a little, but gives a lot.
Pray a lot.
Fast often.
Let your pious actions be frequent.
Lower your gaze frequently.
Have few sins, but many good deeds.
Be honorable and polite with the Saints.
Your speech should be the speech of the wise.
Your glance should be one of deep introspection.
Let your moments of anger be few.
Do not expose the controversies of others.
Do not envy others.
Ask God for the greatest of what you ask.
Dedicate your physical life and body to the development the world, but attach your soul to the grave.
Wear the clothes of the humble.
Do not have any desire for excesses.
Your reliance should always be with God.

Peace.

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Islamology and the Making of Fake Islam, Part 3: The Untrained

God does not take knowledge from people, but rather takes scholars so that people will only find the unlearned and untrained and take them as leaders. When these are asked for guidance, they dispense it without knowledge and are therefore misguided and lead others to misguidance.
Prophet Muhammad (Bukhari & Muslim)

Of all the types of Islamologists that I will cover in this series, this type is perhaps the most numerous, making their damage the greatest and most threatening. The danger of the untrained person is not in the lack of training and study. In fact, many of them have undergone a degree of training. The danger, rather, is that their training is not complete and comprehensive. They know a little about a little, and since they were touched by the experience of learning, even if incomplete, they mistake this feeling with a notion that they can handle most things thrown their way. Specialists in the Islamic sciences are few, especially in the English-speaking world, and it is easy for these untrained Islamologists to parade themselves as the real McCoy and be taken by the general population as experts (this is essentially a lengthy restating of the hadith quoted above).

The feeling of learning something and experiencing enlightenment can be highly intoxicating. After all, none other than Aristotle wrote in his Poetics, “to be learning something is the greatest of pleasures not only to the philosophers, but also to the rest of mankind.” This same sentiment is echoed in the famous statement of Imam al-Junayd of Baghdad (d. 297/910) who said, “if kings knew the knowledge and enlightenment we had, they would fight us for it.” Of course, Imam Junayd’s statement means something entirely different than the feeling of the untrained Islamologist. The point, however, is that knowledge comes with intoxication and is in need of proper guidance. All Islamic disciplines have levels of approach: beginning-intermediate-advanced, through which students must journey in order to be licensed to teach, speak, and write on these subjects. The untrained are united in the fact that they simply did not do this and therefore are left with the feeling of intoxication; drunk on the rush of endorphins without being able to properly use this to their benefit or the benefit of others. This type of Islamologist is similar to previous ones because their understanding of Islam is reductive and simple, this will become clear shortly.

Where do they come from?

The untrained Islamologist unfortunately comes from every and any group and at any time. They could be the fanatic Shia who is oblivious of the nearly 100 years of Sunni-Shia reconciliation currently ongoing, or the suburbanite who attends a onetime weekend Maghrib Institute program becoming indoctrinated in neo-Wahhabi thought and doing takfir of their parents and local community, or a Sufi poser who attends a mawlid celebration by a leading Sufi dā‘ī (public preacher) and now wants to force the public celebration of a particular version of the mawlid at each mosque they attend, or even the students of the western academic Islamologists (perhaps the worst kind of creature known to man) who is asked by their local Sunday school to teach young adults “Islam” only to slowly march these poor young souls outside of Islam altogether by way of their doubt-based-Islam. These are not simply abstract examples, but real ones I have come across and had the displeasure of interacting with.

I am sure these types of untrained Islamologists have existed at every time in the past, but their impact was limited. Today untrained Islamologists are aided by technology to broadcast their fake Islam to a wide audience. We celebrate technology as it liberates us from the chokehold of so many “middlemen” and gatekeepers that destroy and deplete our precious resources. In category after category this has been a godsend. Yet, in the category of education it doesn’t always work. While technology allows us to circumvent the academy, not necessarily a bad thing as oftentimes the academy is the source of problems (see Islamologist part 1), in the case of classical Islamic studies, the circumventing of the academy poses a great danger. It reduces all thought claims within Islam to their lower common denominator allowing them all to compete on seemingly equal grounds. The fact remains, however, that there is a correct Islam and an incorrect Islam. These thought claims are not equal by any means, and by circumventing the traditional route of beginner-intermediate-advanced-license, they lose the ability to hone their skills and knowledge base.

How you can tell someone is an untrained Islamologist

The overarching character trait of the untrained Islamologist is that they do not know how they know what they claim to know. They cannot produce a simple epistemological tree to the notions they propagate and therefore are nothing more than a bad imitation of someone/something else. Mind you that this is true whether what they call to is bad, like neo-Wahhabis and extremists, or good, like the poser Sufi. The fact remains that they are imitating someone else; copying someone else’s arguments; promoting someone else’s platform and thought paradigm.

Imitation on its own is not necessarily bad. Art seeks to imitate certain ideals and communicate them to a wide audience. The difference here is that the untrained Islamologist is unaware of what they are doing and therefore they do not have a discerning mind (something I write about in my Core Principles). Rather, they have a lazy mind and are easily taken with overstatements, exclusivism, and fanaticism for their cause.

Another aspect of the untrained Islamologist is that they tend to judge things by their exterior and focus intensely on that. The Wahhabi/Salafi and the poser Sufi are united in this trait. The reduction of their claims is to impose a specific exterior on their prey. The only real difference is that one is actually from the Sunna (the poser Sufi) and the other is a form of neo-kharijism. Yet, they are reductive and dangerous, nonetheless.

The damage they create

By listening to untrained Islamologists and taking them as leaders, a community puts itself in great jeopardy. Their ignorance is compounded and spreads, like an infection or virus, from person to person. Their half-baked ideas become the new common denominator dragging the level of discourse lower and lower to the point where Muslims start arguing and debating actual fundamentals and established truths of Islam. This is why Muslims today can be found debating essentials like the veracity of the hadith literature itself, legal consensus (ijmā’), the infallibility of the Prophet (God bless him and give him peace), etc.

Like the previous two types of Islamologists I discuss, the greatest damage of the untrained is that they create a fake Islam; a partial copy that is so distorted the original can hardly be observed. They are pawns in someone else’s game and despite the truth claims they bring forth, their lack of true understanding of the origins of these claims makes their hold on them emotional, not rational; feeling based, not scholarly and academic. They do not know if/how these positions can change with time, place, circumstance, and people and therefore present an ossified Islam that will eventually be seen by the majority as a fossil of the past, nothing that can actually inspire faith, beauty, and art.

The solution? Simply take Islam from those who know and can show you how and why they know!

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Six Books that Introduce Islam

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I am asked a lot about what the best books are to read about Islam. To be honest, this question is a lot harder than it might seem to answer. People have different interests and what might be good for one, is not necessarily good for another. That being said, I do make an effort to make recommendations that I feel offer a fair 360-degree view of the tradition.

These are the six books I often recommend and a few sentences on why I think they are important:

1. A Thinking Person’s Guide to Islam by HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad

This is a newer book that addresses Islam through a series of questions. The author is a member of the Jordanian Royal Family and a double PhD holder from Cambridge and al-Azhar. The newer editions have a supplemental section dealing with plurality in Islam as well as the problem of ISIS. This book is written in clear English for a Western audience.

2. Revelation: The Story of Muhammad by Meraj Mohiuddin

This is a very approachable biography of Prophet Muhamad (God bless him and give him peace). It is based completely on secondary sources and the author is not a trained Islamic scholar. While I would usually consider this a great weakness, in this particular case, these are two of its strengths. The book is very approachable for the layperson and has been vetted by scholars for accuracy.

3. The Vision of Islam by Murata & Chittick

This was one of the most impactful books on Islam I read as an undergraduate student. It is essentially a commentary on the hadith of Gabrieln(see my Core Principle Articles) and explains what Islam-Iman-Ihsan are. There are a few sections that are not 100% accurate, but these are so minor given the great spread of the book that I continue to recommend it.

4. Introduction to Islamic Creed by Ibrahim al-Bajuri

This is a simple book of Sunni creed that is standard at al-Azhar Seminary and explains simply what Muslims believe. The reason I include this book is that this serves as a standard in English to Sunni orthodoxy. Some of the passages of The Vision of Islam can be corrected by this book of creed.

5. Al-Ghazali’s Forty Principles of the Religion by Imam al-Ghazali

One of Imam Ghazali’s greatest books and a summary of his magnum opus The Revival of the Religious Sciences. This an in depth look at the major principles that form Islamic thought and practice by one of Islam’s most celebrated and trusted scholars.

6. The Great Exegesis: al-Tafsir al-Kabir: The Fatiha by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi

This book is extremely dense and not bedside reading. The reason I include it is that this is what a commentary of the Quran should look and read like. Imam al-Razi is one of Islam’s most scholastic and prolific scholars. I seldom recommend people start learning about Islam by reading the Quran as this could lead to great misunderstanding and confusion. By looking at this commentary on the very first chapter of the Quran, readers are introduced to how Muslims approach their holy book for guidance.

Other Resources

Unfortunately, not everyone is a reader. In the case that books aren’t what people are looking for I typically recommend the following two:

1. Muhammad Legacy of a Prophet (Movie)

This movie is well done and available for free online. This is a wonderful introduction to Islam’s most central figure, our beloved Prophet (God bless him and give him peace).

2. Making Sense of Islam Podcast-Principles of Islam Series

I typically don’t self-promote, but one of the reason’s I started my podcast is to give people bitesize information about Islam in a simple English. Specially, the 25 episodes I dedicate to first principles is a great, short introduction to Islam for those who prefer to listen rather than watch or read.

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40 Acts of Paradise

‘Abdallah Bin ‘Amr Bin ‘Āṣ said that he heard the Messenger of God (God bless him and give him peace) say, “There are forty acts, the best of which is giving food, if any are done seeking their reward and believing in their promise, God will grant them Paradise by this act.” (Bukhari).

Shaykh ‘Abdullah Bin Siddīq al-Ghumārī (d. 1993) wrote a small book enumerating these forty acts and finding all the supporting hadith for them. I took the liberty of distilling this book in the following list, finding the appropriate modern English equivalent of the Prophetic expressions so as to make these acts easy to do and incorporate in our day-to-day life. I also recorded short videos explaining them all for my local mosque. You can find the playlist to these videos here.

The 40 Acts of Paradise:

 

Feeding people in need and without remunerationRemoving a harmful object from the roadFeeding and watering animalsVisiting the sickBefriending and visiting someone only for the sake of GodBelief in God and the Final HourGiving when you have littleEnjoying the good and forbidding the evilHelping those with disabilitiesHeling the misfortunateReturning a salam greetingResponding with blessings to the one who sneezesResponding to an invitationFollowing a funeral processionBeginning a salam greetingGiving sound adviceRemoving harm from the mosqueSmiling in the face of your brother/sisterGuiding someone who is lostHelping someone with poor eyesightForbidding the evilWatering your brother’s/sister’s water bucketHelping someone who is hard of hearingGuiding the blindHelping someone who has lost somethingHelping someone who is weakHelping someone with their means of transportationReconciling between two people in conflictSpeaking a good wordHelping someone who does not know how to communicate or does not know a particular languageGiving someone water who is thirstyHelping someone draw water from a well with a short rope, while yours is long enoughDonating shoe or sandal laces to someone in need of themComforting someone who is lonelyFlexibility in buying and sellingFlexibility in matters of adjudicating casesBeing patient with one who is short on repaying a debtBeing flexible when one has the majority of a debt, but missing only a littleConcealing the mistakes of a believerConsoling a believer’s loss

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Traveling to Japan

How I Turned a Simple Trip Into a Long-Term Relationship

About two years ago, an opportunity to travel to Japan emerged from some of the consultancy work I do. Since my approach to preventing violence and extremism is unique and effective (I hope to share something about this soon), and since my background in comparative religions is well known amongst the people I work for and with, there was interest for me to travel and meet with Japanese religious leaders, especially Muslims, and share information and lessons learned. It was supposed to be a simple, straightforward trip, and from a business point of view it was. However, even though I travel frequently, at that point I had never been to Japan, and since this seemed like a onetime opportunity, I decided to make the most of it. What follows is how I took this simple opportunity and developed it into a long-term, fruitful relationship that will forever be a part of me.

Background Research

While I was a graduate student at the George Washington University, I was fortunate to study the Dharmic faiths (Hinduism-Buddhism-Jainism-Sikhism) and the Eastern faiths (Confucianism-Taoism-Shinto) with brilliant professors, particularly Professor Hebbar. Since the way my mind works is to understand people by understanding their religious-ethical-cultural background, I phoned him and asked to meet. I explained to him that I had this opportunity and wanted a crash course refresher on the history of religion in Japan. We sat at a local Starbucks for a few of hours as he explained to me the history of religion/thought/culture in Japan. Below are some images from his awesome tutorial. This was so helpful, that I made sure to take this notebook with me on my trip to refer back to specific dates and personalities. I now had a framework of how religion in Japan worked. I had key names, personalities, dates, and religious movements as mileposts to help me build information around.

Some of Professor Hebbar’s notes (yes, I still have them!)

Reading List

Next, I reached out to people I trust and who have some experience with Japan to ask for book recommendations (again, along my interests in religion and culture). While I got more books than I had originally wanted or needed, here are the ones I ended up reading prior to my first trip.

Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel (short)Zen and Japanese Culture by Daisetz Suzuki (long)Shinto: The Kami Way by Sokyo Ono (short)Common Ground Between Islam and Buddhism by Reza Shah Kazemi (medium)The Book of Five Rings trans by Thomas Cleary (short)Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa (long)

These yielded a few more books I ended up reading after my first trip and before my second:

Embracing Defeat by John Dower (long)Shinto: A History by Helen Hardcare (long)The Kojiki trans by Basil Hall Chamberlain (long)

These books gave me an immense amount of grounding in understanding Japan, its history, people, religion, and culture. Coupled with the framework professor Hebbar gave me, prior to my trip I not only had proper background information, I had already started making links in my mind with Islam that would become extremely useful in my upcoming presentations and speeches. In other words I already started using this information in my own thinking.

Mapping Out My Goals

I had specific business goals, that part was easy to articulate and always the first thing I make sure I’m clear about. However, since I had invested several months of preparation, I had personal goals as well: specific things I wanted to see and/or do:

1. Since I am a student of religion, it was very important for me to see as many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples as possible. Not just to tour them, but to interact with the priests and monks and connect on a deep level.

2. I wanted to see some of the major Japanese bookstores to get a sense of what is read in Japan, especially on religion.

3. I was and continue to be fascinated by the Japanese tea ceremony so participating in one was key.

4. I had to see at least one antique store that sells original samurai swords.

By having these goals clear, and yes some may seem silly, but to me they were important, I was able to research locations, store names, tea ceremony timings and prices, etc. This meant that I was prepared and super focused. I was determined to maximize all my time, leaving nothing to waste.

The result was that I got see about 30 shrines and temples in three cities, I visited and took tons of pictures of the major Japanese bookstores in Tokyo. My translators helped make this experience time efficient. I participated in an actual tea ceremony, which left a deep, deep impression on me, and not only did I get to see actual samurai swords, but one store owner was kind enough to let me hold one that was 500 years old!

Collecting Material

Throughout my trip I made sure that every day I collected and saved everything I got: maps, business cards, tourism brochures, restaurant details, etc. Nothing was too insignificant or trivial. These items helped in my follow up, especially since I took hundreds of pictures (including pictures of stores and with restaurant owners) while I was there. I was able to pair the items with the images to help me remember my trip in vivid details afterwards. This helped when I shared the trip with my family, but it also helped in my follow-ups and in preparing for future trips.

Since many of my meetings were with religious leaders, I received about 50 books and brochures by the end of my trip. Yes, many of them were in Japanese, but many were equally in English and, ironically, Arabic. By the end of my trip I gained so many things that I had to get a box and ship them home. This was surprisingly cheaper than purchasing a suitcase and paying excess luggage at the airport.

The box with most of the things I collected on my first trip

How Did My Preparation Help?

First of all, I wasn’t clueless when I arrived. I had a basic understanding of how things were going to present themselves. I wasn’t caught off guard, I didn’t embarrass my self with my hosts, and most importantly, I communicated a high level of respect. My preparation gave me deep appreciation for the Japanese people, religion, culture, and history. Since I started with this perspective, all my presentations and lectures were well attended, extremely impactful, and highly relevant. I think I even influenced the local Japanese Muslim community and helped them see past the simple binary Muslim/non-Muslim dichotomy that tends to verge on disrespect. I appeared to be so well informed that at one point, when I was with a senior government leader (very senior), and someone asked a question about Japanese history, he confirmed his answer with me!

Trip Follow Up

When I returned home after my first trip, I made sure that I followed up with everyone I met. I also included everyone in my weekly Friday Ruminations, which they all continue to receive until this day! There were some missing research items I needed from my first trip so colleagues sent them to me, and in return when some of my new friends traveled to the Middle East for a business trip, I flew over from D.C. just to be with them and return the hospitality. The bottom line is that the basis of mutual respect was so deep that this trip generated friendships for life and open lines of communications.

Continued Learning

Preparing for any trip is an absolute for me. Even if it’s to a place I frequent, like Cairo. However, with Japan specifically, my normal preparation turned into something else. I ended up falling in love with Japan. It’s now a part of me. I continue to read more and more about it and my learning deepens. This even started to impact my thinking. For example, I learned a lot from how pre-modern Japanese scholars interpreted the Kojiki, which is the origin story of the Japanese people and Shinto tradition. This got me thinking of Islamic hermeneutics and different approaches the ‘ulamā’ have towards interpreting the Quran and Sunna. It is a profound experience to be able to learn deeply from another civilization and improve your understanding of your own. It’s so beautiful that it’s hard to communicate in writing; you can only experience it. I am reminded that the Prophet (God bless him and give him peace) said, “Wisdom is the lost property of the believer. Wherever they find it, they have a right to it.” (Tirmidhi) This proved true for me on my journey to Japan!

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