Dear friends welcome. This is the first social-religious lecture which I will deliver at the “Throni” foundation. Each Monday beginning from 20.00 we shall have a lecture which shall last approximately thirty minutes, and afterwards for fifteen minutes we will encounter a discussion. Primarily our discussions will be of a religious nature which shall encompass our social life in general. Most of you personally know me, I am one of those persons who perceive religion as an element of the everyday life, one of those people who believe that we ought to have breathed religion and not to leave it in the abstract sphere, either to respect it or not to respect it at all and not to encounter it in our lives and thereupon life would take certain corresponding terns. Henceforth we are seeking to deliver lectures which shall actively manifest religion in our lives. InshaAllah (God willing) God grant us health.
The lectures might appear foreign and alienated to the community where we live. Participation is free for both women and men, perhaps this is the first time but the other times you can inform others as well. These lectures shall not be typical lectures as those preached at mosques; I want to be clear with this. Those who wish to pursue classical teachings can share their stay at the mosque, the lectures here, as I said, shall resemble religion as a synthesis of the body’s and soul’s construct. I believe that it is best for us to follow the arrangement of the Qur’an, for the best order and the system according to beliefs on man’s life, such as ourselves, is the Qur’an. Thus in our lectures we shall follow the order of the Qur’an. In the mosque, I have begun my interpretations on the Qur’an from the Al-Fatihah Surah, whereas with you here I intent to begin from Surah An-Nas hither Al-Fatihah and God willing we cease the moment of the accomplished interpretation of the Qur’an.
Let me infer with another matter, which I believe it beholds importance. My religious standpoint, is a non-imposing viewpoint. To me religion is a satisfaction which ought to be experienced, thus as such we ought to strive to remember and dwell the religious element. As I indicated at the beginning, the lectures shall be thirty minutes and principally I shall be the lecturer. If I will be unavailable several of my friends which seek this fruit of religion, on the Qur’an and God such as: Hysein ef. Rizai, Qani ef. Nesimi, Selver ef. Xhemaili or another guest speaker will replace me.
One of the most crucial matters for man on this worldly life is to know, and be acquainted with the purpose of life. The aim of science, art, philosophy, and recreation is that through these establishments man should come to question and bring himself forth arguments asking the question: why does he exist? Why is he here?
As from the positivist evolutionist worldview of Darwin, man (homo-sapiens, or man as monkey) from the moment he reached the human dimension, he has seen himself in one surrounding and has wished to acquaint himself with the surrounding and with himself. As a result he has asked himself: who am I? Why am I here? What communication shall I have with the surrounding which I share? The situation is quite similar for us adherents, the Muslims, and for those believers of the Christian and Hebrew religion.
The first man, Adam, when he descended onto earth, I do say descend onto earth for the Qur’anic verse follows as: “Go down, [all of you]” (Surah Al-Baqarah, verse: 2:36). The mentioned word of descend, reflects a linguistic metaphor. The Heavens upon, from which Adam descended is neither from above or beneath, but it resembles a place which consists of higher values and a place with lower values from that place: from Heavens onto this worldly place, and henceforth the following had been said to Adam: “Go down, [all of you]”, while that place was inhabited by two persons only, it was Adam and Hawwa, it was not referred to a descend of a crowd. Yet in the personality of Adam and Hawwa, God the Almighty is referring to the entire humankind: “descend onto it, all of you altogether”. Subsequently to this question, Adam instinctively asks a question that he is descending upon a place of which he has no knowledge whatsoever. Almighty Allah turns to him, (you do not worry), “And when guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance – there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve (Surah Al-Baqarah , verse: 2:38), this verse reveals that man’s bliss in this world is in the nonexistence of fear and depression. The term Hawwf, when is being translated in other languages it attains the translated form with limited linguistic meanings. Whereas this term in Arabic does not refer to fear, as could one be afraid or scared from a bear, a wolf or malicious people, but rather it refers to a spiritual distress. The contemporary man clearly understands what a spiritual distress means. To have a spiritual distress means to share all material supplements, yet anew not to be willing to eat. Despite a nourished table, one still does not want to reach for food. This is the construct of a spiritual distress. Allah the Almighty vows by saying that those who shall follow his guidance shall not undergo any spiritual distress on this worldly world or the other, in every possible sense (Surah: Al Baqarah, verse 2:38). Henceforth the guidance for the believers is the Qur’an, it is this book which stands open before us and which endlessly seeks from us to be its attendances, not for the book nor for God, but in order to systemize and bring order to man’s life.
In our surrounding, people mainly come from a Muslim background, thus the feeling of living life without any religion whatsoever is more than foreign to us. Perhaps we are not the perfect example of practicing our religious instructions, perhaps we do not prostrate on namaz five times a day, but our hearts are never left forgotten in remembrance of God, since our hearts under no circumstance and no occasion can pronounce the words that there is no God, henceforth it is vivid to the heart, that what it means to be with faith, and it cannot comprehend being without faith, in other words being without any reliance. The ones who do not believe, are well aware of this spiritual distress. Schopenhauer (German philosopher) who is among the founders of Agnostics’ and Atheism, which nowadays even among journalists, politicians, scholars here among us, brings forth the agnostic viewpoint over metaphysics. Agnostics’ is the opposite of Gnostics’, which means not to accept as true a matter which one cannot comprehend and acquaint through the human senses. Whereas Gnostics’ means to accept as existential even the slightest matter which one experiences in the intuit. Schopenhauer is one of the primary agnostics. In the last days of his life he mentions the words: “God….God….God…” and one of his consanguine persons asks: “Is there God for you as well Schopenhauer?” the man replies: “For me, there was always God, but I have kept God divorced from myself and thus continuously in my life have I experienced woe, and woe has transformed into the philosophy of my life.” In other words, to be without God means to live life in woe, thus one of the highest moments in one’s life can be those spend under the shadow of God, or living under the shadow of God’s word, the shadow of the Qur’an. We here discuss the religious dimension of Islam, for we are mostly interested in that, yet life without religion is an issue of both Christianity and Jews encountering all other religious worldviews. In the representation of religion, the ones who are nonreligious and amid existence of life without religion, the ones who bring forth a life without religion are not the only ones to blame, the one who confess to be “bodyguards” , protecting religion without anyone granting them such right, are also to blame. The Almighty Allah and the Prophet (PBUH) seeks from each one of us to educate our existence in the breath of religion, it does not proclaim anywhere that one who is alone uneducated, can have the right to educate others. Whereas the shaytan (devil,) for his centric priority has the deviation of man from the righteous path; to preoccupy man with other people’s matters. You might have noticed how in the course of prostration, when one undertakes to pray he / she then preoccupies himself / herself with talking about others.
Religion is a crucial dimensions in educating the person, yet foremost in the pleasant experience of religion within the person, precisely to this, these lectures which we are going to deliver here, shall mainly be coded with the code hither acquaintance of oneself, which shall be driven hither how to experience the pleasure of religion, and afterwards, after we have experienced this pleasure, then – I do not know perhaps some of you here, the ones who want to be rich, who have read The Hill recognize the following saying: “the persons who have ambition to become rich, have several thoughts arising from an energy-platform, which fly into thin air and as they are flying they come across with the ambition of other people who have already had these thoughts and are now rich” . In such way, perhaps one or two times they will fail but the third time or the fourth, one reaches to be rich – it is when this positive energy of people becomes a consisted element of the body of the person, grows to be a building brick of his character, emits a positive energy, and that positive energy is thus ceased by other people. Yet if the person himself does not have peace with himself, there is slight serendipity he will be able to help others.
The primary element proclaims for one to educate himself in the frame of religion and the sacred revelation. Allah the Almighty has revealed the book in order to designate the right path for the one ones upon whom the humane dimension seeks to reign (Al-Baqarah Verse: 2). In a number of occasions this term has been used previously as well, people have thought that those who are not religious cannot be rich. Instead they have presupposed that those who are not religious can be rich, can become scholars, politicians, presidents, and there is no problem with this thought, but can they really be happy? Religion is the essential component of attaining happiness, and man’s final prospect on this life is meeting God, deity to God, prostration before God. All other things which are part of our everyday life, which are obligatory to the Muslims, do not seek to divorce him from the social life, instead it is asked from man to take part in all social activities, yet those social activities must come second, the primary purpose is satisfying and doing what Allah the Almighty wants. When satisfaction from the Allah Almighty becomes the ultimate goal, then man shall accomplish all activities in such fashion that will generate and bring him joy. At this point even if the person is a politician, politics shall bring him comfort, when the person is a scholar, knowledge shall give him satisfaction, when the person is wealthy, that shall give him fulfillment and even if man belongs to a certain social class, that shall bring him satisfaction. On the occasion when man’s goal is not obtaining Almighty Allah’s satisfaction, all of the above shall only serve to generate spiritual distress, for the second endeavors have replaced the primary ones. This is similar to when one is hungry, and instead the person eats sweets. Albeit the sweets being delicious, it disturbs the stomach, since foremost it is necessary to eat what is primary then the sweets.
The faqirah, knows a number of people who get consulted on various matters, people of various ages both older and younger, which when one sees them one might conclude that they are the happiest people on the world. When these human characters approach us for consulting one particular problem they share, and to the ones of us who do not share the same wealth, the social status, this problems seems a very secondary one, an easy matter, but a problem certainly very turbulent to the one undergoing it, an issue venturing to distract them from the realistic tracks of this life. Henceforth, it is important to live by the teachings of the Qur’an. In order for one to mutually coexist in the teachings of the Qur’an, several things are important to have in mind.
The essential element is that, in ourselves we ought to know that religion, the Qur’an, God, the Prophet (PBUH) are important for our lives. If we believe otherwise and regard them as unimportant, then we are found astray from the ultimate purpose.
When we believe and hold them for important, we think of the extent to which they are important? How shall we decide whether they are important? Do they behold value like the English Language!!! The English language is important for our children, but also for the grownups. The parents send their children to learn and study the English language, for we are assured that the English language is important, and once we send them to study that language we seek for the best available teacher to teach that language.
It should be important as when we want to build a house and find the best architect. It ought to be important as when we get ill and seek for the best doctor. If it is this important, then even for the religious matters we ought to seek for the person who shall best convey religion to us, and serve as our guidance.
Oftentimes people are lost and they do not know who to believe, one claims one thing and another person claims another thing. All persons who are preoccupied with secondary matters, division appears as a coexisting tool. In primary constituents there exists no separation. Secondary matters cannot situate man as a devotional being, the primary matters instead make one pious, resultantly namaz – prayer, zaqah, fasting, faith, the good deed-making, and the choice to separate from what is forfeited, are those very primary constituents and it is these which establish man as devotional. Above all it is important to give priority to religion and to know from whom to seek this element in our lives. If we know from whom to seek it, we have no problem finding the right person from whom we shall learn or be acquainted with religion.
The second matter, is for us not to feel obligated to explain religion to others, instead we ought to be the ones to clarify religion to ourselves first, to experience the religious satisfaction within ourselves, and to learn from religion as much as we can practice that knowledge in our lives.
When the Qur’anic verses descended to the Prophet (PBUH), he invited his companions and told them that today these verses descended by Allah the Almighty. You might know that the Qur’an descended not altogether at one time, it descended for 23 years in different occasions depending on the occurrences which the Prophet (PBUH) confronted, and in such fashion Allah the Almighty descended the verses. When the as’habs had come to the Prophet (PBUH), the latter had began to read the verses, once he had read 3-4 verses, the as’habs had turned to him: “ Ya Rasulallah, could we please stop here for today? We will take these verses and practice them in our lives and afterward we shall come to you to take more verses.” These lectures which we will deliver here, are not typical lectures where we shall only be acquainted with religion. The ones of you who wish to study theology we will orient them and register them in the Faculty of Theology and they can study religion there, inasmuch we seek the experience of religion and these lectures have to do with experiencing religion, and not with learning on the knowledge of religion. I am saying this since there are people like Montgomery Watt (an English Orientalist) who are better introduced to religion than me, but are not Muslims. We show interest in people who shall learn of matters by which they shall better deity Allah the Almighty.
The third important matter beholding importance is that religion ought to bolster us to grow stronger, to become more successful within our profession. Persons who shall study religion, but who shall grow weaker in their profession are not needed to God, also the ones who shall strive to be accomplished Muslims and who yet in their profession shall not be successful are not needed to God. Alija Izetbegovic, may he be in peace, would say this very clever saying: “ All other religions are religions, but Islam is a way of life, a system of life.”
In the course of our namaz – praying, we can prostrate to God hundreds of times, but if one breath ventures to escape without God, we are not believes and throughout this moment when I am lecturing we ought to be sincere in our hearts and contain the direct connection with God. Even the trader at this store before affixing his trade with the client must first assign the link with Allah the Almighty, as well as when a professor is giving a lecture the connection with God is settled and thus these persons cannot commit any injustice for they take responsibility before God and not because he is responsible before the sphere of jurisdiction. Thus, inferring that there is a connection through the moral norms.
I shall give you one example with a student: One day in the course of the lecture one students speaks to me about religion, I only heard him and I didn’t comment anything, I heard what he had to say and I told him he had well read on religious literature, and once we entered in the exam I asked him about Plato and not the religious divergences, since the subject was The Philosophy of Art and not Apologetics. When I asked Plato, he returned an empty paper. I called him and told him, that he speaks to me about religion and now returns the paper without writing a single word and he would still ask to pass the class, not only he was trying to bribe but moreover he was making me a briber. My point was to make clear to him that in this moment religious means for the student to study this subject and this is very important for religion.
If religion is an authentic platform or absolute deity on Allah the Almighty, if we comprehend religion as such, then we must understand that religion shall be a generator which shall make us successful in our lives. I could never accept that one Muslim or one entire Muslim society would correctly practice religion, would show off to other how to live their life, and yet on the international sphere would to arrive last, this is not logical, it is a paradox. We cannot claim that Muslims have the best religion when we interpret religion as incomprehensible for others.
There are a number of such cases, and do you know why? Since those of us who are “bodyguards” of God, we do not decompose religion to the sphere and the society which we share, as I said at the beginning, we assign religion a place at the highest rank and we greatly respect it but we do not socialize it into our lives, thereupon we have not made it comprehensible, realistic, practical and pragmatic for our lives.
As a conclusion I shall tell one story told by Imam Al-Ghazali. Imam Al-Ghazali is one scholar of the XI century, a man characterized as the dean of Islamic theology and philosophy.
In one of his works he brings forth this occurrence: There was one time a king who had visited an agricultural province and several villages and he noticed that the people didn’t harvest the soil as it should have been done. He then ordered his agricultural experts to prepare one regulation as a basis in order for people to harvest the soil to generate more production. The inhabitants of these regions heard and followed the dictum and they left it on the shelves, the people ordered for one man to keep clean from dust the regulation, they wrapped it into ten alluring cloths. After some time, when the king arrived to see what they had done, he saw that the harvesting fields were in a worse state than before, since nothing had been harvested. He gathered the leaders of the communities and said to them: what have you done?
They had replied: Our majesty, we have showed our respect to your word of law, we have kept it clean, and we have enveloped it with a cloth. Can you guess what the king did? He put in prison each one of them. Why? Since the respect of the king’s word is not in keeping clean his word of law and leaving it in shelves.
The same things takes place with the Qur’an if we only leave it amid our shelves and if we are pretentious about being good Muslims despite that the Qur’an and Islam are good, God should seek our place in Hell, alike the king put in prison the community leaders. Inasmuch the point is that this word of law / the Qur’an to be a composing element of our lives. In order for it to become a composing element of our lives, fundamental knowledge from the platform of the Qur’an is inevitable and moreover we need a person whom we shall pursue regarding the religious constitution.
Thank you.
