There is no one word in western languages that gives the full meaning
of “Al – Wadud”, and even explanations don’t do it justice, even
though the West claims its knowledge to be superior and looks down
disdainfully on every religious experience. And this Holy Name, the
meaning of which cannot even be adequately expressed in advanced
western languages, is the most suitable “Dhikr”, the most suitable of
all the Divine Names to repeat and meditate upon for people who see
themselves as superior beings and as being above normal standards.
“Love”, it is certainly not a concept that western culture is unfamiliar
with, and undoubtedly most people lay claim to loving and being
loved, to knowing the meaning of love, and to it being an important
aspect of their lives, indeed the most important. But the love we refer
to in connection with the Divine Name “Al-Wadud” is not the
physical transitory love that is rapidly becoming the only meaning of
love applicable to modern man : the love that one may find in the
zoo. If you can’t imagine a love other than what is on the level of
animals, then you belong in the zoo.
There is a real love, never changing, never dying love; and then there
is temporary animal love. Both are in man through the wisdom of the
Creator, but the permanent love is the love given to man through the
Divine Name “Al-Wadud”. To realize that love is the challenge and
fulfillment of human existence – to come in contact with those Love
Oceans, for He has given His Divine Love most abundantly to His
most honored representatives in creation, mankind.
You may love a young lady for her youth, and when that youth
departs you love her no more. That is false love. Sometimes we may
have both kinds of love simultaneously, but usually the physical
overpowers the spiritual, so that it is never allowed to appear. But to
reach the ultimate goal of human life we are in need of permanent
love, and it is only the Lord of the Universe who can grant it.
Therefore, when we say “Ya-Wadud” we are opening ourselves up to
that Divine Love, asking our Lord to awaken that love that knows no
limitation, that is eternal and extends to all creation. I have been
ordered to teach and advise people to call on our Lord, saying: “Ya-
Wadud”, as this will enable the sincere to attain real love of their Lord
Almighty and to love everything around themselves. We must learn
to love everything for the sake of the love the Creator has for all His
creation. And we are in utmost need to pray for such love, as,
although it is the essence of all success in the way of spiritual purification,
it has become almost extinct in our times. Therefore, suffering,
disturbances, struggle, crises and chaos are continually on the rise.
What passes for human love nowadays is indeed a very far cry from
real human love. Mostly, people cling to it for two or three months
then throw it away. You are saying: “Oh my goddess”, and she is
saying: “Oh my god”, but look in again on them two or three months
later and see what is left of that “true devotion” and “deep emotion”.
That is the greatest cause of wretchedness in our times. For this
reason I don’t refer to this century as a civilized one. Rather, the
twentieth century is witnessing the destruction of civilization, and
every minute violence and misery are increasing.
A society may be termed “civilized” when it provides the surrounding
in which people may easily reach to the point of extending their
permanent love to everyone. One shouldn’t be so proud of being a
part of “Twentieth Century Civilization”, for I really don’t consider
such a violent and sick society to be civilized, and when I come here I
feel my hair standing on end from what I see. Such wildness! No
familiarity! Everyone looking so suspiciously to each other!
When I say this, people may be offended and put on the defensive,
and may ask: “If you feel such feelings here then why do you come?
Why do you come if you don’t like the Western World?” Yes, people
may ask.
A physician may visit a hospital or a mental institution, but
he is going there in order to do his job, in order to be of benefit to the
patients interned in those institutions. I have been trained to heal
spiritual ailments from a side and with methods not known in these
countries, and so I have been sent by spiritual centers to look after the
Western countries, and if even one person should benefit, we have
profited.
Every little improvement in the spiritual health of western society is a
relief for the whole world, as throughout the world Nations have
abandoned their cultures and are following the West. Therefore, the
diseases of the West are rapidly becoming our diseases, and so, we
hope, improvement in the spiritual climate of the West will lead to
our improvement as well.
Because of this acute situation in our times we must, first and
foremost, seek to awaken permanent love. Practices, prayers and rules
are of no use in this time without love. For people whose hearts have
not regained contact with such love the ego easily attaches itself to
practices and uses them as a means to pin empty titles onto itself.
Leave every practice that serves your vanity and strive for permanent
love.
Where shall we start? Every person has a circle of friends, relations,
acquaintances. Starting from those closest to us: wives and husbands,
parents and children, brothers and sisters, we must be generous in
giving of our permanent love. How can we consider a person who
cannot make peace with those nearest to ‘him as civilized? If we could
approach the level of permanent love that befits us the world’s courts
would have to be closed down from a lack of suits : no complaining,
no divorce, no wretchedness, no struggle.
Giving of our permanent love is the most important practice for our
time. No one can say: “I am not in need of practicing it,” neither the
speaker nor the listeners. Don’t tell me that so-and-so is on such-andsuch
a level when he is tightfisted with permanent love, withholding
it even from those with whom he is most intimate.
The lower self of man, the selfish ego, never wants to give permanent
love except to himself. I don’t believe that such petty self-love is all we
have been created for, I believe that we have been created to love all
creation. Man represents his Lord on Earth and has the greatest
reservoir of Divine Love within him; he can be a great means of
expression for that Divine Love in this world, indeed a fountain of
love that every creature may drink from.
I have not spoken to you from a prepared text, but have opened up
just a little from these Oceans in accordance with your spiritual
thirst.
Delving further into the theories and precepts of modern ‘American Islam’ and its fundamental list of principles and beliefs, we begin to see a list of beliefs concentrating and culminating on ‘ilm’.
3 ) Since Islam is a filter of good and bad, one needs to obtain ‘ilm’ (religious knowledge) in order to learn how to behave. Studying ‘ilm’ is paramount in Islam, and most ‘ilm’ is in Arabic.
4 ) What is taught by people in classes at seminars and ‘events’ is a translation and summarization of what is considered ‘ilm’.
5 ) Your status is defined by how much of this seminar-event-based ‘ilm’ you know.
6 ) Your source of English-’ilm’ is infinitely better than other peoples source of English-’ilm’.
7 ) If you learn Arabic yourself you will one day know exactly without a doubt that #6 is true.
8 ) ‘Ilm’ can be expensive.
As earlier stated, Suburban Capitalist Islam is inherently an American cultural product. What most Muslims in the West experience as the Islamic message is actually American culture filtered through certain Islamic injunctions. Under this paradigm, Muslims are able to argue day in and day out over details as to which particular filters/knowledge/’ilm’ they should apply in their lives, while ignoring the overarching logical breakdown and inconsistency between their belief system and their actual lifestyle, filled with TV, video games and shopping.
Since it is a fundamental aspect of the ‘modern Muslim ideal’ that life remains ‘Islamic’ as long as one abstains from certain aspects of Western society (drinking, gambling, clubbing), there is a psychological gap that needs to be filled. What are these cultural concepts replaced with? What are the youth to do with themselves while they are struggling in being ardent abstainers from these aspects of Western society? Surely, Islam must provide some alternative?
Largely this gap has been filled with the pursuit of ‘knowledge’. The message has been that through knowledge you are empowered to controlling your own Islamic future. While knowledge has been important to Muslims since the time of the Holy Prophet (S), it is only now that we see studying being associated so directly with piety and spiritual progress. ‘Knowledge’ has been set up as this idealized form of certainty and conviction. The more knowledge you get/purchase/sit in, the more everything about Islam makes sense, the more easier it becomes to justify the abstaining from the few ‘bad’ things surrounding us and also rationalizing our largely Western lifestyle as being halaal. And doesn’t everyone want self-justification and doesn’t everyone desire for it all to make sense?
If one notices, every one of the points that are held by Suburban Capitalist Muslims regarding knowledge are relating to the self. Self-esteem, self-certainty, self-motivation. On the other hand, historically, knowledge such as this was thrust onto people by their parents, curriculum, or just osmosis from the culture which surrounded them. There used to be very little ‘self’ to think about when it came to learning *facts* about the religion. This allowed the ego to be removed from the equation when it came to applying such facts.
The consequence? People were as proud of their ‘tajweed’ as today’s college graduates are of their basic pronunciation of English. In other words, it was hardly given a second thought, it was just done.
In fact, the entire realm of knowledge that institutes sell today was largely that which was taught to children. From Tajweed, to the Arabic language, the sunnahs of wudu, only a few really sincere people were studying these subjects well into adulthood in times of Islamic Empire, and if they did so, they were studying intricate details and they did it under guidance and permission of high teachers. But now the masses are doing so, through their own decisions, with a variety of levels of sincerity and ego.
American Muslims, proud in their knowledge, seem to actually be stamping ‘infantile’ on our foreheads.
Most of these ilm-sessions are set up as the Islamic equivalent to very secular self-help seminars. This cultural stand-in has allowed for competing institutes and community programs to emerge, each giving their own message of specific information-based knowledge. And it should be carefully noted that what is being peddled is information-based knowledge versus knowledge of the self or other forms of tacit knowledge which was how much of Islam was implemented in Muslim lifestyles.
It is also interesting to note that although they technically compete on the ‘message’ they deliver (with some specific differences on where they place their feet in ritual prayer or on what type of functions they allow in their Masjids), the lifestyle the people reach under varying programs is quite similar.
A primary consequence of this Western approach towards Islam is the productization of ‘Ilm’, religious knowledge. What does Western society bring if not the concept of marketing? Catchy slogans, professional videos ads, hype-machines and superstar personalities have been built up to bring ‘Islamic knowledge’ into our lives. No one could deny, if given the opportunity , ‘American Muslim Institutes’ would be clamoring for some sort of witty ad selling their wares during Superbowl commercials.
Frankly, if given the opportunity, they would want their own team and hijab-laden cheerleaders.
In this way ‘modern ilm’ has begun to have more in common with Doritos than the sacred, sober and ecstatic people that claimed it a hundred years ago. Since we are customers of ‘ilm’, it needs to be made appealing and worthwhile to us. We are the consumer so we dictate what we want to hear. And therefore we are largely changing the messages to suit what meets our needs. Controlling student egos is hard to do when they are paying the bills and the goal is trying to fill up the hall as much as possible.
Years ago, the Saudi government launched into a secret psy-war with Italy and dismantled the Vatican from within. Catholics remain in a state of disarray, interestingly enough, some remain unaware anything occurred and others actually enjoy the current state of affairs.
The Saudis know that to disconnect the Catholics from their past allows them to introduce a much better and improved system, and wherever possible they use Catholic fear and guilt against their own traditions. After years of bombarding the Vatican with fast food and new fashions, most of the residents had decided to abandon traditional flowing garbs and headgear in favor of blue jeans and messy hair style gels. McDonald’s has already become one of the fastest growing franchises in the holy city. Large hotel buildings are being constructed in the Vatican to house ever more wealthy religious pilgrims, while destroying historically and religiously significant buildings under the fear of introducing a Quadrinity.
This first level of change began at the local level where Sunday Mass began to be led by each individual of the congregation. Random excerpts from poorly translated Latin rites were read by the “Doctors and Engineers” of the community. After the authority of the leading of service and speech was brought to such people, every individual was clamoring for the position. What these professionals were really after was the opportunity to speak their mind to the congregation, and very quickly a system involving Board of Trustees and Presidents took over little Churches from Mexico to the Vatican City itself.
After actual decision making power of Church funds had moved into the hands of these opportunistic wealthy professionals, they allowed successful speakers trained by Tony Robbins himself to become favorites guest speakers. The service went from what had been a process of self-reflective and symbolic thought and an air of reverence, to what brought that immediate self-help-feel-good aura. Actual practice of ones faith has become largely something that depends on ones wealth, since they fund the famous ‘speakers’ and this provides them A-list access.
While Priests had been stripped of the authority bestowed by their lifetime of study in the material, ‘community leaders‘ have stepped up and assumed their role. Holding vast conferences, opening up blogs, and broadcasting from afar, their message of individualism met with great favor, even in Vatican City. Local Priests have not been totally abandoned though. Those that could stay quiet about the Saudi administration and basically everything else while reading the Latin properly were kept around… with a very watchful eye.
Since established and respected institutions of learning went down with the collapse of the original Vatican, most of the Priests today are educated by mysterious individuals with long latin names, or modern institutions controlled largely by the Saudis. In fact, most famous Catholic Priests are actually now Saudi Converts to the Catholic faith, at least, the only ones who get much airtime. Otherwise, they are Priests who have studied the minority work of an excommunicated and imprisoned 7th Century “Saudi-reformist-Catholic” torchbearer, which has parallels to the modern reform. Occasionally they don the outward appearance of their past, but this is largely in private and only when they are feeling the Saudi eye is watching them less. Much ado is currently about integration and there is a new scholarly excitement about what the deepest meanings are of “Saudi Catholicsm“, part of which seems to involve integrating Saudi body image issues with Catholicism.
The final stage of the psy-war was the elimination of the function of the Pope. Of course, when you have a military to command and government administration of a land-locked country to run, this is difficult to do completely. Yet, amazingly, the Saudi’s were so successful in this regard that the function of the Pope has all but been forgotten. Ultimately, it is the Catholics who voted on elimination of the Popes office. Interestingly enough, the same system of voting has been chosen by confused rogue Catholics who have banded together to reestablish the Papacy. The Saudis have cunningly even allowed a seperate violent group of Catholics to run a variety of botched or useless missions in order to draw even more people towards their reform which has now begun to represent stability and peace.
Such Catholics are grasping at straws, since it is clear the Saudis won’t let the Pontificate come back. It has become international law that anyone who mentions the last Pope or the expresses hope for the return of the Pontificate is considered an extremist. A few key military strikes and arrests end any hope of such an endeavor. The Saudi controlled mass media are well aware of the talking points on this issue and control the masses opinions on this issue clearly. Catholics have done well without a Pope for some time and the Saudis think they don’t need one any longer.
In its place, modern Catholics have learned only about the first four Popes and don’t really know the names of any of the others. The rest are explained away as basically evil opportunists (much like the actual character of the professionals spoken about earlier).
What used to be known as a ‘papal edict’ are now handed out by the community run local church administration, after a subtle and widely understood process of head-nodding from the Saudi government. This allows Catholics to have five different and competing Christmas’s and four Easters, which each community argues about every year. Catholics now even argue with each other over the permissibility of rosary’s. These are useful distractions from the fact that Saudi sends unmanned drones to blow up random Catholic villages every day. That’s alright though, because Catholics can now buy designer Catholic clothes and modern Catholic art.
In all of this, the nuns and monks have been swept aside, a reminder of a devotion to a faith which, in terms of a practical reality, does not exist anymore. Due to community edicts, they are not allowed to visit Churches anymore to perform their ceremonies and remind people of the way it used to be. The spiritual orders that they belonged to, through the reformed and institutionalized education system, have been understood to be raw innovation, while what has occurred since the Saudi infiltration leading to a unrecognizable form of the faith, has actually been understood as ‘returning to the righteous Catholic predecessors’.
“O people, by Allâh I have visited kings. I went to Caesar, Chosroes and the Negus, but by Allâh I never saw a king whose companions venerated him as much as the companions of Muhammad venerated Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allâh be upon him). By Allâh, whenever he spat it never fell on the ground, it fell into into the hand of one his companions, then they wiped their faces and skins with it. If he instructed them to do something, they would hasten to do as he commanded. When he did wudû’, they would almost fight over his water. When he spoke they would lower their voices in his presence; and they did not stare at him out of respect for him.” ( al-Bukhârî, 3/178, no. 2731, 2732; al-Fath, 5/388).
Muhammad ibn `Umar said: “(Imam) Malik’s circle was a circle of dignity and courtesy. He was a man of majestic countenance and nobility. There was no part for self-display, vain talk, or loud speech in his circle. His reader would read for all, and no-one looked into his own book, nor asked questions, out of awe before Malik and out of respect for him.”
Is it possible to take the typical second, third, fourth generation Muslim and shoehorn them into the circles described above? What would be their experience?
More than likely it would be filled with boredom, confusion, and criticism all stemming from how very different this circle is than any other gathering they have participated in earlier in the day.
Sitting cross legged is already difficult enough for us, much less being surrounded by air which is infused with odd things such as ‘awe’, ‘nobility’, ‘dignity’, ‘respect’. We don’t know how to handle or envision such words in literature, and we certainly are unprepared to be faced with the practical reality of them.
Which movie prepares us for this environment? Which show? Which video game?
None.
In this void, awkwardness fills us and most peoples chests are pressed with an instinctive reaction to remove ourselves from the heat of uncomfortably.
Surrounded by people that are genuinely devoted to another individual on the basis of their superior knowledge and religious practice is disturbing in a culture which raises us towards complete self-reliance and the total equality of all men in all aspects.
Add a dash of some form of group expression of faith that we are unfamiliar with, and the field is ripe for the ego to rebel.
There are just so many ‘outs’.
The convenient (yet arbitrary) distinction between religious life and the life dedicated to this world, especially when it is intertwined with the buzzword of ‘innovation’ gives us the most convenient of explanations to categorize our reaction.
*I don’t like it, because it feels weird.*
Self knowledge tempers this.
When one realizes the weakness of ones own faith, prayer, worship, it makes it more difficult to come to grandiose conclusions condemning people who dedicate themselves to the same. Humility dictates to us that we aren’t good judges, much less good prosecutors of others.
It is only when one confronts their own bias, in which one finds the reflection of sworn self-esteem and pavlovian pride, that one get past this haze which limits spiritual awakening.
The arbitrary categorization of ‘innovation’ when applied to worldly life vs religion, contains within it the supposition that life is separate from religion. A conclusion which has far hitting impacts.
In this model, watching TV feels quite alright, at least if you try to avoid some ‘bad scenes’. And watching 25 pictures per second on a wall mounted LCD screen is for some reason, so much harder to complain about than having a picture of a holy man who reminds us of prophecy, faith, improvement.
Under this mentality we think: Rock groups haraam? Let us have Islamic pop stars. Let’s have Muslim comedians. Muslim fiction writers. Muslim movie studios. Muslim news channels. All the while, we don’t exclude ourselves to the ‘Muslim’ version of these institutions of mimicry. So they do not help in creating a Islamic culture in the West, what they do is create a bridge of acceptance.
To watch a ‘Muslim pop star’, you still have to enter a concert hall. And to see a ‘Muslim film’ you still have to sit on a couch. There is still a stage for the ‘Muslim comedian’.
These issues reflect the implicit approval by the Muslim community of dramatic shifts away from the cultures which underwent a millenia of Islamization. Instead, we’ve accepted the inclination towards that which has challenged those cultures at every turn.
Islam was so much more than a filter of existing cultures, it brought something new. And these accomplishments are written in sand swept stone of Mughal architecture to the grand prayer halls of the Ottomans, to the poetry of Mevlana Rumi (ks) and the ironic statements on humanity from Nasruddin Hoja (ks).
This system has put the final wall up between knowledge and practice. It’s done this by actually turning Islam away from traditional values and a culture in which people of dramatic faith and unique characteristics were raised and nurtured.
Modern institutions catering to Muslims have been continuing the century old transition from Muslim culture and values to Western ones, all under the name of preaching Islam. And its not always so obtuse and obvious as the recent Azhari ban on niqaab. Pay-as-you-go ‘Islamic classes’ have cloaked an entirely foreign idea of Western style instruction in the mantle of religiosity.
And when examining this issue of cultural adoption, what we have chosen is not hamburgers over curry. We have settled for abandoning circles of dignity.
From ottomanpalestine.com:
“Until 9 December 1917 for more 400 years the city and Palestine lived peacefully under Pax Ottomana. Despite this 400 year long rule of Turks in Jerusalem there are not many visible Turkish Architectural Works. No slender minarets or Royal Mosque as in Balkans was build. The reason for this was respect for the local traditions and because there was a congregational Mosque of Masjid el-Aqsa. No other Mosque could be built that could surpass the holy shrine. Never the less, the City of Jerusalem has still a visible Turkish Presence. ”
Suleiman had a special relationship with Jerusalem. Evliya Çelebi describes Sultan Suleiman’s special relationship with Jerusalem as follows:
“In the year 926/1520 Sultan Suleiman acceded to the throne and conquered the fortress of Belgrade 927/1521 and later on the island of Rhodes 928/1522 and accumulated thereby intense wealth. The Prophet Muhammed (s.a.w) appeared to him in a blessed night and told him: “O Suleiman you will make many conquests You should spend these spoils on embellishing Mecca and Medina, and for the fortification of the citadel of Jerusalem in order to repulse the unbelievers, when they attempt to take possession during the reign of your followers. You should also embellish its sanctuary with a water basin and offer annual money gift to the dervishes there, and also embellish the Rock of Allah and rebuild Jerusalem.”
“Such being the order of the Prophet (S), Suleiman sends from his spoils one thousand purses to Medina and another thousand purses to Jerusalem. Together with required material he dispatched the master architect Koca Sinan and transferred Lala Mustafa Pasha from the governorship of Egypt to that of Syria, this latter having been ordered to carry out the restoration of Jerusalem, gathered all the master builders, architects and sculptors available in Cairo, Damascus and Aleppo and send them to Jerusalem to rebuild it and to embellish the Holy Rock.”
Ottoman Soldiers in Palestine
Ottoman Passport Palestine
Palestinian Wedding Procession 1904
Visiting of King of Germany to Ottoman Palestine 1898
Ottoman Railway, First Train to BI’RšSSEBA BETWEEN HAIFA DER’A
Ottoman Railway Haifa Train Station, Opening Prayer 1905
Ottoman Jerusulem 1898
![11-OTTOMAN PALESTINE [BETWEEN 1898 AND 1917] SQUARE FACING DAVID'S TOWER (by ottomanpalestine2)](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2468/3610353828_66f1d7fbbb_b.jpg "11-OTTOMAN PALESTINE [BETWEEN 1898 AND 1917] SQUARE FACING DAVID'S TOWER (by ottomanpalestine2)")
OTTOMAN PALESTINE [BETWEEN 1898 AND 1917] SQUARE FACING DAVID’S TOWER
Modern Palestine:
the truth on 
m.a.kidwai,CME/IND.RLY.(retd.) on 
