Surah Al Fatihah
At Tahiyyaatu lilaahi was
Salawaatu wat tayibaatu
As Salaamu ‘alaika ayyuhan
nabiyyu wa rahmatul laahi wa barakaatuh
As Salaamu ‘alainaa wa ‘alaa
‘ebaadillaahis saaliheen
Let me say this up
front. I have been planning for weeks to
use the opportunity of giving this khutbah to present a case for building a
gender equal mosque. I started reading about
the reform movement in Judaism, to use the Jews experience as an example of
where I see the Muslim community moving in America. In fact, there are many parallels between the
Jewish reform movement and reformists’ vision of Islam. This is from the website “ReformJudaism.org:”
“Reform
Judaism has asserted that a Judaism frozen in time cannot coexist effectively
with those who live in modern times. The great contribution of Reform Judaism
is that it has enabled the Jewish people to introduce innovation while
preserving tradition, to embrace diversity while asserting commonality, to
affirm beliefs without rejecting those who doubt, and to bring faith to sacred
texts without sacrificing critical scholarship.”
“We believe that all human
beings are created in the image of God, and that we are God’s partners in
improving the world. Tikkun olam — repairing the world — is a hallmark
of Reform Judaism as we strive to bring peace, freedom, and justice to all
people.”
“Reform Jews are committed
to the principle of inclusion, not exclusion.
Reform Jews are committed to the absolute equality of women in all areas
of Jewish life. We were the first movement to ordain women rabbis, invest women
cantors, and elect women presidents of our synagogues. Reform Jews are also committed to the full
participation of gays and lesbians in synagogue life as well as society at
large.”
The story of how Reform
Judaism evolved from its 19th century origins in Europe is worth our
attention, but I decided not to focus on that today, because several things
happened while I was in Maryland last week that seemed more relevant to this
theme, and more important to share.
Surah 2: Al-Baqarah
Wa qala-ladhina la ya ‘lamuna
And those who are devoid of knowledge say:
lawla yukallimunal-lahu ‘aw ta ‘tinaa Ayah.
‘Why does God not speak to us, or show us a miraculous
sign?’
Kadhalika qalal-ladhina min-qablihim-mithla
qawlihim.
Even thus, like unto what they say, spoke those who
lived before their time:
Tashabahat qulubuhum.
Their hearts were all alike.
Qad bayyannal-‘Ayati liqawminy-yuqinun. [118]
Indeed, We have made all the signs manifest unto
people who recognize an inner truth.
[118]
God is omnipresent – with us,
around us, sustaining us all the time.
And when we are open to listening, we can see and hear God’s signs. Last week in Maryland, there were several
times when I felt there were lessons I was meant to learn.
The first thing that happened
was that I was invited to give a presentation on Islam to a group of
congregants at my niece Jenny’s church - Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church in
Frederick Maryland. It was a Monday
night, and she did not advertise the event until less than a week before. She expected that about eight people would
show up – members of a loyal bible study group.
In fact, there were more than 40 people in the room. The first thing I did was pass around my
grandmother’s wedding photo. She was
born, lived her entire life, and died in Frederick, which is where I was also
born. Then I told them about my journey
to Islam, and opened the floor for questions.
This was the first time I have ever talked about being a Muslim to
non-Muslims outside of the family in my native community. It was a defining experience for me –
confronting the ambiguities I have always felt about the way the course of my
life has taken me away from my roots. It
went very well, Alhamdulillah. I left
feeling more balanced, and I believe they all left feeling affirmed in their
hope that Islam is not the threat it is portrayed to be. There is tremendous empowerment in sharing a
true story – for both the teller and the audience.
After that experience, and
based on my mother’s story of attending a very cathartic interfaith meeting at the
Western Maryland Islamic Center in Hagerstown, I decided that I would like to
go to their Friday prayer service. Their
website said that Jumaa was at 12:15, so I went. There were only a few cars and no one in
sight at the entrance. But I decided that
since I was there anyway, I might as well pray Friday prayer and leave. I put my boots on the rack at the entrance
and went into the prayer hall. There
were a few men in the front of the large prayer space. There was a space at the back of the hall
separated by moveable screens. But there
was a substantial space in the middle of the screens that was open to the
mihrab. I decided I would not be
compromising my integrity, and also not making anyone uncomfortable if I sat
and prayed at the opening. I did my
prayer, and then sat meditating. A few
more men came in, and a few more, and then a woman came directly into the
women’s space from a separate door on the opposite side of the mosque. Whoops. I realized I had come in the “wrong” door. I asked the woman if there would be a Jumaa
prayer and she said it was at 1:30. I
decided to stay. By the time of Jumaa,
both the men’s and the women’s prayer spaces were full. The khutbah was given by a guest Imam who
spoke about the need to reach out to the broader community, and the need for
Muslims to be more tolerant and open to difference. Well this is ironic, I thought – because unless
I stay here until everyone else leaves - I am going to have to test their
ability to be tolerant because I now have to leave through the men’s side and
retrieve my boots from the men’s shoe rack.
What to do? After the prayer, men
immediately began to leave and congregate, filling the entry hall where my
boots were waiting for me. And the women
filed out through the side entrance. I
finally summoned up my courage, apologies ready, walked out through the men’s
entrance and went to get my boots. No
one said anything. In fact, they were
all so wrapped up in their conversations, they did not seem to even notice
me. Alhamdulillah. What I was reminded of is that truly, the
only thing we have to fear is distancing ourselves from God.
Surah 24: The Light
Wa
‘adal-lahul-ladhina ‘amanu minkum wa amilus-salihati…
God has promised those of you who have attained to
faith and do righteous deeds…
Layubaddilannahum-mim-ba’di khawfihim ‘amna.
God will cause their erstwhile state of fear to be
replaced by a sense of security
Ya budunani la yushrikuna bi shay’a.
Seeing that they worship me alone, not ascribing
powers to aught beside Me. [55 excerpts]
Pause
The last thing that happened in
Maryland was at a family dinner the night before I left. My nephew, the farmer, brought his wife,
nine-year-old twin boys, and pizza to my Mom’s house, and we were joined by my
brother (his father) and my sister-in-law.
While talking after dinner, with the kids in the next room, we found
ourselves on the slippery slope of talking about the Trump administration. Two things are important to know – first,
that I love this nephew very much. He is
passionate about farming. He has been
successfully navigating the very difficult and complicated business of running
a growing farming enterprise since graduating from agricultural college. He married his high school sweetheart, and is
raising two wonderful, challenging twin boys.
He has inherited the family gene for determination, which can also manifest
as stubbornness – which we were both
displaying that night. I suspected he
may have voted for Trump, but when he started defending him using all the
rhetoric of the Alt-Right media, I lost control of my normal “Aunt Judy”
persona, and ended up sounding angry and aggressive before I could stop myself
from going there. My sister-in-law, much
to my chagrin, went into the other room to distract the kids in case they might
get scared by my tone. The next morning
Jeremiah sent me a looong text message about how he had felt defensive, and he
was tired of having to defend himself as a white man against perceived
accusations of racism while his white sons “will not have any chance of getting
scholarships as white men.” That was,
above all else, why he supported Trump. I
have work to do to re-establish the closeness I have always felt with
Jeremiah.
I need to constantly remind
myself that the most important thing in any journey is not the road I am
taking, but how I conduct myself along the way, and that I cannot let my deeply
felt convictions and loyalty to my own integrity blind me to the needs and
sensitivities of others. Everything will
happen in its time for those who love God.
There is a lesson in that for
me, as I stand for equal access for everyone to expression and leadership in
our mosques. Empowered women must not
lead to the impression of disempowering men.
In fact, I think the fear of disempowering men is one of the major
hurdles we face in our effort to get to a place of balance. It is not in the interest of men or women for
men to feel disempowered. (And this isn’t
only true in the Muslim community of course – look at all the women who voted
for Donald Trump.) The fact is, we need
to respect and value our differences to be balanced within ourselves and with
each other. The powerful feminine and
the powerful masculine are both essential for balance to be achieved – for
healthy individual personalities and for healthy relationships.
The ultimate punishment that
we can experience is the feeling of separation from God – the sense of
loneliness and despair that come from a life without any kind of faith. We separate ourselves from God when we
separate ourselves from each other.
Surah 3: The House of Imran
Fastajaba lahum Rabbuhum
And thus does their Sustainer answer their prayer:
‘anni laa udi’u amalu ‘amilim-minkum min-dhakarin aw
untha b dukum mim-ba’d….
‘I shall not
lose sight of the labour of any of you who labours [in My way], be it man or
woman: each of you is an issue of the
other….’ [195]
Finally, I want to share
another realization I came to – this time as I was compiling an annotated
bibliography on Islam and Muslims.
Several of Jenny’s congregants had asked for sources after my
presentation last Monday. I spent a lot
of time on it, because I wanted to give them a variety, and also give them a
sense of the diversity and struggles of the Muslim community in America
today. As I went through my sources –
many of them read by many of you – Mohammed Asad, Jonathan Brown, Khalid Abou
El Fadl, Reza Aslan, Fazlur Rehman, Laila Ahmed, Aminah Wadud, Ingrid Mattson,
Ziauddin Sardar, Meraj Mohiuddin, etc., I realized something. We are already in the middle of Islamic
Reform. It is being articulated all
around us. We may not have an iconic
leader yet as Reform Muslims – someone like Charles Darwin was for evolutionary
theory, or Adam Smith was for capitalist theory, or Rabbi Isaac
Mayer Wise for Reform Judaism in America.
But the raw material is all there for us. We’ve read it. We feel it.
We know it. All we need to do is
dispel our fears, follow our hearts, and never forget our sense of compassion.
Surah 13: Thunder
Qul innal-laha
yudillu many-yashaa’u wa yahdil ilayhi man anab.
Say: ‘Behold, God lets go astray whoever wills to go
astray, just as God guides all who turn to God [27]
Alladhina
amanu wa tatma’innu qulubuhum-bidhikril-lah.
Ala
bidhikril-lahi tatma innul-qulub.
Those who believe, and whose hearts find their rest in
the remembrance of God – for truly, in the remembrance of God do hearts find
their rest: [28]
Alladhina amanu wa amilus-salihati tuba lahum wa husna
ma’ab. They who attain to faith and do righteous deeds are destined for
happiness in this world, and the most beauteous of all goals in the life to come!’
[29]
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