Life is a Journey Faith is a Vehicle Direction of a Society MAJLIS 10

1
Life is a JourneyFaith is a VehicleDirection
of a SocietyMAJLIS 10

• Hasnain Walji

2
Series Muharram 1431

• 1. Karbala an instrument of reform
• 2. Power of Intentional Living
• 3. The power of Critical Thinking
• 4. Time is lifes capital
• 5. Value Proposition of insaan
• 6. Emotional Intelligence EQ v/s IQ
• 7. Living a purposeful life
• 8. Nurturing the Next Generation
• 9. Concept of the Society of Believers
• 10. Life is a Journey Islam is the vehicle

3
Concept of the society of believers

• The Prophet (saw) gives us a beautiful simile
• In their mutual love, compassion and sympathy for
  one another, believers are like one body When
  one part of it suffers a complaint, all other
  parts join in, sharing in the sleeplessness and
  fever

4
"Sustaining a Community

• Islamic society is an intentional and not -an
  accidental society.
• a shared vision and mission
• Exhibition of scorpions
• shared values and principles,
• whole-hearted co-operation to secure a better and
  more developed life for all

5
Learn to appreciate others points of view -

• Islam is very broad and wide a range of scholarly
  views on issues.
• Criticize Constructively
• Insensitive criticism sure way to create anger,
  hurt and dissension.
• Learn the etiquette of criticism

6
Avoid taking a strong position on minor points

• Get your priorities in order.
• There are some aspects of Islam that are more
  important than others.
• Avoid making secondary issues of the faith
  factors of division
• Ensure that small differences do not kill Muslim
  unity.

7
Reaching out across ethnic boundaries

• Be ethnically diverse and open to the needs and
  concerns of Muslims of all backgrounds.
• Ensure that no person, regardless of their
  ethno-cultural background, feels shut out of the
  community, ignored or neglected.

8
Light of our future

• Look around you for a moment ..
• While most of us may limp our way to the new era
  - it's our youth who will march and help us walk
  the critical path to success.
• If we empower and nurture our young
• adjusting to change
• becoming agents of change.

9
Handcuffed to History and Chained to the Future

• Where are we going?
• What are the possibilities ahead?
• What strategies can we use to realize our goals?
  
• Perhaps the image of the future help us better
  understand the challenge.

10
A matter of Serious Concern

• Well educated and economically well placed young
  are running shy of the Community
• Why are the choosing to keep away from the
  mainstream of the Community?
• How can we engage them?
• How can we harness their talents?
• The Community belongs to them and they will have
  to lead into the future.

11
Profile of the IPOD generation

• Ahmed knows it's time to pray
• not by a muezzin's call but because his IPOD has
  just chimed.
• A native of Ontario, Ahmed grew up running
  track, watching hockey baseball
• A child of the prosperous Muslim immigrants of
  the '60s and '70s
• Member a new sub-culture that is a blend of
  Muslim and Canadian institutions.

12
Muslim Youth population in North America

• Number of youth between 12 - 25 increasing at a
  fast pace.
• Torn between their 3 identities
• nationality
• faith
• culture of their parents country of birth
• Can we work with them create futures that are
  meaningful for them

13
The U Generation A Self Definition !

• I live in Canada and I am an Uncle
• Mine is a mind that is in bondage to the past
  glories of my ancestors and my consciousness is
  hostage to modernity
• The fast foods of western thought and the
  home-cooked porridge of Islamic traditions are
  equally agreeable to my palate. -- Asre Hazir
  .
• My task is to nurture the next generation

14
Where do we go from Here

• We have the Masjid/Imambargah,
• We have the school, now what?
• What comes next?
• analysis of trends, ideas and deficiencies

15
Wake up - Smell the coffee

• More to life than competing with the Jewish lobby
  for power over foreign policy.
• Islam is not just about blaming others
• Islam is not about driving planes into buildings
• Islam is not about becoming human bombs.
• It is about mercy, about virtue, about sacrifice,
  about duty.
• It is the pursuit of moral perfection harmony,
  peace and tolerance.
• Islam is about justice

16
Articulate a fresh vision

• Muslims in their 20s and 30s are at the forefront
  of an emerging Canadian public square
  conversation about their Muslim identity.
• Canada. is my home
• Yet many lament that they feel a disconnect
  with mosques, the mimber and even from parents.
• Some are alienated from the politically
  overheated, daily discourse, pitting Muslims
  against the West

17
Shift the Uncles Paradigm

• Make Space for that fresh vision
• Accept that they may have a better handle on the
  road ahead.
• Move away form the drivers seat
• Dont be a back seat driver
• Allow them the privilege of making mistakes

18
Seven Steps to Nurturing.

• Show respect.
• An attitude of respect and faith is contagious.
• Respect their ability to make decisions
  strengthens them.
• Listen more than you talk.
• Questions may sound like interrogation
• Ask questions like, "How so? What do you think
  now? Now what will you do? What's your plan? Is
  this something you want help with?

19
Seven Steps to Nurturing

• Be brief. Don't lecture,
• If you state your case with a "This is what makes
  sense to me" attitude as opposed to "This is the
  only right way to see things," they can listen
  more openly instead of planning rebellion.
• Think "we" instead of "you.
• "We have chores to do before we leave the house
• "We're in this together,"
• bridges gaps that conflicts can otherwise create.

20
Seven Steps to Nurturing

• Don't "catastrophize"
• Instead of "You're ruining your life!" say "I'm
  concerned about what might happen if . . .what do
  you think you might do in a case like that?"
• Avoid hypocrisy and double standards
• Don't expect them to follow rules you don't
  follow yourself. "Do as I say and not as I do"
  will not improve the relationship.
• Enjoy them.
• The humor, energy and sense of possibility youths
  often have can awaken parents to positive sides
  of themselves they had forgotten or neglected.

21
Help them Reconnect

• Reconnect with the core message which is the
  heart of our faith
• Surrender to His will (Islam),
• Accept Allah into ones heart (Iman),
• Belief in his Oneness (Tauhid)
• Act with Justice (Adalah)
• Lead a life of goodness and morality (Taqwa)

22

• Ya Rabb! dil-e-Muslim ko wo zinda tammana dey
•   Jo qalb ko garma dey, jo rooh ko tarpa dey 
•  
• O Lord, endow the Muslims heart with motivation
  anew
• Such that it can warm the heart and stir the soul
  anew
• Phir wadi-e-faran kay her zarrey ko chamka dey
•    Phir shok-e-tamasha dey, phir zoq-e-taqaza dey
• Let every drop of the Islamic nation shine once
  more
• Bless it with determination and zeal once more
• Mehroom-e-tamasha ko phir deeda-e-beena dey
•  Dekha hai jo kuch main nay, auron ko bhi dikhla
  dey
• Those who have been blinded , give them fresh
  insights too
• What I have perceived, show the same vision
  to them too

23
Imam Ja'far ibn Muhammad As-Sadiq (A.S.)

• Kullo yawm'in 'Ashura
• Kullo ardh'in Karbala
• Every day is 'Ashura and
• Every land is Karbala

24
Labbaik To Husain (as)

• Aza is our way of responding to his call of hal
  minnasireen yansuroona
• Failing in our response if we make this into a
  mere ritual
• The responsibility lies with us all , the
  dhakirs, and and the listeners, if we fail to
  discharge this responsibility we shall be
  answerable to Allah SWT. 

25
The Value of our Tears

• If a tear that we shed for him should signify a
  harmony between our souls and his spirit,
• create within us a little glow of his valor,
• a particle of his free nature,
• a particle of his faith,
• a particle of his piety,
• a small spark of his tawhid,
• Then such a tear has an infinite value

26
I am a reformer !

• He says in most explicit terms
• "Our society has become corrupt and the ummah of
  my Grandfather has become degenerate.
• I have risen up to carry out reform and I am a
  reformer." 

27
Never let the World Forget

• Every year the victims of the holocaust are
  remembered in memorial services.
• Museums that serve as shrines to the victims are
  built in every corner of the world to honour
  them. - (MARC)

28
The Changing face of Aza

• Form of aza-e-Hussain has always undergone
  changes to accommodate local norms.
• It is for us, in 2009, to seriously re-evaluate
  the form
• to ensure that we can pass on to our children
  the substance of aza-e-Hussain in its pristine
  state
• Make aza-e-Hussain an irresistible instrument of
  tableegh !
• Karbala Display _at_ MARC

29
Haqiqat-e-abadi hay maqam-e-Shabbiri Badaltay
rahay hain andaze Kufio-Shami   

• The spirit as shown by the rulers of Kufa and
  Syria, is always changing since it tries to gain
  strength through fraud, dishonesty, and political
  expediency and maneuvering as against this truth
  never changes.
• The place Imam Husayn has achieved, is a reality
  which shall be hailed and acknowledged for all
  times to come.

30
Heart needs to seek its divinely intended purpose

• Very purpose of our existence has been obscured
  by the glut of materialism (Saduk)
• Engulfed in a quagmire that deflects our energy
  away from his divinely intended purpose.
• Our true fulfillment can only come through inner
  light, when the heart is awakened to seek it's
  divinely intended purpose

31
Ziyarate Ashura - a potent antidote

• To reawaken our hearts to the real purpose of our
  existence
• Not remain a mere habitual or ritual recitation.
  
• ziyara, from the word zawr
• which means to deflect or turn away.
• Arabic word zur, refers to a lie - because it
  deflects from the path of truth.

32
Spiritual Moral Aspects

• Contextualize the very essence of the ziyara
• Visiting the shrines of the Masumeen, or
  reciting the ziyara we momentarily turn away
  from our worldly existence and gravitate towards
  an inner state of seeking none other than Allah.

33
Essence of Ziyara

• Zair must imbibe the spirit and attain the
  cognizance of the sublimity of Ziarate Ashura
  to enable him to align himself with the spirit of
  the visited one.
• Visiting the shrines, or reciting the ziyara we
  momentarily turn away from our worldly
  existence and gravitate towards an inner state of
  seeking none other than Allah.

34
Assalamu Alayka ya Aba Abdillah

• Peace be on You, O entirely obedient servant of
  Allah
• Salutation - an everlasting impression upon our
  minds how we must manifest our intentions to
  unite with his lofty ideals
• In cursing his opponents - demonstrate our
  revulsion at the worldly desires of his enemies.

35
tabarra and tawalla

• Crux of the ziyara is tabarra and tawalla,
  correctly translated as
• fleeing from imperfection
• seeking perfection
• La ilaha illa Allah -Besides Allah- the Only
  Beloved, there is no other ilah (beloved).
• Sacred Effusion

36

• Who can be a better symbol, than Imam al-Husayn
  (AS) whose supreme sacrifice on the day of
  Ashura, symbolized the highest manifestation of
  Tawheed

37

• He looked at the sky, and prayed
• "Ya Allah, give me courage in this most difficult
  moment of my life. No Prophet ever was subjected
  to a test as severe as this."