The Gift of Mercy, Justice, and Diversity in the Prophetic Example — Celebrating the Mawlid Season

On November 8th while many Americans went to the polls, my wife and I landed early in the morning in Doha, Qatar as we began a couple of months of travel and global relationship building to finish out 2016. So it is from afar that I have seen the reaction of Muslims in the United States while intimately seeing the very real fear the international community has of the United States after Donald Trump’s victory. As his administration packs presidential appointments with white supremacists, former Breitbart media manipulators, and what can be described most simply as enemies of humanity, I have spent sleepless nights thinking of how we best respond.

As I was on calls with our team at MPower Change in the United States strategizing for 2017, I began to look more closely for spiritual solutions in Malaysia where I am living right now. As we moved to Kuala Lumpur I began to see flyers for the upcoming Mawlid events around the city. Muslim communities around the world celebrate the birth (Mawlid) of the Prophet Muhammad on the 12th of Rabi al’ Awwal (the 12th of December). However in this region of the world there is what can be called a Mawlid season with celebrations lasting throughout the month.

This year Rabi al’ Awwal happens to coincide with the month of December, which of course also includes the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus, with the Christmas holiday. So in the midst of a global crisis of leadership we have in front of us the Prophet’s month and a global celebration of two of the best of creation to ever walk on this earth. Muslims and Christians must respond to the crisis of leadership in front of us, Muslims in calling for social justice in the United States while also calling for an end to war in Muslim majority countries like Yemen, and Syria. For Christian communities White Christians must respond to how white supremacy has used and abused Christianity to excuse unethical and evil leadership.

What better way to confront this crisis of leadership than to look at the best of creation, the lives of the Prophets. There are three points here that are especially relevant to our moment, the Prophetic call for mercy, social justice, and respect of diversity. In our times this example is set by those who stood for justice and even those who gave their very lives for what is good in our world. These leaders the world mourns as they pass, giants like Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela, and their like are remembered for what they did in their own lives but also as exemplars, and in their own small way, as people who lived and lead often as Prophetic archetypes.

We saw a recent example of this with the death of Muhammad Ali, as people around the world mourned his passing. Imam Zaid Shakir after riding through the streets of Louisville, Kentucky as they were driving to bury Ali, reflected on what he saw in those streets. As hundreds of thousands of people gathered to pay their respect to the people’s champ, and chanted “Muhammad!” “Muhammad,” and “Ali!” “Ali!”

With Islamophibia at its height in the United States, the passing of Muhammad Ali reminded the world that whether or not they recognized it, they already loved a Muslim. Imam Zaid in front of a global audience watching on TV reflected on what this all meant for him,

“Virtually everyone has a story about how Muhammad Ali touched their lives… Collectively those experiences become synergetic, they become greater than the individual parts. And when we rolled through the streets of the city today I’ve witnessed something I have never ever witnessed in my life, and I don’t think I will ever witness again. I witnessed the power, in our Muslim tradition we call it wilaya, which might be loosely translated as sainthood, I witness the power of sainthood.”

People gather in the streets of Louisville, Kentucky to say goodbye to Muhammad Ali as his casket was taken to his burial ground.

The materialists amongst us would state here that a human can’t reach this state. Our materiality blinds us from what is possible in the spiritual realm. Muhammad Ali again is an example here as one can ask if he did more in his life as a boxer when he had the ‘gift of gab,’ or as a global humanitarian who with a smile and silence built peace around the world everyday of his life outside of the ring. In Ali’s later life we see the example of Mercy, the ever present call for justice, and his unending service to the poor, and humanity at large.

As I watched online example after example of white supremacist hate crimes in the United States after Trumps victory, I looked to my teachers for ways to respond. It is clear that there is a growing divide between activists and community organizers and much of the clergy leadership amongst the Muslims and within other faith traditions. One of my teachers in Faith rooted community organizing, Pastor Michael McBride who has been on the frontline in the fight for BlackLives Matter, and against urban gun violence in the US, stated simply what this divide looks like to him, “Too many of us pious Christians protest too little… and too many of us revolutionaries won’t pray enough.”

Pastor Michael McBride, Photo taken from his Berkeley, California based church, The Way

This divide exists amongst the Muslims as well but I believe this divide between the ‘pious,’ and the ‘revolutionary,’ can be overcome through following the Prophetic teachings in processes of spiritual purification which are necessary to take on what we will face in 2017. There are many spiritual and Prophetic practices here that can help us in our daily struggle to fight against evil in all its forms.

1. Developing Taqwa (God Consciousness) in all aspects of our lives.
2. Having full trust in God and His divine providence — Tawakkul.
3. Having a deep and consistent relationship with the Qur’an.
4. Staying in a constant state of purification (Wudu) as many scholars of the spiritual path recommend. This is protection from the unseen realm, and its influences in our world.
5. Being consistent in our 5 daily prayers (salat) and praying them on time.
6. Having presence (Kushoo) in each of our prayers despite all the distractions around us in the world.
7. Consistently asking Allah for forgiveness (istighfar) for our shortcomings.
8. Asking and supplicating to God (Duaa) after our prayers, throughout our day, and in the night.
9. Many scholars recommend that we have a daily awrad or dhikr (remembrances) of Allah as a form of protection and spiritual uplift.
10. Attend the gathering of scholars and dhikr in your area, if this isn’t possible at least have good spiritual companions you are connected to in someway.
11. Respecting Gods command that humanity was made to “know one another” (Qur’an 49:13) and understanding that this call (Ta’arif) is deep work across gender, racial, religious, class, and national boundaries.
12. Live your life remembering that the Prophet (Peace Upon Him) was sent to our world as a mercy to humankind, if we are to live as reflections of him then our life must be rooted in this prophetic call to be merciful. We must be merciful to one another in our interactions, our alliances, and our daily interactions.

In conclusion, as the Mawlid season began here in Kuala Lumpur we were blessed to spend time with a great exemplar of the Prophetic tradition, Habib Kazim al Saqqaf from Tarim, Yemen and the Ba’alawi Tariqa (Sufi path). In one of his classes he was asked how do we as an Ummah (community) respond to the many layers of crisis we face.

Habib Kazim al Saqqaf — Photo credit Fahmy Hussin Instagram

The root of this crisis according to Habib Kazim has three parts:

1. We no longer respect differences within our tradition.
2. We don’t follow the sciences of Ihsan (Islamic spirituality / perfecting of our spiritual practices).
3. We have moved away from following the true examples of the Prophet (Peace Upon Him).

To return to a higher state as a community he recommended that:

1. We study the Serrah (the Prophetic biography) and apply it in our lives.
2. With that we also study the Shama’il (the Prophetic characteristics).
3. We read and recite the Qasaa’id (the spiritual poetry that describes the Prophet Muhammad).

For examples of Qasaa’id see this article:

A Global Mawlid Mixtape — 30 Songs of Praise in Honor of the Prophet Muhammad’s Birth ﷺ

When I asked him specifically about the American Muslim community, the thing he recommended most explicitly, was that we must have an awrad / daily set of dhikr (litany) that we say for protection. As he said related to this, “The most important thing amongst the Muslims is that they should recite a wird or dhikrs that protect them. These are like your shield, and if anything were to happen to you it would be gentle and small.” A common example of a wird is the Wird al-Latif of Imam al-Haddad.

Specifically he recommended that people facing oppression and difficulties around the world should recite the following verse from the Qur’an after every prayer:

حَسْبِيَ اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ ۖ وَهُوَ رَبُّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظِيمِ

“God suffices me. There is no god but He. In Him do I trust, and He is the Lord of the mighty Throne.” (The Study Qur’an 9:129)

We must remember that our response to what we face in 2017 must be the best response and as the Qur’an tells us, a correct and upright response will bring help from the angels and our Lord. We must believe these things are real and develop the spiritual training to face what is in front of us. We also must believe in miracles in this work and the possibility of the transformation of people who we today see as enemies. The Qur’an is most clear on all of these points in these verses that Muhammad Ali himself chose to have recited at his funeral:

“Truly those who say, ‘Our Lord is God’ and are upright, the Angels will descend upon them saying, ‘Have neither fear nor sadness, but rather rejoice in this Paradise that you had been promised. We are your allies in this lower life and in the Hereafter, where you will have your hearts’ desire, and you will have all you request, hospitably from One, Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.’ Who is more beautiful in speech than the one who invites to God and does righteous works, saying, ‘Truly I am a Muslim, submitted to God’? For good and evil are not equal: repel ugliness with what is more beautiful, and behold, the one between you and whom there was enmity is suddenly transformed into a warm friend. But no one arrives at this station except those of patience, and no one achieves it without great luck” (Qur’an — 41: 30–35) — Translation, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Qur’an recitation of the above verses starts at 2:20

Call for Submissions: In this month of the Prophet’s (Rabi al’ Awwal / December, 2016) Ummah Wide is calling for reflections on the lives of the Prophets related to our own moment in history. How can we learn from their examples how best to respond to what we will face in 2017 as we enter this new political era? These reflections can be written pieces, video, poetry, prose, or fiction, you can submit directly to us on medium — for more questions email dustin@ummahwide.com