WITH ALLAH’S NAME, THE MERCIFUL BENEFACTOR, THE MERCIFUL REDEEMER

The True Nature of Mankind

Documented by Jibril Abdul-Hafeez (جبريل عبدالحفيظ)

E-mail: NewAfrica2@aol.com or new_africa_now@yahoo.com

Friday, October 3, 2008 / Yaum-ul-Jumu’ah, Shawaal 3, 1429

As Salaam ‘Alaykum: We thank Allah, we seek His help, we ask for His forgiveness, we believe and put our complete trust in Him, Mighty and Sublime is He. We witness that there is no G’d but Allah, He alone is without partners, and we witness that Muhammed is His Servant and Messenger, the prayers and peace be on him, on his descendants, his companions, and peace be on Allah’s Messengers (all of them), and what follows after this devout invocation.

In the Qur’an, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said,

فَأَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفاً فِطْرَةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِى فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا لاَ تَبْدِيلَ لِخَلْقِ اللَّهِ ذَلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ -

The first word implies that this is a mandated action (أَقِم); an order to be obeyed [past, present and future]; another characteristic of this word is that the action is not caused by us. Therefore, it is essential to understand that this action is an imperative that carries a practical benefit to whoever carries out the objective of this instruction. The root letters [ﻕ], [ﻮ], and [ﻡ] of this word (أَقِم) contain a vast amount of knowledge whereby different meanings can be derived just by the placement of vowels, prefixes, ect; such as: (ﻗﺎﻢ) a past tense verb, meaning, ‘he stood ;’(ﻳﻗﻮﻢ) a present tense verb, meaning ‘he is standing’; and (ﻗﻮﻢ) is a noun from the same root letters (qawm), which means, “a nation, a tribe, a party, or, a people.” Therefore; set you face to the religion! How (حَنِيفاً)?

“Haneef” which means: “One inclined towards a right state or tendency; inclining to the right religion; an upright man; straight forward; one who has turned away from all that is false (sin, worldliness, especially worshipping idols).” And this is the true nature (فِطْرَةَ) that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has pattern mankind upon (فِطْرَةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِى فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا). And it is reported in hadith that the Messenger of Allah (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) has said,

مَا مِنْ مَوْلُودٍ يُولَدُ إِلَّا عَلَى الْفِطْرَةِ فَأَبَوَاهُ يُهَوِّدَانِهِ أَوْ يُنَصِّرَانِهِ أَوْ يُمَجِّسَانِهِ،كَمَا تُنْتَجُ الْبَهِيمَةُ بَهِيمَةً جَمْعَاءَ، هَلْ تُحِسُّونَ فِيهَا مِنْ جَدْعَاءَ؟

No child is born except on the true nature, then it is his parents that make him a Jew, or a Christian or a Magian just as each animal produces an animal like itself, do you see any of them that are born mutilated? (لاَ تَبْدِيلَ لِخَلْقِ اللَّهِ) Don’t change Allah’s creation! (ذَلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ) That is the straight religion, but most of mankind does not know.

Fitrah (فِطْرَةَ) is the original nature created by Al-Faa-tir (ﺃﻠﻔﺎﻄﺭ) / The Originator who deposited the phenomena called “human nature” in mankind.

We can only estimate the hundreds of millions of people who have trained their carnal appetites and abstained from their personal, cultural, ethnic, and national habits for the sake of obedience to Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) for a whole month. This has been an experience that teaches us about the oneness of human nature. Your hunger and my hunger is the same, your thirst and my thirst is the same, and your natural carnal appetite is the same as mine; our natural carnal appetites is shaped and molded by social forces that brings about the cultural norms that every man, woman and child lives with.

During the sacred time in the month of Ramadan we were brought nearer to being the natural type of person that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) created us to be, we were all brought into one humble accord with one another on a global scale by controlling our natural carnal appetites and following the obedience of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) and sunnah (لاَ تَبْدِيلَ لِخَلْقِ اللَّهِ) of Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ).

Let’s remember what Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) has said,

“No child is born except on the true nature, then it is his parents that make him a Jew, or a Christian or a Magian just as each animal produces an animal like itself, do you see any of them that are born mutilated?”

Far too often, first, second or third generation immigrant Muslims in America speak from their own cultural perspective (i.e. ‘Arab, African, Turkish, Asian. etc.) when given the opportunity to address first generation Muslims in America like us and they demonstrate a serious lack of cultural competence by conveying a double conflicting double message. They tell us to give up our cultural identity. Those of us with identity issues will immediately give up our identity to imitate the carnal culture of the messenger of that culture. However, upon closer examination, this is not what the Messenger of Allah (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) is calling us to. ‘Arabs, etc. we all have a certain uniqueness, our preferences and cultural appetites is generally on display for all onlookers. In other words we should stay out of the business of trying to make everybody in the image and likeness of our carnal appetites. (وَأَنتَ حِلٌّ بِهَـذَا الْبَلَدِ) You (Allah’s servant) are a free man in this city.

And in the Qur’an, 49:11, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said,

يأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ لاَ يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ مِّن قَوْمٍ عَسَى أَن يَكُونُواْ خَيْراً مِّنْهُ

Don’t look down on people (لاَ يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ)! It may be that the latter are better than the former (people). And the Messenger of Allah (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) has said,

الْكِبْرُ بَطَرُ الْحَقِّ وَغَمْصُ النَّاس

Arrogance is disrespecting the truth and belittling people