A Research and Development Qur'anic Session Reflecting on Community Organizing

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

A Research & Development Qur’anic Session Reflecting on Community Organizing

Documented by Jibril Abdul-Hafeez (جبريل عبدالحفيظ)

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

Friday, November 14, 2008 / Yaum-ul-Jumu’ah, Dhul-Qi’dah 16, 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, 98:5, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said,

وَمَآ أُمِرُواْ إِلاَّ لِيَعْبُدُواْ اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدّينَ حُنَفَآء وَيُقِيمُواْ الصَّلَوةَ وَيُؤْتُواْ الزَّكَوةَ وَذَلِكَ دِينُ القَيّمَةِ

In the Islamic Community of Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) in America, an important thing that we would like to see happen was demonstrated successfully by the community organizing strategy that led to the election of the next President of the United States of America. “Community organizing is said to be a process whereby people living in proximity to each other are brought together by an organizer/organization to act in their common self-interest.”

In the Qur’an, 3:104, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said,

وَلْتَكُن مِّنْكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ

No one in the world has demonstrated more devotion to the task of community organizing as effectively as Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) in respects to delivering and teaching the message revealed by Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى). What are the results of our contemporary community development efforts in this city over the past fifty-years? Now let us compare that with what Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) did to rid the world of ignorance, backward, superstitious uncivilized behavior that was commonly practices amongst the desert dwellers and now this community organizing movement is making its way into the heartland of institutions amongst those who have been cut off from society.

Prophet Muhammed’s (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) mission was not just going to the Masjid to give an esoteric talk. Ask the question, what is the leader of my congregation doing to bring about a better and more peaceful community for the family of humanity? Does the leader label everyone who hasn’t bought into his mindset, infidels (ﺗﻜﻔﻴﺮ)?

A hadith articulates a lost value that we should always abide by when making decisions that affects the human family, Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) has said,

ﻠِﻧَﻔْﺴِﻪِ ﻴُﺤِﺐﱡ ﻤَﺎ ﻷﺧِﻴﻪِ ﻴُﺤِﺐﱡ ﺤﺗﱠﻰ أﺤَدُﻜُﻢ ﻴُﻮْﻤِﻦُ ﻵ

None of you are believers until you love for your brother what you love for yourself. Is the Sunnah practice of loving one another being practiced by you and me? Be mindful that when we act from the motivation of hatred and decide to do bodily harm to one another, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has prescribed the law of retaliation to teach us that He created us equally from one essence.

Community organizing should focus on more than just resolving issues for the sake of what’s in it for me. The best community organizers seek to help human beings achieve the end goal of improving the quality of community life for humanity. This is the sunnah/standard of Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ); so why are we cheating the world of humanity of the love that he brought into being by giving the world an ugly picture that does not reflect the true character and lifestyle of Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ)? This is why we must due diligent research of the revealed scriptures and the life practices of Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) so that we can give real meaning to loving for our brothers and sisters in humanity what we love and want for ourselves.

In the interest of community organizing, remember what Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) has said,

ﻋَﻠﱠﻤَﻪُ ﻮَ ﭐﻠﻗُﺮْﺁﻦَ ﺗَﻌَﻠﱠﻢَ ﻤَﻦْ ﺧَﻴْﺮُﻜُﻢ

The best of you is he who learns the Qur’aan and teaches it.

Let this be a call to action to develop a progressive Islamic community / ﭐﻠﺗﱠﺠْﺪِﻴﺪ ٲُﻤﱠﺔ in America. It started in the late ‘70s with Interfaith dialogues that resulted in audiences at the Vatican, audiences as the guest of the custodians of the Ka’bah in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia, China, and former Presidents of the United States, Africa, just to name a few.

An ambivalent (uncertain) attitude is interfering with our ability to organize our community based on understanding the language environment spoken as words from Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) that is recorded in the Qur’an.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ لِي وَلَكُم