Championing the Prophet
Action by the Muslim world over the publication of offensive cartoons in European papers will be the focus of a two-day conference to be held in Bahrain from today.
The international event will be chaired by renowned Qatar-based scholar Yousef Al Qardawi and attended by Muslim scholars, government officials and members of the diplomatic corps.
More than 300 participants will take part in workshops and panel discussions supporting Prophet Mohammed and action to promote understanding of Muslim’s relationship with him, said participant and Muslim Educational Society chairman Shaikh Essam Ishaq.
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Member of Bahraini Parliament Shaikh Adel Al-Moawdah seen chairing a panel on the Championing the Prophet Conference in Bahrain. photo credit: Al-Wasat
Marhaba Qaradawi and Ahlan wa Sahlan even though some people don’t like you thinking that you’re too soft, you’re most welcome in Bahrain. Just tone it down for goodness’ sake and tell the 300 “scientists” with you not to mix issues up. You’re here supposedly to promote the correct understanding of Islam and its great prophet, and you’re not going to do that with burning flags and preaching violence.
The least you can do to really demonstrate the forgiveness and greatness of this religion is to stand solidly against extremism in all its forms and say so without leaving any shadow of a doubt.
How about starting this process by calling for the re-interpretation of Islam and doing away with the chopping off body parts, call for the release of Abdulrahman and setting him free to follow whichever path he and others choose to reach God, and looking at the laws which subjugate women? Oh, and unconditionally condemn terrorists and their attacks no matter where they are?
Good luck, and I hope your conference is a success.
Carsten said:
You’ve touched on a very important point here. A famous hadith from Imam Nawawi’s fourty is:
This hadith suggests the existence of an internal moral compass. Traditionally, one of the important disciplines that would make up an Islamic education (in traditional Sunnism at least… I don’t know enough about Shi’ism in this regard) has been the nurturing and perfection of this moral compass. “Polishing the mirror”, to use a traditional metaphor.
Unfortunately, this aspect of Islam has been greatly neglected due to the onslaught of the revivalist-salafist ideologies. Equally sad is the huge number of Orientalist scholars who agree with the Wahhabis in believing that there exists only one version of “Islam”, and that textual study/ jurisprudence (a greatly hacked one, at that) is the ONLY means to ascertain what this “real Islam” is.
Chan’ad that’s a beautiful hadith and I can certainly work with! This to me is the essence of our religion.
Dear Ethan.
I’m sorry that I haven’t seen your comment before.
I’m danish.
Mr. Khader is still living under police protection as he has done for a long time. He is very unpopular in some parts of the muslim community, where the death threats are coming from.
He is at the moment the most popular MP in Denmark and is considered a hero by most danes.
The link can maybe explain, why his views are so controversial for some groups of muslims.
http://www.khader.dk/flx/in_english/
Best wishes
Dr. Jensen
Mr. Khader has a very impressive CV, and just looking at his 10 Commandments are enough for me to vote for him, if I could.
Comparing that with the CHAIRMAN of our House of Representatives makes me embarrassed that he was selected for so long for the Shura council, let alone him now being elected and is chairing the paliament… pretty good for someone whose only academic qualification is primary school!
Carsten Agger: “With modernity, industry and wealth follows another thing: Openness, freedom, what we might call human or civil rights. Dare I say it: Yes, freedom of speech. Presumption of innocense.”
Carsten, I’d say vice versa: Modernity, industry, and wealth follow openness, freedom, human rights, and freedom of speech. I might add that property rights are also essential to create wealth. The fewer property rights you have, the closer you move to slavery.
To give an example, the Spanish established their colonies in South America as state enterprises where the monarch’s rights were emphasized over the subjects. Consequently, the modern states of South America, which have all the natural wealth of North America, remain poorly developed nations. They are in such a sad state because Spain never cared to establish civil rights, openness, freedom, human rights, nor property rights. Like most Third World nations, the title to your home is uncertain and the process to legally establish a business is hopelessly labyrinthine.
By contrast, the English settlers in North America established their colonies as private enterprises, specifically as joint stock companies, or corporations in the modern sense. While Spain established dense thickets of laws and regulations to maintain control over their South American colonies, the English colonies were interested in making a profit and cut the rules to a minimum to make that happen.
As a consequence, colonies developed under the English scheme of private enterprise flourished to become Canada and the US while colonies developed under the Spanish scheme of government enterprise became the undeveloped slums of South America.
The freedom to say what you please, do what you please, and dispose of your property as you please is essential to creating the wealth that makes the good life of a great nation. The infringement upon those freedoms is what makes Europe lag behind America in economic development.
Steve
And so what is making the rest of the world lag behind China in economic development rate these years?
).
(Anyway, you do have these freedoms in Europe much the same as in the US – there’s no fundamental difference in this regard, for better and for worse. Taxes are higher in many European countries, but then so are other things. Freedom of speech is better here than in the US, I believe
“And so what is making the rest of the world lag behind China in economic development rate these years?”
Two Words Carsten… SLAVE LABOR
That’s not true anymore CW. They are the fastest developing economy maybe in part due to their low wages, but much more due to the fact of their technological advances and recent legal and infrastructural changes.
Mahmood, your point is noted. From where I sit China is in that position from the Slave Labor marker for the most part. When I look at the items I import from China VS the same items from Japan, (quality being the same) the only difference between the mfg process is the cost of labor. Granted China had made some tech advances and infrastructure changes but I think it could be argued that these changes are in part a result of the extreme low wages being paid. Low wages = higher profits.
The Chinese have not been innovators for some time but good a copying technology from others, out right buying it or stealing it.
“The Chinese have not been innovators for some time but good a copying technology from others …”
This may be so, but this will not remain true. The Chinese middle class is getting pretty wealthy and well-educated, and the day cannot be far off when China will have more people with PhDs than there are people in the United States.
Alas, what they still lack is political freedoms.
What I want to see (sorry Mahmood if this is to far off topic) is the new Chinese Cars and Trucks. I saw them on the floor in Bahrain but did not test drive one. The looked good. Looked good being the key point. Alas I will we have to wait to check them out when I come back to Bahrain as I doubt they will get much traction in the US.
And yes Carsten what the Chinese need is poliitical freedom. It is what a good part of the world needs as well.
Carsten Agger: “And so what is making the rest of the world lag behind China in economic development rate these years?”
It’s pretty disingenuous to hold China up as economically superior to fully developed states. You’re comparing mature and immature economies. It’s like saying kindergartners are superior because they have higher rates of growth than adults.
It’s pretty easy to have a high rate of growth when you start from nothing. As a Communist state, China had been doing pretty much everything wrong to build itself up economically. The typical story of a Communist state is that it does not create much net wealth but rather consumes its capital assets until the state collapses. China is finally taking off because they are slowly adopting capitalism. It finally figured out what Singapore and Hong Kong had learned a century ago.
Carsten Agger: “(Anyway, you do have these freedoms in Europe much the same as in the US – there’s no fundamental difference in this regard, for better and for worse. Taxes are higher in many European countries, but then so are other things.”
Taxes are substantially higher in Europe than in the US with rather significant negative consequences. Such a high tax load squeezes newlyweds into tiny little rabbit hutches for homes where a single baby is a tight squeeze and a second child is impossible. That pushes the European birth rate below the replacement level. You are taxing yourselves into extinction and in effect handing your countries over to immigrants who wish to overthrow them to set up sharia states. That will end badly.
The lighter tax load in America allows families to have children at the replacement level while living relatively nicer lives than Europeans.
The many regulations imposed by quasi-socialist European governments also reduces property rights and stifles their economies. The enormous European tax on gasoline is in effect a tax on your liberty to move as you please. By contrast, in America businesses are quite free to reconfigure themselves to respond to economic conditions, which is why our economy far outpaces Europe’s. We are also much freer to pick up and move as we see fit, which makes our pursuit of happiness more effective.
Carsten Agger: “Freedom of speech is better here than in the US, I believe.”
I strongly disagree. Not even in Britain do you have the unfettered right of free speech that you have in America. Italy is prosecuting Oriana Fallaci for criticizing Islam, something that would never happen in America in a thousand years. That doesn’t sound like respect for free speech to me. While America media cover a broad spectrum of opinion from right to left, European media restricts itself to a narrow spectrum from left to far left. A newspaper editor in France was fired for criticizing the anti-American bias in French newspapers during the invasion of Iraq. You don’t get fired for criticising the media in America. You get a book deal and invitations to appear on talk shows.
Steve
Carsten Agger: “This may be so, but this will not remain true. The Chinese middle class is getting pretty wealthy and well-educated, and the day cannot be far off when China will have more people with PhDs than there are people in the United States. Alas, what they still lack is political freedoms.”
The Chinese middle class are becoming more wealthy and educated than what they were before, but not as wealthy and educated as the capitalist countries. And Carsten, doesn’t it bother your vision of China as a great success if its PhDs must get their degrees in America? Why is that? Doesn’t it strike you that free speech is the essential foundation to build a university system that matriculates PhDs worth having?
What is a PhD worth if there are no intellectual property rights to protect the products of your brainwork? What is the incentive to write books or invent things or create software if your title to them is nonexistent and they can be copied at will by anyone for free? The inventions come from America because such intellectual success is rewarded and protected. China is having a hard time coming to terms with the idea of property rights for chattel let alone property rights for abstract things.
Without that incentive, China will need a hundred million PhDs to do the equivalent work of a thousand American PhDs.
To be as successful as America, China will need to change its economic system, its culture, its laws, and its leaders. I’m not holding my breath for that to happen anytime soon.
Steve
Dear Steve,
I do not find your extremist views informative nor very informed, nor really worth arguing with.
I shall refrain from discussing with you and will turn my attention to discussions and other efforts actually worth pursuing.
greetings from Danmark, Europa
Carsten
Ok, then,
(do I contradict myself? Well, then I contradict myself
(I am large, I contain multitudes)
– Walt Whitman)
but you said:
—-
What is the incentive to write books or invent things or create software if your title to them is nonexistent and they can be copied at will by anyone for free?
—-
As it happens, I license the contents of my own weblog on a non-restrictive Creative Commons license, and I’m an active advocate of Free/Open Source Community. I believe the concept of “intellectual property” as pursued in software and businesss method patents as pushed by the US of A and its companies on the rest of the world is a sham.
And NOW I think I’ve said what I have to say to you, Steve the American.
Carsten Agger: “As it happens, I license the contents of my own weblog on a non-restrictive Creative Commons license, and I’m an active advocate of Free/Open Source Community. I believe the concept of “intellectual property” as pursued in software and businesss method patents as pushed by the US of A and its companies on the rest of the world is a sham.
And NOW I think I’ve said what I have to say to you, Steve the American.”
Carsten, while open source software is an intriguing idea and has made a few good products, it’s pretty difficult to convince the world to work hard and long for free. You have to engage people’s self interest to motivate them. That’s why software that remains the intellectual property of its authors dominates market share in almost every category while open source software is mostly a peripheral player. If making software for free at great personal sacrifice for no reward were the ideal environment for the greatest productivity, then places where there are no intellectual property laws would be software superpowers. They’re not.
To sum it up, economic systems flourish that reward people for making their contributions while those fail which snub productive people.
Steve
Carsten: “I do not find your extremist views informative nor very informed, nor really worth arguing with. I shall refrain from discussing with you and will turn my attention to discussions and other efforts actually worth pursuing. greetings from Danmark, Europa”
If my views were uninformed, then it would be very easy and great fun to knock them down. Is Oriana Fallaci not being prosecuted for her speech? Is European media not biased left? If these were false, it would be very easy for you to disprove them. Why don’t you?
Perhaps, Carsten, you live in an intellectually airtight world where everyone agrees with each other and have all made the same unexamined assumptions which are largely false. Perhaps rather than intellectually engage those who disagree with those assumptions, you retreat back into the comfort of those who won’t challenge your assumptions. Perhaps that’s what keeps Europe intellectually sterile and conformist.
Greetings from Washington, DC!
Steve
Oh well, I promised etc., but this one is too obvious …:
“Perhaps, Carsten, you live in an intellectually airtight world where everyone agrees with each other and have all made the same unexamined assumptions which are largely false.”
Pot. Kettle. Black.
Actually, I’m trained to question my assumptions all the time.
I also am not afraid to put my opinions on the line for discussion.
I believe I did so in som detail in this thread.
However, the other party needs to demonstrate at least some capacity for listening, whereas I’ve rather perceived a large capacity for lecturing.
If I’m wrong in this, then mea maxima culpa. And now let’s get on with it …
Steve, stop scaring every new guest out of here will you?
Carsten, Steve’s got a blog too at http://conprotantor.blogspot.com/ where he is Always Right and never Wrong!
That might give you a bit more insight into his psyche…
Thanks Mahmood, for the additional insight.
And thanks for your blog – I don’t think I agree with you on everything (and wouldn’t that be boring, too), but I enjoy the posts as well as your patience with people in the comments section.
Mahmood: “Steve, stop scaring every new guest out of here will you?”
Alright, alright. I’m just sick of the typical lefty self-righteous schtick where anyone who disagrees with them is an extremist.
Mahmood: “Carsten, Steve’s got a blog too at http://conprotantor.blogspot.com/ where he is Always Right and never Wrong!”
Oh, Mahmood, admit it: You laughed when you read that, didn’t you? Thanks for the plug, though.
Steve
Since you plugged my blog, Conservative Propaganda, may I direct those interested to my finest and most trafficked post, “Marching With The Moonbats In DC,” which covers the big anti-war rally in DC last September, complete with photos. It provides a piercing yet humorous insight into the geniuses of the anti-war movement here in America, captured in all their glory.
But be sure to come back to Mahmood’s Den when you’re done.
Steve
More than welcome!
Carsten Agger: “Freedom of speech is better here than in the US, I believe.”
Here is an article, “Illiberal Europe,” from The Daily Standard that details the speech laws which have stripped away much of Europeans freedom to speak freely. Some excerpts:
“…European countries have never had America’s strong free-speech tradition. … Second, speech laws have been dramatically expanded to sanction speech that “incites hatred” against groups based on their religion, race, ethnicity, or several other characteristics. Third, these incitement laws are being interpreted so loosely that they chill not just extremist views but mainstream ones too. The result is a serious distortion and impoverishment of political debate.
…
SO THE REAL DANGER posed by Europe’s speech laws is not so much guilty verdicts as an insidious chilling of political debate, as people censor themselves in order to avoid legal charges and the stigma and expense they bring. And the most serious chill is not of fringe racists but of mainstream moderates and conservatives.
First of all, it turns out that some denials and incitements are more equal than others in Europe. For all the trials on charges of Holocaust denial, it is not clear that anyone has been charged with denial or minimization of crimes committed by Communist regimes. And the laws banning incitement of hatred on grounds of race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin do not ban incitement based on political orientation or economic status. Moreover, these laws protect speech that incites hatred against Americans and some others. And while there have been some convictions of Islamist radicals for inciting hatred against Jews and others, Europeans have been shy to move against the incitement pervasive in Islamist circles.
In other words, Europe’s speech laws are written and applied in ways that leave activists on the political left free to whitewash crimes of leftist regimes, incite hatred against their domestic bogeymen of the well-to-do, and luridly stereotype their international bogeymen, often with history-distorting falsehoods such as fictitious claims of genocide said to be committed by the United States and Israel. It may be no coincidence that Socialist and extreme-left parties have played central roles in the design of speech laws. The crafter of France’s 1990 Gayssot law, for example, was Jean-Claude Gayssot, a longtime Communist party officeholder. All this matters. It sends an important signal to the broader culture when Hitler is the symbol of evil while Stalin and Mao are given a pass, and when, in effect, Pat Buchanan’s ideas risk indictment while Michael Moore’s are protected.
…
BETWEEN EUROPE’S SPEECH LAWS, hypersensitivity, and cynical demagoguery, constructive criticism can become virtually impossible, and self-censorship the norm.”
The assertion that Europeans enjoy more free speech than Americans is another of a rather large set of European parochial self-delusions.
Steve
Steve, in a word,
nonsense!
They were going to pass some unfortunately strong
“anti-incitement” laws in Britain, but they gave it up again.
In Denmark, we have a law banning the demeaning (you could
say: Racist) characterization of an ethnic, religious or sexual
minority, but it’s very rarely used and anyway I wish you could
see some of the things they’re writing (especially about Muslims,
by the by) anyhoo.
In Israel, on the other hand, a young female settler was sentenced
to two years in prison for making a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad
as a pig. Well, it might have helped in the charge that she was
a settler in Hebron and was actually distributing her cartoon to
Palestinians in the town – she was convicted of inciting to riots; PM
Netanyahu (yes, him!) personally apologized to the mayor of Hebron.
But that was an aside … the Danish anti-incitement laws are actually
quite weak, and you can say whatever you want and people do. And
it’s more or less the same all over Europe, BTW.
Austria and Germany have laws against Holocaust denial. I find that
problematic, not because anybody with just a little grasp of the amount
of documentation available for that part of European history would
ever doubt it took place, but precisely because we can’t really argue
against someone who aren’t allowed to speak.
But there are historical reasons for these prohibitions. I mean, seriously:
in Germany and Austria you had enormous parts of the populations who
were accessories to the crimes, and who certainly did not want to
be reminded of what happened, and the “old ways” might easily have
reappeared (and Germany and Austria not been the open, democratic
societies they are today) if there hadn’t been laws in place against
Nazi activity.
Whether these laws are still relevant is another matter
(I think not – David Irving may be a despicable liar, but I don’t really
see any point in sending him behind bars).
But other than that, your article is rubbish. I also note that none of the
major US newspapers have actually run the Muhammad cartoons.
Why? Well, NY Times and the like cite “consideration” or some sort of weakminded liberal stuff, but I’m sure the good ole conservative newspapers … hey wait, no, not even the good ole New York POST has
run them.
I suppose you’ve got more censorship than us after all, right?
(Just for the record, re: the Muhammad cartoons:
1) The publication of the Muhammad cartoons should be understood
as a Danish domestic matter. The newspaper never intended
this to be an international affair in any way.
2) I don’t think Jyllands-Posten should have published the cartoons; I
think it was a childish and deliberate insult to the Danish Muslim
community – rather similar to an immigrant descrating our flag.
3) I don’t think we should have laws against doing such things,
tho’ – freedom of speech includes the freedom to say childish things,
even to make an ass of yourself).
I suggest you find another source for what’s going on in Europe than
the Daily Standard – freedom of speech is alive and well here.
As for the freedom to speak out against minorities, e.g. immigrants
and Muslims: Well, if you could only hear what our right-wing
politicians are actually saying, you probably would be pleased.
A lot of people wouldn’t, though.
Carsten Agger: “But there are historical reasons for these prohibitions. I mean, seriously: in Germany and Austria you had enormous parts of the populations who were accessories to the crimes, and who certainly did not want to be reminded of what happened, and the “old ways” might easily have reappeared (and Germany and Austria not been the open, democratic societies they are today) if there hadn’t been laws in place against Nazi activity.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Exposing lingering Nazi sentiments to the light of day and debate would delegitimize them. Driving them underground does not, where they can fester unchallenged.
Carsten Agger: “But other than that, your article is rubbish. I also note that none of the major US newspapers have actually run the Muhammad cartoons. Why? Well, NY Times and the like cite “consideration” or some sort of weakminded liberal stuff, but I’m sure the good ole conservative newspapers … hey wait, no, not even the good ole New York POST has run them.”
You note correctly. The reason is cowardice. The liberals who run the major media here have very nice lives and paychecks which they don’t want interrupted by a knife in their chest planted by some Muslim fanatic while they are chatting with their friends over their smoked salmon in a nice Manhattan restaurant. Running the cartoons has been left up to the much smaller conservative media.
Carsten Agger: “2) I don’t think Jyllands-Posten should have published the cartoons; I think it was a childish and deliberate insult to the Danish Muslim community – rather similar to an immigrant descrating our flag.”
Assassinating Theo Van Gogh for criticizing Islam is a rather strong assault on free speech. The cartoons followed from that to test free speech in the face of Muslim violence. When authors and artists avoid broaching the topic of Islam for fear of being harmed, then there is a serious threat to free speech and all that comes with it. No topic should be immune from criticism. The issue is whether Denmark will allow Muslims to censor their speech.
Steve
Steve:
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Exposing lingering Nazi sentiments to the light of day and debate would delegitimize them. Driving them underground does not, where they can fester unchallenged.
Oh, but I agree. But I do understand where the prohibition came from.
The political situation in Germany and Austria in 1945 and on are very different indeed from that of a “normal” European country.
Steve:
Assassinating Theo Van Gogh for criticizing Islam is a rather strong assault on free speech. The cartoons followed from that to test free speech in the face of Muslim violence.
The cartoons actually had nothing to do with the assassination of The van Gogh – like I said, they were a part of a purely domestic discussion.
One observation, though: If you were able to read Danish newspapers you’d note that, like I said, people do actually not seem to be very afraid of saying things about Muslims which are not only bad, but completely outrageous. So there’s really no such censorship.
On the other hand, a newspaper made a survey of Danish Muslims who had defended themselves against such attacks in letters to the editor to newspapers and found that about 80% of them had subsequently received threats telling them, among other things, that they were pigs, should leave the country immediately and should shut the f*** up.
So who’s actually censoring and intending to intimidate whom?
In all fairness, I won’t accuse the entire “right wing” of trying to threaten and intimidate these people to silence. This is the work of a few extremists.
But, it makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
Carsten,
The murder of Van Gogh certainly set the environment for the cartoon publication. Why do you think they couldn’t get artists to illustrate the book about Islam, the precursor to the cartoon publication? Certainly that murder in broad daylight influenced the artists decision to reject such commissions for fear of violence.
From what I understand, Muslim on non-Muslim violence is much greater in Europe, and everywhere really, than non-Muslim on Muslim violence. That surely sets the scene as well.
While I don’t approve of phoning anonymous threats to people for holding differing opinions, I wouldn’t be so quick to assign such threats entirely to the right. While the right has its share of unhinged loonies and racists, so does the left. There is many a lefty who presents a politically correct public face but who is anything but in private.
You might consider that these bad and wrong responses are made in lieu of a proper and principled response by the government of Denmark to Muslims who wish to take advantage of your system to increase their numbers to a majority, then overthrow your state. When Muslims riot in your towns and claim that “This land belongs to us,” I would imagine that might worry some Danes who naively assumed Denmark was Danish. Likewise, some Danes may object to Muslim immigrants composing 5% of the population but consuming 40% of the welfare payments and commiting three fourths of the rapes in Denmark, Muslims clamoring to install Sharia law in Denmark when they become a majority, threatening to kill Muslim converts to Christianity, fomenting violent bigotry against Danish Jews, and offering $30,000 bounties for the murder of prominent Danish Muslims with whom the radicals disagree. When such belligerence goes unopposed and even ignored, it brings a lot of ugly and stupid reactions to the surface. Nice people sorely pressed begin to have crazy thoughts and reactions.
Steve
Steve, Steve, Steve …
this “This land is ours” thingy was right here where I live.
These so-called “riots” were performed by a bunch of punks
and misfits, many of them actually of vintage Danish/Christian
origin. You might consider finding yourself some more reliable
sources than paranoid wingnuts like in JihadWatch …
And this thing at danielpipes.org – isn’t it … isn’t it …
Yes, it is! It’s the article Daniel Pipes wrote some years back
with “historian” Lars Hedegaard which was debunked completely
and exposed as a pack of lies; Pipes subsequently distanced himself
from the article, saying it was all Hedegaard’s doing.
Oh, the odor and feel of vintage propaganda lies.
Frankly, other readers than Steve: Don’t believe a word you read in the articles at the end of those links Steve gave.
Hedegaard (Pipes’ co-author on the last piece) has a record of distorting
facts to fit his (s)creeds, and the “riots” mentioned in the uppermost
link had very little to do with islam or muslims and a lot to do with
juvenile delinquency.
Now I know another thing about you, Stevie Boy – you never check
your sources if they seem to confirm your prejudices.
Carsten, you are a breath of fresh air
Indeed!
Thanks, Chanad and Mahmood; basically, I’m probably not the
right person to lecture on Danish matters – I might have a thing
or to to add myself
I’m on vacation for the next few days – see you after Easter,
which the Jews call Peschach, I believe, and the politically
correct Americans call Spring Holiday.
Giving without reserve
It is with reticence that I write this. I do not wish to place myself on the moral high ground, or to sermonise anyone. This chapter tries to show the truth and importance of dreaming of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (May Allah Convey His Peace and Blessings upon the Holy Messenger). These words seek to confirm that ours is a Prophet of Mercy, a Witness, and a Bearer of Good Tidings. It also aims to portray the consequence of du’aa in the Masjid al-Haram. It is moreover meant as a method of encouragement for our children to some day continue with the Prophetic Tradition of raising an orphan for the sake of Allah, The One of Unbounded Grace. So that they may by this means know that there is more to life than just prayer and fasting. And that they should give of themselves unreservedly. That they might through it also, temper their adhkaar with compassion.
We were asleep at the Mashrabiyya Hotel in Khalid bin Walid Street in Shubayka, Makkah al-Mukarramah when, by the Mercy of Allah, I had the most beautiful dream. I saw myself standing in the holy presence of our Truthful Prophet Muhammad (May Allah Convey His Peace and Blessings upon the Holy Prophet). Our Prophet (May Allah Convey His Peace and Blessings upon the Holy Messenger) was spotlessly dressed in white robes and a white turban. I stared aghast. Our Prophet stood about two meters away and faced me directly. I do not have the words with which to suitably portray this most wonderful man, the Seal of the Prophets. I have never seen anyone so unimaginably holy, so indescribably handsome. I reached for my turban, embarrassed for not wearing it. “Leave it,” I said to myself. “You are in the Company of the Prize of creation.” A brilliance shone from our Guided Prophet (May Allah Convey His Peace and Blessings upon the Holy Prophet). Our Prophet (May Allah Convey His Peace and Blessings upon the Holy Prophet) smiled at me. The smile radiated light. I stood alert, too humbled to speak. I wished that the dream would last forever. The heavenly smile lasted between ten and fifteen minutes, it felt like.
Alhamdu-lillaah. I had never considered myself deserving of such an enormous honour. This was a spiritual experience of the first magnitude. “What does that smile mean?” I asked myself over and over again.
Part of my da’waat in the Holy Mosque in Mecca, was to ask Allah, The One Who Makes Clear to us His signs so that we may be grateful, to Grant to ourselves the opportunity and blessings of raising an orphan for His sake.
My wife and I had, over a number of years, tried to adopt a baby by applying at several local agencies, and were given all sorts of excuses which disqualified, and sometimes discouraged us. Reasons given were that we were not married according to South African law, that few babies from local Muslim parents came up for adoption, and the fact that we have children of our own. We were also faced with, what was to my mind, the worse aspect of the South African race laws. These regulations and those administering it, in this case, the social workers, prescribed that a ‘brown’ orphaned child had to be matched with ‘brown’ adoptive parents. A ‘yellow’ baby could only be placed with prospective ‘yellow’ adoptive parents, a ‘white’ orphan could not be raised by ‘black’ adoptive parents, and so on. They played dominoes with human lives. Some social workers were more ready to read the ‘race act’ than others. In an interview and in response to a question on whether we would mind adopting a child from a ‘lower rung’ of the colour scale, I told them that “a nice green one would do.” A jab to my ribs from my wife quickly halted the acid flow down the sides of my mouth. Stirring the ire of our then masters by criticising their political beliefs would not help, she meant. “When the white boss tells a joke, and regardless of its lack of humour – laugh!” she chided me later. Race inequalities existing at the time ensured that hundreds of black orphans went begging in more ways than one. It virtually excluded us from adopting a child. No orphans that matched our race and blood mix were on offer and they weren’t likely to easily present themselves for adoption, we were told. My wife is of Indian (as in “Indian” from India, as opposed to “American” Indian) stock and I am of (well) mixed blood.
On the morning of Wednesday, 1st June 1994, just three days after arriving back home from Haj, we received a telephone call from Melanie Van Emmenes of the Child Welfare Society. She explained that a five-month old girl had come up for adoption. The baby had earlier undergone successful abdominal surgery and she asked whether we would adopt the child. We jumped at the chance.
A rush of adrenaline replaced the after-effects of travel. We were rejuvenated. Capetonians usually visit local pilgrims before departure and also on their arrival back home. We excused ourselves from the few visitors and asked my mother-in-law to host them in our absence. My wife and I immediately went to the Adoption Centre in Eden Road, Claremont. We signed the necessary papers.
Afterwards, we told our children that we were about to receive an addition to the family. We plodded through a maze of red tape in order to legalise the process. (My wife and I had to marry in court because Muslim marriages were not recognised then, believe it or not). A few days later, my wife, brother and I collected the petite infant from a foster-mother in Newfields Estate. I shall never forget the joyous feeling when I first carried the frail waif past the front door. Her name is Makkia. We named her after the great city from which we had just returned.
Taking her into our home is one of the better things that we have done. Makkia has added a marvellous dimension to our lives. She is part of our life’s work. I shall always be grateful to the people who had assisted us with the adoption.
The meaning behind the glowing smile from our Trustworthy Prophet Muhammad (May Allah Convey His Peace and Blessings upon the Holy Prophet) had played itself out in the most delightful way. In our Prophet (May Allah Convey His Peace and Blessings upon the Holy Prophet) we have a beautiful pattern of conduct. Like a lamp that spreads light, the Messenger of Allah invites to the Grace of Allah by His leave. Our Divinely-inspired Prophet is the first of the God-fearing. No person is better than him. Our Prophet Muhammad is the leader of the prophets. He is without sin. Our Prophet (May Allah Convey His Peace and Blessings upon the Holy Messenger) is faultless and the foremost of those who submit to the Will of Allah. An exemplar to those who worship God, our Kind-hearted Prophet Muhammad (May Allah Convey His Peace and Blessings upon the Holy Prophet) is the beacon of the pious. He is an inspiration to those who are thankful to God and the leader of those who remember Allah. How should I express gratitude to the Holy Messenger of Allah for his kind intervention? I am unworthy of untying the laces of our Prophet’s sandals.
Allah, The One Who Is Sufficient For those who put their trust in Him, Had Granted our want through the barakah of our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (May Allah Convey His Peace and Blessings upon the Holy Prophet).
I’ve been fairly constant about wearing a turban during ’ibaadah since.
Man, if you ever convert this into a script, please let me know, I’d like to be the executive producer!
Brilliant!
I just have a problem with the laces, I don’t think they had any. They did have thongs though.