lecture series by Prof Khaled Abou Fadl

had the opportunity to attend two talks by the above prof from the u.s., courtesy of dearest uan's invitations... and i did not regret attending them at all... the discourses meant a lot to me, as a social person, as a muslim both from a community point of view and a personal perspective.


the first lecture at hdb hub, was on the legitimacy of someone who claims to be speaking on God's behalf. the summary of what i got from the lecture was that everyone can speak out on his or her opinion, provided that the opinion is justified objectively (by the Quran and the Sunnah, and the exegesis of the scholars) and that all the evidence that exists to prove that opinion, is available to one and all. but no one can truly say that he speaks on God's behalf, for so Great is the He, that no one creation could possibly conceive His Divine Will. it is exactly for that reason that differences in opinions and diversity are allowed in Islam, and in fact therein lies the secret in the ayah of God, "Oh Mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know (understand) one another." (Hujurat:13)


we were created to begin to get to know each other and celebrate, rather than eradicate, differences and diversity. each of the scholars may represent a certain perspective and hence hikmah to an issue, all of which are Mercies of the Divine Will. the creation of diversity is quite intentional, due to the knowledge that as humans, we would give different emphasis on different pieces of evidence and events. that was a truly beautiful thing to have learnt.


the other thing that i took back personally was the matter of the crisis that afflicts muslims nowadays. indeed, many people are rather free with their religious opinions and their own interpretations of matters - myself not exempt. the fear of speaking on issues of fiqh and fatwa has diminished greatly as compared to the past. prof reminded us of the past eras, where the Prophet's (pbuh) companions themselves were afraid of being held accountable in the Hereafter, for having possibly said something which is not right, even though they may have heard it from the Prophet himself. they would refer and re-refer, because no one could bear the weight and responsibility of speaking on God's and the Prophet's behalf. such is the level of humility and fear that they had. what of us? it truly set me thinking...


the second lecture was entitled, "the good, the bad and the ugly: seeking beauty in Islam". this lecture was taken quite personally by me. in it, prof discussed several moral characteristics and traits that describe and define the good from the bad, and the beautiful from the ugly. just to share, some of the traits that may group a person as being good include - to connect between people and to heal rifts, to forgive others, to practice humility and restraint, to control one's anger and hurt, to avoid friction and pick fights, to restrain against following one's whims and fancies. qualities that may categorise a person as bad - twisting the truth, listening in when one has no business, being harsh, calling other people names.


and i realised that for the good part, i am not there. and for the bad part, i am so there. i took the lecture as an admonishment to my own nafs. and i thought a great deal about what has happened lately around and about me. and it actually made me depressed, my own self-inspection. so, I decided to make some changes to my attitude, that i can at least take on some traits of mahmudah, and clear some mazmumah. i will detail some of the steps in the following blog.


yah.