(as posted 26th Dec 2012)
“The fault ... lies not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.”
Similarity of all religion is often
outweighed by the accent we place upon subtle differences.
Without the
unifying element of the One God, each
religion seeks to claim its independence of all others, each becoming separate and aloof to that which binds them at heart.
We
are told that had He willed, He would have made all the nations as one.
But in His wisdom, we are perhaps defined by our struggle to make an
effort towards one another, in reaching out; thus enabling ourselves a freedom from negativity in order to aspire spritually towards His light.
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It would be
wrong to tarnish everyone with the same brush and it would be wrong to
judge anyone by the way they look and yet today, people in Egypt appear
inevitably to do both. The reasons are obvious since many proclaim
their identity and beliefs through particular dress codes. Even then,
however, there are those who outwardly appear to belong to a certain
group but who may do so whilst being quite differently
motivated; dress codes are often not partisan related but rather
predominantly due to conditioning of a social nature.
Apart from judgement being based upon superficial appearances it is all too often laced with self-righteousness.
All the while, behaviourial guidelines are dished out by those who see
themselves as 'divinely self-appointed' to administer dictates
regardless of whether guidance is solicited or not.
Were we to define
belief as an innate faith, we would have those who, true to themselves
do not feel the need to adopt authoritative positions where their faith
is concerned. Their guiding light would free them from negativity and
cynicism; summing up another's inner truth would feel intrinsically
wrong.
Then
there are those who feel inclined to do just that, assume they can peer
into another's heart and programme it to their will. These will flaunt
their religiosity for all to see and marvel at how well ahead they are
in the queue to heaven; hence the saying 'holier than thou'.
And yet it is quite clear in all religions that before
Our God each individual must stand alone.
The message comes only into its fullness with the concept of time having a
clear duality: Chronological time: the order in
which the religions
have reached us, and relative time: the time it takes for a religious
faith to reach a
person in their own lifetime.
Believing in a religion is often due to being born into one, however our faith in truth is determined by a
number of other factors that relate to spiritual development throughout our
lives.
The message we receive through the Qur-an is that whoever so truly
believes, past, present and future, in a religion aspiring to Him shall be equally
cherished by Allah. The implication is that there is
always time for light to permeate a consciousness so long as willful stubborness of ego does not deliberately stamp it out. Hence,
when a person perceives that notion as clearly
implicit ... therein lies the grain of Islam ~ wittingly or unwittingly
perhaps even its
embrace.
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
 136 | قُولُوا
آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْنَا وَمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَىٰ
إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَالْأَسْبَاطِ
وَمَا
أُوتِيَ مُوسَىٰ وَعِيسَىٰ وَمَا أُوتِيَ النَّبِيُّونَ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ
لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِّنْهُمْ وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ |
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful "Say ye: We believe
In Allah and the revelation
Given to us, and to Abraham,
Ismã'îl, Isaac, Jacob,
And the Tribes, and that given
To Moses and Jesus, and that given
To all Prophets from their Lord:
We make no difference
Between one and another of them:
And we submit to Allah." *(i)
Today,
Egypt appears a country divided. Muslims are hardly recognised as true
muslims if failing to belong to well-labelled
islamists.
With
religion being exploited as a means to enforce a particular and often extreme and thus unbalanced ideology, we now
have a scenario rife with contention on both the micro and macro
scales, the personal and national scene.
A people who for centuries have lived comfortably in their own skins,
with interacting faith practices and a common language of everyday greetings and idioms, now find themselves bickering.
All suffering from severe apprehension, challenged and confused by relentless images of piety that all too often appear to be discriminatory.
Egypt
has always been a country endowed with Islam, it is part of the culture
and does not dismiss other religions but quite on the contrary points
to them as integrally incorporated within its very structure.
For Islam in its true essence to become apparent, those who exploit it need to be revealed.
Therein lies the irony as 'foreseen' nowhere else other than in the Quran itself.
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
وإذا قيل لهم لا تفسدوا في الارض قالوا انما نحن مصلحون ١١
إلا انهم المفسدون ولكن لا يشعرون ١٢
وإذا قيل لهم امنوا كما أمن الناس قالوا أنؤمنو كما أمن السفهاء ألا انهم هم السفهاء ولكن لا يعلمون ١٣
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
...11. 'When it is said to them: 12. Of a surety, they are the ones
"Make not mischief on the earth. Who make mischief,
They say: "We are only ones But they realise (it) not.
That put things right."
13. When it is said to them:
"Believe as the others believe:"
They say: "Shall we believe
As the fools believe?"-
Nay, of a surety they are the fools,
But they do not know.' *(ii) *(iii)
Opression
is perhaps the
most abhorrent of all evils. Grains of it have been present throughout
our history but with every new era new dimensions of it become palpable:
We presently witness a people reacting to
the feeling of being quashed. A most unfortunate backlash has emerged. With religion becoming a means to control, a new vulgarity in
the form of retaliation has surfaced, often noted as an address of a
profane nature, one similarly disturbing and non-discriminative in its bite.
In short, when one aspect of a society is off-key the whole of society is affected.
In
addition to the present acrid mix, the former regime, with
Machiavellian feel, appears to lurk behind the scenes. Military support
is never far away, combining forces with the political party presently
in charge and yet firmly liaised with the former, depending upon
whatever happens to be most beneficial for it to remain grounded as the
alternate parallel entity.
Most tragically and poignantly of all, nobody appears to have been made accountable for
any of the atrocities that have hit a people whose only crime was
peaceful protest~ not during the revolution.. not after .. and then again .. not since.
The following image portrays Egypt's determination to defend itself against oppression as it sees necessary
in order to salvage its true identity that lies at its very core.
*(i)
Here
we have the Creed of Islam: to believe in (1) the One Universal God,
(2) the message to us through Muhammad delivered by other Teachers in
the past. These are mentioned in three groups: (1) Abraham, Ismã'îl,
Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes: of these Abraham had apparently a Book
(Ixxxvii. 19) and the others followed his tradition: (2) Moses and
Jesus, who each left a scripture: these scriptures are still extant,
though not in their pristine form; and (3) other scriptures, Prophets,
or Messengers of Allah, not specifically mentioned in the Qur-ãn (xi.
78). We make no difference between any of these. Their Message (in
essentials) was one, and that is the basis of Islam
*(ii)
From the commentary:
'We now come to a third class of people, the hypocrites.
They are untrue to themselves, and therefore their hearts are diseased.
The disease tends to spread, like all evil. They are curable but if
they harden their hearts, they soon pass into the category of those who
deliberately reject light.'
*(iii)
From the commentary:
'Much
mischief is caused (sometimes unwittingly) by people who think that
they have a mission of peace, when they have not even a true perception
of right and wrong, By their blind arrogance they depress the good and
encourage the evil.'
Translation and commentaries from Sahih International and 'King Fahd Holy Qur-an Printing Complex'.
The Mubarak posse flounce, hover and sway
The army's spoked heels dig in so deep 
"
