Community Building, Part 1
This series is based on anine session
course conducted by the author on Community Building at the Islamic Centre of England in London in 2009.
Abstract
To consider a group of people a successful community involves specific requirements and qualities. Though personal identity is truly important, it is essential for a communityto likewise have
an identity that is shared by other members of the same group, and to work in a united way for the same causes. Regardless of whether it is on a worldwide or lesser scale, establishing a community is becoming more and more vital in today's day and age. Indeed, apart from possessing the task of purifying the people and educating them on how to create social justice, the prophets established successful communities.
Part 1 of this series illustrates on the importance of community- building in the Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad's efforts to put it into practice. Prioritized qualities that ensure a dynamic Islamic communitywill also be expounded
on, such as truthfulness, trustworthiness, persistence, and maintaining a healthy balance in working for this world to eventually lead to a blissful hereafter.
Introduction
The issue on how to establish an Islamic Community has always been of great importance but is especially so for today, whether it is on a general scale in the worldwide Islamic community or on a smaller scale in minority Muslim communities in non-Muslim countries. It is essential for us to know the qualities and characteristics ofan Islamic Community and how we can move towards establishing it
.
It is not simply the case that when we have a number of Muslims living,working
or worshipping together that we can finally call it an Islamic community. However, in many cases this isactually
what we find: a group of Muslims interacting together is deemed an Islamic community, even though it is not.
As we will explain, a community must be a very unified and integrated group of people who behave like one body, and in addition to his or her own personal identity, every individual should have an identity thatis shared
with other members of the community. All must work together in a united way for the same causes.
This article in this series briefly highlights some of the most important points relating to this issue, whichwill then be further elaborated
on in future parts of the series.
The importance of community in the Qur'an
From an Islamic point of view and in particular from aQur'anic
point of view, the development of community, society, or nation is of utmost importance rather than focusing on individuals.
The Qur'an gives attention to everyperson
as each one is unique in the sight of Allah. Allah does not say that because He has created billions of people, He does not care about them as individuals. Every person receives attention from Allah as if he or she is the only creature of God. However, relatively speaking, we cannot compare the significance and importance of society and community with that of individuals. We cannot sacrifice the formation or development of a community in the interest of personal gain. We do not want to sacrifice or ignore the needs of thepeople,
though at the same time we must not forget that it is imperative for us to move towards establishing a community. Given the many signs and evidence for this, we shall begin with considering a few notions and then gradually build upon them.
In the Qur'an, Allah addresses human beings collectively:
1. Whenreading through
the Qur'an even once, it is crucial to ask ourselves who exactly Allah is addressing when He talks to us. Of course, sometimes Allah addresses the Prophet himself as "Ya
ayyuhar-Rasool
" or "Ya
ayyuhan-Nabi
" and then the Prophet delivers the message of Allah to us.
However, when Allah wants to talk to us, or asks his Prophet to speak to us on His behalf, is He talking toeach and every
person independently from other people, or is Allah primarily focusing on the community as a whole?
There are approximately 200 cases in the Qur'an where Allah uses the word 'al-naas
' when speaking directly to the people. 'Al -naas
' can mean people, a group of people, a community, a society, humanity, ormankind.
In addition to these cases, sometimes Allah says 'Bani
Adam', (the children of Adam). It is rare that Allah talks to one individual person. This means that the message of Islam is in large for the masses, societies, communities, or humanity as a whole.
Even the word 'al-insan
' (human being) in the Qur'an is meant in a general sense because when Allah says "Ya
ayyuhal-insan
," He is not referring to any specific person - He is once again addressing thegeneral public
. Furthermore, the cases in which Allah talks about 'al-insan
' are much fewer, about 80, compared to the 200 cases in which 'al-naas
' is mentioned.
2. Secondly, when it comes to the community of the faithful, many times the Qur'an uses the expression "O those who believe" or "O those who have faith". However, as far asI
remember, we do not have a case in which Allah says "O the one who has faith'. Allah always addresses us in the plural form.
3. Regarding our daily obligatory prayers, Allah commands us to recite the chapter al-Hamd
- The Opening - in every first and secondunits
(rak'at
) of the prayer. In this chapter, we do notsay
"I worship only You..." rather we say "We worship only You...." and then we say "We ask and seek assistance from You" - in the plural form.
We can make requests from Allah during any part of our daily prayers, whether we are in bowing or prostrating, and especially so in thequnut
; but if we are going to ask for something, it is better to ask in the plural form. For example, in thequnut
we usually begin our prayers with "Rabbana
" (Our Lord), such as in the supplication,
"Our Lord.
Grant us good in this world and good in the hereafter, and save us from the chastisement of the fire." (2:201)
When we conclude ourprayer
we say "Assalaamu
'alayna
..." ("May Allah's peace be with us!")
not
"Peace be with me." This is the outlook of a person who belongs to a community.
Thus, the Qur'an is clear that although complete respect and full attentionare given
to people as individuals who are indeed the building bricks that make up the community, the community is the final goal. The most productive conditions for nurturing good peopleis
when we have a good community.
The task of the prophets in the Qur'an
To purify people
Regarding the task of the prophets, the Qur'an at times refers to individuals and sometimes about the community. The purpose of the prophets and indeed all the Divine Books is to take people out of the darkness into the light. For example, inSurah
Maidah
, verses 15 and 16, Allah tells the People of the Book:
O People of the Book!
Certainly
our Apostle has come to you, clarifying for you much of what you used to hide of the Book, and excusing many (an offense of yours).Certainly
there has come to you a light from Allah, and a manifest Book. With it Allah guides those who follow (the course of) His pleasure to the ways of peace, and brings them out from darkness into the light by His will, and guides them to a straight path.(
5:15-16)
Moreover, in verses 2:151, 3:164, and 62:2 Allah speaks of the Prophet's task as purifying the people. Thus, the individual aspect is mentioned, the task of helpingeach and every
person to move towards Allah by purifying themselves and moving from darkness into light.
To guide people to establish social justice
However
at the same time Allah says:
Certainly
We sent down Our Apostles with manifest proofs and We sent down with them the Book and the Balance, so that mankind may maintain justice... (57:25)
The prophetswere sent
to guide so that people can establish social justice and equity. It is noteworthy that Allah does not say He sent His prophets and provided them with the Book and the Balance so that the prophets could establish justice. On the contrary, the prophets have come so that people themselves can establish justice. It is the role of the people with the help of the prophets to establish justice, otherwise people would probably sit back and expect the prophets to establish justice for them, and then they would simplycome and enjoy
and benefit from it once it was established. However, the Qur'an states:
"Allah would not change our affairs unless we ourselves decide to change (13:11)."
If we want to develop into good, pious, and prosperous people, we cannot relax and wait, asking and expecting Allah or the Prophet to perform miracles for us to make achievements. They show us the way and approach, and then we are to take action.
To establish communities
From the beginning of their mission, every prophet had two goals in mind: to help individuals who are willing to become good and move from darkness into the light,and also
to establish a community.
No one will succeed in their mission unless they plan to establish a community. Even if we settle and spend decades reforming and training individuals, when we eventually leave that place or even die there, those individuals and the effect they have will gradually disappear.
The people may continue to exist in that place although the purpose behind the movement will not remain. However, if good peopleare found
, and efforts are made to educate and train them, then together we can establish a community, and then there would be lasting results.
This is what the prophets bore in mind. This was the responsibility they were given.Every prophet either
came to establish a new community or nation or instead to lead and guide a community or nation that was already established although they were facing difficulties. For example, there were many prophets of theBani
Israel (the Children of Israel),
living in the period of time prior to the advent of Prophet Jesus, and it was even the case that sometimes there were dozens of these prophets alive at the same time. These Prophets strove to preserve the community of theBani
Israel by reminding them of the covenant they made with Allah to stop them from deviating and becoming scattered.
Thus, whilst some prophets founded entirely new communities, other prophets tried to preserve, develop, and advance existing ones, they were all concerned with the issue of community.
Prophet Muhammad's efforts to establish a fledgling Islamic community
Like many other prophets, Prophet Muhammadwas given
two tasks. Of course, either of these twocan be divided
into sub-tasks but essentially, one task was to educate and train individuals, and the second was to form and establish a community. For example, when the Prophet went to the city ofYathrib
, later known asMadinat
al-Nabi
, he quickly established an Islamic community.
Moreover, in a matter of only 10 years, this community spread nearly all over the Arabian Peninsula; and in a matter of a fewdecades
it spread to many parts of the world until today. If the Prophet had not followed this strategy of establishing a community and merely focused on individuals, he could not have achieved what he did in forming a newcivilisation
.
The first task he launched in Medina was a community centre - amasjid
. Amasjid
is the House of Allah and simultaneously the house of the people. No person has the right to prevent people from entering this House. As soon as a buildingis consecrated
as amasjid
, it becomes the property of the entire community. Everyone can enter it and benefit from it. When Allah speaks ofMasjid
al-Haram
, He says:
Indeed the first house to be set up for people (nas
) is the one atBakkah
, blessed anda guidance
for all nations. (3:96)
Upon arrival in Medina, the Prophet laid the foundations ofMasjid
ofQuba
as a place for congregational and Friday prayers and a hub for the Muslims in that district.Jum'ah
Prayeris very much related
to the community because we believe that it was theSunnah
of the Prophet. It is the teaching of theAhlul
Bayt
thatJum'ah
must be held
in only one place in every town.
Of course, if the town is large with a specific distance between the two places of prayer, then anotherJum'ah
Prayercan be held
, butJum'ah
Prayer cannot occur in every district ormasjid
. People can perform their daily prayers in their localmasjid
or in the main centralmasjid
, but when it comes to Friday Prayer they should all gather in one place.
Thus, in Islam, the idea of coming together and forming the community is crucial, and the Prophet did this from the beginning by establishing amasjid
and leading congregational
and Friday Prayers. After arriving inMadinah
, he asked each Muslim fromMadinah
, theAnsar
, to be a brother to a Muslim from Mecca, thus forming the covenant ofbrotherhood
(al-ukhuwwah
) between them. Although they both were from Mecca, the Prophet remained with Imam Ali and they made the covenant ofbrotherhood
with each other. Following on from this, he made great efforts to establish a close-knit, homogenous, and friendly community.
The need to provide good examples of Islamic communities
Most people would surely be interested in Islam if in addition to having good individual Muslims we were able to show the world that we have two, three, or four full-fledged Muslim communities meeting the Islamic requirements. Unfortunately, it seems that we have not established good enough examples or set high standards to set as a model for other communities. Ofcourse
we should not to be too pessimistic because there are many strengths: good individuals, small yet progressive groups, and in some parts of the world there exists some forms of an Islamic nation on a larger scale. However, we are still far claiming to have established a community that iswell-pleasing
to Allah and His Prophet from a social and communal point of view.
Therefore, as part of a requirement for having a road map, it is essential to be able to identify and clarify the signs of a healthy community. When can we claim that our community is an Islamic community? As said before, it is not a matter of having a few thousand or even a few million Muslims and then claiming it a Muslim community. The same way every person is to wholeheartedly embrace and implement Islam in their lives, so too must every community fully embrace and implement Islam on the shoulders of individuals who have already fully embraced and implemented Islam on a personal basis.
For example, there might be a group of a thousand Muslims living as a minority in a non-Muslim country, or even a million Muslims living in a Muslim country, all believers as individuals yet as a community are like non-believers because they do not uphold Islamic social values. This is the great challenge. Thanks to God, throughout the ages and in every generation we have had good people.
However, we have mot witnessed the same success regarding establishing full-fledged Islamic communities. The Prophet managed to start establishing an Islamic Community, but the time was too short and there were many challenges externally and internally. Unfortunately, Imam Ali and other Imams alsowere not given
the opportunity to do so. Indeed, throughout the centuries we have very few cases of a community, society,state
or nation which we could honestly describe as an Islamic community, nation, or state.
Even many Muslimorganisations
, parties, and movements may not meet the standards that Islam sets up for such communal entities. This has happened not because Islam is negligent regarding the social aspect of life; on the contrary, Islam is clear about this.
Unfortunately
we Muslims have sadly neglected this important aspect of Islam.On the whole, the
most we have generally done has been to take care of our own personal piety and looked after our own families.And
throughout the greater part of our history, those in power such as theBani
Umayyad andBani
Abbas
were not interested in a comprehensive Islamic system and thus had no interest in establishing a true Islamic community.
Some qualities of a true Islamic community
We are gravely in need of deciding the requirements for an Islamic community, in identifying and clarifying the signs of healthy Muslim community, that which portrays our community as pleasing Allah on a collective, rather than individual, basis.
Truthfulness and trustworthiness
There are somesigns which
indicate that a believer (mu'min
) is healthy, not just physically but religiously and spiritually healthy. For example, according to theAhlul
Bayt
, as stated in ourhadiths
, if you want to know whether someone is really a believer or not you should test them in two things: Are they truthful (sidq
al-hadith
)?and
do they keep their promises (ada
' al-amanah
)? It is our responsibility to care for and return to the owner any item thathas been entrusted
to us.
These are two fundamental signs of a believer. We cannotrecognise
a believer by looking at their outward appearance, countless prayers, or pilgrimages. These acts are undoubtedly important, though to really test whether a person is a true believer, what is important - in addition to other signs - is their honesty or truthfulness, and reliability or trustworthiness.
Persistence
Let us examine one idea from the life of Prophet Muhammad. Among the many aspects, I would like to draw your attention to this verse where Allah tells the Prophet in the chapterHud
:
"So be steadfast, just as you have been commanded - [you] and whoever has turned [to Allah] with you - and do not overstep the bounds. Indeed He sees best what you do." (11:112)
Allah tells the Prophet to be steadfast and to persevere on the right path, to be persistent, ashe is commanded by Allah
, and He says that the same thing applies to whoever has returned to Allah with the Prophet. This means that it is the responsibility of the Prophet and his followers to remain persistent. In the chapter al-Shura
, verse 15, a slightly similar verse is stated:
So summon to this [unity of religion] and be steadfast, just as you have been commanded and do not follow their desires...(
42: 15)
The verse fromHud
is a command for the Prophet and his followers, whereas inSurah
Shura
it is a command solely for the Prophet.
Regarding this, the Prophetsaid:
'The ChapterHud
made my hair turn gray." It was because of this command to remain persistent along with his followers. Although remaining persistentis also mentioned
in the Chapter al-Shura
, the Prophet referred only to the verse in the ChapterHud
as causing his gray hair. Regarding this, the late Imam Khomeini wisely remarked, "It was not a challenge for the Prophet as an individual to remain persistent; rather the challenge was to ensure that the whole community remains loyal."
This is the challenge of leading a community. Every so often there are good leaders who are not given due attention and are not followed. The Prophet knew that ensuring that he himself as well as the Muslim community do not disperse or move in the wrong direction was areal challenge
.
Right direction, right path
In the Qur'an, verse 142 of the Chapter al-Baqarah
appears in the middle of several verses on the change in the Muslims' direction of prayer, theqiblah
. In the early days, Muslims faced Jerusalem,Bayt
al-Muqaddas
, during prayer. However, they were beingcriticised
, blamed, and made a mockery of for not having their ownqiblah
. Then Allah asked the Prophet while inMasjid
Qiblahtayn
inMadinah
, to change the direction to Mecca.
Related to the change ofqiblah
, Allah says:
The foolish among the people will say, 'What has turned them away from theqiblahh
they were following?' Say, 'To Allah belong the east and the west. He guides whomever He wishes to a straight path'. (2:142)
Those who did not understand asked the Muslims for the reason for the change of direction, and consequently were told by Allah to say that it does not matter which way we face for prayer because both the east and the west, and indeed everything, belongs to Allah.
Immediately after that, Allah states that He guides those with whom He is pleased towards the Right Path. The Right Path is a very important concept. It is not necessarily a physical direction. There are those who are concerned about whether they should face East or West, but Allah says that these are merely physical directions. What is of utmost importance is your direction in life. It is not as important which way your body faces, if your whole purpose in life is misdirected and disorientated.
Of course, someone who has correctly orientatedthemselves
spiritually also tries to physically face the direction of the Holy Land. However, there is little or no benefit in being concerned with the physical direction when the entire soul is deviated from the way of Allah.
Although the Right Path is an important spiritual concept, Allah has, however, also used the metaphor that the Right Path is neither towards East nor towards West, as we also find in that beautiful Verse of Light, in the chapter The Light (al-Noor
), where Allah says:
Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is a niche wherein is a lamp-the lamp is in a glass-the glass as it were a glittering star-lit from a blessed olive tree, neither eastern nor western, whose oil almost lights up, though fire should not touch it. Light upon Light. (24:35)
The oil of this lamp is from the olive tree. Lightis emitted
from this oil because it is so transparent and glistening that even without lighting it, it is shining. One of the qualities of this olive tree is that it leans neither towards the East nor towards the West. It is neither eastern nor western.Again
Allah is saying that the East and the West both belong to Him, so we should not be too concerned about them; what is of utmost importance is 'Sirat
al-Mustaqeem
' - the Right Path.
Balance, moderation, and the best example
In the ChapterThe
Cow, Allah says:
"ThusWe
have made you a middle nation that you may be witnesses to the people and that the Apostle may be a witness to you." (2:143)
The Arabic word 'wasat
' means balanced. Sometimes it also means beautiful but beautyis also related
to balance; if there is no balance then there is no beauty as it becomes exaggerated and unrealistic like a caricature or a cartoon drawing.
The Islamic way of lifeis made
balanced by Allah: it is moderate and does not go to extremes. This is 'al-Sirat
al-Mustaqeem
', the Right Path. If we turn in any direction that would be eventually causing our loss of balance and moderation, then we are distancing ourselves from Islam. Allah has made us into a nation that is balanced and moderate.
Furthermore, the Islamic community mustendeavour
to become a witness and set standards for others. If people want to know how to best look after their elders, we should set the best example. We should become the best example in every aspect for others look up to as a model: how to raise children, care for the poor, create jobs, spend their leisure time, establish social welfare, and have a peaceful life. All they have to do is observe our communities and nations. The Prophet is our example whom we should follow and become examples for other people.
This is different from racism, from saying that we are the chosen people of God and so everyone must serve and worship us. Being better certainly does not mean that your life is more important than others' lives or that your blood is more important than others' blood so that everyone must worship and serve you.Being selected
in Islam is for those who have been given the responsibility to benefit others. Being better is surpassing others in benefitting and serving people. We will expand on this later when discussing the verse 3:110.
Allah has made us a balanced and moderate nation with the aim of becoming witnesses for other people, while the Prophet is witness over us. We are to follow the example of our Prophet and practically demonstrate his teachings, especially in our community life.
It is not very effective or helpful if we merely keep telling people what our Prophet said regarding care for children, spouses, strangers, the sick, the deprived and oppressed, and so forth. It is not always usefulto verbally repeat
the teachings of our Prophet. It is throughmodelling
his teachings of looking after the elderly, the deprived,vulnerable
and oppressed people that we can exhibit a true Islamic community that we encourage and nurture closeness and intimacy amongst ourselves because this is what our Prophet has taught us.
Balance between this life and the hereafter
Being balanced
has various different dimensions. We have to strike a balance between working for worldly affairs (dunya
) and working for the hereafter (akhirah
), instead of sacrificing one of them for the sake of the other. We cannot merely work for this life for the sake of a healthy and prosperous material life while forgetting about our eternal life.
Similarly, it is unacceptable to merely work for our hereafter and overlook the development of this world and, for example, disregard progress in science and technology. A Muslim community must have both. This is mentioned in a well-knownhadith
narrated from ImamHasan
which begins with: "With respect to your life in this world, be as if you are going to remain here forever."
If we believe we will remain in this world for eternity, we would do our utmost to achieve the best in all aspects of life. For example, with respect to the environment, why do people destroy it through wastage and pollution?
Perhaps they think that since they are only going to live on this planet for a few years or decades then the environment available at present is sufficient. We tend to disregard what will happen after we are gone.But
if we believed that we will remain in this world forever then we would surely try to implement a sustainable plan.
Thehadith
of the Imam continues: "And with respect to your eternal life, to the hereafter, imagine as if you are going to die tomorrow."
If we believe that we may die tomorrow, we would not postpone anything that will benefit us in the hereafter, such striving to be good and repenting to Allah for our wrongdoings.
Whether as individuals or collectively as a community, Muslims must strike a balance between working for development in this world and for happiness in the next life.
Conclusion
From an Islamic point ofview
each person is very important and unique in the sight of Allah, to such an extent that Allah says if you give life to one person it is as if you have given life to all humankind, and if you kill one person it is as if you have killed all people. However, whilsteach and every
person is very important, the community and the society are extremely significant.
Every Prophet held the task of purifying, educating, and training individuals, while simultaneously working to either establish a community of faithful people or to lead and move forward an already existing community.
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Author: Dr. Muhammad Ali Shomali
