Having failed to change the policy of our local mosque regarding the separation of the women's and the men's prayer areas, (the former of course being vastly smaller, in the back, and blocked from a view of the minbar by a grey wall), a friend and I decided to start our own Friday prayer. The first was at my house and included myself, my friend and her three children. I thus gave my fist khutbah, and led prayer for the first time with non-family members. She asked me to post the khutbah, and so I comply, to the best of my ability.
The topic that has been most on my mind recently is war. It started this summer while I was in Maryland, helping my mother recover from heart surgery. My parents live near the Antietam Battlefield, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the U.S. Civil War. I noticed a sign as I drove through Funkstown, the little town about a quarter of a mile from their house, announcing that there would be a re-enactment of the much smaller "Battle of Funkstown" while I was there. I had seen a re-enactment or two as a child, but never as an adult, so I decided to take a short break between hospital visits, and go to see the re-enacters. They had set up camps in the local park...one campsite for the Confederate soldiers, and one for the Union soldiers. They had tents just like you see in the pictures of the Civil War, except they were cleaner. They had uniforms just like the soldiers had worn. I've been told some of them even wear wool underwear, because they want to be as close to authentic as possible. I spoke to one of the Confederate soldiers, and he told me he's been doing this for years. It's a great hobby. Pack up all your gear in a trailer, take off on the weekends, go to another re-enactment, and play pretend war. Funkstown was awash in Confederate and Union flags. I missed the actual "battle," but I was told the armies skirmished back and forth the main street of the town for about three hours on Saturday morning. I pondered over this. Why do grown men get so much meaning out of re-creating war?
After I returned to Chicago, the situation in Egypt descended into chaos. Police opened fire on the encamped demonstrators who were protesting the deposition of Egypt's first democratically elected president. Hundreds were killed, a curfew imposed, and yet demonstrations continued, and more were killed. How could this be happening in Egypt, my adopted country, two and a half years after the revolution deposed a thirty-year dictatorship?
And then, more escalation in the civil war in Syria, with evidence that the government used chemical weapons on civilians, killing over a thousand.
When I was young I believed that humankind was supposed to be progressing toward a more peaceful world. World War II had ended, Vietnam finally ended, even the Cold War ended. We were supposed to be evolving as a species, I believed, and that evolution should inevitably be toward peace. More democracy, more prosperity, more peace. And now, here we are and wars keep coming, new ones.
Why? Sure, every war has it's economic and socio-political reasons that are analyzed and debated. But what about the broader metaphysical question? Why war? Why have we not been successful at eliminating the human propensity to kill for what we want or think we need? I looked to the Quran, to see what revelation has to say about war. I found this in Surah Al-Imran, Ayat 169-174:
But do not think of those that have been slain in God's cause as dead. Nay, they are alive! With their Sustainer have they their sustenance, exulting in that which God has bestowed upon them out of His bounty. And they rejoice in the glad tiding given to those who have been left behind and have not yet joined them, that no fear need they have, and neither shall they grieve: they rejoice in the glad tiding of God's blessings and bounty, and that God will not fail to requite the believers who responded to the call of God and the Apostle after misfortune had befallen them.
A magnificent requital awaits those of them who have persevered in doing good and remained conscious of God: Those who have been warned by other people, 'Behold, a host has gathered against you; so beware of them!' - whereupon this only increased their faith, so that they answered, 'God is enough for us; and how excellent a guardian is He!' - and returned [from the battle] with God's blessings and bounty, without having been touched by evil: for they had been striving after God's goodly acceptance - and God is limitless in His great bounty. [Translation by Muhammad Asad]
And this is what those words said to me:
1/ Revelation reminds us our physical world, beautiful and compelling as it is, is but a pale reflection of the greater Reality Who created it. Quran reminds us of that in several ayat, notably in Surah 29, The Spider, Ayat 63-64:
But most of them will not use their reason: for [if they did, they would know that] the life of this world is nothing but a passing delight and a play - whereas, behold, the life in the hereafter is indeed the only [true] life: if they but knew this! [Asad]
2/ Revelation reminds us that we shall we return to that greater Reality - our Creator - Allah - as long as we remember and cherish our connection.
3/ Revelation does not tell us which side is right and which is wrong in any of our current earthly battles. We all believe we know, but we cannot see the whole Truth because our experience of Reality is limited to our three-dimensional frame of reference. Each side in a battle believes that they are in the right. Only Allah can know all the dimensions, all the reasons for the course of human history. But revelation does tells us that each one of us, individually, is responsible for our intention, for what is in our heart. And it tells us that if we are forced to fight and die, or be sacrificed for a cause greater than our earthly selves, for the greater Reality of God, we need not grieve and we need not be afraid - neither for ourselves or those who have already died in that intent. They, and we, will be returned to the greater Truth.
After the khutbah I asked the children "So why do you think people like to do re-enactments of battles?" And the oldest one reminded me of the many battles that have been fought throughout time, that war has always been part of human history. And the thought occurred to me that maybe when we are not in the middle of a battle, when we are not fighting or fleeing for our lives and calling on God to protect us, maybe we feel a need to remember that sense of danger, of immediacy... that sense of nearness to death... that sense of nearness to God.
The topic that has been most on my mind recently is war. It started this summer while I was in Maryland, helping my mother recover from heart surgery. My parents live near the Antietam Battlefield, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the U.S. Civil War. I noticed a sign as I drove through Funkstown, the little town about a quarter of a mile from their house, announcing that there would be a re-enactment of the much smaller "Battle of Funkstown" while I was there. I had seen a re-enactment or two as a child, but never as an adult, so I decided to take a short break between hospital visits, and go to see the re-enacters. They had set up camps in the local park...one campsite for the Confederate soldiers, and one for the Union soldiers. They had tents just like you see in the pictures of the Civil War, except they were cleaner. They had uniforms just like the soldiers had worn. I've been told some of them even wear wool underwear, because they want to be as close to authentic as possible. I spoke to one of the Confederate soldiers, and he told me he's been doing this for years. It's a great hobby. Pack up all your gear in a trailer, take off on the weekends, go to another re-enactment, and play pretend war. Funkstown was awash in Confederate and Union flags. I missed the actual "battle," but I was told the armies skirmished back and forth the main street of the town for about three hours on Saturday morning. I pondered over this. Why do grown men get so much meaning out of re-creating war?
After I returned to Chicago, the situation in Egypt descended into chaos. Police opened fire on the encamped demonstrators who were protesting the deposition of Egypt's first democratically elected president. Hundreds were killed, a curfew imposed, and yet demonstrations continued, and more were killed. How could this be happening in Egypt, my adopted country, two and a half years after the revolution deposed a thirty-year dictatorship?
And then, more escalation in the civil war in Syria, with evidence that the government used chemical weapons on civilians, killing over a thousand.
When I was young I believed that humankind was supposed to be progressing toward a more peaceful world. World War II had ended, Vietnam finally ended, even the Cold War ended. We were supposed to be evolving as a species, I believed, and that evolution should inevitably be toward peace. More democracy, more prosperity, more peace. And now, here we are and wars keep coming, new ones.
Why? Sure, every war has it's economic and socio-political reasons that are analyzed and debated. But what about the broader metaphysical question? Why war? Why have we not been successful at eliminating the human propensity to kill for what we want or think we need? I looked to the Quran, to see what revelation has to say about war. I found this in Surah Al-Imran, Ayat 169-174:
But do not think of those that have been slain in God's cause as dead. Nay, they are alive! With their Sustainer have they their sustenance, exulting in that which God has bestowed upon them out of His bounty. And they rejoice in the glad tiding given to those who have been left behind and have not yet joined them, that no fear need they have, and neither shall they grieve: they rejoice in the glad tiding of God's blessings and bounty, and that God will not fail to requite the believers who responded to the call of God and the Apostle after misfortune had befallen them.
A magnificent requital awaits those of them who have persevered in doing good and remained conscious of God: Those who have been warned by other people, 'Behold, a host has gathered against you; so beware of them!' - whereupon this only increased their faith, so that they answered, 'God is enough for us; and how excellent a guardian is He!' - and returned [from the battle] with God's blessings and bounty, without having been touched by evil: for they had been striving after God's goodly acceptance - and God is limitless in His great bounty. [Translation by Muhammad Asad]
And this is what those words said to me:
1/ Revelation reminds us our physical world, beautiful and compelling as it is, is but a pale reflection of the greater Reality Who created it. Quran reminds us of that in several ayat, notably in Surah 29, The Spider, Ayat 63-64:
But most of them will not use their reason: for [if they did, they would know that] the life of this world is nothing but a passing delight and a play - whereas, behold, the life in the hereafter is indeed the only [true] life: if they but knew this! [Asad]
2/ Revelation reminds us that we shall we return to that greater Reality - our Creator - Allah - as long as we remember and cherish our connection.
3/ Revelation does not tell us which side is right and which is wrong in any of our current earthly battles. We all believe we know, but we cannot see the whole Truth because our experience of Reality is limited to our three-dimensional frame of reference. Each side in a battle believes that they are in the right. Only Allah can know all the dimensions, all the reasons for the course of human history. But revelation does tells us that each one of us, individually, is responsible for our intention, for what is in our heart. And it tells us that if we are forced to fight and die, or be sacrificed for a cause greater than our earthly selves, for the greater Reality of God, we need not grieve and we need not be afraid - neither for ourselves or those who have already died in that intent. They, and we, will be returned to the greater Truth.
After the khutbah I asked the children "So why do you think people like to do re-enactments of battles?" And the oldest one reminded me of the many battles that have been fought throughout time, that war has always been part of human history. And the thought occurred to me that maybe when we are not in the middle of a battle, when we are not fighting or fleeing for our lives and calling on God to protect us, maybe we feel a need to remember that sense of danger, of immediacy... that sense of nearness to death... that sense of nearness to God.
