Bism Allah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,
This three day conference began after Jumuah prayer on Friday December 26th and finished late in to the night of the Sunday December 28th. Over 10,000 people is a rough count of the attendance, a tripling of the conference of the year before. A grand hall seating that number at which talks were given and another grand hall housing a ‘souk’ full of myriad booths- incense, scarves, abayath, clothes, colour, hijabs, and books upon books upon books, and it goes on. In three days I could not visit many of the stalls it was so large, invoking such a spirit of what a bazaar in the old towns and cities of the Islamic empire must have been like. Beside the souk and parallel to it, in the same hall a vast space laid aside for prayer. All the salaath made in Jama’ah, it was truly glorious to pray with thousands of people. My nearest experience to the Hajj MashaAllah.
It is not an easy task to paraphrase the gist of all the talks I attended, even to capture all that was encompassed in one lecture is difficult. The speakers were inspired, animated, insightful, knowledgable and struck so many chords in the audience. Talks were peppered with applause and the Takbeer rang out so frequently, that itself a lesson.
Monia Mazigh and Mahar Arar
Hope and Despair
Monia and Mahar sat down with an interviewer for half an hour. In this half hour we learned of the strong love between Monia and Mahar and the strength of Monia. She spoke of the message in h
er book Hope and Despair. He listened and supported her. Dr. Monia Mazigh (PhD in Financial Economics, McGill) who once contested the federal ele
ction as a candidate for the NDP, was a pleasure and inspiration to listen to. When her husband Mahar was illegally detained and tortured in Syria, Monia began her fight to free him and successfully did so. Here is advice she had to give;
Muslims tend to victimize themselves and this is wrong. She said it is imperative to fight bitterness by ACTING. Be vocal, do things, do not sit and blame the world for treating you wrong, go out there and effect chance.
She treated her ordeal as an opportunity and challenge a
nd refused to despair. She said the experience has taught them that life is more about work not play, it’s more about doing things to help others with the time available.
A key message from Monia;
“You have to contribute to your rights or otherwise they will slip away from you”
Advice on how to go about effecting change from Monia;
- Education is important- learn the system
- Awareness is important- be in society with your mind as well a your body
- Do something you/your country/your kids will be proud of one day
Prof. Tariq Ramadan
Islam and the Spiritual Journey
The published abstract is as follows; In this lecture Professor Tariq Ramadan proposes that for Muslims to answer the call of God’s messenger in the 21st Century, it will require a spiritual journey to reform one’s inner space and to learn the most beautiful and the most difficult lesson of Islam: you find God only by rediscovering your own nature and the essence of your nature is the only that can free you from its appearance.
He will address that apparent paradox of the spiritual journey and experience – the lesson that the constant effort, the jihad, that we make in order to live good lives, purify, control and liberate our heart is, in the end, a reconciliation with the deepest level of our being, the fitra – where the spark gleams that God originally breathed in to our heart.
In a talk that repeated struck chord upon chord of resonance with all who listened, this truly inspired thinker and intellectual force, by the grace of Allah crystallized fundamentals of worship in to a well presented lesson in essential prerequisites for rising in spirituality and peace.
He defined religion as a house and likened spirituality to the atmosphere in that house. A house without a beautiful atmosphere does not make a pleasant abode, whereas one of love and warmth invites all who enter it.
Spirituality is based on purity, love, service and forgiveness.
Purity – How does one purify oneself? For a Muslim, there is no act possible in which you can remove the remembrance of Allah. This remembrance is a purification for you. Purify your heart and come back to the center. The centrality of the universe is the Creator. All that is external, existential, by nature are distracting forces unless they are embraced through the remembrance of the one Controller. If in dhikr, then rather than forces that take you away from the center, they bring you back to the center. This then purifies.
Love - The love of Allah for one is indeed not to be taken lightly. It is valuable, and as all things valuable, must be guarded closely and well nurtured to make it grow. Follow the Prophet sallalaahu alaihi wasallam to increase yourself in the love of Allah. As Muhammed 
sallalaahu alaihi wasallam was the most beloved human being to Allah and the best of mankind, walking in his footsteps can and will only get you closer to Allah and more beloved to your Creator. And indeed Allah most high, is the most appreciative and sees all actions, all intentions.
Two Essential steps to get closer to Allah or Foundations for spirituality
- The BOOK
“Your relationship to the Quran is the index of your relationship to Allah”
What more can I say? This one sentence verbatim from Ramadan sums the whole. He reiterated over and over again not to forget the word of Allah, not to denigrate it to a holly place on your mantelshelf, but to live it, know it, go to it, study it, be close to it. It is the direct word of God! How stupid to not know it the best you can.
- The PILLARS
“Be strict with the pillars of your faith”
People who are strict with the five pillars of Islam become closer to Allah. These people, said Prof. Ramadan, are able to see things others do not. They attain knowledge from Allah. Their hearts and minds are enlightened. They grow in spirituality as they are disciplined in their practise of the pillars of faith. A apt similitude is that of the musician; it is only due to relentless and long practise that one masters the art of the instrument, and then makes beautiful music where before there was only discordant sound. The musician who is adept seems to make the most melodious music as if effortless! Thus so would you be in your worship of Allah. And just as a musician will slip in his ability to play if he neglects his art, so would you slip away from your closeness to Allah if you neglect the enjoined acts that take you closer to your Lord. This is jihad-un-nafs! Do not expect it to be easy.
“Spirituality is the way you manage your time and discipline is essential for spirituality”
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