A Call for Coexistence

Last Episode

In the name of Allah[1], the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.  Peace and blessings of Allah (SWT[2]) be upon Prophet Muhammad (SAWS)[3]. Welcome to the last episode of “A call for coexistence”. We lived together for months, presented our idea, stated our intentions and we discussed the four imams.

We discussed the lives of the four imams: Imam Abu-Hanifa in 4 episodes, Imam Malik in 5 episodes, Imam ash-Shafi'y in 6 episodes, and Imam Ahad Ibn-Hanbal. Throughout the program, we were consumed with extreme pride to have such people in our history. This episode is a summary of the previous 24 episodes.  It can be entitled as, "What we have learned in these episodes, mainly how to coexist."

We can say that we have learned 10 points. Before we start, I just need to state that there ca never be development, reform or renaissance without coexistence. Coexistence is a necessity in Islam. This program is not produced at this specific time because we, Muslims, are weak or because it is part of our agenda. Coexistence is a vital part of Islam regardless of our current state. When the Prophet’s (SAWS) position was weak in Makkah, he coexisted with Quraysh. On the other hand, when he was strong in Madinah, he coexisted with the disbelievers. Hence, we are required to coexist.  Coexistence must have the following 10 points.

1.     Coexistence needs teamwork:

One of the problems we face today is that many of us are negative and do not have successful teamwork. As long as you are able to work in a team, you are able to coexist. However, if you are only able to work alone, you will not be able to coexist. Remember Abu-Hanifa? He presented a new idea at that time. He wanted to form a new doctrine for Muslims because the world around him was developing and improving rapidly. He started to visualize how the world will be, and how the Islamic doctrine will deal with such a new world. He aimed at abolishing any gap between Islam and his era. He believed that he could not achieve such his goal alone; he needed teamwork. He gathered 30 scholars in different fields and they used to hold a conference on a regular basis for 30 years. The result of such teamwork is that his doctrine is the most famous till today. It is applied in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Turkey, and Indonesia. He told his student Abu-Yusuf, "Don't write anything until we agree on the final decree." He also respected the team's members and their opinions. That is why the 30 scholars continued working with him for 30 years. You must try to succeed in working as a team. You have to encourage your children to work and play in teams as well. No one can invent anything alone, and certainly no one can do scientific research or experiments alone.

2.     Coexistence needs convincing and not imposing:

You should convince people with your ideas. This goes for parents as well as leaders. Coexistence cannot exist by imposing your ideas on people. This will lead to hatred instead of love and respect. When Imam Malik was young, his parents saw that he is not interested in education and religion, and that he likes singing and playing. They tricked him in order to convince him rather than imposing their view. The father made a weekly competition every Friday between his children. Malik found that he does not know anything and never answers any question. Then, Malik decided to be good at something, so he decided to be a good singer. His mother knew that he was no good as a singer. She told her son that a good singer must have a good voice. If you do not have a good voice, people will not listen to you even if you are handsome. Then, he asked her, "What shall I do then?" She answered, "You should learn." Afterwards, she bought him the outfit worn by scholars at the time, and wherever he went, people said, "Oh! He looks smart." At last, he told his mother that he wants to learn. She told him, "Go learn manners before science". Parents should try to be creative into getting their children interested in things which they consider beneficial for them. This will result in growing love and understanding between parents and children. Another example is Mansour, the Caliph. He went to Imam Malik, and told him that he likes his book al-Muwata, and that he will globalize his doctrine in the whole world. He will also hang it in the Ka'ba and write it in gold. Malik refused and said, "Do not impose my doctrine on people by force. The Prophet's (SAWS) companions were in different places, and every kinfolk preferred a doctrine. If you impose a certain set of guidelines upon them, you will create chaos." This is the true coexistence we find in Islam; this is a point for the west to consider.

3.     Find common grounds with others:

Each one has his/her own ideas and beliefs. You should try to find a common factor between you and the others in order to coexist with them. This is the key factor behind successfully coexisting. At the time of Imam ash-Shafi'y, poets wrote impudent poetry, which was refused by religious scholars. Ash-Shafi'y started to search for a common factor between both parties to reduce the gap. He started to write poetry on society and relations between people. The religious scholars accepted this, and then the poets started to write like him. This revelation made the poets learn the rules of the Arabic language on his hands, and in turn he taught them religious sciences. He found common grounds between him and the poets and gained them on his side, instead of banishing them as sinners or worse.

4.     Accept people as they are:

Some people are so ideal; they love a person to death and if he does something wrong, they hate him. Life is not like this. You should accept people, as they are, their good along with their bad. When Lady Aisha (RA[4]) was accused of adultery, Hassaan Ibn-Thanbet talked badly about her. Years later, her nephew saw him and was about to kill him, but Lady Aisha (RA) said, "Don't kill him. Although he had said bad things about me, he has done great things for the Prophet (SAWS[5])." Al-Mo'tasem, the caliph, tormented the great scholar Ibn-Hanbal severely. However, the Imam forgave him. They asked him why? He said, "Because he saved a woman who had called for his help, and sent an entire army to free her land."

5.     Learn how to master the manners of conversation;

How do you deal with people? When you speak with someone, do you get angry quickly? When you do not agree with what someone says, how do you deal with him? Do you swear? When someone does not agree with what you say, do you hate him? This is a very important point. Imam ash-Shafi'y's son says, "My father never raised his voice during a debate with anyone." Imam ash-shafi'y also says," I never debate anyone with the intention to defeat him. I only want to advice people. I don't care whether the truth is in my words or in the other's."

This great scholar only cared about spreading the truth. Abu-Hanifa said, "This doctrine is the best that we could do. If anyone proposes a better doctrine, we will move to what he has said." A man went to Ibn-Hanbal and told him, "I wrote a book entitled "The Differences between the four Imams"." He told him, "Let it be "The Abundance." Omar Ibn Abdul-Aziz said, "I am so happy because the companions have different opinions in certain issues." Abu-Hanifa and ash-Shafi'y have different opinions on small details pertaining to prayer for example; however, when Abu-Hanifa went to ash-Shafi'y's tomb in Madinah, he prayed as ash-Shafi'y'advised as a sign of respect. Ibn-Hanbal said that when you pray as an imam (leader of the prayer), you should read the basmalla (saying in the name of Allah) in a low voice. He told the people when you go to Madinah[6], read it aloud because by doing so you are appealing to their hearts. You should read about how to speak with people in order to coexist, there are many books out there that speak about this. Ibn-Hanabal said, "I lived with my wife for 30 years, and we never disagreed." The point that I missed to say is that the best manner of conversation is to listen to the other. We must develop this skill. Just go back and see how the four imams spoke and praised each other.

6.     Having something to add to the world

Having good intention is not enough to coexist. You must have something to give to others. Every relation is based on taking and giving. It must not be a material object, it could be a smile or an emotion, but everyone needs something in return. This attribute was in the four imams, they had something to give to the world and that is why people gathered around them. Imam ash-Shafi'y, for instance, laid the rules of thinking when he made his science and the west is still benefiting from this way of thinking until now. Imam Abu-Hanifa did the same thing. He came up with they science of hypothetical thinking, which did not exist at the time. We had something to give to the world, but now we do not we are only taking without giving anything in return. If you have something to give the other will have to coexist with you as he needs what you have.

7.     Coexistence needs patience and wisdom

If you want to coexist then you have to be patient. Those who get angry quickly destroy what they have been building in a second of rage. Imam Abu-Hanifa's student once wanted to hold a session without him, but this would destroy the basis of teamwork as they are all working together and he does not want to loose this faithful student, even though he was his sponsor and patron. He was very wise and sent him a question that he knew he would not be able to answer. And it was true his student came running to him asking for guidance. Abu-Hanifa then did not scold him or anything he reassured him that he will carry on the work for the sake of Islam later on and told him that we need to work as a team and his student was convinced and worked on with him. You will find a lot of people who might make you stray away from your goal and you should be wise enough not to fight with them as they will make you loose focus and occupy you with small battles that are meaningless. They did this with Abu-Hanifa. They told him people are saying bad words about you. This is the destiny of anyone, who tries to present a novelty to the world. People do not accept change that easily and fight it a lot. They asked him why don't you answer them back and he replied by saying Allah[7]'s words that can be translated as " … That is the Grace of Allah (that) He brings to whomever He decides…" (TMQ, 05:54)[8]. Another time a man came to Abu-Hanifa and insulted him badly. Abu-Hanifa answered that Allah (SWT) knows that he is not like what the man said, then prayed that if the man was a liar, then may Allah forgive the man, and if the man was right, then may Allah forgive Abu-Hanifa. Then he said his popular saying, “May Allah widen our hearts for those whose hearts did not contain us.” Allah says what can be translated as, “And not equal are the fair deed and the odious deed. Repel with that which is fairest; then, only then, he between whom and you there is enmity will be as if he were an intimate constant patron. And in no way will anyone be granted (such fairness) except the ones who (endure) patiently; and in no way will anyone be granted it except an owner of a tremendous fortune (Literally: Portion) (in the Hereafter).” (TMQ, 41: 34-35). After Abu-Hanifa said these words, the man who had insulted him repented and asked Abu-Hanifa for forgiveness.

Imam Malik asked what people were saying about him. The man replied that some love him and talk good of him, while the others hate him and talk badly about him. He thanked Allah (SWT), so the man asked him, “wouldn’t it be better if they all loved you?” Imam Malik replied, “Pride would then kill me.” The man then asked what if they all hated him. He replied "Then they would be right."

8.     Coexistence needs knowledge

Remember when we said that Ibn-Hanabal's aim was to collect the ahadith[9]and facilitate the work of other scholars. So once a man asked him, "For how long will you keep on studying?" He answered, "From the inkpot till my grave". Others told him about people who say bad things about him and are famous; he replied, "The day of their funeral will be decisive".  And this is what happened, as during his funeral thousands and thousands came to pray for him and the others had only a few that walked behind their funeral. Coexistence needs knowledge, if you are going to talk about something then study it well before you talk.

9.     Coexistence thrives on the diversity of opinions

Malik and Ibn-Hanbal were concentrating on guarding the basics of Islam and hadith and disagreed with Abu-Hanifa who was concentrating on the development and innovation of the issues that may come up in the future. In addition, ash-Shafi'y laid down the rules for them on how to work together. You need both. Their diversity enriched Islam. Do not become angry if you find that people are different than yourself even your wife and children, on the contrary you should think of ways to benefit of this diversity. Allah says what can be translated as, “… and We have made you races and tribes that you may get mutually acquainted.” (TMQ, 49: 13).  This applies to everyone on this globe; there must be a common ground for us to meet at. Whether in religion or in politics, diversity is beneficial to all of us.

10.                   Coexistence does not mean loosing your identity

To coexist does not mean to lose one’s identity and just follow someone else and act like other. The west must accept that we are different and that we have certain things that are part of our identity that cannot be wiped away like the hijab[10]. How can you talk to us about coexistence when you have taken my land? Ibn Hanbal stood his ground and refused to give up on his principals. We will coexist and do like ash-Shafi'y, who went and learned in all the different schools but still kept his own identity.

These were the ten points of coexistence. Now we reached the end of our program. We will miss you, but we will see you again in Ramadan. May Allah (SWT) be our witness that we had great intentions out of love for our nation, our religion, and the whole world.  We wanted a certain point to reach the west, which is our nation is a nation of coexistence.

 I also have a final word to the people who say being religious is not good because it leads to terrorists or extremists. I tell them that our religion is a religion of coexistence, why should we be scared of such a religion. On the contrary, we do not want to lose our identities, and we do not want extremists, so we have to teach the children how to coexist without losing themselves.

We will always be in touch with all of you through our website and our discussion groups. Please send us your feedback and your criticism (within the manners of conversation that we discussed). We will keep the discussions about coexistence going on.

Finally, I say that our biggest goal is the progress of this nation. We still have our hopes up about the progress of this nation it is in the hands of the next generations. There will never be any progress in our nation without coexistence. We need to live together and preserve our identity. I hope this program made a difference even in one home or street.

Thank you all and I hope to see you soon again in Ramadan.

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