South Valley Islamic Community Blog

FRIDAY KHUTBAH November 17, 2006

Respecting Differences Amongst Us
Imam Ilyas Anwar

Last week I discussed how well prepared marketers were. They had their
Thanksgiving advertising ready right away following Halloween so as to
capture consumers’ attention.

It is important for us to remember that Thanksgiving is more than just
our having a dinner of turkey with friends and family. It is a time
for us to reflect on the bounty that we enjoy and to give thanks to
Almighty Allah. We may partake in the turkey dinner for the day (or a
few days following with the leftovers), but the concept of believing in
Allah and giving thanks for His benevolence and generosity should be a
daily consciousness for us.

There are many ways for us to express our thanksgiving. One is to be
charitable. Again, there are many ways for us to be charitable. When
we smile at someone, we are in effect welcoming that someone, itself an
act of goodwill and thus charity. When we pick up debris from the road
that could potentially harm someone else later following us on the
road, we are also partaking in a charitable act. We would be saving
someone a mishap.

When we are charitable to others, we are indirectly expressing our
respect for them. We cannot respect others unless we first respect
ourselves. When we respect ourselves then we are content and would
readily transfer that feeling to others.

If we are conscious of Allah at all times (a state of taqwa), then we
would respect His creations and His signs whether they are big or
small, visible or invisible. Our respect is our recognition that these
things are the consequence of Allah, and signs of His Greatness and
Importance.

When we appreciate the creations of Allah, then we would respect them.
We readily appreciate the physical creations of Allah as with the
trees and beautiful flowers, and we do not destroy them knowingly.
Intuitively we know that they are of some use to us or give us pleasure.

While we readily appreciate and respect the various creations of Allah
in the physical world, when it comes to our fellow human beings, we are
not so generous. We treat others who are different from us and do not
share our values with less respect, or even consider them as inferior.
We forget that variations in our color, race, and language are Allah’s
grand design.

Everything in this world, even those that are at odds with each other
or contradict one another, are expressions of Allah’s wonder. Even the
Quran, Allah’s words, contains passages that appear to contradict one
another. Those too are signs of Allah’s wonder.

The practices of our Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) too contain
contradictions. On one occasion the prophet advised his followers to
sit while eating, on another, to stand. Each of those differences has
their own reasons and rationale.

Showing our respect for others may or may not change how others behave
towards or treat us, but it will certainly change the way we treat
others. When we respect the differences among us, then we are less
likely to be jealous of each other. Jealousy is a destructive emotion;
it is the very opposite of Allah’s blessings.

When we respect others then it would also be easier for us to handle
our inevitable differences and disagreements with them. Whenever we
have differences in the ways we practice our faith or perform some of
the rituals of our religion, it would help greatly if we remember
foremost that we all respect Allah, and that these differences pale as
a consequence of that respect. As long as we respect and obey the
commands of Allah, it matters not if we execute them in their infinite
variations.

Thus arguments and disagreements over such things as wearing a hijab
and countless other practices of our faith could be readily managed if
we remember that all these proscriptions are predicated on one central
theme, to show our respect to Allah. If we let disagreements over
details of the hijab to divide us, then we are obviously not showing
our respect for Allah. However if we keep the centrality of this fact
uppermost, that is respect for Allah, then all those differences over
trivial details would become less divisive. Those differences may not
necessarily disappear, but at lest they would no longer divide us.

Let us then open our hearts to Allah and remove the veil from our eyes
and ears that would hinder our understanding of Allah.

Transcribed by Dr. Bakri Musa.