Call to Faith

The current noise being made around the call for prayer is unfounded in a community that has practiced it for 100 years and more in Cape Town, and 1400 years globally. We respect religious freedom - laws cannot be a stumbling block to practicing our basics - the right to worship. We worship in peace and our call the prayer is one of calling to God's greatness and to success.

Interfaith Part 2 : Integration

Ask your Imam, ask your Mowlana, ask your Sheikh! They have studied the religion and should be in a position to guide us. Yet, we understand that they are not infallible and may make mistakes. I will try not to directly quote Hadith and/or Quran because the idea is for us to research aspects of our deen and get authentic guidance from our learned people.

A learned person, a Muslim who goes and partakes in a prayer meeting with people from other faiths, in, let's say a church, will send confusing signals to the layman. Is it permissible to pray with them and the argument will start with "tolerance" and "my sheikh said.." and "we must respect ...". And yet no one spoke any word of ill or malice towards anyone from the other faith.  But the new buzzword is integration and as Muslims we need to integrate and therefore interfaith is a powerful means for doing so.

I scratch my head and look around but few are willing to say anything. Perhaps, they will say something in the privacy of their homes or, when they do speak more "publicly", they don't draw a line in the sand as did our beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ . Did he not draw a line in the sand? But where did we go wrong? A long story but here are just a few thoughts of how thoughtless we are in the seeds we plant. Easter has everything to do with paganism and there is a fair impact of this on Christianity. Christians largely believe that Jesus died for their sins on the cross. This happening is alleged to have taken place on Good Friday which, coincidently, falls in line with the Easter weekend which is synonymous with paganism. And, aaahhh, the easter eggs which are now made with chocolate. Lovely isn't it.  Except that, while the chocolate is halal (permissible), the now Easter-egg-formed chocolate is nothing but a dedication to a pagan god. We find it delicious while we consume nothing but that which at least taints our bodies and our very souls - do we go to buy meat and ask for halal meat or do we eat any meat. The sheep, while it was alive was halaal for us as potential meat until it was slaughtered and dedicated to other than Allah. Likewise, the chocolate was halaal until it was dedicated to a pagan god. And yet, you disagree, and you are inclined to stop reading and you say "it is only chocolate we eat...".

And as you carry on, you now attend their Christmas services in Church, you attend their Christmas meals, and you give Christmas gifts. All in the name of tolerance and shirk. "Well it is our Prophet too", I hear you say. Of the many questions that arise is "are they celebrating the birth of God or the son of God" - Is this not shirk? "Yes, but we don't do that" is the retort. The crazy thought that we love for others what we love for ourselves and then you tell them that you support them in going on their way to the place where people who commit shirk go. Of course, Muslims do believe in the Hereafter and in Heaven and Hell - right? So, you nudge them along to hell instead of leading them to the straight path. Interesting that people of tolerance and integration can do that. But some are just so confused and allow the non-Muslim to take your hand and drag you along all the while thinking that you still pray and fast then you are all good. And then there are also other religions like Hinduism, African Traditional religions, etc.

We are human and we are prone to error. The good news is that our Creator, Allah, sent to us a messenger who was the last of all prophets and who brought us Quran and his sunnah ﷺ. The best of teachers is none but Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Research, ask questions and be concerned with your standing in front of Allah on the Day of Reckoning. Seek the truth and live as a Muslim, inviting to good and forbidding evil.


To them their religion (to practice) and to us ours.

We pray for leaders who will guide us - seek them out and speak not of your own desire.

And Allah knows best.

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Keeping the Faith at Interfaith - part 1

A way to avoid divorce is to understand what divorce entails, actions that may lead to divorce and seek to find a path, by the Mercy of Allah, to distance oneself from it as far as possible.

A way to avoid the fire is to know how to avoid the fire, i.e. the actions that may lead one to the fire of hell. It is not enough to know and do the actions that will be a means to receive the Marcy of Allah and hence entry to paradise but it is also important to know the one action and/or one statement can change all that.

A way to avoid shirk is to understand what shirk is and what actions are considered shirk. In a diverse community where one is inclined to be in contact with people of other faiths and atheists, it is important to understand the practices of these people. Every action that they do and every utterance (with religious connotation) should be scrutinised, from an Islamic perspective, before we even consider engaging in the same.

The views of inclusivity do not mean "make the circle bigger" but rather to remove those parts that don't fit into the smaller circle, e.g. in our homes we cannot be inclusive by inviting people who will consume alcohol in our homes or perhaps other prohibited foods. Thus, we will invite them, but it will be on the terms of our deen, which is our way of life. And likewise, we can expand the principle to other matters including commonality with other religions. It is true that the closest religion to Islam is in fact Judaism since Jews are considered monotheists unlike Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. Thus, if it is true that we have interfaith dialogue on common issues such as morals, then there are atheists who may share similar morals, perhaps sun-worshippers, etc. In this way the dialogue will be interfaith and beyond.

At these gatherings, we all say a prayer. The Muslim, no doubt, praising Allah and sending salutations on our beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Do the others respond with "amen" - but if we were inclusive then the atheist won't respondk and neither will he/she offer a prayer. How we then do we respond when the other faiths pray to their Gods. If everyone says "amen", all well and good, but who gets the "amen" if the Muslim responds to the prayer of say the Bahai. If each one reserves their "amen" only for their own prayer, well then, the trust is already broken and why have a prayer at all.

So, one of the objectives of the Cape Interfaith Initiative is " To promote interfaith activities including prayer and meditation, faith sharing" - Is this communal praying across religions? What would we benefit from doing this? Is this the means to da'wah while it was not Prophet Muhammad's ﷺ example?

There is much to say on this subject - but can a non-Muslim, let's say a Christian, make dua for us when he addresses Jesus (peace be upon him). Is this inclusivity like someone bringing wine to your house and drinking it? - nay it is worse, because it is shirk (to worship and pray to Jesus - peace be upon him) - is it not?

In conclusion (to this part) - are we, through this initiative, exposing ourselves and our community, with little knowledge of our own religion, to other religions. Is this the way of the way of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ