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نشيد ليس الغريب

Monday, 7th of May, 2007

By Tariq Ramadan

A man, a woman

In the heart of modernity

In observing and understanding, our world seems unapproachable. Days go away and confirm the craziness of Men. Being taken, here, by technique and noise, they live speed, computer sciences, music and cinema… Being over weighted, there, by hunger and boredom, they survive in waiting, hope and silence…Like in the cinema here. Modern times have troublesome images in our memories and an infinite neglect of reality and sense. In the orient like the occident, our time frame gives birth to the greatest starvation on ever known on earth. The bodies’ torture gives the echo to the suffering of the soul: bodies and hearts starve because of the lack of humanity. Poverty, loss, dictatorship and wars, they all assassinate billions of women and men’s dignity. Loneliness, individualism, moral misery and the lack of love; all this make people feel uncomfortable. Where is the way? Where are we going to? How to be a woman and how to be a man nowadays? How could we answer our heart, in all this confusion, and protect the spirituality which makes us live? How to build balance and harmony in our heart s on the ashes of disequilibrium? How to remain faithful to the roots when modernity makes us unfaithful to humanity? The first morning memory: “When thy Lord drew forth from the Children of Adam - from their loins - their descendants, and made them testify concerning themselves, (saying): "Am I not your Lord (who cherishes and sustains you)?"- They said: "Yea! We do testify!" (This), lest ye should say on the Day of Judgment: "Of this we were never mindful”

Koran 7/172

This testimony, which lives in deep heart, speaks and calls us. Our heart is our hope; spirituality is our path. “Truly it is not their eyes that are blind, but their hearts which are in their breasts.” Koran 22/46

Seeking the power of sight within, beholding deeply…Being with God to read his signs, live on His reminiscence to sate modesty, give night its own light and pray out loud in the cold silence: “Soon shall We send down to thee a weighty Message. Truly the rising by night is most potent for governing (the soul), and most suitable for (framing) the Word (of Prayer and Praise). True, there is for thee by day prolonged occupation with ordinary duties: But keep in remembrance the name of thy Lord and devote thyself to Him whole-heartedly. (He is) Lord of the East and the West: there is no god but He: take Him therefore for (thy) Disposer of Affairs.”

Koran 73/5-9:

To give life to the heart is so difficult. The everyday- world steals from us to the point that, sometimes, it doubles our personality and tears us apart. I have that reminiscence before my eyes…an image, in Tunisia, Egypte, India, the United States and Europe… In the orient like in the occident, Friday and other days of the week; the tearing of the Islamic world is always taking place. The crowd, the community, a faithful prayer, hope and better intentions, the most beautiful day of the week, the day of all the symbols. The sermon, sense recalling, the wet eyes, the tears of the heart… the Islamic world vibrates: in this 20th century like the beginning of the 7th, God has always been the witness of the power of faith. Friday…Mosques confess streets become a place of prayer; streets become a place of prayer, the ground too. The “Ummah” is here. The poor and the rich, the teacher and the illiterate: all make the same testimony, sating the same thirst. Saturday, Sunday, Monday and the rest. Five in the morning, noon or 4 p.m…Sleep is heavy, occupations take people away. A lot of silence on Friday, a great deal of words on the other days. Truth and lies, hope and cry outs, willing and laziness. There was memory and its loss was left. There was much and only few is left. The days of the week: the everyday life has its reasons which deserves our faithfulness. Our timeframe is a torture. Spirituality is a test. Friday and other days, the wound is deep. None can see the vanity of the world and borrow the path of music…Castaway from the world, far from ambitions and conflicts. Fed from the light of the only light. In the Occident, Islam was even considered as the “Real Islam”, the one which orders respect when it is “Islam” of spirit aggression. Living better requires living faraway, leave Men get close to God. In our time seems like giving reasons to the exile. the soufis; due to their contemplation; their interior exile and their being far from the world, have always followed and still follow the example of Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) who spent entire long nights in praying, beautifying his mind, deepening his gratefulness and perfecting his adoration. Tears, born out of meditation, made signs appear in the universe. The sacred presence: “Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day,- there are indeed Signs for men of understanding, Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth”

Koran 3/190-191

In the heart of our agitating days, to be drowned in the most conquering occupations, to make a step back, to be exiled within, to seek the strength of memory, to feel love and recognize, to thank and pray. In the noise, look for the silence and live the power of the following words: “Be like a stranger or a passenger on earth” (1) This spirituality is ours, with its demands as well, in the heart of our everyday life. It’s about, neither denying our existence, nor our body, nor our soul, nor this life, nor beyond. The test of spirituality is an equilibrium test; the path of “justice” and the path of all difficulties. Some of the people just want to live in this world and they get lost: There are men who say: "Our Lord! Give us (Thy bounties) in this world!" but they will have no portion in the Hereafter.” Some others, depending in their humanity, want to live here in order to live better there: And there are men who say: "Our Lord! Give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and defend us from the torment of the Fire!"

Koran: 2/200-201

To live the everyday life, to work hard, to be engaged, to test the faith in actions of anger and deception. To be with God, among men and give the best of us: Seek, with the (wealth) which Allah has bestowed on thee, the Home of the Hereafter, nor forget thy portion in this world: but do thou good, as Allah has been good to thee, and seek not (occasions for) mischief in the land: for Allah loves not those who do mischief."

Koran: 28/ 77

Be the person who really you are and devote your soul to justice and goodness. Not refuse what we really are, is being good to others. In front of God, for Men: “The best man is the one who is useful to others”. (2) Our timeframe put us in the screen of challenge. The entertaining society, the exaggerated consumption, the generalized individualism coexist extremely with a total misery. In the existence of these fatalities, where is the meaning? Being fulfilled of God’s reminiscence, to what extent can we sate our thirst? In the heart of modernity? Every one knows the borders of this life which kills some things in us: sitting in front of the TV, being driven by the torrents of computer studies, being paralysed by the degree of wounds. Say “God” and live no life. Lose the spirit because the loss of the heart, day after another. We would like, though, to know how to be a man, being able to be a woman. Before God, in the mirror of the conscious, in the look at the others eyes. We wish to find the beauty of thoughts, to purify the heart. Live in the serenity guided by transparency. It’s everybody’s hope and the expectation of each one, patently, the apple in the hands directed to the sky. In the heart of modernity.

A man, a woman, simply a human being, is about to be good and do good as well. What kind of man who did not wish to fulfil his own expectation on the horizon, walk on the same cost of tender and forgiveness; make of their union a sign: a couple should be useful to humanity like the usefulness of the sun towards nature. Warmth is a sign of creation; what kind of woman did not want to be an energy to her husband all the way long. In the heart of modernity. What kind of mother, what kind of parents who did not wish to make their children live in a harmonious area, the most united family, the inner power which sets free. Who has never hoped to look at his child’s eyes, deep down his heart, and see the light which represents gratitude and conviction? What kind of children who did not want to live between two loving human beings, nourished by their values, strong with coherence. In the heart of modernity, some simple things in a time frame which are troubled. Being good, and do good. Before God it’s the objective of the call, chant more that 17 times a day, yesterday like today, in the heart of modernity. “Show us the straight way”

Koran: 1/ 6

Being driven on the right road, the road of justice, remembering the existence of God and keeping the senses of values and finalities in the heart. Being always driven, in spite of the failure and adversities, in spite of injustice and horror; asking God not to abolish the hope of men and events. Being guided, again; trying simply to be a man, a woman. In the transparency and under the light; accepting weaknesses and humanity, finding the strength of humility in the heart of forgiveness. Being humble to get into the heart of modernity. The reminiscence in the following: “Bring thy Lord to remembrance in thy (very) soul, with humility and in reverence, without loudness in words, in the mornings and evenings; and be not thou of those who are unheedful. Those who are near to thy Lord, disdain not to do Him worship: They celebrate His praises, and bow down before Him.”

Koran: 7/205-206

Facing all the human individualism, facing all the consumption reflex, facing television or cinematographic illusions, facing neglect… refusing all unjust acts, being an apponent to exploitation, struggling against all miseries… say and assert with determination the power of this humility and the blind trust of God. Seek the road in the action; being loaded by light thanks to patience. In the brotherhood of Men against a society of individuals, in the union of freedoms against, the selfishness of independence. The right path, in the heart of modernity: our spirituality, in our heart, is in the heart of life. Refusing neglect, listening in the deep ages, hear and listen to the voice of the ancient slave Bilal calling for fidelity towards God five times a day and forever. Seeking in the echo of this voice, in the rythm of prayers…seeking and finding the direction, the way to the heart of modernity. “Hadith brought back by Bukari” “Hadith (Hassan) brought back by Al Qadâî and A’ Dâraqutnî