Independence
| Khatib : | Sadullah Khan |
| Khutbah No: | 283 |
| Khutbah Date: | 07/04/08 |
وَابْتَغِ فِيمَا آتَاكَ اللَّهُ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ وَلَا تَنسَ نَصِيبَكَ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا وَأَحْسِن كَمَا أَحْسَنَ اللَّهُ إِلَيْكَ
وَلَا تَبْغِ الْفَسَادَ فِي الْأَرْضِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُفْسِدِينَ
“Seek the best of the Hereafter and forget not thy portion in this world: Do good, as Allah has been good to thee, and seek not occasions for mischief in the world; for Allah loves not those who indulge in mischief.” [Qur’an 28:77]
Today is the ‘Fourth of July’, the occasion that celebrates the “birthday” of the country that has become known the United States of America; and this, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence 232 years ago on July 4th 1776. The declaration announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were no longer a part of the British Empire.
Noble Declaration
The first sentence of the Declaration asserts as a matter of Natural Law the ability of a people to assume political independence, and acknowledges that the grounds for such independence must be reasonable, and therefore explicable, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Noble sentiments indeed.
Living Up to the Declaration
With the sentiment goes the moral responsibility to live by it, to facilitate that in our lives and to ensure that we do not deny it to others in the process. There was a demand for freedom from the British but that did not prevent us from enslaving millions of Africans, an exercise that continued till1865. Millions of indigenous people were robbed of their land and decimated. As David E. Stannard wrote …In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue . . . and made the first contact with the "Indians." For Native Americans, the world after 1492 would never be the same. This date marked the beginning of the long road of persecution and genocide of Native Americans, our indigenous people. By conservative estimates, the population of the United states prior to European contact was greater than 12 million. Four centuries later, the count was reduced by 95% to 237 thousand. [in Columbus and the Conquest of the New World]
The revered Declaration of Independence is one of the most powerful political documents, and its bold declarations include “all men are created equal” and are entitled to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”; phrases that have been models for aspiring democracies throughout the world. The question is; is America itself such a model? How close are we to a society based on justice, peace, tolerance, compassion and equality?
On the Fourth of July, as our countrymen commemorate the Declaration of Independence, we should pause to measure just how far we have progressed toward the vision of equal rights, economic balance and justice for all; and how far we still have to go. And what we, as people off faith and conscience, should commit ourselves to in trying to get there. Notion of Liberty in Islam*Freedom/liberty as noble as it is, has both positive and negative connotations:
- freedom for something. Islam wants freedom for living a happy, healthy, prosperous, moral, and dignified life. Islam wants people to be free to worship, to express themselves, to earn, to have family, and to have a government of their choice.
- freedom from something. Islam wants people to be free from economic, political, and social oppression.
*Correcting a Misconception
The Qur’an says in the matter of freedom of religion, “Let there be no compulsion in religion: truth stands put clear from error.” [Qur’an 2:256] The reason for the enshrinement of the values of freedom verse is that: the two largest tribes of Madinah, Aws and Khazraj before Islam made a pledge if their wives give birth to baby boys they will Judaize them.
This is how some of the members of those two Arab tribes became Jews. However, when Arabs were blessed with Islam, and those two tribes entered Islam, members of these families wanted to return their children to Islam. Islam advocated such a principle at a time when the Roman Empire used to force people to Christianity or be beheaded, and the Persian Empire used to torture its religious reformers. Within this atmosphere, Islam came to assert the principle of freedom of religion.