"Have you seen the one who turned away, gave little, and then withheld? Does he have knowledge of the Unseen, such that he sees? Or has he not been informed of that which is in the scriptures of Moses and Abraham, who fulfilled: that none shall bear the burden of another; that man shall have naught but that for which he endeavored, and that his endeavoring shall be seen, whereupon he will be rewarded for it with the fullest reward . . ."
Quran 53: 33-42
Actually I think there's probably a lot to unpack in this passage drawn from surah 53, often rendered as "The Star." Once again it calls out those who don't contribute as they should, and, as you know, the emphasis placed in Islam on helping out those in need is one of the biggest things that drew me, and continues to draw me, to the faith. That said, in this case it's the admonition that "none shall bear the burden of another" that I'm tagging this morning. This is hardly the only time that it's mentioned in the Quran, and it is a key concept in the faith. It gets at key issues relating to the Islamic perception of Adam and Jesus, but also our personal responsibility regarding our own spiritual journey.
As Nasr suggests in the Study Quran: "Just as none will bear the sins of another, so too will none be rewarded for the good deeds performed by another. Nonetheless, the efforts of good deeds can continue to provide benefits. As a famous hadith states: 'When a person dies, his deeds are cut off, save for three things: a righteous child who makes supplication for him; a charitable deed that continues [to bear fruit] after his death; or knowledge [he has imparted] from which people benefit.'"
All true, but what I'm thinking about this moment is how often we as a faith let our sister Muslims down. We cannot bear the burden of another, for good or ill, which places tremendous responsibility on each individual (and this is one of the things I love about the faith). As much as we revere Jesus, we also believe that no one died for our sins. Last year I was asked to speak at the mosque as part of a monthly series, which I thought was a great idea (the series, not me talking). I discussed my personal journey, but also talked about things that I thought we as a community could do better, and I went out of the way to point out that all too often we treat the sisters as second class citizens. We don't make enough of an effort to include them on important committees (this was one of my constant refrains when I was on the Constitution Committee at the mosque) which means their ability to shape the future of the masjid. Come to think of it, I don't think any of the sisters were asked to speak in the series. More troubling, I would argue anyway, in this context is that I think we also treat them as second class citizens spiritually. We don't do enough to encourage them to come to Friday jummah prayers, and in fact give them an out for not coming by speaking of the virtues of them praying at home. Instead they pray upstairs, and I know from bringing female students to the mosque that often the AV system doesn't work, so they can't even see or hear the sermon. At iftar the other night I proposed to several of the brothers that until we get the AV sorted out we should have the sisters pray downstairs with the brothers, and I suggested putting up a tarp as they do in many mosques. The brothers listened respectfully, and a couple agreed right away and others discussed that the mosque is looking into investing a lot of money in a better system, so they are taking it seriously. While I may not agree with every aspect of the faith, I do understand the argument for separating the sexes based on modesty and respect. I speak against it (the separation part, not the modesty and respect part) but that's not an argument I'm going to win. And, it's important to keep in mind that I chose to join an existing faith, with a long tradition, so it's not an argument that I should necessarily think of winning; I didn't have to become a Muslim. Still, I push for change when I think it's important. We can't speak of the individual embarking on a journey to know God, without giving them an equal opportunity to be successful on that journey.
Quran 53: 33-42
Actually I think there's probably a lot to unpack in this passage drawn from surah 53, often rendered as "The Star." Once again it calls out those who don't contribute as they should, and, as you know, the emphasis placed in Islam on helping out those in need is one of the biggest things that drew me, and continues to draw me, to the faith. That said, in this case it's the admonition that "none shall bear the burden of another" that I'm tagging this morning. This is hardly the only time that it's mentioned in the Quran, and it is a key concept in the faith. It gets at key issues relating to the Islamic perception of Adam and Jesus, but also our personal responsibility regarding our own spiritual journey.
As Nasr suggests in the Study Quran: "Just as none will bear the sins of another, so too will none be rewarded for the good deeds performed by another. Nonetheless, the efforts of good deeds can continue to provide benefits. As a famous hadith states: 'When a person dies, his deeds are cut off, save for three things: a righteous child who makes supplication for him; a charitable deed that continues [to bear fruit] after his death; or knowledge [he has imparted] from which people benefit.'"
All true, but what I'm thinking about this moment is how often we as a faith let our sister Muslims down. We cannot bear the burden of another, for good or ill, which places tremendous responsibility on each individual (and this is one of the things I love about the faith). As much as we revere Jesus, we also believe that no one died for our sins. Last year I was asked to speak at the mosque as part of a monthly series, which I thought was a great idea (the series, not me talking). I discussed my personal journey, but also talked about things that I thought we as a community could do better, and I went out of the way to point out that all too often we treat the sisters as second class citizens. We don't make enough of an effort to include them on important committees (this was one of my constant refrains when I was on the Constitution Committee at the mosque) which means their ability to shape the future of the masjid. Come to think of it, I don't think any of the sisters were asked to speak in the series. More troubling, I would argue anyway, in this context is that I think we also treat them as second class citizens spiritually. We don't do enough to encourage them to come to Friday jummah prayers, and in fact give them an out for not coming by speaking of the virtues of them praying at home. Instead they pray upstairs, and I know from bringing female students to the mosque that often the AV system doesn't work, so they can't even see or hear the sermon. At iftar the other night I proposed to several of the brothers that until we get the AV sorted out we should have the sisters pray downstairs with the brothers, and I suggested putting up a tarp as they do in many mosques. The brothers listened respectfully, and a couple agreed right away and others discussed that the mosque is looking into investing a lot of money in a better system, so they are taking it seriously. While I may not agree with every aspect of the faith, I do understand the argument for separating the sexes based on modesty and respect. I speak against it (the separation part, not the modesty and respect part) but that's not an argument I'm going to win. And, it's important to keep in mind that I chose to join an existing faith, with a long tradition, so it's not an argument that I should necessarily think of winning; I didn't have to become a Muslim. Still, I push for change when I think it's important. We can't speak of the individual embarking on a journey to know God, without giving them an equal opportunity to be successful on that journey.
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