Reform!
Reform is what noble people undertake as the agenda of their lives … In the year 60 AH Imam Hussain, Prophet Mohammed’s grandson declared his revolt against the Umayyads, raising the banner of Reform. He said: I have left (Mecca) seeking reform of my grandfather’s community. Yazid sent his army to obliterate the household of Mohammed, slaughtering Hussain and his relatives and supporters … What price reform?
Reflecting on the massacre of Imam Hussain and his family, a week after Ashura I’m reminded of this hadith — “The best Jihad is to speak a word of justice to an oppressive ruler.” This is what Imam Hussain did. It also gives me the thought, rather like Jesus’ (pbuh) saying, ‘you have heard it said, but I say’ — the best jihad is telling haters that jihad really isn’t what they think it is! Islam really is about liberation and is an anti-oppression movement, something it has in common with the Jewish religion — ‘let my people go’ (Exodus 5.1), ‘let the Children of Israel go with us, and do not oppress them.’ (Q 20.47). Islam must be about reform.
But this isn’t where I started. I asked myself, what do people say about ‘reform’ these days? There has been political noise about it recently in the run-up to the General Election with The Reform Party. I didn’t pay too much attention at the time, even though Nigel Farage seemed to be everywhere, unfortunately — is the best jihad for media channels not to give him too much sensationalist airtime?! It would be better for us to hear more about the Green Party. Though I try not to be political.
Having had the thought, I checked out the Reform Party’s policies (this isn’t an advert for them!). It’s couched in the language of the imagination (a deconstructive clue perhaps that these are people who cannot deliver …), no particular concern for truth and sounding just a little bit oppressive, a manifesto for the beginnings of tyranny … Perhaps I am showing respect by quoting accurately (truthfully) the pledges from their ‘contract’ with the electorate:
1. Imagine Smart Immigration, Not Mass Immigration: All non-essential immigration frozen to boost wages, protect public services, end the housing crisis and cut crime.
2. Imagine No More Small Boats in the Channel: Illegal migrants who come to the UK will be detained and deported …
3. Imagine No NHS Waiting Lists: Still free at the point of delivery, healthcare needs reform to improve outcomes … Tax breaks for doctors and nurses to tackle the staffing crisis.
4. Imagine Good Wages for a Hard Day’s Work: Lift the income tax starting threshold to £20k … This takes 7 million of the least well-off out of Income Tax to make work pay and get people off benefits.
5. Imagine Affordable, Stable Energy Bills: Scrap energy levies and Net Zero to slash energy bills …
The Qur’an is wise to their game — ‘When it is said to them, “Do not spread disorder on the earth”, they say, “We are but reformers.” (Q2.11) I can’t help making the observation that not long after being elected, Nigel Farage went to the USA to support Donald Trump’s election campaign …
I reflected on the five pledges and whether they could provide a structure for my talk, but in fact they have little to do with reform. Immigration seems a good place to start for obvious reasons, scripture has plenty of material on this. While noting that, following my conversion to Islam, I am now an insider in two religions and two sets of scripture, though I wasn’t really an outsider before.
‘Anyone who migrates for God’s cause will find many a refuge and great plenty in the earth, and if anyone leaves home as a migrant towards God and His Messenger and is then overtaken by death, his reward from God is sure. God is most forgiving and most merciful.’ (Q 4.100) — This has implications for the treatment and welcoming of migrants, and for law and national boundaries. I was unfriended recently on Facebook for being pro-immigrant, I could hardly be anything else, he didn’t see it that way.
‘Do good to your parents, to near of kin, to orphans, and to the needy, and to the neighbour who is of kin and to the neighbour who is a stranger, and to the companion by your side, and to the wayfarer, and to those whom your right hands possess. Allah does not love the arrogant and the boastful,’ (Q 4.36)
18 who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing. 19 You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the Lord your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. (Deuteronomy 10) Again, we find the Bible saying the same thing as the Qur’an. It is tied in with liberation from oppression, with prayer and remembrance of God. This is the opening of Moses’ covenant speech to the people of Israel.
Here it is repeated, or reiterated, in the Qur’an: [recall] when We took the covenant from the Children of Israel, “Do not worship except Allāh; and to parents do good and to relatives, orphans, and the needy. And speak to people good [words] and establish prayer and give zakāh.” Q 2.83
In our scriptures, thinking about migrants/immigrants (which is more than anti-immigration campaigners do) is rooted in God and God’s love and provision and from there to our own turning towards God and devotion to God. This route map is a reform agenda. Predictably, perhaps, this is the divine intention and plan: ‘O humanity! Indeed, We created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may ˹get to˺ know one another. Surely the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous among you.’ (Q 49.13)
As I said earlier, Islam must be about reform — for liberation, against oppression; for people, against tyrants; for humanity, against inhumanity. This is the natural state of humanity, God sends prophets and scripture to remind us, because we have forgotten. You can see Donald Trump doing this in a recent video where he calls immigrants — people — ‘animals’ and not human beings. What does God say? — Surely Allah enjoins justice, kindness and the doing of good to kith and kin, and forbids all that is shameful, evil and oppressive. He exhorts you so that you may be mindful. Q 16.90 — God says, kindly and lovingly, don’t forget!
A Christian tweeted this on Sunday in response to Trump — Whether it’s economic immigrants, people without a home, disabled, gay or unborn babies, Christians must carry on speaking the truth that humans are immensely valuable, made in the image of God, despite our sin We mustn’t let the noisy political narrative deprive us of this truth Our identity is neither progressive nor conservative. We are citizens of heaven @Windy_London
I am reminded, by God, by myself, not to talk about this without talking about myself, without asking about my own reform, inshallah. Not to go into a long story of conversion and personal details, but to say that I have been on my own journey of reform over the last year. I have no right to bang on about Farage and Trump if I haven’t done my own work, of self-development. Reform only happens more widely if I do my own reform first, regular prayer is a starting point, as it often says in the Qur’an. I hold onto it and ask how does it shape me and my life, my interactions with others?
hold firmly together to the rope of Allah and do not be divided. Remember Allah’s favour upon you when you were enemies, then He united your hearts, so you — by His grace — became brothers [and sisters]. And you were at the brink of a fiery pit and He saved you from it. (Q 3.103)
I hope I have time to squeeze in some reform priorities:
· Poverty
· Racism, bigotry and sectarianism
· War and violence
If we truly achieved reform it would have nothing to do with the Reform Party and would not look like their manifesto!
Unexpectedly, perhaps, I close with the Apostle Paul writing to early Christians in Rome, sounding not unlike some parts of the Qur’an.
9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour … 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 … extend hospitality to strangers.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible … live peaceably with all. 19 … never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God … 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12)
