Saturday, August 11, 2012

Imam Zaid Shakir at CFCC April 5, 2007

Imam Zaid Shakir at CFCC April 5, 2007



“Religious people collectively no longer have the luxury to hate each other, given the numbers of weapons available in the world today.  Unless we learn from history and create new visions and new institutions, this can only lead to ongoing wars in which there will be no winners” Imam Zaid Shakir told those who came to the Webber Center at  CFCC Thursday evening April 5 when the Humanities Department and the future Muslim Students Association sponsored  an “evening of enlightenment” with the outstanding Islamic  scholar



An American Black born in Berkeley and educated both in Western and Islamic intellectual traditions, Shakir now  is scholar in residence at the Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, California.   He mesmerized the largely Muslim audience by his clarity and serenity as well as his scholarship as he  discussed both Islamic spirituality and the need for world-wide systemic change rather than mere regime change as we confront the evils of current  global economic and political structures.  “We need to change the militaristic nature of society and its unending need for wars,”   he said,  repeatedly stating that “we must not lose the ability to recognize nuances.  We must not seek simplistic answers to highly complicated issues.” 





In declaring that the purpose of life is to serve God and to serve other humans,  Shakir’s description of Islamic theology did not seem  much at variance with the doctrines of other major  religions. He described his journey from a Baptist household, through  atheism and an examination of many other religions  until  he chanced upon a Christian comic book in which the author opined that the impossibility of creating something from nothing argues for the existence of God. “The human condition is wretched for he who doesn’t recognize the need for God,” said the Imam who devoted much of the evening to the need for service to humanity as a service to ourselves and inevitably  to God if done for the act itself and not in expectation of earthly recompense of any kind.



During the first hour of the evening  Imam Zafer Sabawi of the Ocala Islamic Center and Dr. Scott Olsen, CFCC professor of humanities, discussed various aspects of  Islam and responded to very active and informed  audience participation as they examined many issues such as attitudes toward violence and treatment of women  which often prove to be cultural rather than theological in nature.



In his  anthology of essays called “Scattered Pictures, Reflections of An American Muslim, ” the Imam brilliantly addresses the consequences of what happens when religion bows to political expediency and people no longer respect the sanctity of civilian life.  He debunks jihad as a non-ending war against non-Muslims and , citing  God’s words to Abraham, said that the Islamic community must be an exemplar for all humanity.          



The Imam concluded his remarks in the spirit of hope as both the Prophet and Jesus admonished us to love one another and to incline toward peace with other nations.





All the essays in the anthology  are excellent but among the most outstanding are:  “We are all collateral damage” in which he states that there will never be progress on the war on terror until” there is no they or we in this affair. . .”.  And in the essay  entitled “Not Muslim Zionists” Shakir recounts the development of Zionism and the dangers Muslims face when attempting to implement Islam, a universal religion,  within the confines of  nation-states earlier  defined by  western colonialists. 

No comments: