Exploring the Siddiqui Report

Peace, one and all…

This post is very much a work in progress.  I post it here, in a very incomplete form to encourage the development of discussion on the topic.

In his 2007 report, entitled ‘Islam at Universities in England: Meeting the Needs and Investing in the Future’, Dr. Ataullah Siddiqui offers a useful definition of what chaplains are and do:

‘Chaplains/advisors are individuals of faith who provide advice and care adapted to a specific institutional context: a church, a prison, a hospital or a university.  They may well conduct religious services but their particular and principal function is to minister in the broadest sense to anyone, of any faith or none, who seeks guidance and support’ (p.44)

This definition suggests that chaplains are:

• Members of a faith community
• working in a specific institutional context
• sometimes required to perform religious services (depending upon their particular faith and institutional contexts)
• givers of advice, guidance, care and support to everyone, regardless of their respective faith commitments, or lack thereof

Siddiqui argues that the rise of Muslim chaplains in the HE sector should be situated within two inter-related contexts: a significantly expanding UK Muslim student body; and an increase in what might be called issues of self-definition and identity within the British Muslim community.  He argues that the growth of this sector is

‘underpinned by the hope that the concepts within Islam of women’s rights, interfaith relations, business ethics and environmental ethics can, and should, be mediated through a combination of religious understanding and building of bridges with secular society’ (p.44)

I would agree with this hope.  There is much that can be done in the newly emerging field of Muslim Chaplaincy.  I also think that much careful study, thought and reflection is required – as is the development of Muslim Chaplaincy conversations.  Muslims can bring a great deal of good to the provision of pastoral care, within and beyond, the Islamic tradition itself.

Siddiqui draws attention to four key areas of ‘need’ within Muslim HE Chaplaincy:

1. Spiritual Needs
2. Counselling and Emotional Needs
3. Education/Religious Specific
4. The Need for Continuity

These areas are all important, if they are understood as approximations rather than as a self-contained whole.  It is interesting to note that under (1) the report focuses solely on prayer.  Prayer is, of course, absolutely fundamental, in Islamic life and spirituality.  However, it strikes me that more could and should be said in this regard.

I would tentatively suggest the addition of another area: that is, the addition of what we might call discursive or existential needs.  In other words, Muslim Chaplaincy (both within and beyond HE) should open up the possibility of discussing the meaning of things.  Within a health context, a Muslim Chaplain might well talk with a patient about the meaning of their illness, and illness in general.  In the context of Higher Education, with all its opportunities for learning, a Muslim Chaplain should help provide a framework in which students can discuss what their studies mean to them, and to their Islam (or faith/non-faith in general).  That is, all human beings have a need to draw meaning from their lives, and also to embed and expand these meanings through discussion.  This is not to suggest that a Muslim HE Chaplain must always agree with that meaning, with that individual’s conclusions.  Rather, the Muslim Chaplain must always strive to honour the other person’s pursuit of meaning.

There is indeed much that needs to be thought about if Muslim Chaplaincy is to emerge as a vibrant socially directed service, and these few remarks have done no more than to scratch the surface.  Insha Allah, I will offer more thoughts on this topic as time and God permits.

Related post: Islam in Universities

Ma’as salama,
Abdur Rahman

‘Women, Perfume and the Coolness of My Eyes’: Exploring a Profound Hadith

Peace, one and all…

In a well known and very interesting hadith, the Prophet (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) is reported to have said:

“Made beloved to me from your world are women and perfume, and the coolness of my eyes is in prayer.” (Ahmad and An-Nasa ‘i)

Ever since I first encountered this tradition, I thought it was both beautiful and profound.  I find it beautiful for several reasons.  Firstly, the Prophet (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) speaks very movingly of the things he (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) finds beautiful.  Secondly, it speaks against many of the common misconceptions of Islam – as being a faith set firmly against the autonomy of women.  Thirdly, it gives me a very strong sense of the Prophet (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) as a man who loved women, enjoyed being with them and indeed, sought out their company.

As I was reading this tradition again recently, it struck me that we might also read this hadith in a more allegorical manner.  However, before I do that, it is important to point out that this is not an attempt at exegesis.  It is simply my own reaction to the Prophet’s (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) words.  In that sense, it marks my attempts to think with the hadith.  Therefore, whatever I say here should not be seen as authoritative.  Rather, I am attempting to explore symbolic meanings – or, better yet, possible symbolic meanings (very much in the manner outlined in The Poetics of Religious Experience by Aziz Esmail: see this excerpt).  If there is any truth in what I say, it has come from God.  All else has come from my own misunderstandings.

When read allegorically, this hadith can also be understood as a description of our human process of encountering the other.  The first thing to note in this regard is the phrase: ‘Made beloved to me from your world’.  This reminds me that although the Prophet (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) is indelibly human, he is also part of another world entire.  That is, the Prophet (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam)  is the human recipient of the Divine Revelation contained in the Quran and so, in that sense, partakes of another realm.  We might say that he (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) has already reached the goal (and travelled far, far beyond it): he is thus the symbol and metaphor of a perfected human being (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam).  He (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) is thus our role model in the long journey towards God.

It is interesting that the Prophet (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) first refers to women.  Our first entry into this strange world comes through a woman.  The Quran has this to say:

‘We have enjoined on man kindness to his parents; in pain did his mother bear him, and in pain did she give him birth’ (46:15).

A woman, in most cases, raises us, nurtures us and teaches us love.  In one way or another, every human being upon the face of the planet has had their lives affected, deeply and personally, by their mothers.  To love women, and to love woman, is thus essential for any spiritual growth.  In another profound statement, the Prophet (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) is reported to have said:

A man came to the Prophet and said, ‘O Messenger of God! Who among the people is the most worthy of my good companionship? The Prophet said: Your mother. The man said, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man further asked, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man asked again, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your father. (Bukhari, Muslim).

For men, in particular, the call to honour and love woman is also a call to honour and love what is other than themselves.  In a direct, personal manner, it is an injunction to honour what is fundamentally different from maleness and from masculinity (however one might define it).  On a deeper level, the call to honour the other, at the very beginning of human life, is a profound idea: it suggests, to me at least, that honouring the other is a fundamental part of living – so important, in fact, that we are forced to learn it from our first moments on earth.

The Prophet (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) then refers to ‘perfume’.  This reference lies behind the amazing use and diversity of perfumes in the Muslim world.  Indeed, a visit to an Islamic bookshop is rarely complete with buying one or two small bottles of `Ittar.  Why is perfume mentioned here?  Or, to put it another way, what allegorical significance could perfume have?  Well, it is worth remembering the provisional nature of these remarks.  But, perhaps, it might have something to do with the nature of perfume itself.  That is, we put on perfume to beautify ourselves, and to help ease away some of the less pleasant aspects of human nature.  In the allegorical sense I am exploring here, perfume helps our interactions with the other.  In a sense it is a form of social convention – the idea that some smells are better than others.  That is, it speaks to the practice of relationship – in a metaphorical, as well as directly physical manner.

I would tentatively argue that adab (in the sense of being appropriate behaviour) is moral and behavioural perfume.  To perfume our behaviour is to think about how the other might regard us, before we proceed.  It is to understand the rights of others, as we consider our own course of action.  On a deeper level, it is to help make the world created by our interactions as ’sweet-smelling’ and as gentle as possible; it is to make the world more beautiful.

The last portion of this profound hadith states: ‘and the coolness of my eyes is in prayer’.  The phrase ‘coolness of the eyes’ refers to something that brings a person joy and happiness, an easy sight amidst the heat of day (remember, the context for this is modern-day Saudi Arabia).  In other words, the Prophet (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) is saying that prayer is the thing that gives him the greatest amount of comfort, rest and refreshment in the entire world.  Why?  Well, mostly because the Quran commands Muslims to pray.  But what does it mean to pray?  Well, many Muslim conceptions of prayer see it in terms of appearing before a King, of presenting oneself before the King of the Universe (Malik al-Mulk).  This is, of course, true.  Allah is indeed al-Malik (the King).  He is also al-Maalik (the Owner/Master).

On a deeper level, prayer is also an act of relationship; it is an orientation towards the Divine.  I have offered a few thoughts on the Symbolism of Prayer elsewhere (see here as well).  Suffice it to say here that prayer is about an ever-deepening opening out in the presence of God.  When seen in relation to the rest of this hadith, perhaps we might say that true prayer (true opening to God) is the final stage of our eternal journey.  As we struggle to pray, we continuously learn new things about ourselves and our relationship to God.  Moreover, it is important to realise that we cannot approach God fully until we learn to approach our human relationships with love and honouring (with perfume in other words).  Prayer is thus an encounter with the ultimate other, God.

And God knows best.

Related Link: Dar al-Masnavi

Ma’as salama,
Abdur Rahman