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By R. David Coolidge
Friday Prayer Service (Salat al-Jumah), Dartmouth College,
1.11.08
I have thought very hard about what I wanted to say today. This is my first day
as the new Muslim Chaplain here, and as I reflected on the beginning of this
new endeavor, I was reminded of the teaching of the Prophet Muhammad (may God
bless him and give him peace) that we should begin every affair by saying, “In
the Name of God, the All Merciful, the Giver of Mercy.” But is this just the
ritualized recitation of our tongues, or does it mean something deeper? The
truth of the matter is that it is through God that we have the ability to
accomplish anything, for He is the Powerful, while we are the weak. The Qur’an
states, “O humanity! You are the ones who stand in utter need of God, whereas
it is God who is Self-Sufficient and Full of Praise.” (Chapter 35, verse 15)
When one begins something, they are initiating a journey towards a goal,
however mundane or however profound. Along the way towards that goal, one may
get sidetracked, lose focus, or give up altogether. Through the remembrance of
God, and the realization that our success lies in His hands, we give up an
attachment to our actions that is rooted in our deeply ingrained
“self”-ishness.
As I was reflecting on this reality, I was reminded of the words of Ibn
Ata’illah, a famous medieval Muslim scholar and mystic, who wrote, “One of the
signs of success at the end is turning to God at the beginning.” I have many
plans and dreams about what I may accomplish here at Dartmouth, and I am sure
that each of you as well has many aspirations. But none of us can succeed
without the granting of success of the Divine. Even if we appear outwardly
successful, only God alone can grant us the inward success of sincerity and
faith that is our means to everlasting felicity and nearness to the Creator. He
alone determines our fate, in this world and the next, and so we can do nothing
better in this initial moment of a new endeavor than to remember Him, and turn
to Him seeking guidance and mercy.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) used to sometimes teach
his Companions by relating to them the words of God that were not part of the
Qur’an. These were a special form of prophetic saying known as hadith
qudsi. These sayings were often of a deeply spiritual nature, and there is
one in particular that I feel we should reflect upon during this blessed time.
Abu Dharr, one of the Prophet’s eminent Companions, reported that he heard the
Prophet say, “God said, ‘O My servants! I have forbidden injustice to Myself
and I have made it unlawful between you, so do not wrong one another. O My
servants! All of you are misguided except those that I guide, so seek My
guidance and I will guide you. O my servants! All of you are hungry except
those that I feed, so ask Me for food and I will feed you. O my servants! All
of you are naked except those that I clothe, so ask Me for clothing and I will
clothe you. O my servants! You make mistakes by night and by day, but I will
forgive all wrong actions, so ask My forgiveness and I will forgive you. O my
servants! You will never attain the ability to harm Me, and you will never
attain the ability to benefit Me. O my servants! If the first and the last of
you, all of the jinn (invisible beings, along with angels, who exist
in the unseen realm in Islamic cosmology) and all the human beings among you,
possessed the heart of the most pious one amongst you, that would not increase
My kingdom in any way. O my servants1 If the first and the last of you, all of
the jinn and all the human beings among you, possessed the heart of
the most evil one amongst you, that would not decrease My kingdom in any way. O
my servants! If the first and the last of you, all the jinn and all
the humans, were to stand on a single plain and ask of Me, I could give to
everyone what they ask without that decreasing what I have any more than a
needle decreases the volume of the sea when it is dipped into it and then
extracted. O my servants! It is your actions for which I call you to account
and I will repay you in full. So anyone who finds good within themselves should
praise God, and whoever finds something else should blame none but
themselves.’”
If we remember our neediness before the One, and seek His assistance with
sincerity, we have begun our endeavor in the right manner. Whether or not we
succeed is up to the All Powerful Creator of all that exists. May God shower
his grace upon us, forgive us our sins, and allow us to accomplish amazing
things in the coming months. Amen.
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