Ebrahim Moosa – Radio Islam | 04 Muharram 1438/05 October 2016

A renowned Sudanese author has exhorted Muslims in South Africa to reconnect more deeply with their sacred heritage in order to better shoulder the weight of human leadership.

Distinguished academic, Imam Zakaria Bashier, who has authored well-received works on the Sirah such as Hijra-Story and Significance and Sunshine in Madinah was addressing congregants at the Bosmont Masjid as part of a tour arranged by the Two Lights Foundation.

Despite widespread pessimism on the global condition of the Muslim Ummah, Bashier said Muslims had lived through dark days before and had always overcome the obstacles. Tragedies such as the Mongol invasion, the cancer of the Crusades and the loss of Spain – as catastrophic as they were – he said, never succeeded in hampering the progress of Islam.

“Allah SWT has promised to preserve the Qur’aan, and implicit in this is that this Ummah will also be protected, as it is one vehicle for the preservation of the Qur’aan,” Bashier said.

Being part of this Ummah, he exhorted, should be a great source of pride and honour for all Muslims. However, it was equally imperative for believers to know their responsibilities as the “best of nations”.

Bashier expounded on what he believed was the required approach of Muslims towards the Qur’aan, Sirah and human interaction.

The Qur’aan, he said, remained the greatest treasure for the Muslim Ummah – if it is to be approached correctly. Bashier opined that it was the Ummah’s greatest failure that it had mastered and prioritised certain Quranic sciences only, at the expense of a wider realisation of the relevance of the Quranic message to the current times.

“We need to reform this failure. Don’t be like the donkey carrying books, or the camels carrying loads of water, but dying of thirst”.

Regarding the Sirah, the scholar said the Ummah had to cease perceiving the Sirah as simply a series of stories, instead recognising it as the “practical embodiment of the Qur’aan”.

When reading the Sirah, Bashier advised, Muslims should keep a keen eye out for the methodology used by the Messenger of Allah SAW to transform a nation steeped in ignorance to become leaders of the world.

“How did the Messenger of Allah SAW teach with love and compassion. How was it that everybody saw him as their teacher, “Bashier asked.

Equally critical, he pointed out, was the component of character.

A Muslim’s love for the next person what he loved for himself was a defining feature of his Imaan, Bashier said.

All facets of the glorious Prophetic character should be imbibed and exhibited.

Islamic movements, in particular, he said, should make themselves accessible to all.

“Don’t isolate. Interact,” he urged.

“To lead, we must change our ways. There can be no laziness. Realise that if you are with Allah, you can never be in the minority. And ultimately, the inheritors of the earth will be the righteous”.