Islamic Retreat (Day Two)

Guests from around the world take their meal with Maulana Imran Hosein.

 After a morning of light breakfast and socializing the first session was preceded by a short introduction by Winston Dookeran the political leader of the Congress of the People party and governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. He spoke briefly about the issues of secularism and sovereignty, central issues to the topics we will be discussing in the remainder of the retreat. He quoted an Islamic scholar Abdulla Muhammad al Malik from Sudan.

"As Muslim I need the state to be secular so I can be Muslim... There is no possibility of being a Muslim by coercion. You may conform to certain practices, certain lifestyles, but that never meets the religious quality of being a Muslim unless it is by free and totally autonomous choice. The possibility of belief logically requires the possibility of disbelief. If I cannot disbelieve, I cannot believe.”

Winston has many disagreements about the views of Shaikh, but clearly deeply respects him and his accomplishments.

Session One: Signs of the Last Day and the Reality of the Modern Age

Imran Hosein began with his own introduction, first giving special thanks by name to the all the sisters who facilitated this event, without which it would not have been possible. Then he also responded to Winston Dookeran, with respect, as his long time friend. The Shaikh tells us that Islam means submission, not to the state, but to the Creator of all the worlds. And in order to properly be a slave of Allah one must be free from political and economic slavery. Therefore, before one can serve God, one must have freedom, which secularism does not provide. Islam attributes sovereignty to God and God alone, as all authentic scriptures do. And the Quran places mankind as God's vicegerents on Earth. The modern secular state attributes sovereignty to itself, and makes all other law subservient to its law. As Pharaoh did.

And he asks, “why in the modern world are the rich permanently rich, and ruling the world, while the poor are imprisoned in permanent poverty.” Imran Hosein teaches that the keys to unlocking the answers to this question are in the Hadith of Jibril, perhaps the most poignant expression of the Islamic creed, from where we derive the five pillars of Islam and the six articles of faith. But the first key appears when the angel Jibril asks, “What is Ihsan?” to which the prophet answers, “To worship Allah as if you see him, and if you can’t see him to know that He sees you.” Because this indicates another kind of sight, not the sight you see with your eyes, but an internal sight that you see with your heart called “basira” in Arabic. Shaikh Imran believes that without this kind of spiritual insight one cannot penetrate the reality of the modern world.

Then Jibril asks about the signs of the last day, and the prophet gives two, one which is clear to the sight of the eyes, and another which requires the sight of the heart to see. First he says that Bedouins will compete in the building of tall structures. You’d have to be blind not to see this sign in Dubai today. And second that a slave girl will give birth to her mistress, which is the topic of one of tomorrow’s sessions.

The primary focus of this session was a discussion of his methodology of study where no verse or hadith is taken in isolation, but taken together with all material on the subject. He asserts that “the reality of the modern age” is that we are witnessing the end of history.

Session Two: Islam’s Conception of the End of Time

This session was a brief introduction to the Signs of the End Times. He discusses some of the minor signs, such as women will dress like men and men like women, which has obviously already occurred. And he discussed the ten major signs, not in chronological order.

1)The Dajjal – or Anti Christ
2) The Release of Juj wa Majuj – or Gog and Magog
3) The Return of Isa – or Jesus
4) Dukhan – or smoke
5) The Creature of the Earth – or the Beast of Revelations
6) The sun will rise in the west
7) An Earthquake in the East
8) An Earthquake in the West
9 An Earthquake in Arabia
10) A fire in Yemen

All of these will be explained in future sessions.

He also described the drama of the Final Age foretold by prophet Muhammad. First, that some Jews and some Christians will form a political alliance for the purpose of controlling the Holy Land. This was unprecedented in Muhammad’s time. The Jews and Christians had never been allies of one another. Next, that Gog and Magog will establish a global godless society, a one world government that would spread moral corruption. Once that happens the Anti Christ will reveal himself to rule that government from Jerusalem and claim to be the Messiah. Many pious Muslims, Jews and Christians will fall for this trickery. The oppression of the Anti Christ will continue throughout the world until the return of Jesus, the true Messiah, who will take up the sword and destroy the Dajjal. After this he will establish the True state of Israel and rule with peace and justice from Jerusalem.

He concluded with an introduction to the primary weapons that will be used to enslave the world: money, food and women. These too will be explained in future sessions.

Session Four: Surah Kahf in the Modern Age

This session was held in the Masjid after prayer. And in a great act of justice he ordered the wall of separation be opened and the women move forward where they could hear and see the lecture. I wish more scholars in American had his spine.

Imran Hosein conceives of Surah Kahf as a kind of instruction manual for the Last Age. This is in part because it is one of the only two places in the Quran which refers to Gog and Magog. But most importantly Surah Kahf is the only chapter in the Quran specifically connected to the Dajjal by Muhammad in the Hadith. Prophet Muhammad instructed us that if we read this chapter on Jumah we will be protected from the fitna of the Dajjal, something Imran and his congregation have done every Jumah for over a year.

Many Muslims recite this chapter in Arabic on Jumah who do not understand Arabic, but Shaikh Imran insists that the meaning is as important as the recitation and delves deeply into the interpretation of it’s symbols. The content of this is too vast to record here, in fact he’s written two books on Surah Kahf, but I’ll give you a taste of some of the meaning he has derived.

Money is mentioned twice in the chapter. During the adventures of Moses and Khidr a father buries his savings under a wall to preserve it for children. And the people of the cave sleep in a cave for approximately 309 years and then takes some coins to buy pure food. What this tells us is that money should, according to the Quran, maintain its value over long periods of time. In the modern world it does not do this. Paper money, unlike precious metal, is devalued through inflation. So the Shaikh interprets that paper money is a weapon and inflation is a kind of usury akin to riba that enslaves us economically.

He applies this kind of analytical process to the entire chapter and uses it not only to identify the problems of the modern world, but to propose solutions implied in the narrative. Primarily that the Dajjal cannot be defeated in battle, and so physical Jihad is not a viable solution, but Muslims should instead retreat into isolation as the people of the cave did. To protect our religion from the corruption of the age of the Anti Christ he calls for the building of Muslim villages separate from the modern world. Something we will discuss in tomorrow's session.