God and/or Gaza
INsights 058, Friday 27th September 2024
God and/or Gaza
INsights 058, Friday 27th September 2024
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Is it good enough for us to advocate against injustice and immorality without simultaneously inviting people to God and forewarning them about the Day of Judgement?
Is it necessary or even acceptable to separate the core message of faith from our social and political narratives?
You can probably guess my answer to these questions.
With this edition of INsights, the mini-series on language resumes but with a different focus.
Having already touched on many examples of how to improve day-to-day linguistic practices as individuals, I want to turn to the issue of our collective public messaging.
This matter is absolutely central to what I understand to be our ultimate social objective as believers: building prosperous and harmonious societies on a foundation of monotheism.
To get things going, and mainly for the sake of some experimentation with the latest technology, I had a chat with ChatGPT on this topic.
I asked it to:
- summarise the key elements of the narrative of UK based Muslim organisations to the wider public over the last two decades.
- explain to what extent our messaging has tended to include or exclude an emphasis on the importance of faith in God.
- analyse whether our narrative has been reflective of, or divergent from, the guidance found in revelation.
- evaluate critically my observation that our public response to the atrocities in Gaza has often fallen short by eliminating invitations to God or reminders of the Day of Judgement.
I found the responses valuable and largely reflective of the views I wanted to put to you. So this edition is essentially an abridged version of the exchange. I’ve included a link to the full chat at the end if it’s of interest.
Here’s an unsurprising list of the top five points from its response to my request to summarise the most prominent core messages of the narrative of UK based Muslim organisations in their public engagement over the last 20 years?
1. Countering Extremism and Promoting Peace
2. Integration and British Muslim Identity
3. Combatting Islamophobia
4. Promoting Civic Participation and Political Engagement
5. Social Justice and Human Rights
I then asked the following: To what extent would you say that an emphasis on the importance of faith in God has been well integrated into these narratives?
Here’s a summary of the conclusion to its detailed response (the highlighting is mine):
While faith in God is certainly a key component of the internal messaging within Muslim communities, it is often integrated into the public narrative in subtle or indirect ways, especially when addressing non-Muslim audiences.
The focus in public engagement has largely been on values that can resonate across both religious and secular contexts — such as justice, charity, and social cohesion — rather than promoting a direct critique of secularism or godlessness.
This approach allows UK-based Muslim organisations to build alliances and foster understanding in a pluralistic society, while maintaining a foundation rooted in faith for their internal audiences.
I think this is a very fair summary of how most of our organisations function nowadays.
Then I posed the critical question: To what extent is this approach reflective of Quranic guidance?
Here’s a summary of the response:
The Qur'anic approach to prophetic missions places a strong emphasis on calling people to belief in God (tawhid), alongside advocating for goodness, justice, and morality.
1. Prophetic Model in the Qur’an
In the Qur’an, the prophets consistently call people to believe in one God as the foundation of all ethical and moral behavior. For instance, Prophet Musa (Moses) is sent to Pharaoh with a dual message: first, to acknowledge the supremacy of God, and second, to free the Israelites from oppression (Qur’an 20:24-48). His message of social justice is intertwined with the core theological claim that Pharaoh is not the ultimate power — God is.
2. Modern Context of Public Engagement
In the modern UK context, Muslim organisations face a more complex and pluralistic society where the broader public may not be receptive to overt calls for belief in God. Therefore, these organisations may prioritize messages of justice, morality, and good citizenship in an attempt to foster social cohesion and bridge gaps with secular society.
3. Tensions with the Prophetic Mission
While the strategy of emphasising shared values and downplaying overt religious calls may be practical, it could also be argued that this risks diluting the core of the prophetic mission. In the Qur’an, the ultimate aim of the prophets was not only to achieve social justice but also to guide people towards a belief in and reliance on God. By omitting this dimension or relegating it to a secondary concern, the modern approach could be seen as inconsistent with the comprehensive nature of the prophetic mission.
From a Qur’anic perspective, belief in God is not just one of many moral imperatives; it is the foundation upon which all other ethics and values rest. Without a clear invitation to faith, efforts to promote justice and morality might lack the deeper spiritual grounding that the Qur’an sees as essential for true societal transformation.
Finally, considering the above, I shared and requested feedback on my own view of what seems to have been fundamentally missing in our public response to the atrocities in Gaza, namely a simultaneous and integrated reminder of God and the Last Day.
At the risk of this being a self-fulfilling echo chamber, I felt assured by the response, most of which is presented below:
1. Authenticity in Advocacy
Advocating for justice, such as in the case of Gaza, while also calling people to remember their accountability to God, ensures that the message remains deeply authentic to Islamic teachings.
This approach, while not always pragmatic in worldly terms, maintains the integrity of the faith and ensures that Muslims are not simply participating in a secular or purely humanitarian discourse but offering a deeper, spiritually anchored perspective. It is as much about the moral responsibility of conveying the truth as it is about changing external conditions.
2. The Role of Ultimate Accountability
Reminding people of their ultimate accountability before God can serve as a powerful moral force, even for those who may not believe in God. It taps into a universal sense of justice, a reminder that there is a higher power watching over all human actions, and that in the end, every individual will face consequences for their deeds.
3. Courage in the Face of Impossibility
Musa’s message to Pharaoh is profound. Even though Pharaoh seemed beyond hope, the invitation to believe in God was extended to him. It wasn’t just a call for Pharaoh to stop his oppression, but a deeper invitation to recognize the reality of God and abandon his false sense of sovereignty. In a similar vein, speaking out against atrocities in Gaza with a reminder of ultimate accountability, even when it seems impossible for certain groups or powers to heed this message, maintains the authenticity of the prophetic tradition.
The key lesson from the story of Musa and Pharaoh is that we are not necessarily responsible for the outcome, but for delivering the message in its entirety, both in terms of justice and in terms of belief in God. It’s about faithfulness to the mission rather than immediate success in the worldly sense. That authenticity becomes a form of worship and fulfills a deeper obligation to God.
4. A Broader Moral Framework
What you are suggesting is an invitation to transcend material and worldly priorities. Much of the contemporary discourse around Gaza focuses on immediate humanitarian needs, political rights, and social justice — all essential, of course. However, what may often be missing is a call to reorient priorities and remind people of the temporality of this world, compared to the permanence of the Hereafter.
Without neglecting the urgent need for material solutions and justice, the additional call to turn to God and remember one’s ultimate return to Him introduces a much-needed spiritual depth to the advocacy. It is a reminder that the crisis is not only about human rights violations in a material sense but also about a spiritual crisis — a disconnection from God and an excessive attachment to worldly power, wealth, and domination.
5. What You Might Be Missing (if anything)
I don’t think you are necessarily missing anything fundamental in this approach. However, there are practical considerations when engaging with a broader audience that may not be receptive to explicit theological messaging.
One possible approach could be to interweave spiritual reminders subtly into the broader discourse on justice. This allows the message to remain rooted in tawhid while avoiding alienating potential allies. For example:
- Framing belief in God as a source of strength in the fight for justice, emphasizing that Muslims’ ultimate hope and reliance are on God, not worldly powers.
- Highlighting moral accountability in ways that resonate with broader ethical traditions, while gently introducing the concept of divine accountability.
- Incorporating spiritual reflections in moments of advocacy (e.g. prayers for the oppressed, reminders of the temporary nature of power), even when addressing non-Muslim audiences.
By integrating this dual message wisely, as Prophet Musa did, you ensure that advocacy remains authentically Islamic while still engaging with the broader public discourse.
Conclusion
Your approach is deeply rooted in the Qur’anic and prophetic tradition, especially in its focus on authenticity to the core message of Islam: the oneness of God and the ultimate return to Him. Far from diluting the message, by bringing tawhid and accountability to God into advocacy for justice, you are reminding people of the deeper spiritual crisis at the heart of material oppression. This approach also reflects the courage of the prophets, who were tasked with calling even the most resistant individuals to the truth, regardless of the apparent impossibility of their transformation.
Balancing this spiritual authenticity with practical considerations may be challenging, but it ensures that Muslims remain faithful to their worldview, offering a comprehensive moral vision in both this world and the next.
There was more but I'll leave it there for now.
The way I would encapsulate the last part is simply this: we don’t have to choose between talking about God or talking about Gaza. We can, should and must talk about both God and Gaza together.
If there’s one verse that emphasises the superiority of doing so, it’s this one:
“Who is better in speech than one who invites to God, does righteousness and says, ‘Indeed, I am of those who submit to God?’” (41:33)
What do you make of all this?
Can you see that in order to be fully authentic to divine guidance, we need to be just as energetic and vocal in conveying the core message of faith as we have been, and should continue to be, in our calls for justice?
Whether you agree or disagree strongly, do reply or click the links below to share your thoughts.
Here’s a link to the full exchange I had with Chat GPT if you’re interested.
Until next time.
Peace.
Iqbal
~~~
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Have a blessed week. I'll send you the next edition next Friday, God willing.
