Rabi al-Akhir 1445 – 15th October 2023: A Community of Believers

By: Sadruddin Noorani, Chicago, USA

With the Grace of God, over the last five decades, I have been travelling and exploring places of history and interest, nature, and religious places, observing their rites and ceremonies to better understand what it means to be part of a global faith community. I have been to 29 countries and several large cities in each country. Living in the USA since 1981, I have been able to visit 40+ states of the United States of America. During my lifetime, throughout the world, I have been to many Hindu Temples of many denominations around the world, Sikh Gurdwara Sahebs, Buddhist Temples of different ethnicity, Christian Churches of different denominations, Jewish Synagogues of different ethnic groups, Bahai Temples, Zoroastrian (Parsi) Temples, Islamic Mosques of almost all denominations and of course, (my own faith based) Ismaili Muslim Jamatkhanas. In each place of worship that I visited I tried to attend their ceremonies for birth, wedding, death and/or memorial services and also attended/ observed their festivals, rituals, rites, and religious ceremonies.

I found variations in ceremonies within each faith, including my own (faith) at Ismaili Muslim Jamatkhana. In my opinion, according to each Holy Book, there are no specific prescriptions on how to pray or conduct their ceremonies. Each individual or community follows his/her own faith since childhood as practiced or taught by their parents and teachers. When I am at any prayer place, my personal intent is to Praise the Creator/God for His wonderful Creation which benefits me and people around me. I also thank God for the blessings that He has bestowed upon me and my family, I beg for peace on earth and then I ask for forgiveness for any sin that I may have committed knowingly or unknowingly. I have noticed that all attendees find peace at their own respective places of worship, as do I, in my Jamatkhana.

Since I have visited almost all the faith-based major places of worship and observed their prayers, feeling their emotion, submission, cry and plea, one thing is common with all of us is that we all look up towards the sky and raise both hands either folded or spread and bow down, signifying that (we all believe) there is Creator/Lord (who is addressed by many different names) who we all appreciate and thank and seek help and forgiveness.

Let’s reflect on deconstructing the notion of a “community of believers.”

Community is not only a group of people with a common purpose, but who also worship together and share a belief system. It is also a feeling of belonging and value as well as a sense of shared emotional connections as one unit. Value comes not only in the ways we might benefit from community, but also in feeling that we are able to actively contribute towards it. We all belong to many groups, but a community truly blossoms when we make ourselves readily available to help/support each other and also allow others to open up to us so that no member feels alone, helpless, or unequal.

To help us understand the true spirit and purpose of community, we can look to the spirit and purpose of creation. The Holy Quran is clear as to the reason why Allah (swt) has divided us into nations and groups. In Surah Al-Hujurat 49:13 of the Quran, Allah tells Us:

“O mankind! Indeed, We created you from a single soul (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may get to know each other. Verily the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).”

This verse reminds us that an important aspect of creation, and in particular, the creation of differences, is so that we can connect with each other and get to know each other. Lesson learnt: All humans are equal in the sight of Allah/God, irrespective of their color, race, or nationality.

In the Holy Qur’an, Rabb al-‘alamin occurred more than 40 times and is translated as ‘Lord of the Worlds’. 

The Holy Quran reminds us that we are all created from a single soul even though the material world makes it appear that we are separate from each other. This message was echoed by Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah (alayhi-s-salam) (Aga Khan lll) on 6th October 1937 where, as the President of the League of Nations (the precursor to the United Nation), he said:

“The tribulations of one people are the tribulations of all. That which weakens one weakens all. That which is a gain to one is surely a gain to all.”

Community is about the well-being of all. For this to happen, we need to recognize our common humanity and common cause. Upon reflecting upon his encounters with people of other religions, the Egyptian Sufi poet Ibn al-Farid (1181-1235) wrote:

“I see in all of them the divisions of one fountain, and it is the attainment of the eye of sincerity to see them all as equal.”

When we see each other as equals we allow people to have the same sense of dignity that we give ourselves. This is the essence of community – all believers of the One God, the Creator, irrespective of how we address the Creator, which language we pray in, which customs and traditions we adhere to, we need to enhance the concept of community by practicing the traditions of our own religions.  

Within my own community of religious traditions, through many of our jamati practices, we remind ourselves that each and every one of us is connected with each other in important and intricate ways. We share a common humanity, and are linked to the Eternal Soul, and created from the same origin, fashioned by the same Creator. We share a bond as Muslims, with the same values, history, and religious foundations. As murids of the Imam-of-the-Time, we are linked further with a common sense of identity and purpose, linking each other as brothers-and-sisters-in-tariqa, all of us are creations of One God. Many of our rites and practices allow us to renew our sense of community, to restore the dignity of all members of the jamat by reminding us that in the eyes of our Creator we are all equal through our deeds.

Through our religious practices we pray for each other, wanting the best for our collective spiritual well-being. We have a responsibility as a community to remain close-knit and united; to forgive each other and to look after one another. We should ask ourselves: Are we doing whatever we can to offer our services for the overall betterment of the communities in which we live? Are we actively enabling the sense and feeling of community in our places of worship and also doing it globally? Let us resolve to take large action to be an active and contributing member of the community and society at large.