I greet you Salamun alaykum, May peace be upon you all, On behalf of my community the Wessex Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat , I would like to extend heartiest felicitations on the auspicious occasion of celebration of birth of AL MASIH ISA IBN MARYAM AL MUQADDASAH RASULULLAHI WA KALIMATUHU the Messiah, Isa son of Maryam the chaste lady, the Apostle of Allah and the word of Allah.
These are the days of Christmas, the festival to celebrate the nativity of Jesus a great Divine representative of God. This evening today is a unique event. For we, the Wessex Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat of the Muslim community, are delighted and grateful to have once again been invited to join you, our Christian brethren, in celebrating this major festival : Christmas. Thank you for this kind invitation.
Let me tell you a story : A child was born in 1994. The Parents of this unique baby were Canon Michael Doe, Rev Colin Bradley and Marhum Mulla Bashir Rahim. This child is now 16 years and ready to enter into the world of University. It has now been 16 years since we have been coming together for this festival. This year is an exceptional occasion. For not only do we have members of the Catholic Church amongst us, but we also have the representatives from the mosques in Portsmouth. Thank you for your presence.
Today we all as neighbours, members of the faith community we have come together to celebrate the birth of this Messiah Jesus son of Mary. By this gesture we have practised love to our neighbour as he taught us, love to our community, as he taught us. This is truly a blessed gift for our communities. For a long time we seem to have been fed a message of fear and worry. There has been global warming, manmade climate change, threats of terrorism, and the financial crisis. Budget cuts, not slices, but huge chunks being chopped off affecting all across life from the newly born baby to the senior citizens. In the news, there is a sense of 'waiting for terrorists to strike'. Such reports cast a shadow over all our lives and threaten the efforts of the Christians and Muslim communities to work together. At the moment the workers are in state of anxiety waiting to learn the devastating news whose job has been axed. The students are anxious to know what will be the outcome of the votes next week in parliament on increase of tuition fees. With the cold winter spell the Pensioners are struggling to cope with the cuts in winter fuel allowance. And on goes the list of worries and worries....
The huge chunk of cuts being made, identify that the society we find ourselves in has morals, but no compass. If there was a compass would we actually make these massive cuts without first identifying the possible social impact?
So we have now seen the protests in Ireland, the recent demonstrations by students. What next ? The pensioners demonstrating, public sector and workers following ????
All this doom and despondency saps the will and in the end we feel there is nothing we can do anything about it at all. There is so much dismay and anxiety around rather than pleasure and optimism.
Here now, faith communities bring something to the table. The teachings of our faith gives us morals and the personalities give us our compass. This says that had there been a compass then we would have seen that yes these cuts would have a sense of direction of travel.
The birth of the blessed prophet Jesus is a miracle in a world historically where there was little or no hope. Says the Almighty in Holy Quran SURA ALE IMRAN 3 The family of Imran : Verse 45 :
"IDH QALATIL MALAAIKATU YA MARYAMU INNALLAHA YUBASH-SHIRUKI BI KALIMATIN ISMUHUL MASIHU ISABNU MARYAMA WAJIHAN FID DUNYA WAL AAKHIRATI WA MINAL MUQARRABIN"
When the angels said O Maryam O Mary! Surely Allah God gives glad tidings of a word from Him whose name is the Messiah Isa (Jesus) son of Mary, prominent in this world and in the hereafter and of those who are near to God.
Now hope is also common in the muslim faith: We have just completed the celebrations of Hajj:- This is an obligation upon muslims to perform pilgrimage to Makka.
In Haj we are required to perform the act of Sa’i i.e. walking between the hills of Safa and Marwa following the footsteps of Lady Hajra, mother of Prophet Ismail, in search of water for her baby. Left in a desolate area of the Arabian desert Lady Hajra was in a state of fear for the life of her baby. Whilst trotting between the two hills she has hope that there is water on the other side.
Life is a pendulum that goes between hope and fear. If I were to look at man, he has this unique innate nature that tomorrow will always be better than today. That’s unique isn’t it?
So the challenge for us is: now that we have morals and that we have compass, what hope are we creating in the society we find ourselves in where the fabric is being stretched and torn, rips are appearing to be seen?
So as the fabric of society is being torn, we as communities of the Christian and Muslim faiths and of no faith are we going to wait to pick up the pieces and then try to sew the torn pieces with new thread and a new needle or are we going to start and say we are ready to take this challenge and do something to protect our communities ?
It does not matter whether one is a Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, or of no faith. He is your neighbour.
Here bring to mind the response by the blessed prophet Jesus to the Lawyer who inquired: Who is a good neighbour?
Traditions narrate that our blessed prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, has exhorted repeatedly on the care for neighbours such that the companions feared that the neighbours would have a share in the inheritance.
So the question that I wish to present is that:
Close your eyes and imagine that If my prophet Jesus and Muhammad, Peace be upon them, were to walk through these doors holding hands:
Are we holding hands ?
Are our hearts linked?
If our hearts and hands are joined now let us drive this energy into action:
The Prophet Jesus and Muhammad, Peace be upon them would ask a question to the flock of Christians and Muslims, what would they inquire?
You as a community have morals from your faiths and a compass from your personalities, what are you doing to handle the changes that are coming your way and how are you giving hope?
This is a question which I would like us to leave with at the end of the evenings event.
The response to this question would leave the members of society having morals, but no faith come to the doors of faith where we have morals and compass too.
In conclusion, let us pray by supplications narrated from Jesus :
O Allah! you are the deity of all who are in heaven and the deity of all on the earth. There is no deity in them other than You. And you are the All Wise for all in heaven and the All wise for all on earth. There is no All Wise in them other than You. There is no king in them other than You. Your power in heaven is like Your power on the Earth. And your sovereignty in heaven is like Your sovereignty on the earth. I ask you by your All generous Name and Your radiant Face and Your eternal Kingdom ,
O God who takes away grief, removes sadness, disposes of sorrow, answers the prayers of the needy, O the Merciful of this world and the hereafter You are merciful to me and to all things, so be merciful to me....
LET US NOW MENTION OUR PRAYERS : HAJAT :........
O Lord Grant good health and swift recovery to the ill persons, bless the soul of the departed members of our community, grant strength and relief to the distressed, persons affected by various calamities round the globe, protect our scholars whose prayers protect us, continue to abundantly shower upon us your blessings and bounties upon us....AAMIN
Before ending my address, may I request the Dean to convey my warm greetings and kind regards to the Bishop Christopher and his wife Sally. On behalf of my Shia Ithna Asheri Muslim Community of Wessex, the muslims in Portsmouth and on my own behalf, I offer our heartiest felicitations, greetings and best wishes to all our Christian brethren and a prosperous happy New Year 2011!
Fazle Abbas Datoo
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Resident Alim
Wessex Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat