By: Ustadh Ubaydullah evansALIM Resident Scholar  2024 saw the passing of Frankie Beverly. The legendary, Philly-bred, soul singer and his band Maze were a part of the soundtrack of my childhood. When we attended cookouts as a family or when my mother was working in the kitchen you were sure to hear Frankie’s smooth baritone wafting through our home. Like all kids, of course, I feigned indifference and even a mild dislike for my mom’s music! In actuality, however, some of those records were thought-provoking and I still recall them fondly. Thinking of ‘24, I can hear Frankie singing over the last bridge on “Joy and Pain”: “Over and Over/ you can be sure/ there will be sorrow but you will endure/ where there’s a flower/ there’s the sun and the rain/ Oh, but it’s wonderful, they’re both one and the same” We experienced the continued agony of watching our brothers and sisters killed with impunity in Palestine. And we experienced the spontaneous joy of seeing our brothers and sisters liberated in Syria. In many ways, these alternating fortunes are a macrocosm of the subtle rhythm of life. God is al-Qabid (The Constrictor) and al-Basit (The Expander). There is always joy and pain. In his famed “at-Tanwir fi Isqat at-Tadbir" (The illumined Path: Letting Go of Overwrought Planning), Ibn Ata’llah writes, “The Almighty strengthens people by causing them to remember their joy in the midst of their pain.” When countenancing happiness, success, love etc. many people have an innate sense that something beyond them has, in effect, “graced” them. And this isn’t restricted to believers. This is a human tendency. From Machiavelli’s “fortuna” to the “qada” and “qadr” of the Islam; when we’re winning, there is a bigger picture of which our victory is somehow apart. But when we’re facing loss, disappointment, and pain seeing our circumstance as the result of destiny, fortune, or Divine Will is much more challenging. Indeed, it entails acknowledging that a force beyond us has unilaterally decided to plunge us into difficulty. Remembering joy and pain together helps to acquaint us with the true nature of the Divine. God is not known through abstractions (rather He is known through Revelation) and who God is, does not change according to our circumstances. The Qur’an comments on the shallowness of such thinking, {“Now as for man, when his Lord trieth him, Giving him honor and gifts, then he saith (puffed up), “My Lord hath honored me” (15) But when we trieth him, restricting his subsistence for Him, then he saith (in despair), My Lord hath humiliated me.” (16)} [89:15-16] Quite the reverse, joy and pain emanate from the same source, Glorified and Exalted. And for the spiritually mature, both not only offer the potential of intimacy with God; both are necessary. Just as plants require sunshine and rain for growth, so do we. The Messenger of God (upon him be peace) said, “The believer is in a unique and fascinating position. Everything is good for them. When they experience good fortune, they thank God and this is good for them. And when they fall on hard times, they are patient and this is good for them.” The celebratory images captured among the people of Syria and the harrowing images of genocide witnessed among the Palestinians almost appear to be separated by eons. The contrast between them is incredibly stark. One unfamiliar with the geography of the region would hardly believe that Gaza City and Damascus are only divided by a 174-mile strip of desert. To be sure, that is about the distance between Chicago and Indianapolis (163 miles). Qabd (Constriction, difficulty, constraint) and Bast (Expansion, relief, ebullience), as well as the patience and gratitude necessitated by each respectively, are geographical neighbors. And as arbitrary as that might seem at first blush, it may, in fact, be expressive of a great Sunnah (normative pattern) of God within creation. In a rigorously authenticated tradition, the Prophet (upon him be peace) said, “If a fly falls into anyone’s drink, let him dip the entire fly into the drink. Indeed, if one wing carries a disease, the other may carry its cure.” I’m unsure about how modern entomology or pathology would regard a literal interpretation of this tradition—I'm also not sure the statement was intended literally. However, suffice it to say, that the Prophet (upon him be peace) isn’t an entomologist or pathologist. The Prophet (upon him be peace) is a moral teacher. This tradition describes the positivity of the believer’s moral outlook: Take the whole thing. The sunshine is preceded by rain, the joy by pain; the jubilation and dejection might be as close to each other as the disease and the cure on the wings of an insect!” Hope is from faith (iman), we must always maintain a hopeful outlook and continue to believe in the miraculous. And besides, if the book of God, the Messenger of God (upon him be peace), Ibn Ata’llah, and Frankie Beverly all agree on anything, who are we to disagree?! About the author |
 | Ustadh Ubaydullah Evans is ALIM’s first Scholar-in-Residence. He converted to Islam while in high school. Upon conversion, Ustadh Ubaydullah began studying some of the foundational books of Islam under the private tutelage of local scholars while simultaneously pursuing a degree in journalism from Columbia. Since then, he has studied at Chicagoland’s Institute of Islamic Education (IIE), in Tarim, Yemen, and Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, where he is the first African-American to graduate from its Shari’a program. Ustadh Ubaydullah also instructs with the Ta’leef Collective and the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) at times. As the ALIM Scholar-in-Residence, Ustadh Ubaydullah is a core instructor at the ALIM Summer Program. He teaches History of Islamic Law, Shama'il, and Aphorisims of Ibn Ata'illah along with other courses. |
1 Comment
Aubrey Wells
1/14/2025 10:28:06 am
Well written and timely musing. May Allah reward you.
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