April 4, 2007

Reflecting on the nature of Islam – its purpose and its goals – the Muslim chaplain for the South Carolina Department of Corrections closed Presbyterian College’s yearlong “Understanding Islam” series on Tuesday.

In a lecture sponsored by the college’s Southeastern Center for Intercultural Studies, Imam Mutahhir Sabree sprinkled verses from the Koran with his own understanding of and experiences in Islam to encourage people of various cultures and religions to a deeper understanding of one-fifth of the world’s population.

“Indeed, the world is too small today for us to be strangers,” he said, adding that Allah created tribes of people so that they may “know one another … not despise one another.”

Nonetheless, Sabree noted, Islam and Muslims are “in the crosshairs of suspicion,” as evidenced, he said, by discussion in the Congress about radical Islam in the United States and even talk about internment camps for Muslims living in the U.S.

Dr. Greg Henley and Iman Sabree

Sabree said it is important, then, for people of other religions and cultures to understand the true nature of Islam – and understanding that reaches beyond the word “religion,” to encompass a “comprehensive way of life that we like to say is a ‘life transaction.’”

“It governs our relationship with the Almighty, with our creator,” he said. “And it governs our relationship with his creatures, with his creation. It even governs our relations with our own selves.”

Thus, Sabree took his audience on a brief journey through Islam, during which he described the rites of the Hajj – the pilgrimage to holy Mecca in Saudi Arabia that he took himself in 2001. There, he said, pilgrims must take in of all the humanity involved in that holy journey.

“(The Hajj) demonstrates the true universality and brotherhood of humanity – where we put aside our racial distinctions, we put aside our economic barriers or academic distinctions, our linguistic differences – and we come together in the natural disposition to worship the one God …,” he said.

Sabree explained that Islam is a way of life designed to bring about change, which is evident in the very origins of the religion. The prophet Muhammad was chosen, he said, to receive Allah’s final testament – the Koran – which promotes change and improvement.

Allah “commands excellence in everything,” he cited, regardless of vocation or social standing. Sabree also noted that people are created with a sole purpose in their lives – to worship God.

“Believe it or not, many people in society don’t know their purpose,” he said. “They don’t know why they were created. Many people think they were created to get an education, learn a trade or a skill, to get a job, to purchase some materials, to buy a nice home, to grow old, retire, and die. This is a very bland purpose that almighty God, Allah, did not create you for.”

Muslims also are commanded to obey the commandments revealed to Muhammad and to walk in his example as “a Koran walking,” said Sabree.

Reared a Roman Catholic, Sabree said he was taught that people were born into sin. Islam, he said, teaches otherwise – that no one is accountable for their sins until they reach puberty and only then if they are of sound mind. People, he said, are created from a pure state whose origins are in “Al-Jannah,” or Paradise – the same first home Muslims strive to return to.

Sabree also addressed tensions between Muslims and other religions by stating that Islam does not support terrorism and that Islamic law only calls for fighting as a last resort against religious oppression. He also stated that Islam is not spread “by the sword” because Allah said, “let there be no compulsion” in the Koran.

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