Understanding The Prophet's Life
From Issue: 633 [Read full issue]
Gather Together
To believe, along with the recollection of the presence of the Creator, is a way of understanding one's life within Creation and among people, for, from the Islamic point of view, to be with God is to be with human beings. By trying to excel in the practice of their religion, Muslims are immediately called to face the communal dimension of Islamic way of life.
To pronounce the shahada is to share in the community spirit with its immediate implication, which is the promotion of social activities. Prayer establishes connections with our Muslim neighbour in a specific place, while zakat enlarges the circle of our social relations, for the whole of the sum must be spent on the needy people in the area where it is raised. Fasting develops an even broader feeling, for by fasting and by thinking about it, we are in spiritual communion with the poor of the whole world. And this communion finds a final, tangible, and physical realization in the pilgrimage to Mecca.
In philosophical terms, one might say that this feeling has a part in Muslim identity at the heart of the practice and that it constitutes one of the distinctive characteristics of such an identity. As the Prophet said: "Gather together, for the wolf picks off only the sheep that stand alone." [Ahmad, Abu Dawud]
Compiled From:
"Western Muslims and The Future of Islam" - Tariq Ramadan, pp. 86-89