usrah

I was in Iman’s room where she had (among other books where the the main character die in the end) a book on games (or ideas for it) for usrah. The one where you play those cutesy games and then ponder (sometimes overzealously, I might add) over what it means. Of course, I was never in the mood for those things (they do not serve to enlighten the mind, but merely to lighten it), but maybe it’s just my preference. To illustrate an example, I participated in one such game where people were divided into three elements, the strayer, the guide, and the wayfarer (of course, these are just fancy names I just came up with). Here is a field (drawn in a square), marked here and there are the ‘mines’, and at the centre is the goal. Now the goal is of course to reach the centre, but the wayfarer is blindfolded and has to be directed by the guide to reach it. But at the same time there are different voices (all strayers and different – particular guides for particular wayfarers), which serve to confuse our Wayfarer such that he should/would step into the ‘mines’ and his game ends. At the end of the game, each are asked what they thought of it. Here we here the classic interpretation of syaitan/malaikat/Quran, the importance of hearing, and the goal as God or Heaven as opposed to Hell (the ‘mines’).

Further inspection of this game reminds me of  Farīd ud-Dīn Aṭṭār’s Conference of the Birds, where the single hoopee guides the birds to see the bird of all birds, Simurgh, undergoing several journeys (or stations) along the way, until finally only thirty remains. Before the journey, the birds (of different species), each complain of their weaknesses, or attachments – be it money, love, cowardice, fame, power, contentment, comfort. Each of these the hoopee breaks, telling them the fallacies and the temporal nature of those things. And so, they all (a thousand?) traverse through different stations, where they try to overcome different things (relating to the nafs – but I have forgotten exactly what), till they reach at the gate of Simurgh, tired. When they reach inside, all they see is a lake where there are only reflections of themselves. Now, all commentaries aside about what that means, I would like to pose a question; how different is playing the game described above than reading the Conference of the Birds?

Sometimes I think that usrah (ones that I encounter) is immature and childish in its ways, but nevertheless serious with their endeavors. This childlike seriousness, where I see their views composed from a limited sphere of experience, constricted only to a few texts  and books that do not reflect the history of mankind in totality.  The questions posed (if any) aren’t relevant to my experience as a person living in the 21st Century, and (moreover) as a person living in the multicultural, multi-religious Malaysia.

Nevertheless I see people that thrive in it, I see my friends have a better understanding and more knowledge regarding Islam far more than I do. They memorize the Quran, the 40 Hadiths, read books on Tarbiyyah or Sirah and Stories from the Sahabahs. All these they try to communicate or convey to other people. In this way, I see usrah as an important tool to remind the individual to strengthen/renew the their purpose, their character, the Iman, by returning to Quran and Hadith itself.  In this respect I agree and fully support usrah. But while the fundamentals are important in moulding the individual, they too must be challenged or put out against the world. While Islam spiritually nourishes us, how must we use it to overcome economic, social, political problems etc?

Surely by not romanticism – a yearning for the past –  alone.

Sekian.

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Am reading Fathi Aris Omar’s blog here, where he talks about the fallacies and faults of usrah (particularly this article). Interesting stuff.

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