President Trump

Tomorrow, 20th January 2017, sees the handover of executive power in the USA from Barack Obama to Donald Trump and I'm still in a state of confusion about this whole election. It's been a while since my last post, during which I've been exploring alternative avenues of creative expression (Periscoped Life and Muslim Harry Potter) and dealing with a couple of personal issues but now that we're so close to the official transfer of power, despite being in the UK and not directly affected by it, I can't help but be a little nervous about the new situation.

In conventional elections, people generally vote according to the political party representative that they feel holds the best policies and when the election is over the person makes an effort to fulfil the pledges and promises they made. You vote with a rough idea of what to expect.

The bizarre situation that the Americans are in now is that Trump was voted in on a whole lot of rhetoric and numerous ridiculous policies (anyone for a Mexican-paid wall or bringing back torture?). We'd have been in a pretty dire situation if he had pursued these policies but now that he's backtracked on quite a few of them and established that he's not interested in keeping his word or integrity, we're in a position of not knowing what on earth he plans to do other than his well documented attempts at being friendly with Vladimir Putin of Russia. So far as his promise of 'draining the Washington DC swamp' of lobbyists and special interest groups goes, he seems to be going for the approach of replacing the lobbyists with the people the lobbyists were representing. The best example of this being choosing the CEO of ExxonMobil - the world's largest oil company - as Secretary of State - the country's most senior diplomat.

Those of us in other countries can take some solace in the fact that we're not directly affected, but still be anxious in the fact that we'll be indirectly affected. The USA does hold the title of world's most powerful nation and - like it or not - decisions and actions that take place there have ripple effects across the world and as the country pushes a more divided and unpredictable line, this leads to unpredictable reactions by those affected and fairly soon we'll end up with a whole lot of uncertainty and find ourselves living in an even more reactionary and even more suspicious world.

However, while the average person can't do so much about what goes on in the upper echelons of the corridors of power, we can do a lot with our own actions and choices. When all around you is uncertain and seemingly going to hell in a handcart, keeping a level head and not giving in to the lure of suspicion and fear of your fellow man at an individual level is the only way to counter the forces that seek to divide.

To quote from the Quran 13:11 "Indeed, Allah (God) will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves." This verse has multiple meanings and contexts but the essence of is that change has to come from within and with personal and individual effort, not whimsical hope for an undeserved or unearned saviour/miracle to remove what hardship the people are facing.

So rather than run scared and full of fear, keep praying and show love, affection and good judgement to those around you. Keep fighting ignorance and injustice where you see it while being careful not to indulge in those vices yourself. Maintain your own environment and help those around you maintain theirs without encroaching on the rights of others and with a little luck perhaps we'll all live to see another inauguration in four years time!


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Bearing Witness

I was fortunate enough today to witness a man accept Islam. I turned up as usual to my regular Wednesday Qur'an study circle to find three strange men sitting at the back of the room. I smiled, mouthed hello and then promptly forgot about them. I continued to forget about them until the imam, Ajmal Masroor, called them over and explained to the rest of us that the middle of the three men was actually here to convert/revert to Islam.

Immediately I was excited. I'd seen recordings of declarations of faith and heard about them and have friends who've done it but in 27 years of hanging around Muslims I hadn't seen one myself! I took out my phone to make notes on the proceedings. In hindsight, the soon-to-be Muslim probably thought it was the height of rudeness for me to be texting on my phone during such a huge moment in his life. But that didn't occur to me and I wanted to remember what happened and prepared to note down extensive detail. I knew the procedure was quite straightforward but I was still surprised to see how simple it was in practice. My notes were as follows:

• State name.
• Confirm no coercion.
• Say the shahada* - repeated after imam.
• Welcome to Islam.

*This is the Islamic declaration of faith "ašhadu ʾan lā ʾilāha ʾilla (A)llāh, wa ʾašhadu ʾanna Muḥammada(n) rasūlu (A)llāh", which means: "I testify that there is no god except Allah, and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."

And just like that, in the space of 20 seconds, the man had gone from an agnostic to a Muslim, from a stranger to a brother. We all gave him a hearty hug, congratulated him and welcomed a new believer to the fold. Shortly after which, the three men took their leave and departed. And that was that. (In the fullness of time, the man will receive a Certificate Of Conversion from the mosque as "proof" but that's something to hang on the wall, not an official or necessary document.)

Amazing to experience and amazing to be a part of and something I'll not forget soon. However, it did make me think about the profound nature of declaring faith. Words are easy to say but to internalise the meaning of declaring belief in God is a whole different ballgame and something that needs serious work and effort.

After the man had declared his faith, the imam pointed out that Islam and the Qur'an took 23 years to be revealed and perfected so while he should make an effort, he shouldn't rush to make changes to his life that would be immediately burdensome. A gradual approach, one step at a time will be more productive, have far more longevity and help to make the belief more concrete and will, in the fullness of time, save his soul.

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A light and dark perspective

Today was one of those emotional rollercoaster days where you're just not sure what life is trying to do to you. It was the kind of day that makes you feel like one of the Grand Old Duke of York's ten thousand men and you have no idea if you're up, you're down or only halfway up and neither up nor down. The kind of day that saps your reserves of mental energy and all you want to do at the end of it is give up and eat a large slice of chocolate cake with a double helping of whipped cream.

All in all I'd say today was a good day - given how fast everything happened it was easy to remember the ups during the downs and this helped keep a sense of perspective that even if things aren't going so well right at this very moment, it was only a short while ago that life was rosy. From a personal viewpoint, it's quite rare that I have such an oscillatory sequence of events crammed into a such a short span of time. I think it safe to say that more normally the ups and downs are spaced further apart with sustained durations of ambivalence in between - but for this one day everything came at me in a rush!

In regular life when ups and downs are further apart the upswings are naturally easier to handle - life is good and everything is going your way. The difficulty arises when you're going through a rough patch, nothing is going to plan, the world is arrayed completely against you and everything you touch turns to dust. It's during these phases, where you've previously gotten used to a smooth life, that it's only too easy to forget the good that has happened to you previously and to retain your perspective. I'm reminded of a particular couplet from Rudyard Kipling's If which really strikes a chord with me:

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same

In a rather nice little coincidence, I attended a Quran discussion circle last week where we talked through Surah Duha (S 93). The main focus of the chapter is a potent reminder that life is a sum of ups and downs and that having some difficulty in life is not an indicator of divine displeasure and does not need to be a cause for worry.

When circumstances seem completely against you it is always worth remembering the good that you've gotten so accustomed to that you don't even notice them anymore. Contemplating something as mundane as the sun rising in the morning or spending time with those who are less fortunate than you will remind you to keep that loftier perspective and to take life as a whole. You will have positives and you will have negatives. Do not despair when all around is dark - remember what you could see when you were had the light.

For the curious amongst you, I've written the details of my day below.

• Plan to have brunch with friends - Woo!
• Too rainy for motorcycling - will have to use public transport - Boo!
• Have woken up with plenty of time to spare - Woo!
• The motorcycle cover that I bought yesterday has been blown off the bike by overnight wind and is now lying against the garden wall - Boo!
• Railway engineering works mean I have to take the bus first and transfer at Seven Kings train station - Boo!
• Friends are running a half hour late - Boo!
• Realise as I'm getting off the bus that my brother is actually on the same bus - Woo!
• Stay on the bus and take the slow route to brunch and chat for an extra half hour - Woo!
• Arrive at brunch place - Woo!
• It's busy and we haven't booked a table - Boo!
• Table for three becomes available just as my friends arrive - Woo!
• Enjoying brunch too much and I forget the time - Woo!
• I have overrun my schedule - Boo!
• Phone interview for a voluntary job has been booked in for 2pm - Boo!
• We pray a cheeky Zuhr at East London Mosque in congregation - Woo!
• Get the train home arriving at Seven Kings train station at 1:55pm - Boo!
• Bus transfer departs 10s before I can get to the stand - Boo!
• Decide not to wait for the next bus and walk the 15mins home - Boo!
• Interviewer rings while I'm walking and getting thoroughly drenched in the rain (no umbrella) - Boo!
• Interviewer is OK to wait 10mins until I get home - Woo!
• The next bus passes me as I reach my home bus stop - Boo!
• Reach home - Woo!
• I forgot to turn the heater off in my room - Boo!
• Room is pleasantly warm - Woo!
• I call the interviewer and the interview is more of a chat and goes well - Woo!
• Make plans to leave home by 5 to get to the homeless project on time - Woo!
• Mother arrives home at 5 - Woo!
• I get into car to drive to tube station and save 15 minutes on a 45 minute journey - Woo!
• Car doesn't start despite having installed a new battery yesterday - Boo!
• Taking car to the garage for repair will likely be a pricey activity but seems necessary - Boo!
• Take bus to Seven Kings again - Boo!
• Bus is slow and there's no way I'm making it to the homeless project on time - Boo!
• Decide to go to the gym instead and start #CardioJanuary - Woo!
• Gym is full of people with New Year Resolutions - Boo!
• Fantastic Four is on TV - haven't seen the movie and provides a pleasant distraction on the treadmill - Woo!
• Run for an hour - far longer than usual and can feel the endorphins - Woo!
• Have to take the bus home and it's still raining - Boo!
• No chocolate cake in the house - Boo!
• Decide to write about my day - Woo!
• Mother comes to my room to tell me the motorbike cover landed on some cat poo - Boo!

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