First of all I would like to express gratitude to those who have been responsible for this conference and for their invaluable work at all levels: in organising, in logistics and particularly in their intellectual effort. Their effort has been towards the acquisition of useful knowledge, a knowledge that will assist us in our lives, a knowledge from which we can obtain what can be implemented in our lives and that will lead us to change or improve what needs to change in our lives.<\/span><\/p>\n I will try to deliver my small contribution, hoping that it might be of use to all and trusting in Allah that He makes it easy for me to transmit some useful knowledge, which is the aim and purpose of this conference.<\/span><\/p>\n When I started reflecting about how to address the topic of this talk, the first thing that came to my mind was the celebration of the anniversary of this Mosque in 2012. I don\u2019t know if you remember, that was the year of the so-called revolutions in many Arab countries, branded in the media as the \u201cArab spring\u201d. At that time the word \u201crevolution\u201d was much used, so that when we were making preparations for the events we decided to make the main theme of the gathering precisely that: revolution. We decided, in addition, to choose a striking title that will appeal to the masses, like one of those movies that, when you read or hear the name of the film you say to yourself: \u201cI got to see this, whatever it takes.\u201d We opted for: \u201c<\/span>Islam: la aut\u00e9ntica revoluci\u00f3n\u201d, something that in English sounded even better: \u201cIslam: the Real Revolution\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n That was to be the general heading for the whole event. Then we had planned four talks dealing with: civic education, economy, authority and governance, and, at last, there was one talk assigned to Shaykh Abdalhaqq Bewley, who is with us today, entitled: \u201cInner Revolution, Outward Revolution.\u201d No need to mention: of the four this last one was the most important talk for all of us.<\/span><\/p>\n And so it was that we sent copy of the programme to Shaykh Abdalqadir, scanned via email, in order that he could revise it and give his \u2018go ahead\u2019. We were proud and convinced we had hit the nail right on the head with our choice of theme and title, convinced that that was exactly what the moment demanded, saying to ourselves: \u201cthis year\u2019s conference is going to be a big success.\u201d A few days later we received an email. In it there was only one attachment, a PDF document, named \u201cGranadaMosque.pdf\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n We opened it and we saw the same document we had sent to Shaykh Abdalqadir but now it had his corrections and notes, or should I say, he had crossed out our whole text. To begin with he crossed out the general title and instead of \u201c<\/span>Islam: The Real Revolution<\/i><\/span>\u201d, he wrote: \u201c<\/span>Islam Rediscovered<\/i><\/span>\u201d, which we translated to Spanish as \u201c<\/span>Redescubrir Islam<\/i><\/span>\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n That was the first blow. Then there were other minor notations and when we arrived to the last talk, \u201cInner revolution, outward revolution\u201d, that theme title that had made us feel so proud of ourselves. Here we received the straight punch that left us knocked out, down on the canvas. We could see strokes by a strong hand, made with decision; I could almost dare to say with irritation and vehemence, and which effectively struck through all of our text about that talk. At the bottom of the page the Shaykh had written down five words by his own hand: <\/span>Jama\u2019at<\/i><\/span>, <\/span>Khidma<\/i><\/span>, Speaking-well, Hospitality, Giving.<\/span><\/p>\n With those five words the Shaykh had given us the keys to the teaching we needed for that, which we were calling the \u201cinner revolution\u201d, one that will have resulting consequences in the outward. It was as if he was telling us: The core of the matter is creating groups, serving others, speaking well of people, opening the doors of our houses and giving out with generosity, that is what the matter is all about. And all of these things are, in fact, some of the characteristic signs of <\/span>futuwwa<\/i><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n We passed on this message to Shaykh Abdalhaqq and with only those five words, he understood perfectly the message and delivered a brilliant paper that he entitled: \u201cThe Science of Behaviour\u201d. In his talk he advised the means to the inner transformation, or \u201crevolution\u201d, by which we can affect in a positive way the society in which we live and the community of which we are a part.<\/span><\/p>\n At the beginning of his talk Shaykh Abdalhaqq quoted two ayaats from the Noble Qur\u2019an and one hadith of the Messenger of Allah, <\/span>sallallahu alaihi wa sallam<\/i><\/span>. The first ayat was that one where Allah, glory be to Him, describes his Prophet, saying to him: \u201c<\/span>Indeed you are truly vast in character<\/b><\/span>\u201d (surat Al Qalam 68, ayat 4)<\/span><\/p>\n In the second ayat Allah tells His Messenger to tell his companions and, by extension, his entire Ummah, the following: <\/span>\u201cSay, \u2018If you love Allah, then follow me and Allah will love you and will forgive you for your wrong actions.\u201d<\/b><\/span> (Surat Ali Imran, 3 ayat 31). As for the hadith, well-known to all of us, it was the famous saying of the Messenger of Allah, <\/span>sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, \u201c<\/i><\/span>I have been sent to perfect good behaviour<\/b><\/span>\u201d<\/i><\/span>, or <\/span>\u201cI was only sent to perfect the noble qualities of character\u201d.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n At the end of the introduction to his talk, Shaykh Abdalhaqq concluded by saying: \u201cYou are what you do\u201d. In other words, the behaviour of the person determines who and what he is, and it is his actions that shape his life and his destiny, socially and individually.<\/span><\/p>\n Therefore, on those bases I want to say something to you today. I will use as my ingredients the five words of Shaykh Abdalqadir, the message described by those five words, and the beginning of the paper of Shaykh Abdalhaqq. Let\u2019s see \u201cwhat basket we will be able to make with those wickers\u201d [allusion to a Spanish proverb]<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou are what you do\u201d. One might think that this refers to the individual, that I am what <\/span>I<\/b><\/i><\/span> do, but that is not the way to understand it, because what I do is also social, it affects others, what you do has an effect on the people around you. As we all know, a community of people is made up of individuals and if the individuals of that community only do one thing, the community only does that thing. If the members of the community only reach up to here, the community only reaches up to here. If on the other hand, the members of the community are capable of reaching that much further, then the whole community will reach that far. Hence the title of this talk: \u201c<\/span>A community will achieve the position its members are prepared to aspire\u201d.<\/span> Or, in other words: \u201cA community will reach as far as its members are prepared to reach\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, having understood that, I would like to go back in time, to ancient Greece, the place where two often repeated words in this seminar have its origin: <\/span>nomos<\/i><\/span> and <\/span>paideia<\/i><\/span>. I remember that in one of the previous years the theme of this Seminar was precisely \u201cA New <\/span>Nomos<\/i><\/span>, A Renewed <\/span>Paideia<\/i><\/span>\u201d. We are talking about classical Greece, the home of Aristotle and Plato, the cradle of our civilization. That was a community, illustrated graphically in the poster of this year\u2019s event, which had the ability of educating.<\/span><\/p>\n I would like to introduce, in addition to the two terms already mentioned, <\/span>nomos<\/i><\/span> and <\/span>paideia<\/i><\/span>, a new term. It is again a word from ancient Greece, one that indicates one of the necessary foundations to perfect the <\/span>paideia<\/i><\/span>, or, if you prefer, a needed element if we want to renew the <\/span>paideia<\/i><\/span>. That word is <\/span>aret\u00e9<\/i><\/span>. <\/span>Aret\u00e9<\/i><\/span> is a Greek word that has its roots in the comparative form of the adjective <\/span>agath\u00f3s<\/i><\/span>, \u201cgood\u201d, which, in turn, comes from the root <\/span>aga<\/i><\/span>, \u201cthe best\u201d and is based on the inseparable prefix \u201c<\/span>ari<\/i><\/span>-\u201c, that points towards an idea of excellence, from where the term <\/span>arist\u00f3s<\/i><\/span> is derived (<\/span>arist\u00f3s<\/i><\/span> being the superlative of \u201cselect or distinguished\u201d, that was used in plural to denominate the nobility, or the aristocracy, in other words: the elite).<\/span><\/p>\n If we were to translate <\/span>aret\u00e9<\/i><\/span> by a single word, perhaps we would say: \u201cexcellence\u201d. On the other hand, if we try to translate from Arabic the word <\/span>ihsan<\/i><\/span> by just one word, perhaps that word would be \u201cexcellence\u201d. Is this a coincidence? No, I can assure you it is not a coincidence.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n