The Waswahili Community Trust UK (Wadhamini wa Jumuiya ya Waswahili)

From China to Britain

Here, the Swahilis do not have the power of the bullet. Neither do they have the power of the ballot. What they do have is the power of the faith which encourages them to migrate but at the same time enjoins them to seek knowledge and learning from all corners of human civilization.

When Prophet Muhammad (SAW) asked Muslims to seek learning from as far as China, the statement was literal as well as metaphoric. It was literal in that at that time, China was the most distant and foreign civilization.

It was metaphoric in that it encouraged Muslims to seek learning from civilizations which are both distant and removed from their own in space and time. Given that situation, must therefore attempt to make as many adaptations as possible in order for them to succeed in acquiring the learning of these distant and foreign civilizations.

One has to penetrate to the core of the foreign civilization to understand its workings. Only by doing so, would one be able to understand the secrets of their strengths and their weaknesses. To understand these latter is to open the doors of prosperity within that society.

We do not have time today to explore this theme to the full. It is a fascinating theme. But I would say to you is this. If Tony Blair says EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION, you as the Waswahili should echo that sentiment and you match in word and in deed. And you see education not only in terms of providing the key to your own prosperity in this most developed of civilization.

But what is this thing we call PROSPERITY? Again this is a theme one explore at length. But for today, we would emphasize that prosperity is first material prosperity. But that is the bottom line as it were of the prosperity ladder. The next rung is the intellectual prosperity.

And the third and most important rung is the spiritual prosperity. Britain and the West in general is intoxicated with material prosperity. It is also suffused with intellectual prosperity. But alas! It is poverty-stricken when it comes to spiritual prosperity. Islam teaches us the virtues of material prosperity judiciously and fairly attained.

It teaches us the virtues of intellectual prosperity as doors to gaining a glimpse of the supremacy of Allah. It shows us the path to spiritual prosperity by teaching us to purify ourselves and our wealth by supporting good causes and by helping others less fortunate than ourselves to surmount the burdens of poverty. Your piety is not an excuse for your poverty but a propellant for your prosperity.

Those of us out there suffering from the shackles of both poverty and ignorance and despair should pray for you to use the doors of education which are freely available to you to advance yourselves first. You should seek prosperity not to forget Allah but to celebrate Allah.

You should seek prosperity not to become selfish pursuers of wealth for its own sake but to teach others the sublime satisfaction of giving to others less fortunate. Above all, by opening the dirt-infested eyes of those at home by advancing their own education, so too will you be blessed with the greatest reward on earth and in heaven above.

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Copyright© March 2003: The Waswahili Community Trust (UK)
Registered Charity:1083065