Reviving my Spirit, 2011

Christmas weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the 10th Annual Reviving the Islamic Spirit Convention in downtown Toronto. For the first time in ten years, the conference sold out with an estimated 20 000 participants. Last year, it seems they were somewhere between 17 and 20 000. Attracting scholars from near and far, one great addition this year was Professor Seyyid Hossein Nasr, whom I'll discuss a little later.

The subject of this year's conference was "Control, Chaos or Community: Three Ways, One World, Our Choice." A very fitting title, considering the socio-political/economic/popular worldwide turmoil. I think in all this 'chaos', it was beneficial to get some religious/spiritual perspective on what role/responsibility we have as human beings and western Muslims.

As with previous years, a number of scholars attended, including Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson (U.S), Professor Tariq Ramadan (Switzerland), Professor Umar Faruq Abd-Allah (U.S), Imam Zaid Shakir (U.S.), Shaykh Abdalla Idris Ali (CAN), Dr. Jamal Badawi (CAN), Attallah Shabazz (U.S.), Habib Ali Al-Jifri (Yemen), Dr. Abdal Hakim Jackson (U.S.), Imam Yassir Fazaga (U.S.), with other guests including Shaykh Mishary Alafasy, Dr. Seyyid Hossein Nasr, Shaykh Sulaiman Mulla, Dr. Tawfique Chowdhury and Toronto's own- Sister Tayyibah Taylor.

I thought I would run through a few highlights from a few speakers. My words won't do justice to the emotion and passion behind some of their words, but I will try my best.


If I had to summarize the main messages of this year's convention, I would say that there was a heavy focus on:

• The need for us to shift our focus from the external, to the internal. To strive for inner transformation and get beyond the superficial. Our inclination to judge others and measure them against markers of religiosity is extremely divisive and goes against the spirit of Islam.

• As human beings, it is imperative that we look beyond the ritualistic dimension of our faith and broaden our idea of worship to include the respect of all of God's creations. For example, not only should we be concerned with eating that which is lawful, we should take serious measure to ensure that the animals we consume are treated in a most humane and respectful way possible. The underlying idea being that we should be guided by the principle behind the rule just as much as we should be guided by the rule itself (à la Tariq Ramadan).

• As a community, our recklessness towards the environment should not mirror the wider community and that as people of faith, we have the motivation, cause and directive to prioritize animal/environmental-friendly behaviour and advocacy. We should give some serious thought to the fact that that we are not one of the more vocal groups on these types of issues.

• It is imperative that we end our obsession with the rules, because this obsession is causing us to miss the point about the true ends of the rules themselves. The way that we can try to return to the the path of the "middle way" is to love people and nature, and to take of yourself and your family and friends. If you care for creation, and God over everything, you will not contribute any negativity to an already damaged world. We need to be positive forces of change, and it really just begins on an individual level.

In the second installment of this post, I'll share some direct quotes and paraphrases from some of the notable speakers. As always, I hope you enjoy the quick read.