Hoffman Invites Muslims

To Understand Islamic Art’s Magnetism

German Thinker : “I subjected Catholicism

to Questioning and doubting because of

my full knowledge of it”

The German thinker Dr. Murad Hoffman understood that the Islamic religion has a special magnetism. As soon as a person starts studying Islam, he immediately believes in its principles and values which seek to accomplish the improvement of human societies, and he fully realizes that this revealed religion is suitable for all times and all places.

When I met him in Chicago, Dr. Hoffman related to me some important events of the story of his conversion to Islam, stressing the need for reading his book, The Road to Makkah, in which he summed up the story of his faith journey to Islam.

Hoffman said to me that he strove for attending Islamic meetings as they are an important means of bringing Muslims together, thus ensuring their interaction with and love of this religion. He also insisted on the need for the participation of Islamic thinkers in Western intellectual meetings so as to rectify Islam’s image, which is distorted among the Westerners, and to stress Islam’s magnanimity which confirms its reformative role for all human societies.

Hoffman continues his talk about the magnetism of Islam : “I realize the strength of this religion’s art magnetism now more than ever, for I am surrounded at home now by abstract art, thus by Islamic art alone. I also realize it when the history of Western art remains incapable of merely defining Islamic art. The reason for this lies in the intimate presence of Islam in all aspects of this art, as it is the case in calligraphy, arabesque, carpet-patterns, and the architecture of mosques, houses and towns. I think a lot about the secrets of lighting mosques and their democratic layout ; about the building of Islamic palaces, which gives the impression of a movement going towards the inside, with the gardens that suggest the paradise with their stretching shadows and water springs and streams ; and about the fascinating, socially-functional structure of the old Islamic cities (the medinahs), which takes care of the community life and of giving prominence to the market place, as well as of tempering heat and wind, and integrating the mosque, the ‘takya’ (the welfare centre for the poor), the school and the roadway in the market area and in the housing districts. Anyone who knows one of these markets whether it be in Damascus, Istanbul, Cairo, Tunis or Fez – knows them all, for they are all - big and small ones alike - Islamic monuments of a functional type. I often strolled in the market of the Old medina in Salé (a town neighbouring Rabat) so as to recover my vitality. It is a vital social apex in which everyone finds a place for himself-whether he be old or young, healthy or ill, poor or rich, white or black. There is no hurry in it, no problem of lack of time, no over self-esteem, no wine, no trucks, no fences, and no swindling ; it is the place where all are equal, where every transaction is connected with a chat, and where shops are closed at prayer time.

Since the beginning of my conversion to Islam I have felt that what inspires happiness is actually the mature impact of Islamic harmony and of the sense of Islamic life and place on the mind and the spirit. This is what I felt in the Gulbenkian Islamic Museum in Lisbon, in the Ommiad Mosque in Damascus, in Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo, in the old mosque of Qayrawan or in As-Sulaimani Mosque in Darna. Before the philosophical path led me to Islam, which in turn led me to a third fundamental experience in my life, while I was adolescent in the town of Schoenberg, I learnt a lot about the Jesuit teachings through my membership of the “Congregatio Mariana” society which was the equivalent of the “new Germany” movement found mainly in the North.

My connection with, nay, my romantic affection for, this organization goes back to the days of the Nazi regime because the Gestapo was unable to unveil it when it was struggling secretly against this regime. Even my father, whose ideas were scattered, did not know about my membership of this organization. We used to meet every week with a Jesuit priest in a graveyard, under severe security measures. Each member knew only the members of his group, but with time we were able to attract the best secondary school students, thus putting a stop to “Hitler’s Youth” organization ; that is we prevented these good elements from joining the youth organizations of the Nazi regime. After the War, we were surprised that the membership of the organization was eighty. In the aftermath of the War, we resumed enjoying the life and the style of youth organisations that were prevalent in the 1920’s.

As I mentioned before, I had full knowledge of Catholicism and of its smallest affairs from the inside. However, I started, at the same time, to subject this religion to questioning and doubting. Carl Jacob Burckherdt and I were always wondering whether it was correct that the theologian and the student of religions should be Christian. In spite of my admiration for Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophy, I was completely sure that there was no proof that denied the existence of God. I stuck firmly to the idea that the non-existence of God was not beyond doubt, and that the belief in the existence of God or the denial of his existence was an issue that was decided by the individual’s faith and conviction. I resolved this by believing in the existence of God. Then arose the question of the type of contact between God and man. I was convinced of the possibility, nay, of the necessity, of God’s intervention and his running of the course of events. My conviction here relies on my study and wide knowledge of human history, sciences and law, from which I inferred that the mere observation and following nature alone would not lead us to understanding the truth of our relationship with our environment and with God. Has not the history of sciences shown us that scientific truths change each other very rapidly? By this step, I confirmed my conviction of the possibility, or rather, the necessity for revelation and religion, but which religion ? Which faith ? Is it Judaism, Christianity or Islam ?

The answer came to me through my third experience which lied in my recurrent reading of the Verse 38 from Surat An-Najm : “Namely, that no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another” this Verse will shock anyone who firmly holds the principle of loving the other which is found in Christianity because it calls, on the surface, to the contrary. However, this Verse does not express a moral principle, rather it contains two religious statements, which essentially embody a religious thought ; they are a follows :

1- It denies the inheritance of evil.

2- It excludes, nay, it completely eliminates, the possibility for an individual to intervene in matters between a human being and his God and to carry the burden of his sins.

3- The second statement threatens, or rather destroys the role of priests, denying them their influence and authority which rely on their mediation between a human being and his God and on their cleansing people of sins. The Muslim, then, is the believer who is free from all the fetters and types of religious authority.

As to the denial of the inheritance of evil and of human sins, it was of paramount importance to me, for it empties Christian teachings of many essential elements such as the need for Salvation, Incarnation, Trinity and Sacrifice. It appeared to me that the conception of God’s failure in this Creation, of His incapacity to rectify that only by begetting a son and sacrificing him -namely that God suffers for the sake of humanity- is an abominable and dreadful notion, nay, a big blasphemy and abuse. Christianity appeared to me as it were going back to rely in its bases on various myths. I realized the dangerous and evil role played by Saint Paul. For he, who had never known Jesus Christ, nor accompanied him, changed or rather distorted the Hebrew-Christian teaching which Barnabas had recorded and which considered Jesus as one of Allah’s Prophets and Messengers. I was convinced that the confessional Council which convened in Nicene (in 325 A.D.) completely went astray, away from the right path and from authentic Christian teachings when it announced that Jesus was God. Today, after more than sixteen centuries, some audacious theologians are trying to rectify this error.

In brief, I have started considering Islam as it is, the True Faith which has not undergone any distortion – a faith which trusts in the One and Only God Who “He begets not, nor was begotten, and there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him” (Surat Al-Ikhlas, Verses 3-4). I deemed it as the first monotheistic faith which did not undergo the distortions found in Judaism and Christianity. What is different in this first faith, is that it does not consider its followers as God’s Chosen people. Similarly, it does not deify any Jewish prophet. I found in Islam the purest and simplest conception of God – a progressive conception. The essential statements of the Qur’an and its moral values and ideals appeared to me as very logical to the extent that I no longer doubted the prophethood of Muhammad. I have heard times and again before my conversion to Islam the statement that changing from one religion to another is not important, because of the fact that all religions believe in the long run in one God and call to the same morals and values.  Also, a good moral conduct as well as trust in God are in a human being’s heart, and that a human being’s addressing God secretly is better than performing the five prayers, fasting Ramadan and going to the Hajj. Many times, I was forced to listen to such words coming from Turkish Muslims who had forsaken their religion without knowing it.

A private secret god is not a god. All these arguments and statements are groundless if you are convinced that Allah speaks to us in his Qur’an. Anyone who understands this truth will find it inevitable to become a Muslim in the deepest sense of this word.”

Hoffman goes on to say : “I had been nearer to Islam with my ideas before announcing my conversion in 1980 by saying the “Shahadatain” and purifying myself as it should be, though I had not -till then- given attention to its duties  and interdictions with regard to practical life. I had been a Muslim from the intellectual and mental point of view, but I had not been as such from the practical one ; and this is actually what should be radically changed. I should not be a Muslim in my reflection alone; I had to be a Muslim in my conduct, too.

If religion means the connection of a human being to his God, and if Islam means that a Muslim offers himself to God, one of my main duties, as a new Muslim in my fifties, was to learn Islamic prayer. Yet, it is not necessary for a person to be a specialist in using a calculator to realize that what is at stake here is the issue of communicating with Him ? What are the best communication techniques to communicate with Him ?

Certainly, nothing puts a person’s Islam at stake more than cutting off his contact with his God. Thus, praising Allah and glorifying him is the main axis in the life of anyone who comprehends the meaning of what he says when he says that he believes in Allah. Therefore, anyone who does not perform his prayers is not a believer in my opinion. Anyone who confirms to an absent woman his love for her without desiring to phone her, write to her, or have a look at her picture during a whole day is not genuinely in love with her. This applies in the exact manner to prayer, too. For anyone who is really aware of the true meaning of God’s existence will necessarily desire to contemplate and address Allah frequently. This is how what the Muslim often repeats when reading Surat Al-Fatiha (Verse 5) : “You (Alone) we worship, and you (Alone) we ask for help (for each and every thing).” becomes an actual reality. Till those moments I had no knowledge of what must be done and followed in prayer, nor had I been able to learn by heart or read the Holy Qur’an in Arabic. Consequently, my first priority then was to overcome this disadvantage. Before carefully studying an illustrated introduction to Islamic prayer in German, which is highly praised, I asked a Turkish friend to teach me ‘Wudu’ (Ablution), how to stand in prayer, bowing down and prostrating, sitting on the floor leaning on the left foot, raising the arms, directing one’s gaze, when reading loudly and when reading silently while moving the lips, how to stand in a correct way behind the Imam, how a person behaves when he comes late to the mosque and how he moves inside the mosque ; it is a complete science. Actually, it is dangerous that a Muslim behaves as a Muslim without being one.

Strange though it may seem, Islamic prayer starts with ‘Wudu’ in the bathroom or at the water point in the front court of the mosque. This should be learnt according to order and progress : how to wash hands, wipe the head and how to be sure of washing the two ankles ; everything was laid down and defined in a very precise manner. When the person is intent on performing the prayer and raises his hands to his head, glorifying God and opening the prayer, he completely forgets about everyday life affairs, which stresses the sacredness of prayer for him.

‘Wudu’ is not a problem in hot countries, for hot temperature makes dry quickly. When there is no water, it is enough to clean one’s hands with sand in a symbolic manner (Tayamum). I experienced such a situation when our car got stuck in sand, though it was driven by a desert specialist, on December 7, 1993 during my visit to Liwa -which is rich in petrol- in the United Arab Emirates, where the sand seemed very suitable for Tayamum. As to our cold regions, it is not comfortable at all, in case there are no towels, to wear stockings while one’s feet are wet. I realized, in the end that learning how to perform prayer was much easier than what I expected. For prayer consists of invariable units called Raka`at.

A person should also learn the number of Raka`at in each of the five prayers : Subh, Duhr, A`asr, Maghrib, And `Isha, to know their appointed time, and what prayer rules should be respected by travellers.

I finally learned how one stands in collective prayer, for Muslims should stand in a straight line where feet are stuck together, thus closing any gaps between worshippers. This sticking together symbolises, for me, more than mere closing of ranks. It symbolises a solidarity that has an impact on me every time anew. This solidarity is renovated at the end of every prayer with the greeting : “As-Salam `alaykum” which the prayer performer pronounces while turning right and left. After this, he wipes his face with both his open hands at the same time, thus announcing the end of prayer. After this, he stretches his hand to his neighbour in prayer, greeting him and wishing him that Allah accepts his prayer : “May Allah accept your prayer”.

Abdelwahab `Abada, the secretary General of the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told me that once, as a child, he changed this greeting, for he thought that it was more logical to say “As-Salam `Alayka” (peace be with you – note that ‘you’ here refers only to one addressee) ; the result was that he was slapped in the face by his father who taught him that a Muslim always says : “As-Salam `Alaykum” (peace be with you all) because his greeting is addressed to all creatures – the seen and the unseen, including angels and cockroaches.

It is very important for a Muslim to know how to delimit the place of his prayer in such a manner that he puts his glasses and wallet at about 90 cm in front of him. Nobody will violate the place of prayer of anybody else, nor will anybody walk immediately before someone performing prayer. I recall that I wanted to leave the mosque of the Messenger (PBUH) in Madinah on December 26, 1982 after finishing my prayer, but when I reached the main entrance, people’s movement was very slow ; the reason was that one of those who had been late for prayer immediately started performing it when he reached the Mosque’s door and was still finishing his prayer calmly at the door’s step. Thus, the worshippers leaving the mosque walked passing him on both sides as if he were a rock in their way. Nobody dared to disturb him while in prayer or to invade his place of prayer. What is more surprising is what I saw during my circumambulation of the Ka`ba in 1992, a woman of delicate constitution was performing her prayer in the middle of the crowds some meters from the Ka`ba, without paying attention to what was going around her. She was surrounded by four strong men who formed a fence with their joined forearms. Once again, I noticed the same calm reaction on the part of people, for nobody blamed the woman, scolded her or was angry with her ; everybody respected prayer. Perhaps, it may be very difficult, or even impossible, for a person in the front rows to leave the mosque before everybody else has left, because of these strict rules. I was forced in 1993 to let my host in Abu-Dhabi wait for me since I did not find a way to leave the mosque in accordance with the rules. In order to leave the mosque by means of a side passage, I had passed horizontally before the worshippers, which is completely forbidden.