Hamid Entezam

Session 6: Pure / sound heart is a key requirement for “meeting God”. The Quran informs that Prophet Abraham came to meet God only when he had acquired a pure heart (قلب سلیم). According to the Gospel of Matthew, when Thomas asked Jesus: “Lord, show us the Father, and it will be enough for us.” Jesus told Thomas,  “blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”  For this reason, Sufi Muslims view the heart as a sacred place, where the seeker’s journey to unite with God, ends. In this presentation, we will explore Pure / Sound Heart (قلب سلیم) in the Quran.

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Session 5: Gratitude is an important virtue in Islam; it is considered a major component of faith (ایمان). However, gratitude is often misunderstood as uttering certain phrases such as “شكرا لله” (all thanks to God). But gratitude is more encompassing. In this presentation, we will explore gratitude (شُکر) through the verses of the Holy Quran.

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Session 4: All world religions and spiritual traditions emphasize that there is more to ‘existence’ than meets the five ordinary human senses. The Quran divides ‘existence’ into two realms or dimensions: The Seen (الشهاده) and the Unseen (الغیب). The distinguishing feature of these two realms is that one (the Seen) is visible to our ordinary senses, and the other (the Unseen) is hidden from them. God, angels, Heaven and Hell, Afterlife, Day of Judgement and Revelation- they are all realities of the Unseen. The Quran itself is a product of the Unseen. Whereas scientists and philosophers seek knowledge of the Seen (or the natural world), messengers and mystics are champions of the Unseen (or the supernatural world). In this session, we will explore ‘الغیب’ (the Unseen) through the verses of the Quran.

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Session 3: Righteousness is considered the mother of all virtues in Islam’s moral code. The Quran informs that God’s criterion for evaluating human excellence is not gender, race, blood lineage, IQ, wealth, celebrity status or even strong religious beliefs; rather, it is righteousness (تقوا). In this session, we will explore ‘righteousness’ from the perspective of the Quran.

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Session 2: The Opening chapter (al-Fatiha) has only 7 short verses, but it really is a preface to the Quran. Imam Ali says ‘the whole of the Quran is contained in al-Fatiha’, which explains why Muslims read it in their daily prayers. In this session, we will explore al-Fatiha in detail.

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Session 1. We explore the following topics in this session: 1) The history and structure of the Quran. 2) Quran’s descriptions of the Quran. 3) Human perfection: the central theme of the Quran. 3) The outward and inward meanings of the Quranic verses.

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With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, the magnitude of the decline and underdevelopment of the Muslim world became more apparent. The breakup of the Ottoman Empire ushered in a painful period of soul searching for Muslim intellectuals: What is the underlying cause of the economic, political, cultural and scientific decline of the Muslim nations? Does the religion of Islam play a role in their backwardness? These questions slowly made their way into the public discourse, and young Muslims began to ask: if our religion is so great, why are we in such a bad shape? In this presentation, we will examine what went wrong in Islam in history.

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Throughout the Islamic history, Imam Ali has been recognized as the champion of social justice. His beliefs and behavior were anchored on the idea of justice. In the early days of Islam, his followers were called “adherents of justice” (عدلیه). When he was chosen by the people as the political leader of the vast Islamic Empire, Imam Ali picked one of his trusted aides, Malik Ashtar (مالک اشتر), as the governor of Egypt. Before Malik departed for his new post, Imam Ali penned down a document and detailed how Malik should govern in Egypt. This document is an astonishing manifesto for social justice, popular rule and respect for human rights. In this presentation, we will explorer some of Imam Ali’s teachings on good governance.

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The Night of Power (ليلة القدر) is the climax of the holy month of Ramadan. Before he was chosen as a Messenger of God, the Prophet Mohammad practiced solitude in the Cave of Hira in the outskirts of Mecca. He performed meditation, contemplation and austerities for long periods of time. All that preparation bore fruit; one night, an extra-ordinary power appeared to him. He saw the world in a fundamentally different way. He vividly saw that the entire universe submits to the Lord and praises His Glory. The Night of Power transformed Mohammad and ushered in his mission. Is the experience of the Night of Power unique to the Prophet Mohammad? Can we also experience a Night of Power of our own? In this lecture, we will examine this question and what the Night of Power has meant to Muslim mystics such as Rumi.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc all over the world, on a scale rarely seen in generations. When we face severe hardships in life (such as death of a loved one, financial bankruptcy or a debilitating illness), it will take a toll on our faith in God. It is in such dire circumstances that doubt about God may creep into the faith of a person. In this lecture, we will examine how negative life experiences can weaken our faith in God.

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