The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
…For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
“The World is too Much with Us” by William Wordsworth

Rapidly changing technology and an endless stream of entertainment and information are the trappings of modern life. When I read Wordsworth’s poem, an old favorite of mine, I was surprised to discover that life wasn’t so different in 1807 than it is now. It made me realize that in some universal sense, I can also say that the world is “too much with me.”

I drink coffee, listen to the news, buy new shoes, go to lunch with my sister, watch football on TV, and move trancelike from one “thing” to another. Understanding that these attractions of the world have always been a timeless trap, I went in search of a way to be free from this trap and sustain happiness.

I first examined Eastern philosophy, which reaffirmed what every good disciple of Zen Buddhism knows: you have to run away from what attracts you in the world. I have always associated the practice of contemplation with the picture of the Buddha sitting peacefully under a tree, detached from the world, wearing an expression of serenity on his face. This expression is also depicted on Christ’s face as he is suspended above the world on a cross.

While these pictures triggered a longing inside me for a modicum of peace, they also reminded me of the discontentment I experience when the world is too much with me. It turns out that discontentment has been referred to in many ways throughout time. The Taoists call it imbalance, Buddhists call it ignorance. The Qur’an calls it “a sickness/disease of the heart” (2:10). And the famous Christian monk, St. Augustine, describes its opposite, “true contentment,” in the following way:

“… [true contentment is] felt only in the presence of God … Our whole business then, in life, is to restore the heart to health so that God can be seen or felt.”

While our modern Western philosophy seduces us with the possibility that we can be happy by consuming and dominating the world, the appeal of Eastern philosophy is the promise that we can be happy by transcending it. Enviably, Buddha had found a way to sustain happiness, without having to buy a new set of clothes. I wanted to know if sustained happiness was possible for me, too. Since Islam is my religion, I set out to discover something about the contemplative practices in Islam, so I could connect with God through my own tradition.

I had never read or come across anyone who described the traditional practices in Islam as “contemplative.” They are called the five pillars of Islam, and they seem so different from other practices, such as meditation in Zen Buddhism. But Islamic contemplative practices, I discovered, are a blend of the best of both worlds, East and West.

I began by examining the first pillar of Islam: Belief in the Oneness of God, or tawhid in Arabic. Tawhid is the central tenet upon which all other beliefs can rest. It demands an exclusive relationship with God, excluding anyone or anything in any similar relationship. This is a relationship that does not recognize any authority besides God—whether it is one’s parents, teacher, or friend. In other words, it is a relationship that presupposes that humankind is liberated from everything in the material and physical world, in order to experience what is known in Islam as taqwa, or piety—the conscious performance of good and avoidance of evil.

Tawhid (liberation) is manifest in the Buddha seated under the tree, and taqwa (piety) is seen in his facial expression. In Islamic terms, the predisposition of liberation (tawhid) is the foundation of Islamic contemplative practice. It is the same as saying that to sustain happiness, you have to let go of what attracts you in the world.

How is this done in Islam? The quintessential example of “stepping outside” of the world is the disciple sitting for 18 hours in the lotus blossom position. This helped me to describe the two essential characteristics of contemplative practice as being: 1) a physical “stepping outside” of the world; and 2) something painful or difficult, or both.

Islamic prayer bears both these characteristics. The time-out is brief, but it also happens five times a day. In other words, it requires me to step outside of my life and let go (detach), for short periods of time throughout the day, every day. It may not be as difficult as sitting in the lotus position for 18 hours, but believe me the hardest part of this practice is making yourself stop what you’re doing in order to pray.

Meditation and Islamic prayer also share the imperative of self-discipline. Fully conscious of the pain and sacrifice associated with contemplative practices, the Hindus say, tears and prayers go hand-in-hand. I think the biggest challenge for Muslims is finding the time to pray each day. Given the demands of life on one hand and the schedule of five daily prayers on the other, self-discipline is tested in the constancy of personal choices: Do I watch the rest of my favorite TV program or turn it off in time to pray? At which point do I end my phone conversation? When do I stop working on my computer? And, how do I excuse myself from a fun gathering of family or friends just to say my prayers on time?

These choices get to the crux of the spiritual matter. Do I continue participating in the world, or do I stop and step outside of it at punctuated times? I failed miserably at my first attempts to pray five prayers a day. It took me years to realize that trying to squeeze my prayers into my busy life was a futile and backwards approach.

What helped me most was re-reading the oft-repeated command in the Qur’an that says “establish prayer” in your life. I finally figured out that if I could establish my daily life around the commuter train schedule, as I did to get to work, then why couldn’t I establish my life around a prayer schedule?

When I took this approach, I was able to establish prayers in my life. First, it was just one prayer a day, then, two, until ultimately I was praying five times a day. In essence, I had “established” a sacred space and contemplative time in my busy life, creating a virtual sanctuary, with no trespassing. The result has been a virtuous circle of sustained happiness, nurtured by my sustained commitment.

In addition, to be successful in both prayer and meditation, a disciple has to have some effective way to keep the worries and demands of the world at bay. Otherwise, time-out quickly becomes time-wasted. I remember studying transcendental meditation in the early 1970s. The Yogi (practitioner of yoga) taught me to use my mantra (a sound, syllable or word considered capable of creating a spiritual transformation) as a way to focus (which cost me $450 at the time). He said “thought bubbles” of worldly concerns would rise to the surface but that I must release them in order to empty my mind repeatedly.

With Islamic prayer, it is no less challenging to keep focused. But the genius of prayer in Islam is that the prayers are in Arabic, the language of the Qur’an. Learning and memorizing the Arabic language is challenging to all Muslims, whether Arabic-speaking or not (and most are not). But concentration on the Arabic words (which I vaguely understand) and recitation of memorized prayers, coupled with the physical requirements of performing prayer, play a significant role in keeping focused on the task of communion with God.

Next, I tried to determine the times when I had ever felt God’s presence (a sense of taqwa) in my life. The answer was easy. It was during the holy month of Ramadan, a month of fasting from dawn to dusk, another pillar of Islamic practice. Christians, Muslims or Jews who have fasted know that fasting changes your routine life, at the most critical and basic level. I found that even though I was standing in the middle of my life, fasting separated me from everything going on around me.

Analyzing the results of this alternative state (tawhid), I realized that fasting had liberated me from the most basic enslavements of our modern, secular world, allowing my spirit to soar freely above the din. Taking one step further, whenever my personal covenant with God was tested by an aching hunger or profound thirst, I would ask myself: Why am I doing this? And in that moment, when I am most conscious of the extreme sacrifice I am making, I am also acutely aware that I have a choice: I can keep my promise to God to fast, or break it. Thus, when I consciously choose my relationship with God above all else, I experience the pure sweetness of taqwa in the depths of my soul. Taqwa is my constant companion during Ramadan, for every time I make a conscious choice to fast, my heart fills with it.

Prior to making the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj), I had experienced only fleeting moments of taqwa. But the journey to Mecca is like Alice going down the rabbit hole, leaving her life and traveling to another world for an extended period of time, which is sometimes very scary. Unlike Ramadan, when you resume the semblance of your normal life at the end of the day, nothing is normal during the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Every religion asks us to abandon comfort and familiar ways, or give something up. We get up early to pray, we fast, we hone our virtues, purify our inner self, and treat our neighbors well, with the hope of achieving that Divine communion. We have learned that diligence without assurance is otherwise known as faith.

I know of no other journey that has tested or strengthened my faith as much as the Hajj. Mysteriously, I still cannot fully articulate why this is so. The imams warned us before we left, “You will be out of your comfort zone.” But that was an understatement. This was a journey to a world more foreign and exhilarating than I have ever seen or been. The rituals we had to perform were far beyond my physical capacity. Furthermore, everything about the world that I was familiar with was fading into the past, further and further into obscurity and insignificance.

Ironically, the further I stepped out of my world, the closer I felt to God (a deeper sense of taqwa). At the same time, I became more intimately in touch with myself in a way I had never experienced before. It was a time of self-renewal, and through it all, I held the unwavering belief that God, my Creator, was guiding me. I just humbly submit, and I do not know how or why. All I know is that I had made a choice long ago to fulfill this pillar of Islam, even though at times, I feared I might never be able to afford it. Yet, when I finally had the opportunity to go on the pilgrimage and things got tough along the way, I would always ask myself: Why am I doing this? And the answer always came from my heart: it was my choice and my promise.

“Do not imagine that the journey is short; and one must have the heart of a lion to follow the unusual road, for it is very long…. One plods along in a state of amazement, sometimes smiling, sometimes weeping…” Rumi

Mary Lahaj is a Muslim Chaplain to the community at the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland, MA.

Yunus Emre

People need to understand the values, ideas and practices in their society. Values relate to our purpose in life and are used as guiding principles. Hence, they are the indispensable basic principles of people and communities. The primary purpose of this study is to explain what we mean by values and then put into place the importance of democratic values in society and education. Therefore, I firstly describe values and the importance of values in society today. Next, I focus on defining democratic values in the educational system.

What are values? Parker (2005) defines values as what is worth striving for, what is right, wrong, and desirable, what is important, what is preferred, what constitutes worthy life focus, and what may be worth sacrificing one’s life for. Values are the standards we use to judge human behavior. They are abstract conceptions and cannot be observed directly, but they emerge from our decisions and actions. In society, values change from culture to culture, but almost all societies have many values in common, such as, Aesthetic Values (what is right and wrong, or good and bad); Ethical Values (honesty, respect, reliability, love, trust, and gratitude); Moral Values (honesty, respect, responsibility, commitment, helpfulness, cooperation, courage, confidence, stability); Social Values (equality, pacifism, freedom, human rights, democracy, independence, environmentalism, social order, love, fairness, seriousness, civility, honesty, loyalty); Universal Values (multiculturalism, human rights, democracy); Democratic Values (an individual’s fundamental rights and freedoms [right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness], justice, equal opportunity, and diversity).

As seen above, there are many kinds of values outlined in literature, most of which overlap and are hybrid combinations of one another. Social, Universal and Democratic values are possible to evaluate in the same category. All of these values complement each other. Individual and Social values are common in all societies.

According to Feather (1994), values are general beliefs about popular behaviors and goals which include the dimensions of good and evil and state a moral imperative and necessity. These values represent the best, most accurate and most useful things in a society. These are not personal desires or requests, but are values that have been accepted by groups and communities as good for everyone. They have the distinction of being desirable and validating communal properties (Cited Hogg & Vaughan, 2007). Silah (2000) refers to them as the most important mechanisms in society. They are integral and inseparable elements of social cohesion. A community that adopts and gathers around the same goal, establishes both individual and social values. These values are transferred and protected from generation to generation.

For some researchers, values such as loyalty, love and friendship, respect, the ability to accomplish something, honesty and responsibility, knowledge and understanding, satisfaction and a sense of peace, wealth, the impact on others, or power are generally accepted in all societies. Rokeach (1968) suggests that many values are similar throughout the world and are divided into two as main values and assistant values. Main values are values that are desirable such as living a comfortable and exciting life, a life with integrity (a sense of success), a peaceful world, a world of beauty, equality, family safety, freedom, happiness, interior layout, national security, satisfaction, liberation, salvation, self-esteem, social acceptance (recognition), real friendship, wisdom. Assistant values are desires and behavior, for example, greed (passion), open-mindedness, capable, cheerful, innocent, courageous, forgiving, helpful, honorable, creative, independent, intellectual, logical, loving, obedient, polite, responsible and self-regulatory. Most of these values emerged from social relations and are the basis of a society’s cultural code.

Durkheim stated that society must maintain enough homogeneity to lead its people to live in order and this homogeneity could be possible only through an education educating the young equally. Creating and developing psychological, mental and moral occasions that society desires in a child are among the most important goals of education (Ergün, 2009). It is required that some values should be gained by each individual to enter into the educational system in order to maintain harmony in society and to help focus society on the same target by gathering them around the same goal (Tezcan, 1991). Thus, values and culture are protected by transferring them from generation to generation. Value-based education plays an important role in transferring values and culture to future generations. Value-based education is a process that assists students to choose values.

Today in many countries, all classes and levels of students are educated to become future citizens and adult members of their society. Value-based education is usually a part of a country’s education system and these values are mostly individual and social values which generally are directly recommended by authorities. They are not only taught in the education system, but also presented in textbooks and curricula. In a developing society, it is schools which reflect the values of the society, values such as self-discipline, consensus, equality, tolerance, fairness, loyalty, honesty, freedom and so forth. According to Parker (2005), personal values refer simply to what individuals like, preferring films to television, yellow to blue, bicycling to jogging. Today, industrialized societies involve an incredible amount of choice: how to spend our time, what career to choose, what clothes to buy and to wear, where to live, what brand products to consume, what hobbies and leisure-time activities to pursue, and how to spend money. In fact, each decision offers choices of individual preferences. Therefore, in schooling, educators must be taught democratic values rather than personal values.

Many countries today place individual and social values in their educational system, however they neglect democratic values. Parker (2005) stated that democratic values are what people hold in common alongside their many differences. Democratic values are general values. They emerge from historical encounters and conflicts. While individual values are based on cultural and societal standards, democratic values depend mostly on regulations. In the United States, democratic values are expressed in legal and public documents. For example, the philosophical foundations of democratic values are based on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United Sates, Bill of Rights, the Seneca Falls Resolution, and the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, and many others. Democratic values are more commonly adopted today, however, there are good examples in history in which core components of democracy were legally practiced. After the conquest of Istanbul, Sultan Fatih Mehmet formed the Ottoman National System (Osmanli Millet Sistemi) framed by democratic values. According to this system, different confessional groups were able to pursue their legal issues in separate courts designed according to their religious and cultural traditions.

A value code is hard to separate from other democratic values. Individual rights demonstrate both democratic and social values, as well as individual values. Today’s social changes show modern values replacing traditional values for social reconciliation in the world.

We generally teach individual and social values in the educational system. But can we also teach democratic values in the school system? The answer is simply yes, we can teach democratic values and we must. It is difficult to explain all the reasoning here, however, I want to explain the concept of diversity in order to clarify the issue. Diversity is inevitable in a democratic society and this concept is perceived as a value with growing importance. Today, teachers have to work with students who are highly diverse, particularly in regard to language, culture, race and so forth. Therefore students will want to learn differences in all aspects of life in a democratic society. Individual values are required but they are not enough on their own so value-based education should also be a part of democratic society. In order to build citizens of the future and to be a citizen of the world, students must embrace democratic values and the society of the future must be built on this. Today, developing countries have many problems related to region, religion, race and sex, most of which results from the lack of democratic values. These problems have melted in democratic values. In many countries now, value-based education is given in education systems. As mentioned above, the United States is one of these counties built on democratic society that is true and it is possible to see such democracy in different layers of society.

The societies that have embraced democratic values generally have no conflict or major social problems arising from differences in race, sex, religion, region, color, and so forth. There are many reasons for this. Democratic values are catalysts in the prevention of conflicts that are likely to arise between different groups, peers, friends, and nations; they provide social integration, acceptance, and recognition. In a democratic society, individuals earn a perspective that covers both local and universal conditions, and they are expected to fulfill an essential service to the community related to a common good. Each person enjoys freedom of speech and opportunities to express their ideas and feelings, as their rights of protection and happiness are reinforced. Today, many individual and social values exist in our world and the topic of democratic values has increasingly attracted the attention of education in recent years. This being the case, students should learn and embrace values from both the formal and the hidden curriculum. In fact, both curriculums have a profound impact on what students learn about values particularly individual and social values. The reality is that the education system of many states has not yet received enough democratic values in both curricula. Unless schools or educational intuitions are offered a program of democratic values and behavior, students will not learn efficiently from them. Howe and Covell (2005) claim that “democratic values must be reflected in both the formal curricula, through explicit teaching, and throughout the hidden curriculum codes of conduct, mission statements and classroom interactions that model democracy and respect for the rights of all.” Democratic citizenship can emerge by reflecting education through democratic values in both curricula. In this direction, we are responsible for helping children develop an appreciation of core democratic values and we must help them develop a sense of commitment and attachment to those values.

Sarimurat is pursuing a PhD degree in social studies education in the US.

References

1. Buyukcelebi, I. (2003). Living in the Shade of Islam, Published by The Light Inc.

2. Ergün, M. (2009). E?itim Felsefesi, Ankara: Pegem Akademi.

3. Hogg, A. M. and Vaughan, M. G. (2007). Sosyal Psikoloji, Ankara: Ütopya Yay?nevi.

4. Howe R.B. & Covell. K. (2005). Empowering Children (Children’s Rights Education as a Pathway to Citizenship), Canada: University of Toronto Press.

5. Parker, C. Parker. (2005). Social Studies in Elementary Education, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

6. Rokeach, M. (1973). The Nature of Human Values. New York: Free Press.

7. Silah, M. (200). Sosyal Psikoloji (Davran?? Bilimi). Ankara: Gazi Kitabevi.

8. Tezcan, M. (1991). E?itim Sosyolojisi, Ankara.

The three great monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, come from the same source, flowing out of the Divine like rivers flowing out of the same ocean. Historically, Judaism came first and then was followed by Christianity, which later was followed by Islam. Prophet Abraham is the ancestor of Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, as attested to in each religion’s holy book. In all of them we read that Abraham had two sons: Ishmael and Isaac. Hajar was Ishmael’s mother, while Sarah was Isaac’s mother. Isaac had a son named Jacob (Ya˜qub in the Qur’an), from whom all Jews trace their descent, whereas Arabs trace their descent from Ishmael.

Islam and Christianity

Muslims are required to observe six articles of faith, for if they have no faith and no trust in God, they cannot move forward in spiritual development. These are faith in God, angels, previously revealed scriptures (in their uncorrupted form), all Prophets (e.g., Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad), destiny, and the Resurrection and Day of Judgment.

Judaism and Christianity have many beliefs in common, but differ in the way they are implemented. In the case of Islam, these beliefs are displayed by:

– Proclaiming there is no god but God and Muhammad is His Messenger, which means that one has entered the fold of Islam. This is similar to such Christian practices as baptism and confirmation.

– Praying five times a day. Christians also pray, although the manner and time is left up to them.

– Pilgrimage. The pilgrimage to Makka is one of the most important ritual practices that a Muslim can undertake. Historically, pilgrimage also was an important feature of the Catholic church.

– Charity. This is central to both Islam and Christianity.

– Fasting. Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan both to obey God and to experience what it feels like to be hungry and thirsty. It is still present in Judaism and, to a much smaller degree, in Christianity.

Muslims believe that God has sent 124,000 Prophets to guide humanity. Their messages were similar: Be good to others, starting with your own family, do not kill each other, help poor people, and many more. Moses was given the Ten Commandments to lead the Jewish people back to the right path. Jesus was sent to guide the Jews yet again to the right path. Finally, Muhammad was sent to guide all of humanity with the final revelation: Islam.

Judaism and Christianity were revealed to meet the needs of the people living at that time. As magic was important during Moses’ time, God gave him a heavenly stick to swallow the magic sticks of the court magicians during a contest, and also allowed him to perform other miracles that the magicians could not duplicate. Medicine was uppermost during Jesus’ time, and so his miracles were related to healing and raising the dead. Jesus tried to revive his people’s dead spiritual life and make them see that life’s real enjoyment lay in praying, leading a spiritual life, purifying oneself from materialistic things, and living honorably.

During the Prophet’s time, eloquence was the highest value. Thus his most important miracle is the Qur’an, the eloquence and beauty of which has never been surpassed. Some people converted to Islam due to its eloquence alone. He taught his people to stop murdering their infant daughters, killing each other, engaging in polytheistic practices, and drinking wine. Out of his followers emerged the leaders of what would become the most advanced civilization of its time.

The role of believers today

At present, believes need to concentrate on the common ground between these three monotheistic religions, for greater understanding will increase our ability to live together in peace and harmony. As they all come from the same source, no threat will face them in the future.

Following the Prophet’s example, we should reach out to the unbelievers among us and inform them of God’s Existence and their ultimate accountability on the Day of Judgment. This will cause them to think before they act.

Moreover, believers are told to raise a new generation that will not repeat the mistakes of the past. Future generations should believe in God and be friends with everyone. They should soar to new heights on the wings of science/education and religion.

Our generation faces many challenges. One of the hardest is proving that jihad does not mean holy war. During the Prophet’s time, war was part of jihad because the Muslims had to defend themselves. But they did this only after God revealed that they could do so, and only after the Prophet had tried for years to bring his enemies to Islam through peaceful preaching and personal example. When the Prophet reached out to the Persian and the Byzantine rulers, the same pattern was followed.

Today, the most appropriate form of jihad is setting a good personal example and helping others. In other words, believers must practice what they preach. Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad did this, and thereby won the hearts of their people and others without violence or coercion.

For example, when a recently deceased Jewish man was borne to his grave, the Prophet stood up in respect and the mourners passed by where he was sitting. When the Companions asked why he was standing for a Jew, he replied: Because he was a human being. This is part of the real teaching of all religions: sincere respect for others regardless of race, color, religion, or any other temporary distinction.

Conclusion

We should honor the Prophets who brought Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by following their calls for us to unite and work for world peace and understanding. This is another facet of this generation’s jihad, for it is becoming ever more obvious that we must find a way to sincerely love and respect each other if humanity is to survive.