Stand Steadfastly For Justice – Shaykh Faraz Rabbani – Friday Sermon at Occupy Toronto
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, the Executive Director of SeekersHub and Educational Director of SeekersGuidance was invited to deliver the Friday Prayers Sermon on October 28, 2011 at St. James Park – the site of the Occupy Toronto movement.
The following is taken from the closing remarks of the sermon:
Seven Counsels in Closing:
1. Be steadfastly committed to justice and excellence in your own life: fulfill the rights of God and God’s creation, with sincerity, concern, and excellence of character.
2. Be particularly careful about the rights of your parents, spouse/partner, children–then family, friends, neighbours, and community–then those wronged (whoever/whatever).
3. Ignore mass media: focus on becoming an informed citizen–so that you can seek, spread, and safeguard justice and excellence–the beautiful balance.
4. Money matters: look carefully at how you spend your money… make ethical, informed choices–promoting justice and excellence…
5. Time matters: don’t become a mere consumer… consuming products and entertainment and infotainment. “Two blessings many lose out on: health and free time.” – Spend your time in seeking justice and excellence… family, friends, neighborhood, society….
6. Your life matters: don’t just be a slave in the corporate jungle… seek to make your work a promotion of justice & excellence; work of benefit and meaning. Work with purpose. Relate with purpose. From our tradition: working on one’s own terms…
7. Do this for God; do this seeking Mercy; do this out of sincere concern….
What do we seek? Balance of Justice (`adl) and Excellence (ihsan). That is what makes life beautiful.
And indeed God is Beautiful, and loves Beauty.
