Imam Zaid Shakir

All the complexity and diversity in the world around us could never have happened by accident.

An Interview with Imam Zaid Shakir

Interviewed By Eaman Fahmy

Imam Zaid Shakir, one of the foremost Islamic scholars in the West, embraced Islam while in the Air Force in 1977 after a prolonged study of various faiths and practices.

After obtaining his BA in International Relations and his MA in Political Science, he traveled to Cairo, Egypt to study Arabic.

Upon returning to the United States, Imam Zaid served as imam of Masjid al-Islam in New Haven Connecticut from 1988 to 1994.

He then traveled to Syria and Morocco to further pursue studies in Arabic as well as in Islamic law, Quranic studies, and spirituality.

After graduating from Syria's prestigious Abu Noor University, he returned to Connecticut in 2001 and eventually moved to Hayward, California in 2003 to serve as a resident scholar and lecturer at Zaytuna Institute.

Imam Zaid is known within the Muslim community and beyond as a social activist, lecturer, and writer. He is one of the most influential scholars in articulating the American Muslim experience.

How did he learn about Islam? What were the challenges that he faced? What advice would he give new Muslims?

Recently Reading Islam spoke to Imam Zaid and asked him all these questions, and more.

Reading Islam (RI): Thank you Imam Zaid for taking time out of your busy schedule to share and reflect upon your journey to Islam. First off, could you please describe to us how you came to learn about Islam?

Imam Zaid Shakir: Well, I was basically searching for the truth about life and the deeper meanings of life. As I advanced into my teenage years, I quickly realized there was more to life than the mundane pursuits that I myself and those around me were wrapped up with and involved in. So I was asking myself what is the deeper meaning of life? That is from one perspective.

From another perspective, as I matured and witnessed all the negativity around me: drugs, alcoholism, the social problems, broken homes, and similar developments, I began to ask myself how can I contribute to a change in this situation, and what will be a basis to such a change?

That inquiry eventually culminated with me studying religions. I first studied Christianity, because I was raised in a Christian home, and in a Christian society. My thinking was that if there was going to be a change, a moral and social change, then surely it's going to be rooted in the teachings of the religion.

So I began to search because I didn't know anything about Christianity at a deep level. I was a Baptist, but if someone asked me what distinguishes a Baptist from a Catholic, I had no idea.

So I started reading various books about Christianity. How did the religion come about? What is the role of Jesus, of the disciples, of the apostles? Then as time went on, what was the role of the Emperor Constantine, what happened at Constantinople, what happened at Nicaea?

I began to have doubts, and saw a lot of contradictions in the historical developments that were instrumental in the formulation of the religion. I saw really unbelievable developments that led me to believe that Christianity, this was my personal observation at that time, was not a religion that was given to humanity by God, but a totally man-made religion, a fabricated phenomenon.

When that happened, I started looking at Eastern religions. Gradually, I drifted towards atheism and Communism. I thought that was the solution to the ills in society. The Communist revolution, the creation of a classless state, the utopian proletarian society, I thought that was the solution.

So, that occupied me for about a year, until, through various developments I realized there has to be a God. There has to be the One Who creates from nothing. There has to be the One Who gives preponderance to various logical possibilities, such as existence to nonexistence, life to inanimate matter, order to chaos.

So, if we are in a vacuum and a complete void was at the very beginning of everything, and suddenly there is life, what tipped the scale and orchestrated the factors that brought about life? Suddenly things began to evolve until they have manifested in all the complexity and diversity we see in the creation around us? How did that happen? Randomly and by accident?

These things didn't make sense to me without the existence of a Creator, a Life-Giver, an arranger. Once I was convinced there has to be a Creator who creates from nothing, there has to be a Life-Giver who gives life to the inanimate material that existed in creation, and there has to be an arranger, and organizer who orchestrated all this intricately interconnected diversity.

Once I arrived at that conclusion, I started studying religion again. I studied Christianity again, but I wasn't satisfied with that. I studied Buddhism; I was involved in transcendental meditation for almost two years. It was towards the latter end of the meditation phase that I got a book about Islam, Islam in Focus. I read that book, and the rest is history.

I found that Islam is the truth. Islam answered all of my questions in a convincing and satisfactory fashion. Who is God? There is an answer that is coherent. What is the relationship between God and His creation? What is the plan for society? As I mentioned, my initial quest was a search for solutions to the social ills I witnessed all around me. In Islam there is clear guidance for that. So, I found what I was looking for when I found Islam and never looked back.

RI: In our post 9/11 climate, there are certain misconceptions associated with Islam. At the time you were given the book Islam in Focus, did you have any misconceptions about Islam?

Imam Zaid: I would not say I had misconceptions, because to have a misconception you have to hold erroneous beliefs. I did not know anything about Islam. There was no base of knowledge to carry any misconception. But there was in that book, Islam in Focus, a section that discussed misconceptions about Islam. There was a discussion of jihad, of polygamy, a discussion of the Trinity, and other controversial issues. Those discussions were very convincing to me. Alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah).

RI: Can you pinpoint what particular concept attracted you most to the religion or was it more the holistic approach to faith?

Imam Zaid: The idea of a universal brotherhood, a single Ummah (worldwide community of Muslims), I think is very important. That is what attracts a lot of people to Islam, because of the sectarianism that exists in Christianity especially in America. You have so many sects [in Christianity]. You have the Mormons, you have the Seventh Day Adventists, the Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Jehovah Witnesses, the Church of Scientology, the Catholics, the Baptists, the Evangelicals, and so on. All of these are pulling at you saying: "We are right, we are right and those guys are wrong!"

You come into Islam, and at least initially and in theory, you do not have that sort of sectarianism, and that is a very powerful attraction. I think we should note that it is very important not to impose that on new Muslims.

A lot of people become very frustrated when they find out that Islam has become like Christianity in a sense. You have the Salafis, the Sufis, the Malikis, the Shafiis, the Shiites, the Ismailis, and many other groups. Everyone is saying they are right, and that really turns off a lot of converts. One should be very cognizant of that. So the idea of a universal brotherhood was a very powerful and attractive idea.

Of course, the idea of One Omnipotent God and the logic of that idea as opposed to trying to decipher the various mystical and mysterious explanations of the Trinity was also a powerful attraction. But initially, I was more attracted by the social aspects of the religion than the theological ones.

RI: I have heard you mention in the past that you used to get very emotional whenever you would recall the day you took your Shahadah (Testimony of Faith). Can you share with us some memories of that day?

Imam Zaid: It was not so much the day itself. The day that I did take the Shahadah was a very emotional experience that moved me to tears. Recently in Toronto, in fact last weekend, a sister took Shahadah and she was moved to tears and it really struck me.

Just thinking about the weightiness and significance of my own Shahadah would move me to tears. Whenever I tried to talk about it for over a year after the actual event I would break down. It was such a powerful and moving experience in my life.

RI: Did you find after you took Shahadah that you had the necessary support from the Muslim community?

Imam Zaid: I was in the Air Force at the time. We had a small community of believers who were generally very supportive, and being converts themselves, they knew what I was going through. Having a lot of empathy gave them a lot of concern. There was definitely a lot of support from that group. We had a very tight-knit community and we were able to function and do what we had to do, despite the constraints of being in the military.

RI: You mentioned that you used to practice transcendental meditation. How did you find going from that to performing salah [ritual Prayer]?

Imam Zaid: To me it was more the move from meditation to dhikr (remembrance of Allah). The salah is something that you grow to appreciate, and its spiritual significance deepens as you mature as a Muslim. So there was a closer approximation between dhikr and transcendental meditation than there was between the meditation and the salah based on my personal experience.

RI: In what way did Islam change you most as a person?

Imam Zaid: I'd say in many different ways, great and small. For example, before I became Muslim I had periodic nightmares of a large snake being in my bed. I would jump up and run out of the room screaming, and people around me would be scared to death. I would say: "There's a snake in my bed!" They would pull back the blankets and there would be nothing. That happened to me several times before I became Muslim. Once I became Muslim, I never, ever had such a nightmare again.

That is one level. There is another level that involves having a purpose in life. Along with a lot of my friends, I would ask the following questions: "Why are we even here in this world? Where are we going to be when we are twenty-five years old, or even twenty years-old?"

We could not see beyond the next couple of years in terms of what the future might hold. This is to say nothing of meaningfully planning for that time two or three years down that road. I can definitely understand the nihilism a lot of kids in poorer communities are struggling with. Islam gave a lot of purpose and direction. It gave the impetus to begin to look further into the future, all the way to the hereafter, and how one should be living preparing for the hereafter, by being mindful of your speech and deeds.

RI: What do you think was the most challenging thing for you when you embraced Islam? Was there anything in particular that was the most difficult, and how did you overcome it?

Imam Zaid: In what sense?

RI: For example, learning Arabic in order to perform the Prayers and read the Quran, or the discipline of the religion, for example, with the Prayers and the set times of the Prayers.

Imam Zaid: The discipline was nothing because I had always led a pretty disciplined life. I was involved in athletics in a big-time way. Back then, we did not smoke, we did not drink, we did not use drugs, and we trained all the time, constantly, even when the season was over. We would lift weights, we would run, we would get up early. I worked after school and still went to sports practice. I always led a very disciplined life. When I was younger, I would read about the Spartans and the Stoics, and those were role models for me.

I always would fast. Even before Islam. My father was an Evangelist. He would fast for days on end. I would fast for three days with no food or water, or fast for several days with just water and no food. Those aspects of the religion were not challenging at all in any way. As for learning Arabic, that is just an ongoing issue. It was not something that was overwhelming.

RI: Finally, what advice would you have for our brothers and sisters who are new to Islam?

Imam Zaid: Islam is a marathon and not a sprint. Take your time and do not overwhelm yourself, do not try to do too much too soon. Get a good pace and do not become fanatically attached to any one's version of Islam, because there are a lot of versions out there.

If you become fanatically attached to one, then you tend to look down at others, and that is not a healthy way to approach something that is so diverse and amenable to so many social, cultural, and geographical influences.

Taken from www.readingislam.com