Allah
[Music]
I love mud why
[Music]
[Applause]
Rahim I now declare this a tuna college
commencement began please be seated miss
Melara honor him was her Ottawa Sarah
marsinah Mohammed wanna Eddie vaisakhi
was an empty cinema Gojira one of the
Idina to her daddy Littlefield
sorry he know how to say that Eddie was
like he wasn't him it's my honor to
welcome you to our fifth commencement
and to the graduating class of 2018 on
behalf of the faculty staff and board of
trustees I want to want to thank you all
and your families for trusting us with
your education and I want to
congratulate all of you on successfully
completing your graduation requirements
yours is no small accomplishment we have
developed and refined a curriculum that
we know all too well takes a great deal
of time effort and dedication to
complete hence congratulations and kudos
to all of you I want now to acknowledge
say tuna college's Board of Trustees
particularly our chairperson professor a
she and our secretary Sigma being safe
for law and for all of the trustees
extraordinary efforts in helping to make
this year a landmark one for Zaytuna I
also want to especially thank dr. mark
Delp our Dean of Faculty it's been my
privilege and pleasure to work closely
with him and he is someone who truly
understands and shares the vision of
Zaytuna College and its commitment to
not only the liberal arts but to
restoring intellectual traditions to the
Abrahamic faiths dr. Dell brings to our
school over 30 years of experience
in the liberal arts religion but also
the knowledge of what makes a small
college great dr. Dell was helped
immensely to strengthen our school and
our faculty on our pedagogy
he's worked tirelessly to develop with
others a new master's program in textual
studies of the classical Arabic and
Islamic tradition that we plan pending
WASC approval to launch this fall we
hope it will be a watershed program for
the greater American and Muslim
community I also want to thank our head
of operations Kathryn Hamza we call her
Catherine the Great at Zaytuna along
with her staff for all of their hard
work and tireless efforts in
strengthening zetas worldly needs its
resources fast facilities and operations
so that our students and faculty can
benefit from that most important
civilizational institution we call the
ivory tower where loftier thoughts can
take place in a rarefied environment
free from profane concerns Imam a chef
that he said if I had to concern myself
with the price of onions I would have
never learned anything the ivory tower
too often maligned and mocked is
nevertheless a vital institution and
enables us as a species to have a haven
of stillness and calm that is conducive
to reflection and to thinking deeply
about the human condition for an
extended period of time the ivory tower
also enables students to develop their
intellect and character in preparation
for a meaningful life of flourishing if
our institution of higher learning
prepares our students well god-willing
from among them will emerge those who
can guide us when we deviate from our
course lest we jeopardize not only
ourselves but our society as vice
flourishes and virtue languages the
Quran reminds us let not all of you go
out in defense but let there be a group
who stays back to become learn it in
order to warn those who return to stay
the course that they may all flourish
finally I want to thank the esteemed
public intellectual his
durian rhetorician biographer classicist
and all-around Renaissance man dr. Garry
wills for gracing us with his presence
despite the distance and travel that at
any ages arduous but in the fall of life
even more so now I'd like to speak to
our students directly for a few moments
you've had I think at Zeitoun ecology
unique experience an experience that was
purposefully designed to facilitate your
studies within the context of an ancient
tradition that tradition began in a
misty and mysterious past when members
of our collective tribe contemplated
deeply the question what makes us human
and determine that above all it resides
in our ability to know through
abstraction and to communicate to others
but not just our needs as many animals
are quite capable of that but also our
understanding of the purpose of our
existence animals can communicate primal
needs just watch a cat sit by a closed
door and meow clearly communicating to
its owner a demand get up and open the
door cats as their lovers well know our
imperious creatures we actually have a
family cat that we call mr. bean who I
was in the bedroom and the cat came up
and began to just meow frantically and I
knew it was not normal so I got up and
he led me downstairs and there was smoke
all over the lower floor so there was
actually a fire on the stove in the
house and I initially I felt an immense
amount of gratitude as if he was saving
my life but I deeper reflection I
realized he was he was really saying
listen dummy if you're going to stay
indoors and asphyxiate at least open the
door and let me out so I can assure you
that mr. bean does not hang out with the
local cats
discussing the existence of God
there's no imaginary atheist cat
challenging him to a debate about
whether they have a creator or not that
level of abstraction and communication
is the sole purview of our species
since language and thought makes us
human it's the language art that became
the foundation of all humane and
civilized learning in Botticelli's
wonderful mural lorenzo turin when he
presented by grammar too pretentious and
the other liberal arts that hangs in the
Louvre museum in Paris the seven arts
are personified as beautiful women there
was a time when men were the ones that
generally went to college they were
personified as beautiful women to be
pursued the artist portrays grammar as
the woman who introduces the young
student to the other seven with
Prudential or wisdom overlooking all of
them and throned above them with her bow
and arrow and the bow was symbolic of
the idea of hitting the mark it's
fascinating to me that the word in
Hebrew and in Greek Amartya in Greek and
in Arabic hudley the word for sin in all
three of the Abrahamic languages means
it's an archery term that means to miss
the mark
and that's why Prudential wisdom has the
bow and arrow because she's the master
archer wisdom is what enables you to hit
the mark three of the liberal arts
comprised the Trivium grammar which
traditionally included not only grammar
but literature poetry and history what
the Arabs called Mahabharat Elmen
Mahabharat logic which is the grammar of
our thinking and its sister dialectic
which is a learner discussion in pursuit
of the truth between two or more
interlocutors and this was completed
with the summation of these arts in
rhetoric the art which enables members
of our society to thrive in a culture
that excels in civil and persuasive
discourse as opposed to argument by
blood as is the want of people who lack
the skills of reasoned and eloquent
discourse grammar logic and rhetoric
function as a lens through which one
speculates from the Latin specularity to
see from which we derive our word
spectacles once a student requires
proficiency in these three arts he or
she is ready to pursue a real education
traditionally always rooted and informed
by religion for well over a thousand
years Jews Christians and Muslims not to
mention Hindus and Buddhists pursued
some form of the language arts in order
to penetrate the mysteries of our
existence to understand revelation and
to seek wisdom for most civilizations
this was limited to a Scholastic class
the Brahmins
the clergy or the rabbis but as friends
Rosenthal the great Jewish orientalist
points out Islam democratized knowledge
it obliged everyone to study the Quran
begins with the command acara reads the
Prophet said sallallahu said I'm seeking
knowledge is incumbent upon every man
and woman the Quran asked rhetorically
are they the same those who know and
those who don't know another verse
states God elevates those who believe in
those who have been given knowledge so
you are among a privileged few who have
who have not only the desire and leisure
to pursue knowledge but we're fortunate
to have skilled and learned teachers to
facilitate that pursuit and we're today
celebrating your commencement in other
words this is really the beginning of
the life of learning and our prophet
reminded us that learning is from the
cradle to the grave and his wife Aisha
reminded us that a person will continue
to be a scholar as long as they seek
knowledge but the day they say I am
learning they have become ignorant a
true liberal education engages students
with the classic works of the greatest
minds in human history as such it is a
training in humility it reveals to us
how little we know it humbles us but it
is also a
training in boldness because it
challenges us to pursue excellence
mimesis or imitation embeds in our human
nature we are imitative creatures but we
will imitate what is presented to us if
the culture is degraded we too have
become degraded and if it is exalted and
lofty then it invokes within us a desire
for loftiness according to one of the
Masters of the liberal arts liberal
education is liberation from vulgarity
the Greeks had a beautiful word for
vulgarity they called it a pyro kaalia
lack of experience in things beautiful
liberal education supplies us with
experience in things beautiful God is
beautiful and loves beauty the prophet
sallallaahu said I'm informed us we hope
that we've exposed you in these four
years to many beautiful things and that
henceforth you will always seek the
beautiful and never settle for the
impoverished and too often ugly works
and ideas swirling around us this is a
time of the proving of spirits we are
being tested as a species in
unprecedented ways technology has become
a Magnum force that has seduced our
hearts and minds addictions are rampant
niall ism and its twin atheism are on
the rise but this is no time for despair
it's a time for waging spiritual warfare
and for enlisting in the intellectual
war of ideas the age of swords is long
gone those who live by the sword will
die by the sword but the spiritual and
intellectual wars are appropriate for
every time and place be warriors of the
heart spreading peace where there is
conflict stillness where there's
commotion care where there is neglect
beauty where there's ugliness virtue
where there is vice and perhaps most
importantly spread knowledge
where there's ignorant there are those
who claim that altruism is a lie that at
our core we are simply selfish beings
The Selfish Gene prove them wrong the
Quran reminds us that there are those
among us who do good works without
desire for reward or praise the poor on
also tells us hell is a lesson a lesson
is virtue anything other than its own
reward go out and make your mark
but guard your souls don't let them be
sullied by the vulgarity and degradation
that very often surrounds us as the
quran states alaikum fusa come take care
of your own souls those who are astray
will not harm you if you yourselves are
guided and again be witnesses unto
humanity even against your own Souls our
prophet sallallaahu Saddam was the most
beautiful of men he spoke beautifully he
dressed beautifully in fact that bara
said I never saw anyone more beautiful
than the Prophet in his red cloak with
his hair hanging on his shoulders the
Quran says of him surely you are of a
vast ethical nature everything he did
was done beautifully the Prophet loved
poetry he loved beautiful language he
had a wonderful sense of humor but was
never course or crass he was given a
book whose miracle is considered to be
the beauty of its language and the
loftiness of its meanings form and
content don't ever let them be separate
in your lives our Muslim civilization
was historically recognized for its
overwhelming commitment to beauty
whether the great Taj Mahal the alhambra
palace or the magnificent adobe
cathedral esque mosques of of my
which I saw and prayed in myself the
hallmark of Muslims whether in Asia in
Europe or Africa was beauty and
excellence emanating from a deep
knowledge that was both celestial and
mundane the poet said Tilka Authority
doula Elena fondo roba Donna Allah a
theory these are our traces we leave
behind for you to know who we are so
look after us at what we have left
behind so ask yourselves who were those
people that had such sublime visions
what was in their souls that could
produce such ethereal beauty look at
their calligraphy which is a commitment
to embellishing language calligraphy a
beautiful writing look at the
illuminated manuscripts of the poor on
they produce painstakingly handwritten
with God's name on every page emblazoned
in gold the care they had for every jot
and dot verily God has decreed beauty
and excellence in everything cut applaud
asana at a cool ìshe be people of asan
of beauty and excellence be bold and
Providence will come to your aid show
the world but more importantly show
yourselves and show your Lord that you
are worthy of being called a battle rock
man the servants of the merciful Allah
Dini I'm Shana Allen or Dione that tread
gently on the earth and when the
ignorant provoke them they simply reply
peace
[Applause]
Sarla come today I'll be reading three
poems the first poem is by imam shafi'i
baccata lkd Takata tsubame Ali
lamentable Allah Sahir Ali Ali women
Rama l-'alameen Radhika de nada al hamra
feat Alabama Holly Terran will estimate
anomaly lon Yahoo Sol Muharram
intolerable early the degree of effort a
German determines ones Heights a seeker
of glory holds vigil at nights to seek
the heights without effort or pain one
wastes a life while seeking in vain you
desire distinction with pleasure and
ease to possess precious pearls one
plunges disease this next poem is by
Mark Van Doren titled slowly slowly
wisdom gathers slowly slowly wisdom
gathers golden dust in the afternoon
somewhere between the Sun and me
sometimes so near that I can see yet
never settling late or soon would that
it did and a rug of gold spread west of
me a mile or more not large but so that
I might lie face up between the earth
and sky and know what none has known
before then I would tell as best I could
the secrets of that shining place the
web of the world how thick how thin how
firm with all things folded in how
ancient and a hope full of grace this
last poem is by Langston Hughes titled I
too sing America with a change of a few
words I too sing America
I am the Muslim other they want me to
eat in the kitchen when company comes
but I laugh and eat well and grow strong
tomorrow I'll be at the table when
company comes nobody will dare say to me
eat in the kitchen then besides they'll
see how beautiful I am and be ashamed I
too AM America
[Applause]
it's my honor and pleasure to introduce
dr. Garry wills who's a reknowned
American author and historian a true man
of letters in our age who specializes in
American history politics and religion
especially the history of the Catholic
Church he's received innumerable awards
for his achievements including the
presidential medal of the endowment to
the Humanities the National Book Critics
Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for
general nonfiction awarded for his book
Lincoln at Gettysburg dr. wills is a
recipient of 21 honorary degrees
doctorates including from George
Washington University and Bard College
he's written nearly 40 books on religion
and politics which include inventing
America why I am a Catholic and what
Jesus meant he received his doctorate
degree from Yale University in the
classics and has taught at 12
universities including Yale Princeton
and most recently Northwestern
University
he is currently professor emeritus of
history his brave book which is I was
very much aware of dr. wills before and
had a couple of his books in my library
but I found his book I actually stumbled
on it in a new-age bookstore what the
Quran meant and why it matters and it
wasn't that I was looking for any New
Age books but I whenever I passed by a
bookstore I kind of feel a magnetic pull
so I went in there and I I found his
book what the Quran meant and why it
matters it received wide critical
acclaim with the New York Times
proclaiming that wills has written
perhaps the best introduction to the
Quran the Chicago Tribune has called
Garry wills America's public
intellectual the New York Times said
he's one of our most important
intellectuals so please welcome our
commencement speaker dr. Garry wills
[Applause]
I made it
[Applause]
my dear brothers and sisters under the
one god it is generous of you to invite
me here to share your time of proud
achievement you have mastered two
cultures to advance the prosperity of
both and foster greater understanding
between fellow creatures and our shared
God the unsung heroes of most ceremonies
like this are the parents they are the
ones who first taught the graduates and
have supported and encouraged and
inspired them through years that was
certainly true of my parents neither of
them had gone to college but they were
very pleased that I was able to do that
and go on to graduate school and go on
to teach
It was as if they had done it themselves
and in a sense they had I come here out
of a certain degree of shame it was
shame that made me belatedly study and
come to love the Quran despite a
lifetime of studying religion I was
ashamed that I had not read the Quran
until the claims that it was responsible
for the tragedy of 9/11 made me start
investigating such hateful charges as I
came to know more about Islam I also
felt shame as an American
that a man who is now the President of
the United States would mock and
humiliate the parents of an American war
hero who died for this country
captain Humayun Khan who Mayans father
kids recon who has a law degree from
Harvard tried to instruct Donald Trump
on the Constitution only to have Trump
insult his wife and call him a puppet of
Hillary Clinton such ignorance is alas
not uncommon but as is not normally
rewarded with the presidency I'm I am
also ashamed for this country whose
boast has been that it supports freedom
of religion and yet it sees actions to
prevent the building of mosques or to
encourage the desecration of them this
despite the fact that the Quran says
that believers in the one God should
protect one another's places of worship
including I quote monasteries churches
synagogues and mosques you graduates
have completed today an important stage
in a project that is vital to our
country to increase the understanding of
the role Islam should play in American
life fulfilling the First Amendment's
pledge of religious freedom you
understand what kisra Khan was trying to
teach that recalcitrant student to
Donald Trump you are trained not only in
Muslim scholarship but in the liberal
arts whose aim is to know the whole
culture of the human mind many years
ago when I was a young the liberal arts
were somewhat restricted in their range
they referred especially to the Greek
and Roman cultures and to Europeans who
boasted that they were transmitting
these classics the high school I went to
offered its students four years of Latin
and two years of Greek the Greek
language appealed to me so much that I
went on to study it throughout college
and throughout graduate school and I
taught Greek for some years as a faculty
member but it took me a while to realize
that the humanities were not as
exclusively European as I had first been
taught during the Dark Ages in Europe
the writings of Aristotle the great
Greek philosopher had been entirely lost
in the West but they were preserved
studied and commented on in the Muslim
world he was not until the 13th century
that Western thinkers like Albertus
Magnus and Thomas Aquinas retrieved
Aristotle from great Muslim thinkers
like Avicenna and Avera Wiis who had
been experts in that subject for a year
for centuries before the West even
became aware of them the revelations
were so new to Europeans that they tried
to reject them as an alien intrusion in
1277 the University of Paris the
principal center of theological study at
the time the place where thomas aquinas
had been a teacher condemned
acquaintances teaching saying have made
him more an Aristotelian than a
christian just think what a shrunken
sense
their own past the teachers in Paris
would have bequeathed to us if that
condemnation of the new information had
been retained and deepened now we know
that the humanities the liberal arts
include the study of many cultures after
all humans are humans wherever they live
and if one believes in one God he is the
maker and protector and the mall Allah
and the Quran says that he sends
messages to all people all the time
speaking to them in their own languages
there were some Americans who objected
when the first Muslim was elected to the
United States Congress and took his oath
of office not on the Bible but on the
Koran few of them realized that the
Quran keith Ellison placed his hands on
was the very personal copy that had been
owned by Thomas Jefferson it is now in
the Library of Congress which led it to
congressman Ellison for his swearing in
Jefferson it turns out was far ahead of
me
in knowing that we should be interested
in all the religions of all men the
importance of this to him was such that
he listed his Virginia statute of
religious freedom among the three things
he wanted to be remembered for the only
things to be inscribed on his tombstone
they were the Declaration of
Independence the statute of religious
freedom in the founding of the
University of Virginia he wanted those
things listed and quote not a word more
close quote Jefferson in his
autobiography describes his aim in the
statute of religious freedom it was
quote to comprehend within its mantle of
protection
the Jew and the Gentile the Christian
and the Mohammedan the Hindu and the
infidel of every denomination close
quote Jefferson with his curiosity about
all things probably knew that as many as
twenty percent of the slaves brought to
America from Africa were Muslims the
Jeffersonian principle of religious
freedom was recognized in the White
House during the presidencies of Bill
Clinton George Bush W Bush and Barack
Obama in all of which Ramadan was
celebrated along with Passover and
Easter this official recognition of our
major religions is another American
tradition President Trump does not
recognize the three presidents I
mentioned all visited the Washington
area mosque during their presidency and
when he was there President Obama said
prompting laughter Thomas Jefferson's
opponents tried to stir up things by
suggesting he was a Muslim so I was not
the first you graduates have great
things to contribute to our expanding
culture and some ugly prejudices to
contradict with by your accomplishments
this day part of your obligation is to