0:01 Feeling overwhelmed by today's extremes?
0:04 Queen Rana of Jordan steps to the podium at the 2023 National Prayer Breakfast
0:09 and shows how faith can guide us past division.
0:12 Her words weave humility, unity,
0:15 and hope into a powerful road map for our times.
0:19 Stay until the end to hear her surprising call to action
0:22 that could change how you see the world.
0:25 In the name of God, the most merciful, the compassionate.
0:30 Thank you, Senator Amy Clolobachar, for those very kind words.
0:36 It's a true honor to be here.
0:40 Like millions of Muslims,
0:42 my day began before sunrise with the first of our five daily prayers.
0:48 Faj, the dawn prayer, takes place before my first cup of coffee.
0:53 And yet it's still my favorite time of day.
0:57 I think it's because the d the dawn is a time in between.
1:01 The sky holds no color and all colors.
1:04 The day is empty yet filled with possibility.
1:08 And for a moment we're suspended between dark and light, between sleep and wakefulness,
1:15 between contemplation and action.
1:19 For me, it's a time
1:21 that underscores the sacred
1:23 that we find in the shades of gray,
1:26 the beauty inherent in nuance and texture,
1:29 the gift and grace of open minds and open hearts.
1:35 This moment stands in dismaying contrast with
1:39 so much of what we're seeing all around us.
1:42 No matter our faith or background,
1:45 I think we can all agree the polarization is a defining feature of the
1:50 day.
1:52 The in between, the shades of gray, have been forced into black or white,
1:57 saturating into their most extreme expression, losing any detail or dimension.
2:06 In this polarized environment, people feel increasingly obliged to commit to one side,
2:12 left or right, in or out, for or against, idealize or cancel.
2:22 And rather than spurring productive engagement, it's forcing false political choices.
2:29 Either obsess over an issue or an outcome or don't bother caring at all.
2:35 The factors pushing us to the extremes have been exhaustively discussed.
2:40 Globalization has left too many people behind.
2:44 Migration has fueled a mindset of threat and scarcity.
2:48 The pandemic permanently altered our sense of stability.
2:52 And through it all, social media has narrowed our field of vision.
2:58 With so many storms, we seek security.
3:03 One response is to cling to identity.
3:07 And many have found religion to be a refuge,
3:10 a safe place to hunker down.
3:13 But religion isn't a shelter for hiding.
3:17 It's a launchpad for living.
3:20 Whether we call ourselves Muslim, Christian, or Jewish, or however we identify,
3:26 religion isn't just about who we are,
3:29 but what we do and how we do it.
3:33 Religion is meant to help guide our way in the world
3:36 and it's meant to help center our lives to rejoice in the in between
3:41 the simple daily normalies of everyday life far away from the extremes.
3:49 In my faith we constantly ask God to show us the right way translated
3:55 literally to guide us to the straight path.
4:01 In one day of prayer,
4:03 Muslims ask God to guide us to the path at least 17 times,
4:07 which of course is to admit 17 times every day
4:12 that we need help to find it.
4:15 Today, I'd like to suggest that prayer, the defining practice of faith,
4:22 can guide us all toward a better path,
4:25 a path I'll call the third way.
4:29 This third way is not the average of extremes, but rises above the binary,
4:35 elevating us to higher ground that can become common ground as well.
4:41 To walk this path,
4:42 we must recognize that none of us is wholly right or wrong,
4:47 villain or victim, enlightened or in the dark.
4:51 We each reflect our own blend of all these conditions.
4:56 And still we are so much more than any one of them.
5:00 To walk this path we must recognize
5:03 that we don't need to fight to secure our share of the pie
5:07 because the whole pie can be made bigger for everyone.
5:11 The truth is that we live in a world of abundance.
5:14 Our win doesn't need to be someone else's loss.
5:18 And being right doesn't mean
5:20 that the other side is wrong. only
5:23 that we need other points of view to see a multi-dimensional picture.
5:29 To walk this path means avoiding sound bites and embracing nuance.
5:35 It means respecting science and research data and detail.
5:40 And when someone makes a claim that defies those things,
5:44 whether online in print or behind a podium,
5:48 it means we refuse to dignify it with our attention.
5:54 Rather than following those with the loudest voices,
5:58 the third way requires us to pause and discern between fact and opinion,
6:04 reject outrage politics, and resist the temptation of sweeping labels.
6:13 I believe the third way has real stakes for our most pressing problems.
6:19 If we chose it, we'd look out for working people and for our planet,
6:24 knowing their faiths are tied.
6:27 We'd recognize that global migration is a reality
6:31 and move on from trying to suppress human movement to managing it,
6:36 but with compassion.
6:40 And we'd embrace the potential of breakthrough technologies like artificial intelligence
6:45 while also ensuring that human empathy is coded into our future.
6:52 A future that once
6:54 and for all recognizes
6:56 that discrimination based on skin color
6:59 and ethnicity is not only morally reprehensible
7:04 but utterly ignorant and primitive.
7:16 The third way is the only path we can walk together with our full
7:21 selves and without prejudice,
7:23 polarization, or preconceived battle lines.
7:28 We won't see it on a map,
7:30 but prayer invites us to embody postures
7:33 that we'll need in order to find it
7:36 or forge it.
7:38 If we are willing to adopt those postures,
7:41 together we can pursue our third way.
7:47 The first posture is humility.
7:50 In Islam, when we pray, we bow.
7:54 So every morning and throughout the day,
7:57 we kneel and press our foreheads to the ground.
8:01 When we lay ourselves down, we restore our sense of scale.
8:06 We accept that our power and perspective are small.
8:11 And when we see ourselves more clearly,
8:14 we can start to see others more clearly too.
8:18 Ultimately, it's not the strength of our opponents we should focus on,
8:22 but their vulnerability, the emotions of fear
8:26 and anxiety behind even the most seemingly backward positions.
8:32 The Quran, the Hebrew Bible, and the Gospels all instruct us to walk humbly.
8:38 And when we walk humbly, a new path opens before us.
8:43 Instead of seeing a foreigner as a threat, we can recognize our shared fragility.
8:50 Instead of being angry at those with different perspectives,
8:53 we can see the stories of loss and pain that underly their beliefs.
8:59 And instead of harboring grudges against those who offend us,
9:04 we can acknowledge our own need for forgiveness and choose to forgive them too.
9:12 Humility reminds us that our insight is finite, our lives are fleeting,
9:18 and we are flawed, and that the same is true for all of humankind.
9:28 Our shared condition leads me to the second posture of prayer, unity.
9:34 No matter where we are in the world,
9:36 all Muslims face the same direction when we pray, the city of Mecca,
9:41 and more specifically the Kaa, the most sacred site in our faith.
9:47 I've been blessed with the opportunity to go there
9:50 and perform the Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj.
9:53 At Hajj, over two million Muslims journey to Mecca each year
9:57 and walk around the Cabba seven times.
10:00 It is the world's largest annual human gathering.
10:04 From above, it would look like a whirlpool of white with every other color
10:09 marbled in.
10:11 And if you zoomed in, you would see worshippers, rich and poor,
10:16 strong and feeble, distinguished and downtrodden, all walking shouldertosh shoulder, equals before God.
10:28 Each time I make this journey around the Cabba,
10:30 the same journey as countless pilgrims before me and countless to come after me,
10:36 I find myself weeping as I walk,
10:39 overwhelmed to be part of a story so much bigger than myself.
10:45 But let me be clear, to seek unity is not to demand sameness.
10:52 The Quran teaches us that we are made with differences of gender, nation,
10:57 and tribe so that we might get to know one another.
11:00 You heard that right.
11:02 Difference for the sake of relationship, diversity for the sake of community.
11:09 Unity is what helps us zoom out
11:11 and see that we're all circling the same desires.
11:16 Safety, belonging, a future for our children.
11:22 Unity may may not always be as easy to pinpoint as a cabba,
11:26 but like planets orbiting the sun,
11:29 we are always joined by a force at our center.
11:33 If only we trust in its gravity.
11:39 The last posture we need to adopt is hope,
11:42 which is inherent in the act of prayer itself.
11:47 When Muslims gather for Friday prayer moths,
11:50 the Imam attests that God will remember and respond to us.
11:54 In the Amida, Jews say that God heals the sick and releases the imprisoned.
12:00 In the Lord's Prayer,
12:02 Christians say that God's kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.
12:08 These are not delusional descriptions of our world as it is today.
12:13 They are fervent hopes for his future.
12:17 Hope that things can be better than they are.
12:20 That each new dawn is our chance to make it so.
12:24 I've learned so much about hope from people who seem to have the least
12:28 reason for it.
12:31 There are millions of refugees in my country
12:34 and they have embodied hope at every turn.
12:37 When they packed their bags, when they fled by foot,
12:41 when they made a new home in an unfamiliar place, when they,
12:46 who had almost nothing, still found ways to share everything, food, laughter, music,
12:55 and love.
12:57 In their voices, I hear the voices of scripture.
13:00 Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, peace be upon them.
13:05 People who called out injustice and in the same breath offered hope.
13:11 They too were forced from their homes,
13:14 fleeing violence and persecution at some point in their lives.
13:18 And yet they proclaimed hope.
13:22 Not hope as an add-on to sweeten a bad deal.
13:25 Not hope as a cushion to soften the blow of reality,
13:29 but hope as a truth just as durable as hardship,
13:33 an appeal to us all to keep trying.
13:38 The United States has long been a landmark of hope,
13:43 a shining city on a hill.
13:46 Obviously, I'm not an American,
13:48 but I say that as someone who cares deeply about this country,
13:51 who has long admired the values that inspire the US at its best.
13:56 At its best, this country has embraced outsiders, recognizing that diversity enriches everyone.
14:05 At its best, this country has been generous with compassion,
14:10 ready to lending lend a helping hand to those in need.
14:14 At its best, this country's gift for innovation has sparked growth and opportunity.
14:22 Polarization has pulled so many away from the values at the core of this
14:28 country.
14:29 Values that others around the world look up to.
14:33 In doing so, it has fractured friendships, families, and entire communities.
14:41 I believe Americans know how much healing is required for this country to be
14:46 its best selves.
14:48 But God can guide the way back to those values.
14:51 And together our world can find its way forward.
14:56 For in the end, humility, unity, and hope are not our destination.
15:03 They enable us to find the third way.
15:06 And make no mistake, we will stumble from the path.
15:10 But we always have the chance to return.
15:13 We may return on a prayer mat or at the communion table,
15:18 in a synagogue, a temple or the privacy of our home,
15:23 walking in nature or in a simple moment of quiet contemplation.
15:30 These practices can feel like five or 10 minute breaks from the world.
15:35 But truly, we need the values of prayer to break into the rest of
15:40 our lives and the rest of the world to impress on our hearts over
15:44 and over the surprising truths of the universe.
15:49 That there is dignity in humility and power in surrender.
15:55 That we find freedom in forgiveness.
15:58 And that we can only truly find ourselves by giving ourselves to the service
16:03 of others.
16:06 Islam calls it Islah, reform of ourselves, our relationships and our society.
16:12 Christianity calls it seeking the kingdom.
16:15 Different names for the same responsibility to love our neighbor.
16:21 A love as real as bread to a hungry child,
16:25 care for a sick widow, and a roof over the head of a refugee.
16:32 The dawn looks different from every point on earth,
16:36 but the same sky reaches over us all.
16:40 Friends of all nations, may God show us the path,
16:45 and may we walk that shared path side by side.
16:49 Thank you.
16:52 >> Join our global community of English learners absolutely free.
16:57 Download video transcripts, listen offline, start our beginner course,
17:03 and join live classes with certified teachers.
17:06 Access over 1,000 resources to improve your English faster.
17:10 Everything's in one place. community.englishes.ca.
17:15 Let's speak English together.
