Sweet Sujud: Living and Learning in the Way of Surrender

Ramadan Prayer

2011-08-25T18:56:00.002+08:00

"Oh One and Only, Oh Singular One,
Oh One Who created Ramadan and created the month of Ramadan and the Night of Power,
Oh One who gave us life, please give us the gift of witnessing You,
And bestow upon us gnosis so we can know You.
Make our existence in Your existence so we will not do any action except by you.
We return to You. We repent to You and we ask for Your Gentleness, Your Forgiveness, Your Pardon, Your Light, Your Beauty. We ask for Your Peace, Your mercy, Your Justice."

~prayer and poem by Sheikh Sidi al-Jamal

Supplications from the Prophets of Allah

2011-08-16T14:33:00.001+08:00

List of supplications made by the Prophets of Allah Azza Wajal and some

people in reference to the Glorious Quran.

Prophet Muhammed Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam

"My Lord! Increase me in knowledge."[20:114]

رَبِّ زِدْنِي عِلْمًا

"My Lord! Forgive and have mercy, for You are the Best of those who show mercy!"[23:118]

رَبِّ اغْفِرْ وَارْحَمْ وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الرَّاحِمِينَ

"My Lord! I seek refuge with You from the whisperings of the Shayâtin. And I seek refuge with You, My Lord! lest they (should come near) me."[23:97-98]

رَبِّ أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ هَمَزَاتِ الشَّيَاطِينِ . وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ رَبِّ أَنْ يَحْضُرُونِ

"Our Lord! Give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire!". [02:201]

رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ

"Our Lord! Avert from us the torment of Hell. Verily! Its torment is ever an inseparable, permanent punishment. Evil indeed it (Hell) is as an abode and as a place to rest in."[25:65-66]

رَبَّنَا اصْرِفْ عَنَّا عَذَابَ جَهَنَّمَ إِنَّ عَذَابَهَا كَانَ غَرَامًا إِنَّهَا سَاءَتْ مُسْتَقَرًّا وَمُقَامًا

"Our Lord! Bestow on us from our wives and our offspring the comfort of our eyes, and make us leaders for the Muttaqûn"[25:74]

رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَاجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّاتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍ وَاجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا

"My Lord! Grant me the power and ability that I may be grateful for Your Favour which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and that I may do righteous good deeds, such as please You, and make my off-spring good. Truly, I have turned to You in repentance, and truly, I am one of the Muslim"[46:15]

رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِي أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيَّ وَعَلَى وَالِدَيَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَالِحًا تَرْضَاهُ وَأَصْلِحْ لِي فِي ذُرِّيَّتِي إِنِّي تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَإِنِّي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ

"Our Lord! Forgive us and our brethren who have preceded us in Faith, and put not in our hearts any hatred against those who have believed. Our Lord! You are indeed full of kindness, Most Merciful."[59:10]

رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلإِخْوَانِنَا الَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِالإِيمَانِ وَلاَ تَجْعَلْ فِي قُلُوبِنَا غِلّاً لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ رَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ

“Our Lord, perfect for us our light, and forgive us. Indeed you are powerful over every thing.”[66:8]

رَبَّنَا أَتْمِمْ لَنَا نُورَنَا وَاغْفِرْ لَنَا إِنَّكَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

"Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate (from the truth) after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from You. Truly, You are the Bestower,"Our Lord! Verily, it is You Who will gather mankind together on the Day about which there is no doubt. Verily, Allâh never breaks His Promise,"[03:8-9]

رَبَّنَا لاَ تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْوَهَّابُ

رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ جَامِعُ النَّاسِ لِيَوْمٍ لاَ رَيْبَ فِيهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يُخْلِفُ الْمِيعَادَ

"Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose, glory to You! . Give us salvation from the torment of the Fire. [03:191]

رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذَا بَاطِلاً سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ

"Our Lord! We believe; so write us down among the witnesses."[05:83]

رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا فَاكْتُبْنَا مَعَ الشَّاهِدِينَ

“As for me, my Lord has guided me to a straight path, the straight religion, the faith of Ibrahim who was upright and was not of those who associate partners with Allah" [6:161]

رَبِّي إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ دِينًا قِيَمًا مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنْ الْمُشْرِكِينَ

“My prayer, my offering, my life and my death are for Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. For Him there is no partner. And thus I have been commanded, and I am the first one to submit.”[6:162-163]

إِنَّ صَلاَتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَاي وَمَمَاتِي لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ . لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَبِذَلِكَ أُمِرْتُ وَأَنَا أَوَّلُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ

Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds. The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Master of the, Day of Judgment. You alone do we worship, and from You alone do we seek help. Guide us to the Straight Way. The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not of those who earned Your Anger, nor of those who went astray.[01:1-7]

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيم . الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ . الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ . مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ . إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ . اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ . صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ الضَّالِّينَ

"We make no distinction (they say) between one and another of His Messengers." And they say: "We hear and we obey; (We seek) Thy forgiveness, Our Lord, and to Thee is the end of all journeys.""Our Lord! condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which Thou didst lay on those before us; Our Lord! lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector; help us against those who stand against faith."[02:285-286]

لاَ نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِنْ رُسُلِهِ وَقَالُوا سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا غُفْرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا وَإِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيرُ

رَبَّنَا لاَ تُؤَاخِذْنَا إِنْ نَسِينَا أَوْ أَخْطَأْنَا رَبَّنَا وَلاَ تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْنَا إِصْرًا كَمَا حَمَلْتَهُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِنَا رَبَّنَا وَلاَ تُحَمِّلْنَا مَا لاَ طَاقَةَ لَنَا بِهِ وَاعْفُ عَنَّا وَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا أَنْتَ مَوْلاَنَا فَانصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ

“Our Lord, whomsoever You admit into the Fire, he is disgraced by You indeed, and for the unjust there are no supporters. Our Lord! Verily, we have heard the call of one (Muhammad SAW) calling to Faith: ‘Believe in your Lord,’ and we have believed. Our Lord! Forgive us our sins and expiate from us our evil deeds, and make us die along with Al-Abrâr (the pious) [03:191]

رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ مَنْ تُدْخِلْ النَّارَ فَقَدْ أَخْزَيْتَهُ وَمَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِنْ أَنْصَارٍ

رَبَّنَا إِنَّنَا سَمِعْنَا مُنَادِيًا يُنَادِي لِلإِيمَانِ أَنْ آمِنُوا بِرَبِّكُمْ فَآمَنَّا رَبَّنَا

فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَكَفِّرْ عَنَّا سَيِّئَاتِنَا وَتَوَفَّنَا مَعَ الأَبْرَارِ

"Our Lord, give us what You have promised us through Your messengers, and do not put us to disgrace on the Day of Judgement. Surely you do not go back on Your promise.”[03:194]

رَبَّنَا وَآتِنَا مَا وَعَدْتَنَا عَلَى رُسُلِكَ وَلاَ تُخْزِنَا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِنَّكَ لاَ تُخْلِفُ الْمِيعَادَ

"I seek refuge with (Allâh) the Lord of the daybreak, From the evil of what He has created; And from the evil of the darkening (night) as it comes with its darkness; And from the evil of those who practise witchcrafts when they blow in the knots, And from the evil of the envier when he envies."[113:1-5]

قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ الْفَلَقِ . مِنْ شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ . وَمِنْ شَرِّ غَاسِقٍ إِذَا وَقَبَ . وَمِنْ شَرِّ النَّفَّاثَاتِ فِي الْعُقَدِ . وَمِنْ شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ

Say, "I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind, The Sovereign of mankind. The God of mankind, From the evil of the retreating whisperer - Who whispers [evil] into the breasts of mankind - From among the jinn and mankind."[114:1-6]

قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ . مَلِكِ النَّاسِ . إِلَهِ النَّاسِ . مِنْ شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ . الَّذِي يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ . مِنْ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ

For the parents:

“My Lord, be merciful to them as they have brought me up in my childhood.”[17:24]

رَّبِّ ارْحَمْهُمَا كَمَا رَبَّيَانِي صَغِيرًا

When a calamity befalls:

"Truly! To Allâh we belong and truly, to Him we shall return."[2:156]

إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

Prophet Adam & Eve [pbut]

"Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You forgive us not, and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be of the losers." [ 07"23]

رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا وَإِنْ لَمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنْ الْخَاسِرِينَ

Prophet Nuh [pbuh]

"O my Lord! Help me: for that they accuse me of falsehood!" [23:26]

رَبِّ انصُرْنِي بِمَا كَذَّبُونِ

"My Lord! Verily, my people have belied me.Therefore judge You between me and them, and save me and those of the believers who are with me." [26:117-118]

رَبِّ إِنَّ قَوْمِي كَذَّبُو. نِفَافْتَحْ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَهُمْ فَتْحًا وَنَجِّنِي وَمَنْ مَعِي مِنْ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

"I have been overcome, so help (me)!" [54:10]

رَبَّهُ أَنِّي مَغْلُوبٌ فَانْتَصِرْ

"My Lord! Leave not one of the disbelievers on the earth!. If You leave them, they will mislead Your slaves, and they will beget none but wicked disbelievers. [71:26-27]

رَبِّ لاَ تَذَرْ عَلَى الأَرْضِ مِنْ الْكَافِرِينَ دَيَّارًا. إِنَّكَ إِنْ تَذَرْهُمْ يُضِلُّوا عِبَادَكَ وَلاَ يَلِدُوا إِلاَّ فَاجِرًا كَفَّارًا

"My Lord! Forgive me, and my parents, and him who enters my home as a believer, and all the believing men and women. And to the Zâlimûn (polytheists, wrong-doers, and disbelievers) grant You no increase but destruction!" [71:28]

رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَلِوَالِدَيَّ وَلِمَنْ دَخَلَ بَيْتِي مُؤْمِنًا وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَلاَ تَزِدْ الظَّالِمِينَ إِلاَّ تَبَارًا

"O my Lord! I seek refuge with You from asking You that of which I have no knowledge. And unless You forgive me and have Mercy on me, I will indeed be one of the losers." [11:47]

رَبِّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ أَنْ أَسْأَلَكَ مَا لَيْسَ لِي بِهِ عِلْمٌ وَإِلاَّ تَغْفِرْ لِي وَتَرْحَمْنِي أَكُنْ مِنْ الْخَاسِرِينَ

"My Lord! Cause me to land at a blessed landing-place, for You are the Best of those who bring to land." [23:29]

رَبِّ أَنزِلْنِي مُنْزَلاً مُبَارَكًا وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الْمُنزِلِينَ

"There is no god but Thou: Glory to Thee: I was indeed wrong!"[21:87]

لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنْ الظَّالِمِينَ

Prophet Ibrahim [pbuh]

"Our Lord! In You (Alone) we put our trust, and to You (Alone) we turn in repentance, and to You (Alone) is (our) final Return" [60:4]

رَبَّنَا لاَ تَجْعَلْنَا فِتْنَةً لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَاغْفِرْ لَنَا رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ

"O my Lord! Bestow wisdom on me, and join me with the righteous" [26:83]

رَبِّ هَبْ لِي حُكْمًا وَأَلْحِقْنِي بِالصَّالِحِينَ

"Grant me honourable mention on the tongue of truth among the latest (generations)" [26:84]

وَاجْعَلْ لِي لِسَانَ صِدْقٍ فِي الآخِرِينَ

"Make me one of the inheritors of the Garden of Bliss" [26:85]

وَاجْعَلْنِي مِنْ وَرَثَةِ جَنَّةِ النَّعِيمِ

"And disgrace me not on the Day when (all the creatures) will be resurrected" [26:87]

وَلاَ تُخْزِنِي يَوْمَ يُبْعَثُونَ

"The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail, but only he (will prosper) that brings to Allah a sound heart" [26:88-89]

يَوْمَ لاَ يَنْفَعُ مَالٌ وَلاَ بَنُونَ . إِلاَّ مَنْ أَتَى اللَّهَ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ

"I will go to my Lord! He will surely guide me!" [37:99]

إِنِّي ذَاهِبٌ إِلَى رَبِّي سَيَهْدِينِ

"My Lord! Grant me (offspring) from the righteous." [37:100]

رَبِّ هَبْ لِي مِنْ الصَّالِحِينَ

"Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us. Verily! You are the All-Hearer, the All-Knower."[ 2:127]

رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ

"Our Lord! Make of us Muslims bowing to Thy (Will) and of our progeny a people Muslim bowing to Thy (Will) and show us our places for the celebration of (due) rites; and turn unto us (in Mercy); for Thou art the Oft-Returning Most-Merciful." [2:128]

رَبَّنَا وَاجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمَيْنِ لَكَ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِنَا أُمَّةً مُسْلِمَةً لَكَ وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا وَتُبْ عَلَيْنَا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ

"O my Lord! Make me one who performs As-Salât (Iqâmat-as-Salât), and (also) from my offspring, our Lord! And accept my invocation." [14:40]

رَبِّ اجْعَلْنِي مُقِيمَ الصَّلاَةِ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِي رَبَّنَا وَتَقَبَّلْ دُعَاءِ

"Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents, and (all) the believers on the Day when the reckoning will be established." [14:41]

رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لِي وَلِوَالِدَيَّ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَوْمَ يَقُومُ الْحِسَابُ

Prophet Lut [pbuh]

"My Lord! Save me and my family from what they do." [26:169]

رَبِّ نَجِّنِي وَأَهْلِي مِمَّا يَعْمَلُونَ

Prophet Ayyub [pbuh]

"Verily, distress has seized me, and You are the Most Merciful of all those who show mercy."[21:83]

أَنِّي مَسَّنِي الضُّرُّ وَأَنْتَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ

"The Evil One has afflicted me with distress and suffering"![38:41]

أَنِّي مَسَّنِي الشَّيْطَانُ بِنُصْبٍ وَعَذَابٍ

Prophet Yusuf [pbuh]

"My Lord!, the Creator of the heavens and the earth! You are my Walî (Protector, Helper, Supporter, Guardian, God, Lord.) in this world and in the Hereafter. Cause me to die as a Muslim (the one submitting to Your Will), and join me with the righteous" [12:101]

رَبِّ فَاطِرَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ أَنْتَ وَلِيِّ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةِ تَوَفَّنِي مُسْلِمًا وَأَلْحِقْنِي بِالصَّالِحِينَ

Prophet Musa [pbuh]

"O my Lord! Expand me my breast; Ease my task for me; And remove the impediment from my speech.So they may understand what I say" [20:25-28]

رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِنْ لِسَانِي
يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي

"I take Allâh's Refuge from being among Al-Jâhilûn (the ignorants or the foolish)." [02:67]

أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنْ الْجَاهِلِين

Followers of Prophet Musa [pbuh]

"Our Lord! pour out on us patience, and cause us to die as Muslims." [07:126]

رَبَّنَا أَفْرِغْ عَلَيْنَا صَبْرًا وَتَوَفَّنَا مُسْلِمِينَ

“In Allah we have placed our trust: Our Lord, do not make us a victim of the unjust people" [10:85]

عَلَى اللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا رَبَّنَا لاَ تَجْعَلْنَا فِتْنَةً لِلْقَوْمِ الظَّالِمِينَ

"And save us, through Your mercy, from the disbelieving people." [10:86]

وَنَجِّنَا بِرَحْمَتِكَ مِنْ الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ

Wife of Fir'aun

"My Lord! Build for me a home with You in Paradise, and save me from Fir'aun (Pharaoh) and his work, and save me from the people who are Zâlimûn (polytheists, wrong-doers and disbelievers in Allâh)" [66:11]

رَبِّ ابْنِ لِي عِنْدَكَ بَيْتًا فِي الْجَنَّةِ وَنَجِّنِي مِنْ فِرْعَوْنَ وَعَمَلِهِ وَنَجِّنِي مِنْ الْقَوْمِ الظَّالِمِينَ

Prophet Sulaiman [pbuh]

"My Lord! Grant me the power and ability that I may be grateful for Your Favours which You have bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may do righteous good deeds that will please You, and admit me by Your Mercy among Your righteous slaves."[27:19]

رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِي أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيَّ وَعَلَى وَالِدَيَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَالِحًا تَرْضَاهُ وَأَدْخِلْنِي بِرَحْمَتِكَ فِي عِبَادِكَ الصَّالِحِينَ

Prophet Zakariyya [pbuh]

"O my Lord! Grant me from You, a good offspring. You are indeed the All-Hearer of invocation."[3:38]

رَبِّ هَبْ لِي مِنْ لَدُنْكَ ذُرِّيَّةً طَيِّبَةً إِنَّكَ سَمِيعُ الدُّعَاءِ

"O My Lord! Leave me not single (childless), though You are the Best of the inheritors."[21:89]

رَبِّ لاَ تَذَرْنِي فَرْدًا وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الْوَارِثِينَ

People of the Cave

"Our Lord! Bestow on us mercy from Yourself, and facilitate for us our affair in the right way!"[18:10]

رَبَّنَا آتِنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً وَهَيِّئْ لَنَا مِنْ أَمْرِنَا رَشَدًا

Prayer of the Husband and Wife

"If You give us a Sâlih (good in every aspect) child, we shall indeed be among the grateful."[07:189]

لَئِنْ آتَيْتَنَا صَالِحًا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنْ الشَّاكِرِينَ

Super Emotional Recitation of the Qur'an

2011-08-09T12:05:00.002+08:00

Some people make a great deal of du’a but receive no answer

2011-08-09T10:00:00.000+08:00

by Abdillah Nur

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly:

The one to whom that happens should believe that there is a reason and great wisdom behind the delay in the response. Allaah, may He be glorified, is the Sovereign of all and none can put back His bounty or overturn His ruling or object to His giving or His withholding, if He gives by His bounty or withholds by His justice. We are His slaves and He does with us whatever He will.

“And your Lord creates whatsoever He wills and chooses, no choice have they (in any matter)”

[al-Qasas 28:68]

How can a slave fall short in honouring his master’s rights and then demand his rights in full?

It is His right to be obeyed and not disobeyed, to be remembered and not forgotten, to be thanked and not to be shown ingratitude. If you look at yourself and how you are carrying out your duties, you would think very little of yourself and you would feel humility and would realize there can be no salvation except by His forgiveness and mercy. So look at yourself as being a slave, for Allaah is the Creator and Controller.

Secondly:

Allaah has great wisdom and He does not give or withhold except for a reason. You may look at something and think that it is good but by His wisdom He does not decree it. A doctor may do things which appear to be painful but they are in the patient’s best interests. And for Allaah is the highest description. (cf. al-Nahl 16:60).

Thirdly:

Attainting the thing asked for may cause hardship to the one who is asking. It was narrated from one of the salaf that he used to ask Allaah to let him go out on a military campaign, but a voice called out to him: “If you go on a military campaign you will be taken prisoner, and if you are taken prisoner, you will become a Christian.” Sayd al-Khaatir, 1/109

Ibn al-Qayyim said: Whatever Allaah has decreed for His believing slave is a blessing even if that is in the form of withholding; it is a favour even if that is in the form of a trial, and the calamity decreed by him is fair even if it us painful. Madaarij al-Saalikeen, 4/215.

No one knows how his affairs will end up. He may ask for something which leads to bad consequences, and may even harm him. The Controller knows best what is in his best interests. “and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you” [al-Baqarah 2:216]. One of the meanings of this verse is that we should not wish that the decree of our Lord was different or ask Him for things of which we have no knowledge, for perhaps that may harm us without us knowing. So we should not choose anything different than what our Lord has chosen for us, rather we should ask Him for a good end in what He has chosen for us, for there is nothing more beneficial for us than that.

Fourthly:

What Allaah chooses for His slave is better for him that what he chooses for himself. Allaah is more merciful towards His slaves than they themselves or their mothers are. If something happens to them that they dislike, that is better for them than if it did not happen, so His decree is all kindness and mercy. If the slave submits to Allaah and has certain faith that all dominion belongs to Allaah and all things are under His command, and that He is more merciful to him than he is himself, then he will find peace of mind regardless of whether his need is met or not.

See Madaarij al-Saalikeen, 2/215

Fifthly:

The response may be delayed because the person himself has done something which is an impediment to receiving a response or a cause of delay. Perhaps there is something haraam in his food, or perhaps there was some negligence in his heart at the time when he made the du’aa’, or perhaps he had committed a sin, as a consequence of which his du’aa’ was not answered. So when the response to the du’aa’ is delayed, this may prompt the person to check on himself and examine how he stands before his Lord, so that he will take stock of himself and repent; if the answer to his prayer came sooner, perhaps he would become heedless and think that he was doing fine, then he would develop a sense of self-admiration that may lead to his doom.

Delay or withholding of a response may be because Allaah wants to delay the reward for him until the Day of Resurrection, or Allaah wants to divert an equivalent evil from him, but he does not realize that.

Whatever the case, the fruits of du’aa’ are guaranteed, even if you do not see the response with your own eyes. So think well of your Lord and say: Perhaps He has answered me in a way that I do not know. It is narrated in a saheeh report that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There is no Muslim who does not offer any du’aa’ in which there is no sin or severing of family ties but Allaah will give him one of three things in return: either He will answer his du’aa’ sooner, or he will store it up for him in the Hereafter, or He will divert an equivalent evil away from him because of it.” They said: “We will say a lot of du’aa’.” He said: “Allaah is more generous.” Narrated by Ahmad, 10749.

In conclusion, there are many reasons why a du’aa’ may not be answered or the answer may be delayed; we must ponder this and not stop making du’aa’, for du’aa’ will always be of benefit.

And Allaah knows best.

3 Steps to a More Compassionate Heart

2011-08-09T08:29:00.000+08:00

Compassion

Compassion is a divine quality that includes mercy, sympathy, and the capacity to forgive. Having a compassionate heart does not mean sacrificing yourself in order for another to experience forgiveness and mercy. Growing a compassionate heart is an ongoing journey that results in a life of service to humanity as well as having a peaceful and calm heart that experiences the oneness and connectedness to all creation.

Here are three simple steps to grow a more compassionate heart:

1. Look at the situation with Divine truth.
Set your intention to see life from a larger perspective. Be willing to see the situation from a point of view that expands past your judgment or opinion of what is 'right'. This opens the possibility to view a disappointment through a 'larger lens' so that you're getting in touch with the Reality of Divine truth which reveals what God (Allah) is making in every moment with your life.

Coal needs pressure and heat in order to turn into a diamond. In a similar way, disappointments, moments of distress and discomfort, can provide the heat for your jewel to shine through. A larger perspective allows us to see the divine truth in a situation.

2. Acknowledge what you are feeling in the present.
This means that you do not look for what is 'wrong' and what you think needs to change. It means that you allow divine love to touch whatever the feeling is that you are having so the divine mercy and compassion supports and comforts you in a time of distress.

3. Be willing to accept whatever is.
What appears to be a disappointment is actually the 'coloring' of the tapestry of your life. Sufi guide, Sidi al-Jamal writes, "how could we know happiness if we have never experienced sadness?"

God expresses Himself in opposites. He is the first and last, the manifest and unmanifest, the hidden and revealed. Understanding the opposites is a way for you to know Allah (God) which eventually leads to knowing yourself. When you understand the true nature of Allah (God) it leads to knowing yourself with deeper love and compassion.

Oh Beautiful Qur'an....

2011-08-05T16:06:00.005+08:00

Beating Bad Breath during Ramadan

2011-08-05T15:21:00.002+08:00

Beating Bad Breath during Ramadan

Abdul Jabbar Hussain

Aug 04 |00:00
Last Updated on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 01:18

Bad breath seems to be more potent when fasting due to the dryness of the mouth. To reduce this it would be recommended to drink plenty of fluids during the evening and suhur time.

The coming month is a sacred time for all Muslims when we are required to abstain from all food and drink during daylight hours in order to obey the one we love, Allah the Most High.

However, hunger and thirst are not the only obstacles during this month, a common complaint especially amongst Muslims required to work with others is bad breath or halitosis given that bad breath can lead to a decrease in self-confidence and insecurity in social and intimate relations.[1]

Halitosis is the term used to describe an unpleasant odour exhaled through the mouth. Bad breath has a significant impact; indeed, researchers say it is the third most common reason for patients to visit a dentist.[2] So what can we do to reduce or eliminate bad breath whilst fasting? To be able to understand how to reduce bad breath, it would be prudent to have some understanding of the origins of it.

In most cases (85-90%) the origins of bad breath are from the mouth.[3] The intensity of bad breath however can differ depending on diet and dryness of the mouth etc. As a result of the mouth being drier whilst fasting (where drinking any form of liquid is impermissible), there more of a potent smell. Bad breath is thought to originate mainly from the dorsum of the tongue. In 5-10% of cases bad breath originates from the nose and sinuses and in 3-5% of cases from the tonsils. Other rarer origins are systemic diseases and according to the vast majority of researchers, the stomach and digestive tract plays a very negligible role.
[4]

Foul odours are mainly produced due to the anaerobic breakdown, by bacteria, of proteins into individual amino acids, followed by the further breakdown of certain amino acids to produce detectable foul gases. For example, the breakdown of cysteine and methionine produce hydrogen sulphide and methyl mercaptan respectively. Volatile sulphur compounds have been shown to be statistically associated with oral malodour levels.

Large quantities of naturally-occurring bacteria are often found on the posterior dorsum of the tongue, where they are rather undisturbed by normal activity. This part of the tongue is also quite dry and poorly cleansed, and bacterial populations can thrive on remnants of food deposits, dead epithelial cells and postnasal drip (PND). The convoluted microbial structure of the tongue dorsum provides an ideal habitat for anaerobic bacteria. Over 600 types of bacteria can be found in the average mouth, of which several dozen produce high levels of foul odours when incubated in the laboratory. [5]

Other parts of the mouth may also contribute to the overall odour, but are not as common as the back of the tongue. These include inter-dental and sub-gingival niches, faulty dental work, food-impaction areas in-between the teeth, abscesses and unclean dentures. In some people, bad breath is associated with gum disease, especially if rubbing the areas between the teeth and gums yields a foul odour. Your dentist can help prevent and treat gum diseases in various ways, depending on the type and extent of the problem, but your own daily home care makes all the difference in maintaining gum health between appointments. Cleaning of the spaces between the teeth is of great importance. People with gum disease often have higher levels of odour coming from their tongue.[6]

During fasting bad breath seems to be worse. Why would this be? Saliva is the natural mouthwash we were born with. It contains antibacterial agents, and competes with bacteria for scarce resources such as iron. Saliva helps wash the bacteria from the mouth, and the saliva layer helps the oral odours from escaping. Bad breath is worst when there is little or no saliva flow, for example after a night's sleep. As soon as one wakes up and starts to salivate, the smell recedes. That is why bad breath increases when we fast.

The things that we can do to reduce bad breath both during Ramadan and throughout the year should now be obvious and the reasoning should be easier to understand. The first thing would be to maintain proper oral hygiene. This would include tongue cleaning. Gently cleaning the tongue twice daily is the most effective way to keep bad breath in control; that can be achieved using a tongue scraper to wipe off the bacterial biofilm, debris, and mucus. Ask your dentist to recommend a scraper for your tongue. A toothbrush should be avoided as the bristles only spread the bacteria in the mouth, and grip the tongue, causing a gagging reflex.[7]Scraping of the V-shaped row of tastebuds found at the extreme back of the tongue should also be avoided. Brushing a small amount of saltwater onto the tongue surface will further inhibit bacterial action. Eating a healthy breakfast with rough foods helps clean the very back of the tongue too.[8]

One should also brush regularly, for four minutes, twice a day. It is of paramount importance that we time ourselves since we have little idea of how much time we have actually spent brushing. Several studies have shown that we generally spend less time brushing than we perceive unless it is our routine to time oneself. When brushing we should clean our teeth and gums[9], especially cleaning even more thoroughly after eating or drinking milk products, fish and meat – especially at suhur time. Flossing should be implemented daily and choose unscented floss so that you can detect those areas between your teeth that give off odours, and clean them more carefully.

What would also be recommended to the fasting person is the specific use miswak throughout the day. The miswak (miswaak, siwak, sewak) is a teeth cleaning twig made from a twig of the Salvadora persica tree, also known as the arak tree (or peelu tree). It is well-known amongst most muslims - but is using a miswak effective at cleaning one’s mouth?

The Wrigley Company carried out a study on miswak which was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The study found that mints laced with miswak extract were 20 times more effective in killing bacteria than ordinary mints. After half an hour, the mints laced with miswak extract killed about 60% of the bacteria where as the ordinary mints managed only 3.6%.

In the August issue of Journal of Periodontology (2008) appeared a study conducted by Swedish researchers on miswak. The study apparently found that suspended Miswak pieces in a petridish (medium for culturing bacteria) were able to kill bacteria that cause periodontal disease with out being in physical contact with the bacteria. The researchers suggested that Miswak might be giving antibiotics as gases trying to explain this phenomenon.

Another study which compared tooth brushing and using miswak can be found on Pubmed (U.S National Library for Medicine Service). The study concluded that miswak was more effective than tooth brushing in reducing plaque and gingivitis provided it was used correctly. Similarly a study conducted by a group of dentists at King Saud University concluded that using miswak was at least as good as tooth brushing, if not better.

The effectiveness of miswak has been attributed to its strong antibacterial properties. Another feature of miswak thought to contribute to its effectiveness, mentioned by the King Saud University study, is that its bristles are parallel to the handle rather than perpendicular which means effective cleaning between the teeth. The World Health Organisation (WHO) interestingly enough recommended the use of the miswak in 1986. So we would have to agree that using miswak is both rewardable and effective.

Bad breath seems to be more potent when fasting due to the dryness of the mouth. To reduce this it would be recommended to drink plenty of fluids during the evening and suhur time. If you are a denture wearer, it would be advisable for you to soak the denture in an antiseptic mouthwash overnight. Regular visits to the dentist are also essential although we may not enjoy them. There may be cavities, broken fillings, spacing between teeth, or pockets that may be allowing food packing which may in itself be causing a foul smell.

So in conclusion, if you want to beat the bad breath during Ramadan, then clean your tongue, brush thoroughly (especially after those meat and fish curries!) and drink plenty of fluids whenever you can.

Notes: this article has been reposted

Source: www.islam21c.com

[1] Social relations and breath odour, published in International Journal of Dental Hygiene Nov. 2003
[2] Review of attendance behaviour in Dental Update April 2007
[3] The science of bad breath. Sci Am. 2002 Apr
[4] ibid
[5] Rosenberg M. Clinical assessment of bad breath: current concepts. J Am Dent Assoc. 1996 Apr
[6] Scully C, Rosenberg M. Halitosis. Dent Update. 2003 May
[7] ibid
[8] Production and origin of oral malodour J Periodontol. 1977 Jan)
[9] Scully C, Rosenberg M. Halitosis. Dent Update

O Slave of Allah! How Strange is Your Affair....

2011-08-05T11:22:00.000+08:00

by Abdillah Nur

O Slave of Allah! How strange is your affair

You are heedless of your Lord
Yet He remembers you much

You fast not for His Sake
Yet He provides for you your sustenance

You question Him when calamity falls
Yet He keeps you safe from every harm

You walk not to His house
Yet He provides you with a healthy body

You turn your face away
Yet He blesses you with beauty

You withhold your hands
Yet He provides for you wealth

Your face does not turn red when He is abused
Yet He answers you when you need

You complain about what you don’t have
Yet He showers you with blessings

You compete in sin
Yet He withholds His punishment

You laugh like you will live forever
Yet He allows you to wake each day

O Slave of Allah!
Who destroys you but you?

فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny

[Surah arRahman (55)

Put Love in the Hearts of People

2011-07-23T08:55:00.000+08:00

A beautiful hadith about the relationship between a true Muslim leader and his/her followers....

When the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) entered a new town, he would say: "O God. . .put our love in the hearts of its people and put the love of its righteous people in our hearts."

Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 4, Number 147

Three Cups of Tea Makes Pakistani Girls Speak Up

2011-07-18T05:34:00.000+08:00

By Salma Hasan Ali

Editor of Islamic Monthly

Thursday, 26 May 2011 13:31

Greg’s account of his transition from mountain climber to humanitarian – was not just an inspiring book, but a much-needed bridge to understanding.

Like millions, I’ve been mesmerized by humanitarian Greg Mortenson’s story of compassion, commitment and courage. Like so many, I am heartbroken by everything that I am reading about the current controversy. The accusations against Greg are serious and the allegations of his community-based education organisation Central Asia Institute’s (CAI) financial mismanagement are troubling.

Managing people’s donations, from pennies to millions, is a responsibility that should never be taken lightly. These and other concerns must be investigated and addressed appropriately. We need to hear from Greg, and he needs to be given a fair opportunity to address the allegations.

These are real stories of real women with real lives and real hopes. Whatever the outcome of the current controversy, it is their dreams and that of thousands of others like them that must continue to be nurtured.

Two years ago I visited three CAI schools in Pakistan, full of young girls excited at the chance of becoming doctors, lawyers and teachers because of the education they are receiving. I met members of CAI’s local team there, proud of the work they are doing and of their friendship with Greg.

As the details of this story continue to evolve, and as the facts become clearer, I hope we don’t lose sight of the larger vision and objectives that Greg’s initiatives have inspired: that building schools and educating girls is much more effective to long-term peace and development than drone strikes; that understanding different cultures requires patience and the ability to listen; and that each one of us can do something – perhaps a little more than we’re currently doing – to make the world a better place.
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The Inside of the Story

For me, Three Cups of Tea – Greg’s account of his transition from mountain climber to humanitarian – was not just an inspiring book, but a much-needed bridge to understanding a part of the world through our shared humanity rather than just geopolitical exigency. Greg’s stories put a human face to an important region.

They revealed aspects of my culture that I treasure – respect for elders, insatiable hospitality, generosity towards strangers, desire for learning – that are rarely seen in the monochromatic way in which the area is so often covered by media. I sincerely hope the warm feelings engendered by this book will not be undermined by the current controversy.

Greg’s journey – whether it began in Korphe or Khane, or Timbuktu for that matter – started because of compassion, which led him to build that first school, and fueled him during years of tireless, dangerous work, before there were best-selling books or speaking fees or Nobel Prize nominations.

There are now thousands of girls who are benefiting from Greg and CAI’s commitment to educating girls, some of whom I met in Pakistan. Sadia never thought she’d return to school after the devastating 2005 earthquake killed 100 of her classmates. Now she’s deciding whether to become a doctor or a teacher.

Safeena, Iqra, and Fatima – young women on CAI scholarships – shared their excitement at pursuing higher education degrees, emboldened by their mothers who never had such an opportunity. Nasreen, forced to drop out of school at a young age when her mother died, is completing her medical assistant degree so she can teach other women in villages more remote than her own.

And then there’s Fozia, who I got to know this past month in Washington, DC. Fozia met Greg in her Kashmiri village in 2006, and invited him for a cup of tea in the tent where her family was living after the earthquake. At the time, she was completing her law degree and teaching. Impressed by her tenacity, Greg offered her a scholarship to study in the United States. It took two years to convince her family, but when she did, she seized every opportunity she could – learning how to ski, bike, ride horses, learn tae kwon do, speak English. She is now the first female CAI staff member in Pakistan, and an international advocate for the importance of educating girls.

These are real stories of real women with real lives and real hopes. Whatever the outcome of the current controversy, it is their dreams and that of thousands of others like them that must continue to be nurtured. If it isn’t, that will be the real heartbreak.

This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews). It is republished here with kind permission.

A Perspective of Time and Its Power

2011-07-12T14:40:00.000+08:00

A Good Warning to Facebook Scholars

2011-07-12T12:24:00.003+08:00

2nd World Conference on Riba - Register Today!

2011-07-11T09:43:00.003+08:00

2nd World Conference on Riba

The Prophet's Warning about Wealth

2011-07-04T09:16:00.000+08:00

The tragic story of our Muslim world today....

Prophet Mohammad(sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said:

“By Allah, I am not afraid that you will be poor, but I fear that worldly wealth will be bestowed upon you as it was bestowed upon those who lived before you. So you will compete amongst yourselves for it, as they competed for it, and it will destroy you as it did them."

A Lesson in Empathy... by Sam Richards

2011-07-01T09:47:00.001+08:00

Halal Slaughter - What it's all about...

2011-06-29T11:14:00.001+08:00

Bringing Barakah Into One’s Wealth and Life

2011-06-28T17:31:00.002+08:00

Answered by Sidi Abdullah Anik Misra

Question: Assalamu alaikum. For the past couple of years I’ve been noticing that AL I make enough money but its tough to make both ends meet - Its like it vanishes away, it is taking a toll on my wife and I and we stay tense most of the time about it … Is there an obligatory duty being missed ? We do regular charity at a masjid and zakat, maybe its not getting accepted ?

Answer: Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

Thank you for your question.

You have noted that your income is not insufficient or little in terms of its amount and how much one would expect would cover their expenses, but for some unexplainable reason, it never seems to be enough for the needs of the home. This is a sign - not of a lack of wealth, but rather of a lack of divine blessings (barakah) in that wealth.

There are things that one can do to increase the barakah of one’s wealth. First, we need to understand the meaning of barakah, then look at ways to increase it, and end with some advice on the role of wealth in one’s life.

What is Barakah?

Barakah is a term that means an “increase” and “growth”- and also, happiness. It is the establishment of divine goodness in something; from whence it exudes cannot be sensed by people, nor can it be outwardly quantified, nor is it limited by anything, but rather, something with barakah in it is called mubaarak, and has an unexplainable increase and benefit in it from Allah. [al-Isfahani, Mufradaat al-Qur’an]

Having more barakah in one’s wealth does not mean the dollar amount increases- rather, that the benefits seen from that limited amount increase, reach further and last longer.

Barakah in anything, especially wealth, which is a part of one’s destined sustenance from Allah Most High, can increase and decrease depending on the good and bad actions one does.

The Means of Brining Barakah Into One’s Wealth- and Life

There are many, many different means we can take to bring barakah into our wealth, and indeed, into every aspect of our lives. The most important thing to remember is that these are only means – worldly causes that we put forth with our human efforts- but the One who gives wealth and bestows blessings in the first place is Allah Most High.

Hence, these actions are not mathematical formulae for automatic increase. One must keep Allah at the forefront of one’s seeking in this world, and make pleasing and reaching Him the ultimate goal, rather than the increase of wealth. Amongst the things that one can do are:

1. Earn a lawful (Halal) and wholesome income: Ensure that your line of work does not contravene the Sacred Law and that your wealth is lawful. This not only includes what work you do, but who you work for and their source of income as well. Ensure that your work is ethical and moral.

2. Work with excellence, loyalty and honesty: Do not take a single penny except that you duly deserve it. Do not squander the time and resources that you employer is paying for. Be loyal and honest at work. Nothing reduces barakah like cheating or deception in a sale, or unethical practices like bribes. [al-Razi, Mafatih al-Ghaib]

3. Make a good intention for Allah’s sake: purify your intention to earn for Allah’s sake, to provide for your family, to not have to borrow and ask from others, and to do works of good for others.

4. Avoid interest in all its forms, as much as possible. This includes taking it, or paying it out. If you must pay it due to a debt, work as hard as possible to pay it off in a short time then resolve not to enter into it again.

5. Give thanks for what you have been given: Allah Most High says in the Qur’an, “And if you all give thanks [to Me, for what I have bestowed on you], I shall surely increase you.” [al-Qur’an 14:7] Thank Allah with your tongue, your heart, by using His blessings for good purposes, and by obeying and worshipping Him. [al-Alusi, Ruh al-Ma’ani]

6. Give in charity, both yourself and your wife: this includes the obligatory charities (Zakat, Sadaqatul Fitr and the Qurbani for those with sufficient wealth), but also optional charity to good causes. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Charity does not reduce wealth.” [Muslim, Sahih] The physical amount outwardly decreases, but the remaining amount attracts barakah so that the actual benefit from it is not less. [al-Nawawi, Sharh Muslim]

7. Be God-conscious and increase in piety: Allah Most High says, “Whosoever is conscious of Allah, He makes for them a way out [of any difficulty] and provides for them sustenance from whence they cannot not conceive.” [al-Qur’an, 65:2-3]

8. Place your full trust in Allah Most High: Know that Allah is providing for you and sustaining you at each moment. Do not worry constantly and have fear- this is from the Shayton, who tries to instill fear of poverty, while Allah offers bounties [al-Quran 2:268]. Allah Most High says, “…and whosoever puts their full reliance on Allah, then He is sufficient for them.” [al-Quran, 65:3]

9. Establish prayer (al-salah) in your home: work to establish the obligatory prayers amongst your family, and encourage extra optional (nafl) prayers as well. [al-Biqa’i, Tafsir]

10. Read Qur’an in the home: the reading of Surah al-Waqi’ah is known to prevent poverty in a house. It is reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Indeed, the house in which the Qur’an is recited- the goodness [in it] increases…” and in another version, “things are made easier for its family.” [Ibn Kathir, Tafsir]

11. Be generous and give gifts: this means giving people around you things that they love, from the things that you love. Start with your immediate family, and relatives, and neighbors. Become more generous and open-handed, and try to fight the urge to be stingy.

12. Be obedient, dutiful and respectful to your parents: this is a means of increase in one’s lifespan and sustenance. [al-Sha’rani, Lawaqih al-Anwar al-Qudsiyya]

13. Keep up family ties and do good to relatives: it is mentioned that the barakah comes in the act of enjoining family relations only when it is combined with piety and God-fearingness [Ibn Hibban, Sahih]

14. Do not lie or say false oaths [Ibn Hajr, Fath al-Bari]

15. Give a little more than what you owe people when selling or paying someone [al-Munawi, Sharh Fayd al Qadeer]

16. Try to work starting in the early part of the day: Preferably, try do become productive after Fajr and do not sleep through the early part of the day. Try to work in mornings, as the Prophet (Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) prayed, “Oh Allah, give barakah to my Ummah in their early-morning work.” [Ibn Majah, Sunan]

17. Eat together: the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “…Gather together to eat your food, and say Allah’s name over it (bismillah) and you will be blessed in it,” [Abu Dawud, Sunan] and “Eat together, all of you, and do not separate individually, because the barakah is in the group.” [Ibn Majah, Sunan]

18. Invite the pious to eat from your food: the Prophet (peace be upon him) made dua’ for his host that pious people eat from his food, as it attracts barakah. It also promotes good company that changes the atmosphere of the home. [al-Bayhaqi, Sunan al-Kubra]

19. Ask Allah’s forgiveness often in your home and elsewhere through saying “astaghferallah”. [al-Bayhaqi, Shu’ab al Imaan]

20. Be easy-going, of kind nature, and forgiving to others: this includes from your spouse and family, to even those who do you wrong. This should spur you to heal relations with anyone you or your family may have a rift with. [al-Munawi, Fayd al-Qadeer]

21. Do not be wasteful and extravagant, nor overly-attached to worldly things: this includes finishing all of one’s food and living in moderation. [ibid]

22. Finally, ask Allah Most High to bless you with wealth: when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked to pray for young Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), the first thing he prayed for was wealth, amongst others things [Bukhari]. Ask Allah to put the wealth in your hand, and not in your heart.

There are countless more ways to attract barakah into one’s life and earnings, mentioned in the vast Islamic primary sources as well as the wisdom of the scholars and righteous. We will suffice with what has been mentioned above.

The Reality of Financial Difficulties

When a Muslim’s finances are tight, this is a test from Allah Most High. It is a mercy in disguise because through something as worldly as wealth, Allah causes us to turn towards Him in earnestness. It teaches us patience and contentment, and results in forgiveness of sins and reliance on Allah.

However, the general rule of thumb to attract blessings is always the same. When we attach our hearts to Allah Most High and submit to Him completely, and make Him our sole goal and purpose and not the blessings, then the barakah will enter our lives from all sides without us having to worry about it.

Wasalam,

Abdullah Anik Misra

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani

Be Careful What You Say to your Horse!

2011-06-09T17:03:00.000+08:00

An Imam was selling his horse in the market. An interested buyer came to him and requested if he could get a test drive. The Imam told the man that this horse is unique. In order to make it walk, you have to say Subhanallah. To make it run, you have to say Alhamdulillah and to make it stop, you have to say Allahu Akbar. The man sat on the horse and said Subhanallah. The horse started to walk. Then he said Alhamdulillah and it started to run. He kept saying Alhamdulillah and the horse started running faster and faster. All of a sudden the man noticed that the horse is running towards the edge of the hill that he was riding on. Being overly fearful, he forgot how to stop the horse. He kept saying all these words out of confusion. When the horse was just near the edge, he remembered Allahu Akbar and said it out loud. The horse stopped just one step away from the edge. The man took a deep breath, looked up towards the sky and said Alhamdulillah!

Miracle of the Qur'an

2011-06-09T17:00:00.004+08:00

Some have converted to Islam solely by viewing this video... Amazing
Miracle of the Qur'an

The Amanah of Leadership....

2011-06-08T09:01:00.000+08:00

Why we should fear being leaders today, rather than selling our souls to have power and privilege. And, why we should never fall for the line that sins are excusable if and when they are committed in the name of politics (which we hear so often in Malaysia)....

Narrated Ma'qil:

I heard the Prophet saying, "Any man whom Allah has given the authority of ruling some people and he does not look after them in an honest manner, will never feel even the smell of Paradise." (Bukhari)

"He who hires a person and knows that there is another one who is more qualified than him has betrayed Allah and His Prophet and the Muslims.” (Bukhari)

"Whoever is in charge of running Muslim affairs and hires a person on the basis of nepotism has deserved the curse of Allah and will not accept whatever justice he does beyond that." (Muslim)

And the list goes on....

Beware the Sin of Backbiting...

2011-05-29T04:46:00.002+08:00

Reminder to myself and others -- beware of backbiting. It's something we do and witness so frequently, yet in the eyes of God it is a heinous crime... some hadith on the matter:

The Prophet (s) said: “The listener is one of the two backbiters.” [Al-Fayd
al-Kashani, Al-Mahajjat al-Bayda', vol. 5, p. 260]

The Prophet (s) once gave counsel to Abu Dharr (r) , saying: “O Abu Dharr! Beware of backbiting, for backbiting is graver than adultery (zina’).” Abu Dharr (r) said: “Why is that so, O Messenger of Allah?” He (s) replied: “That is because when a man commits adultery and then repents to God, God accepts his repentance. However, backbiting is not forgiven until forgiven by its victim.”
[Al-Hurr al-`Amili, Wasai'l al-Shi`ah, vol. 8, hadith no. 18312]

“O ‘Ali! When someone hears the backbiting of his Muslim brother committed in his presence, yet he does not rally to his assistance despite being capable of doing so, God shall humiliate him in the world and in the Hereafter.” [Al-Hurr al-`Amili, Wasa'il al-Shi`ah, vol. 8, hadith no. 16336]

The Noble Messenger (s) said: “Whoever backbites a Muslim spoils his fasts and breaks his wudu', and shall come on the Day of Resurrection with his mouth's stench more putrid than a carcass', and it shall irk those who are with him in his station (mawqif). If he dies before repenting, his death is like that of one who dies while considering permissible that which is prohibited by God, the Exalted and the Glorious.” [Al-Hurr al-`Amili, Wasa'il al-Shi`ah, vol. 8, hadith no. 16316]

Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) narrated from the Noble Messenger (s) who is once said to have forbidden both backbiting and listening to it. Then he (s) said: “Lo, whoever does a favor to his brother by refuting his backbiting upon hearing it in a gathering, God shall save him from a thousand kinds of evils in this world and in the Hereafter. And if he does not do so despite his ability to refute it, on him shall be the burden of one who commits his backbiting seventy times.” [Al-Hurr al-`Amili, Wasa'il al-Shi`ah, vol. 8, hadith no. 16316]

Journey of Hope

2011-05-12T10:35:00.000+08:00

Check out the Central Asian Institute's latest publication of Journey of Hope

Journey of Hope

Building peace one school at a time....

Gayong Amerika Performing Arts Academy: A Concept Paper for Reviving Education in Malaysia

2011-04-29T22:01:00.000+08:00

by Abd. Lateef Krauss Abdullah

Introduction
What is an education? Is it merely passing on information or does it mean something more? Do we educate today in a way that fulfills the Prophet’s (SAW) command to learn from the cradle to the grave? Do we educate with the intent to create lifelong learners and nurture intellect, making use of all of our God-given capabilities, senses and faculties? In Malaysia today, there is ample evidence that education is not being provided in a manner that adequately prepares young people for a future world that requires of them more than just the regurgitation of facts. This phenomenon, moreover, is not unique to Malaysia but is become all the more prevalent even in the West. Commenting on the demise of the UK education system, Henzell-Thomas (2002) writes:

One of the outcomes of an impoverished arts and humanities curriculum can be a failure to develop effective communication skills. Cambridge University researchers have concluded that in the UK presently, "the amount of time for teaching each day does not allow for a broad and balanced curriculum", and creative subjects such as art, drama and music are being increasingly squeezed out of UK classrooms. In response to the report, John Bangs, Head of Education of the National Union of Teachers, said: "What is shocking about the report is the extent to which arts have been eliminated from primary schools. Tests and targets are wiping out pupil and teacher creativity.”

In a world that is increasingly driven by the ability to think outside the box, to be creative, communicative, dynamic, ingenuitive and self-driven, education must be balanced between hard and soft skills, right and left brain activities, and with the ultimate aim of developing the whole person. However, the current public school curriculum provides very little time and investment for such a balanced approach. The very discipline that can ensure this balance – arts and humanities – is virtually absent from the Government’s notion of education. Ironically, it is the public universities in Malaysia – the IPTAs – that are being targeted to provide the necessary soft skills to their students, in the hope that after a mere four years, students will be adequately equipped to take on the world and put Malaysia ‘on the map.’ This indicates that policy makers recognize the need for soft skills development, yet have chosen to address the problem too late in the developmental trajectory of a student’s life.

"Look at the schools that have the highest test scores on standardized tests. Generally, you will find that the arts are a part of their curriculum. Now, is that just a coincidence? Or is it part of the environment that makes the students more successful in their efforts to learn and compete on standardized tests?" - Derek E. Gordon, Executive Director, Jazz at Lincoln Center

Soft skills development through the arts and humanities needs to be included throughout primary and secondary schooling for it is the early years where such skills can best be internalized and nurtured before the child becomes hindered by social, cognitive and peer-related obstructions to learning such skills. According to Houston (in Henzell-Thomas, 2002), "arts kindle the imagination, stimulate the brain's connectivity". It is no secret that young children are naturally adept at learning new languages in a very short period of time and as individuals get older, it becomes increasingly difficult to internalize such knowledge. At the primary school age, children are less hindered by peer group pressures and social conformity and tend to be more eager to learn new and different skills. They are less shy and regard such learning as play, making it a more natural activity in which to engage.

The need for arts and humanities in education also represents the all-important need for self-expression in healthy and non-threatening ways. Self-expression is an inherent need for all individuals and it is usually only a question of how the self chooses to, and is able to express itself. This occurs often in negative ways such as the joining of black metal bands, Mat Rempit and the like, where young people – in order to be validated and to understand themselves better – feel the need (often unconsciously) to take on rebellious and anti-social roles. Ultimately, it is their need for self-expression that is an integral part of the identity formation process. Young people need to find out who and what they are and will go to great lengths to discover it. This process often takes the form of ‘showing off,’ taking risks, being rebellious and the like. These types of expression of self, however, are due to the fact that more positive outlets are either not available, are suppressed, or are somehow not going far enough in meeting the need for positive self-expression, where the soul is nurtured rather than the ego. Creative endeavors thus provide a new awareness of one’s inner spirit, which cannot be silenced, and which will eventually be expressed in one form or another. As long as children are given the tools for healthy expression, then there is no time or thought for destruction (Lawson, 2005).

“If I had been given a computer during those intense ‘growing-up’ years, I may have had endless information, but I would not have had the knowledge that, in spite of all the teasing and ridicule, I was really ‘okay’. That inside of me was a spirit worthy of recognition and that through art that spirit could be revealed, acknowledged, shared and even celebrated. Most importantly, art can offer a much-needed outlet for those capped up emotions, which scream for release in a child’s heart. Art in essence is a wonderful vehicle for communication. It’s a way of saying, "I exist and I have something to share with you." (Lawson, 2005)

The arts cannot erase the pains of life. They cannot eliminate criticism and cruelty that many children endure, but they can and do connect children with a strong inner resource, which contributes to a better sense of self (Lawson, 2005). By providing children in their early years with positive opportunities for self-expression such as those provided for through the arts and humanities, led by caring adults, crucial developmental needs can be met in positive and constructive ways. However, it must be provided early on in a child’s life and offered continuously throughout a child’s development into youth and young adulthood.

The Need for Arts and Humanities in a Science-Driven World
The arts make us human. We know from research that only 15% of learners are auditory learners (i.e. absorb information through hearing it); 40% of students are visual learners (i.e. they process information primarily through seeing pictures) and fully 45% are kinesthetic learners (i.e. they learn best through the immediate sensory stimulation of hands-on experience and action). The implications of this are very clear. The best schools do not rely on predominantly verbal instruction, which is one of the main sources of the pervasive boredom which inhibits learning. To do so would not only ignore the learning styles of the majority of people, but also fail to make use of the full potential of the individual human brain (Henzell-Thomas, 2002).

The best schools will always balance the seduction of hi-tech by providing highly stimulating visual and tactile environments, and use multi-sensory teaching techniques. An education system in tune with the findings of contemporary research needs to re-evaluate the place not only of music in the school curriculum, but also the educative potential of movement activities such as dance, which energizes and stimulates the entire mind-body system. Research has shown that test scores in language arts rise in correlation to the amount of time spent in movement activities (Henzell-Thomas, 2002).

This is highly relevant to Malaysian education today in particular, with the focus on science and technology, new discoveries and a populace geared more towards critical thinking. Arts help people, particularly children, develop the skills and motivation to experience the world without hesitation and fear, to engage in new endeavors and seek out new discoveries. Arts help young people to know themselves better through exploring one’s emotions and inner experiences, which increase one’s self-knowledge as well as helping to understand abstract subjects and concepts. Along these lines, most early education practices are filled with arts activities, because they offer the most basic and immediate ways to connect to a young mind by engaging them in a way that is often more kinesthetic, and perhaps more emotionally satisfying, than the "traditional" approach to teaching a text (Gordon, 2007).

Academic Achievement and the Arts
Some evidence of the importance of arts in improved academic performance of students (from U.S.; compiled by Dickinson, 1997):
 According to the College Entrance Examination Board, students who studied arts and music scored significantly higher than the national average on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Students who had participated in acting, play production, music performance and appreciation, drama appreciation, and art history, scored an average of 31 to 50 points higher for the math and verbal sections. The Board also stated that students with long-term arts study (four years or more) tend to score significantly higher on the SAT than those with less coursework in the arts.
 In 1995, The United States Department of Education reported in Schools, Communities, and the Arts: A Research Compendium, that "using arts processes to teach academic subjects results not only in improved understanding of content but it greatly improved self-regulatory behavior." Barry Oreck of Arts Connection and Susan Baum from the College of New Rochelle observed integrated arts lessons in all major subject areas in fourteen New York City elementary and secondary public school classrooms. They found that "student behavior improved strikingly in such areas as taking risks, cooperating, solving problems, taking initiative for learning, and being prepared. Content-related achievement also rose."
 In Needham, Massachusetts (USA) at the John Eliot school, the arts are fully integrated throughout the curriculum, and academic achievement has soared. The Superintendent told Principal Miriam Kronish, "I am absolutely astonished--even dumbfounded--by your results." John Eliot does not cater to superior, talented students and many are economically disadvantaged, but nonetheless their 1992 MEAP (Massachusetts Educational Assessment Program) scores were the highest in the state.
 The arts are strong at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia (USA), a magnet school that enjoys a national reputation for consistently high achievement. Its graduates are sought by the most prestigious colleges and universities.
According to the major research study Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student
Social and Academic Development (2002), the most expansive areas where the arts pay off academically are these: first, in basic reading skills, language development, and writing skills. Increases in general academic skills also showed up and would appear to reinforce these specific literacy-related developments. This refers to focus and concentration, skills in expression, persistence, imagination, creativity, and inclinations to tackle problems with zeal. In addition, a wide range of social skills accompanies learning in the arts and engagement in arts activities. These are the sorts of skills and behaviors that, in their absence, parents and teachers have been seen to tear their hair out: positive social behavior, social compliance, collaboration with others, ability to express emotions, courtesy, tolerance, conflict resolution skills, and attention to moral development (Catterall, 2002).
The Role of Arts in Educating Muslims
The best Islamic education must encompass the two traditional categories of knowledge, and the hierarchical relationship between them: revealed knowledge; attained through the religious sciences; and acquired knowledge, attained through the rational, intellectual and philosophical sciences. In the worldview of tawhid (Divine Unity), knowledge is holistic and there is no compartmentalization of knowledge into religious and secular spheres. Both types of knowledge contribute to the strengthening of faith, the former through a careful study of the revealed Word of God and the latter through a meticulous, systematic study of the world of man and nature (Henzell-Thomas, 2002).

The perfection of the Islamic revelation embraces all the diverse aspects of the life of man and roots all of them in the Unity and Comprehensiveness of God. As Seyyed Hossein Nasr explains, Islamic education is concerned not only with the instruction and training of the mind and the transmission of knowledge (ta`lim) but also with the education of the whole being of men and women (tarbiyah). The teacher is therefore not only a muallim, a 'transmitter of knowledge' but also a murabbi, a 'trainer of souls and personalities'. "The Islamic educational system never divorced the training of the mind from that of the soul." Islamic education ideally aims to provide a milieu for the total and balanced development of every student in every sphere of learning - spiritual, moral, imaginative, intellectual, cultural, aesthetic, emotional and physical - directing all these aspects towards the attainment of a conscious relationship with God, the ultimate purpose of man's life on earth (Henzell-Thomas, 2002).

The Prophet (SAW) said: "God has not created anything better than Reason, or anything more perfect, or more beautiful than Reason; the benefits which God gives are on its account; and understanding is by it, and God's wrath is caused by disregard of it".

Art is – in its ideal form – is the result of the interplay between the cognitive and sensitive imaginations of the human soul (Wan Daud, 1998). Most contemporary art is nothing more than the result of the sensitive alone, and contains little representation of the beautiful soul, which can be seen historically in the great civilizations of the past whose integration of both the cognitive and sensitive imaginative aspects produced the greatest religiously-driven masterpieces in fine arts, scholarship, music and others. Arts from the Islamic perspective must therefore reflect both the cognitive and sensitive imaginative faculties. In the modern Muslim world, this tends to be a weak area of the curriculum. In fact, many Muslim politicians and educational leaders do nothing about the obvious ill-effects of pop culture, yet openly frown upon classical arts for Muslim students.

Yet this is highly relevant to Malaysian Muslim youth today who are bombarded by a steady stream of ‘pop culture’, disguising itself as art. This cultural influence, perhaps more than any other, has created a dichotomy in the eyes of many that religion and art can never go hand in hand and are eternally opposed to one another. The modern art form also known as pop culture, rather than the beautiful soul manifesting itself with the intention of making the world more beautiful and in so doing singing the praises of God, continues to steer young people away from religion and God and entices them to embrace hedonism, materialism, sexual promiscuity and superficiality. Arts are meant to turn people inward, to facilitate self-refinement and support one’s quest for maximizing human potential. True art reflects the beauty, struggles and uniqueness of the human condition and provides meaning to those aspects of life that are difficult to understand and communicate. It is also a vehicle for personal knowing and understanding at a level that incorporates both the sensual and cognitive levels and in so doing, results in a more unified, competent and contented self.

Why Performing Arts?
High achieving schools use the power of drama to enrich the learning experience. Through dramatic enactment in theatre, the student explores the many guises of what it is to be a human being, using a rich array of skills - music, movement, rhetoric, expression and feeling - to tour the landscape of human experience. What is more, what is enacted is more readily remembered (Henzell-Thomas, 2002). According to Gordon (2007), “The arts encourage learning as a process of discovery. We want every student to be a researcher who is asking probing questions—not only demonstrating their knowledge, but also testing and defending the assumptions that they are making. This is something that artists do all the time.”

Performing arts can be a powerful learning experience that can come in a variety of forms: vocal and dramatic instruction, discipline, self-confidence, self-awareness, physical fitness/health, etiquette, cultural expression and sharing, performance experience and martial arts. In a creative drama lesson, for example, students might listen to or read a story or poem, or hear a piece of music, or see a painting and plan how to interpret it dramatically. They might review and if necessary develop a plot, choose characters, create an imaginary setting, then improvise dialogue and action. Together with their audience (of students not in the play) they might critique the performance, decide what was good and what could have been improved, then replay applying the suggested changes. This process is a highly collaborative one, develops quick-witted spontaneous thinking, problem-solving, poise and presence, concentration, self-awareness and both conceptual and analytical thinking skills. Conducting a dramatic performance with students encourages, and even demands cooperation, compromise and commitment--all skills necessary for any work environment (Dickinson, 1997).

Such skills are critical for Malaysian youth today in order to be well-rounded, capable and confident human resources for the nation. The ‘old school’ approach to verbal instruction alone is not sufficient to mold students into being complete human beings, for such methods are too one-dimensional and ignore the human and developmental need for self-expression and experiential learning. Performing arts is a time-tested method to accomplish this goal and it is time to introduce it into the educational life of all Malaysian students.

The Need to Bring Performing Arts to Malay Youth

In 2001, thirty American Muslim boarding school students in Paulsboro, New Jersey, USA conducted a martial arts drama called ‘Hang Tuah,’ based on the classic Malay tale. The school, Taqwa Gayong Academy, was run by a Malay husband and wife team, En. Sulaiman Sharif and Pn. Nurliza Khalid who spent thirteen years in the U.S. educating young Muslims, teaching Silat Seni Gayong and running a variety of small businesses. Taqwa Gayong Academy’s production of Hang Tuah was a first not only for the young men and women that starred in the show, but also for the Muslim American community that the school served. Never before had parents, neighbors and interested community members seen their kids do what they did during that memorable performance.

Donning traditional Malay costumes, ‘Hang Tuah’ was re-created to suit an American audience. All the young people involved in the show were between the ages of 6 and 16. The students, all boarding school students at the Academy, spent 2-3 hours/day for several weeks rehearsing for the show; not including the many months spent prior honing their silat skills. The result was a fantastic display of artistic expression, creativity, music, color and a dramatic martial arts performance unlike any that the audience had ever seen. The effect on the performers was equally powerful. The young people involved, mostly African-American Muslims from poor and high-risk neighborhoods and households, discovered a potential within themselves that they never realized existed. Despite growing up in a world that teaches them that they are useless, ugly, violent and destined for a fruitless life, for the first time in their young lives they felt like they were apart of something beautiful and special. Not only apart of it, but at the very center of it. They came alive in ways that even their own parents never believed they could. It was something to behold for anyone who knew them and the multiple challenges they faced everyday of their lives trying to succeed as young, black, Muslim children growing up in America.

The lesson that En. Sulaiman and Pn. Nurliza learned from this experience was that the performing arts can play a dramatic role in changing young people in positive ways. When used and applied in a purposeful way, to develop young people’s soft skills and enhance their inner sensitivities and competencies, the performing arts can be a powerful vehicle for youth development and education. In addition, performing arts can be used to educate young people in an interactive and fun way about subject matter that they might not otherwise take any interest in, such as history and culture.

Since having returned to Malaysia in 2002, En. Sulaiman and Pn. Nurliza have been educating local youth through their own private tutoring and tuition center in Pulau Pinang. After four years, they have observed that the nature of the current education that young people are receiving is not complete. Malaysian students, particularly the Malay students, are weak in a number of soft skills and social competencies. They attribute this, at least partially, to the government education system’s virtual abandonment of arts and humanities programs. Without these crucial programs, young people lack critical outlets for positive self-expression, self-exploration, self-awareness, speaking skills, critical and creative thinking and a host of others. These observations by En. Sulaiman and Pn. Nurliza are reinforced by scientific research. As Catterall (2002) explains:

“While motivation to achieve in school comes in various forms in the literature and across the compendium's studies, probably the most central is a tendency for the arts to promote both certain competencies for children who struggle across the curriculum as well as genuinely grounded feelings of competence and engagement. Feelings of competence and engagement can impact outlook and approach to schoolwork more generally -- and research on the arts finds impacts showing both increased attendance and fewer discipline referrals. And the limited number of studies we found addressing special needs populations show that arts activities associate with particularly important outcomes: writing and reading skills, oral language skills, and (of great importance to struggling learners) sustained attention and focus.”

Arts are thus an integral component of education for the development of competences and soft skills using developmentally-appropriate methods.

Conclusion: The Gayong Amerika Performing Arts Academy
To respond to this challenge, En. Sulaiman and Pn. Nurliza are proposing a new performing arts program to integrate arts back into education for Malaysian youth. Though the program will target Malay youth, it will be open to all young Malaysians ages 7 and up. The Academy will hold regular youth-led dramatic performances with its members geared around pertinent themes, relating to contemporary social issues or even historical issues that have relevance to today’s youth. Whatever the theme, it will be relevant to youth with the intention of educating them about their world, other people and themselves.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE DETAILS…

References

Catterall, J.S. (2002). Book summary: Critical links: Learning in the arts and student
social and academic development. New Horizons for Learning Website. Retrieved
February 24, 2007 from: http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/arts/catterall.htm.

Dickinson, D. (1997). Learning through the arts. New Horizons for Learning Website.
Retrieved February 28, 2007 from:
http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/arts/dickinson_lrnarts.htm.

Gordon, D.E. (2007). A conversation with Derek Gordon. Why Arts Matter. The
Kennedy Center – Artsedge Website. Retrieved February 27, 2007 from:
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3270/.

Henzell-Thomas, J. (2002). Excellence in Islamic education: Key issues for the present
time. The Book Foundation website. Retrieved October 5, 2005 from:
http://thebook.org/tep-articles/excellence.shtml.

Lawson, S. (2005). Why art is essential in our public schools. Passion4art Website.
Retrieved March 2, 2007 from: http://passion4art.com/articles/pubschool.htm.

Wan Daud, W.M.N. (1998). The educational philosophy and practice of Syed
Muhammad Naquib al-Attas. ISTAC: Kuala Lumpur.

Six Difficult Things....

2011-03-31T15:22:00.001+08:00

"A man is never granted the degree of the righteous before six difficult
things become possible for him: the first, that he closes the door of ease
and open the door of difficulty; the second, that he closes the door of
honour and open the door of humiliation; the third, that he closes the door
of comfort and open the door of effort; the fourth; that he closes the door
of sleep and open the door of wakefulness; the fifth; that he closes the
door of wealth and open the door of poverty; the sixth; that he close the
door of imagining the future and open the door of readiness for death."

- Hazrat Ibrahim Adham

Letter to a Would-be Mujahid

2011-03-22T04:47:00.002+08:00

By Imam Zaid on 14 December 2010

Recent developments have forced me to put some things on hold to write you this letter. You might ask how I know you. I have met you at student events, in mosques, and at conferences. I have listened to your arguments and I have made my counter arguments. Oftentimes, my arguments have been somewhat formal. I figured I would write you a letter, since that is a lot more personal and less formal. Perhaps this way you will be more inclined to listen.

To begin with, whenever you are criticized for your bloody, anarchistic ideology, you point to the bloody abuses of the American war machine or their Zionist accomplices. This diversionary tactic on your part does not impress serious and thoughtful people. It is simply an abdication of your moral responsibility. It is as if you are saying you reserve the right to violate established Islamic principles, such as those guaranteeing the protection of innocent life, because the American military or the IDF do no respect innocent Muslim life. That would be a credible argument if the American military or the IDF claimed to be operating on the basis of Islamic principles. They don’t, but you do. I hope, without further elaboration, you can immediately sense the moral dilemma you are creating for yourself.

Along those lines, please allow me to remind you of something else. Your misguided attempts to kill and maim innocent Americans only make it easier for the American military to kill more Muslims with greater impunity. Your actions help to create a political climate that removes any moral restraint from the actions of the American military, the IDF and soon the forces of India’s increasingly Hindu nationalist armed forces. You see, fear is a very potent emotion and when it is carefully manipulated it can lead to very irrational politics. That most extreme form of those politics is called genocide.

Fear can be especially dangerous when it is combined with another emotion, insecurity. You are so divorced from reality that you probably haven’t noticed that a lot of Americans are extremely insecure right now. Especially, the white middle class or what is left of it. They don’t know if they will soon lose their homes, if they will have a job tomorrow, if their money will be in the bank next week, if they will be able to send their children to college or if their retirement funds will be stolen or totally devalued. Those insecurities combined with the spectre of the “Muslim terrorist next door” are a lethal combination that a group of people called demagogues is exploiting to justify an all out war on Muslims.

Those demagogues use the fear of you to prevent people from building the kind of grassroots, popular, movements that are necessary to challenge the corporate rape of our society and from challenging the destructive logic of permanent war. For example, remember the growing movement to challenge the new invasive TSA screening procedures at airports? Did you notice how it disappeared after the would-be mujahid in Portland allowed himself to be trapped into the scheme to blow up the Christmas tree ceremony? Do you think the timing was accidental? It is a shame that you and your ilk are so mindlessly complicit in such schemes.

Now you think the mujahideen can win an all out war against the Americans. Look at what the mujahideen are doing to them in Afghanistan. Sorry, but Afghanistan is not what all out war looks like. I’ll give you a clue what all out war looks like. Remember a couple years ago when the Israelis were bombarding the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Muslims, for all of their courage, couldn’t do anything except appeal to outside powers to stop the carnage? Or a few years before that when Jenin was flattened? Think of the scale of that devastation expanded to encompass all of the major cities of the Muslim world. Imagine America unleashing a new generation of “tactical” nuclear weapons being designed to be used specifically against Muslims targets raining down on Muslim capitals and there is no Muslim strategic deterrent available to stop it. AK-47s and RPGs will be of no avail. Imagine the calls to human rights organizations to stop the slaughter finding no ears to hear them because the neo-fascist forces your stupidity has helped to unleash have swept those organizations away in its maddening torrent.

I have heard you counter that such an argument is a manifestation of a lack of faith. God has promised the believers victory. Indeed, He has. However, it is very pretentious of you to assume that someone who murders women, children and innocents with blazon impunity in the Name of God are the believers that victory has been promised to. He has promised the believers victory, but that promise is not unconditional. God is not going to give victory to people who murder in His Holy Name.

I applaud your courage, but how it manifests itself puzzles me. You have the courage to fly halfway around to world to engage in an armed struggle, but you do not have the courage to knock on your neighbor’s door to explain Islam to him or to give him your take on world affairs. I am also baffled at how you can smile in his face, but are ready to blow him up if he happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. What calculus do you use to assume he would not be amenable to your message? What has he done to you to be the target of your bloodlust?

You claim a refined understanding of Islam, so refined that you can make grave decisions concerning life and death, decisions with huge strategic implications –yet you seem to perceive nothing of the divine wisdom of your being in this country. You have an opportunity to be an educator at a time people are looking for a new way. You have an opportunity to be a guide at a time people are looking for a new direction. You have an opportunity to provide a source of spiritual solace at a time people are confused, angry and afraid. You have an opportunity to be a fierce advocate for truth at a time when lies are transforming the image of your religion and the direction of your country. You have the skills, the command of the language, the knowledge of the people to do all of that and more, but you choose to run away from this battle to join one you do not even know who the commander is.

Did I say that? “To join a battle you do not even know who the commander is.” No! I didn’t say that. Do you think that if the FBI can send fake mujahids into mosques all around America to find confused, vulnerable Muslims, develop fake bomb plots, with fake bombs, for very real political objectives, the CIA couldn’t do the same thing abroad? No, wait a minute. Didn’t the CIA build the Afghan mujahideen network? Didn’t what’s his name, Zbigniew Brzezinski, describe the Afghan operation as the CIA’s finest hour?

They would never use fake mujahids, operating through fake websites, to recruit confused and desperate Muslim youth to engage in operations that keep the climate of fear alive, would they? They wouldn’t do that to keep support for bloodsucking, treasury-draining wars alive at a time when there is no money for the poor, the elderly, health-care, education, infrastructure or investment in the green economy. No! It’s preposterous. Those would be psychological operations (psych ops) and that would be cheating. America never cheats, we’re the good guys!

I apologize, I’m tripping. On a serious note, I hope you don’t one day end up feeling as stupid and abused as young Antonio Martinez or Mahomed Osman Mohamud, the Somali kid in Oregon, are probably feeling right now. They have been tricked, deceived, used, and abused by fake mujahids and then thrown in a dungeon to rot for the rest of their lives. Do you think your fate will be any different? Don’t be a fool.

Sincerely,

Imam Zaid Shakir

Red Sea Opened Once Again...

2011-03-14T15:22:00.000+08:00

Red sea opened once again
Egyptian revolution, Quranic teachings:

Yasmin Mogahed Egyptian writer

Thousands of years ago when Prophet Musa (Moses) stood in front of the Red Sea, a tyrant and his army approached from behind. Some of those in Musa’s midst began to divide. Looking ahead, those people saw only defeat: “And when the two bodies saw each other, the people of Moses said: ‘We are sure to be overtaken.’”(Qur’an, 26:61).

All in reverence

But Musa had different eyes. His eyes were spiritual eyes that saw through the illusions of worldly hardship and defeat. With a heart connected to the Most High, looking at the same seemingly impossible situation, Musa saw only God: “(Moses) said: ‘By no means! My Lord is with me! He will guide me through!’” (Qur’an, 26:61-62) And indeed Allah did just that:”Then We told Moses by inspiration: ‘Strike the sea with thy rod.’ So it divided, and each separate part became like the huge, firm mass of a mountain. And We made the other party approach thither. We delivered Moses and all who were with him; But We drowned the others.” (Qur’an, 26: 63-66).

Today in Egypt, we are standing in front of yet another Red Sea- a tyrant and his army are at our back. Today, there are some who see only defeat. But, there are others whose eyes are looking through the blockade to the path and the hope beyond it. Today in Egypt, there are some who are saying:”Indeed my Lord is with me, He will guide me through.” One might wonder why, at such a critical time in history, we would retell an ancient story.

Why would something that happened thousands of years ago be relevant today? The reason is that it is not just a story. Nor is it ancient. It is an everlasting sign and a lesson for all time.

In the very next ayah, Allah says: “Verily in this is a Sign: but most of them do not believe.” (26:67) It is a sign of the Reality of God and the secrets of this world. It is a sign that tyranny never wins and that obstacles are only illusions, created to test us, train us and purify us. But most of all it is a sign of where success comes from. And it is a vision of what that success, against all odds-at a time we think we’re trapped, defeated, and powerless-really look like.

Living art of the dead

Peaceful demonstrators who overthrew Hosni Mubarak pray at Liberation Square instead of resorting to violence Some might ask why, if we are indeed on the side of God, does victory not come easily? Some might wonder why God doesn’t just give the righteous victory without immense struggle and sacrifice. The answer to this question is also given by God. He tells us: “And We did not send a prophet in a town but We overtook its people with distress and affliction in order that they might humble themselves (reach a state of tadaru..’).” (Qur’an, 7:94) Here, Allah says that the purpose of the affliction is to reach a state of tadaru.

Tadaru is humility before God - but it is not just humility .To understand the concept of tadaru, imagine yourself in the middle of an ocean. Imagine that you are all alone on a boat. Imagine that a huge storm comes and the waves become mountains surrounding you. Now imagine turning to God at that point and asking for His help. In what state of need, awe, dependency and utter humility would you be in? That is tadaru.

Allah says that He creates conditions of hardship in order to grant us that gift. God does not need to make things hard for us. He creates those situations in order to allow us to reach a state of closeness to Him, which otherwise we’d be unlikely to reach.

That priceless state of humility, nearness and utter dependence on God is what the Egyptian people have been blessed with today. God is great. But Allah mentions another purpose for these hardships and struggles. He says:”And We divided them throughout the earth into different groups. Of them some were righteous, and of them some were otherwise. And We tested them with good [times] and bad that perhaps they would return [to obedience].” (Qur’an, 7:168).

In Sura ali-Imran, Allah tells us:”If a wound hath touched you, be sure a similar wound hath touched the others. Such days (of varying fortunes) We give to men and men by turns: that Allah may know those that believe, and that He may take to Himself from your ranks Martyr-witnesses (to Truth). And Allah loveth not those that do wrong. Allah’s object also is to purify those that are true in Faith and to deprive of blessing those that resist Faith. Did ye think that ye would enter Heaven without Allah testing those of you who fought hard (In His Cause) and remained steadfast?” (Qur’an, 3:140-142).

Here, Allah describes the purpose of hardship as being tamhees. Tamhees is the same word used to describe the heating and purifying of gold. Without heating it up, gold is precious metal-but it’s full of impurities. By performing tamhees, a process of heating, the impurities are removed from gold. This is what God also does with the believers. Through hardships, believers are purified-just like gold.

And so too are the Egyptians being purified. Only days before the uprising, the world had considered the Egyptian youth a lost cause. We believed they had lost their direction and their purpose and chosen to live their lives on the streets, catcalling girls, or at internet cafes smoking hookah. Through this hardship, the Egyptian youth have been brought back from the dead.

Now, these youth are standing on the streets in defiance of tyranny, on their knees praying, and with their hands facing the sky, calling on their Lord. The same people who just days before barely prayed, stand today in front of military tanks to bow down to their Creator. Only days before the uprising, the tensions between Egyptian Muslims and Christians had grown to an all-time high. Today the Christians and Muslims stand side by side in defense of each other and their country. The same people who did not trust each other the day before their ‘heating,’ have come together as brothers and sisters, as one body, to defend their streets, their homes, and their neighbourhoods. And through this hardship, a person who only days before lived for his cell phone, sheesha, and cigarettes, has become willing to sacrifice his own life to give freedom to his people.

Allah tells us in the Qur’an: “Say: ‘Who is it that sustains you (in life) from the sky and from the earth? Or who is it that has power over hearing and sight? And who is it that brings out the living from the dead and the dead from the living? And who is it that rules and regulates all affairs?’ They will soon say, ‘(Allah)’. Say, ‘Will you not then show piety (to Him)?’” (Qur’an, 10:31) It is Allah who brings the living out of the dead. He has brought us back from the dead. Don’t think for a moment that a single moment of this is not happening with a purpose-a deep, profound and beautiful, liberating purpose.

For decades the Egyptian people have lived a life of fear. But when you let fear control you, you are a slave. Allah has liberated the Egyptian people from this slavery, by making them face-and overcome-their greatest fear. Allah has liberated the Egyptian people by allowing them to look their oppressor in the eye and tell him, and the whole world, that they will no longer live in fear. And so whether Mubarak stays or goes, lives or dies-it doesn’t really matter.

The Egyptian people have already been liberated. Hosni Mubarak is irrelevant. He is nothing but a tool by which God carries out His plan for the Egyptian people and for the entire Ummah. A tool to carry out His plan to purify, beautify and liberate the Egyptian people and the Ummah. And whether we are in Egypt today or not is unimportant. Egypt is just one limb of our body. The purification of Egypt is a purification of the whole body of our Ummah. It is the purification of you and me.

It is our chance to ask ourselves to what are we attached. What are we afraid of? What are we striving for? What do we stand for? And where are we going? When a body is in a deep, deep slumber-a coma-it is only out of His infinite mercy that He sends us a wakeup call. It is only from His infinite mercy that He sends to us life where there was once only death. We were heedless, so He sent us a sign. We were asleep, so he woke us up. We worshipped this life, and preferred our material possessions to the liberation of a soul attached to, and afraid of nothing but Him-so He freed us.

How many people will experience something like this in their lifetime? How many people will experience the opening of a Sea, the humbling of a tyrant? Shouldn’t we ask ourselves why we were chosen to see it? Shouldn’t we ask ourselves what we were intended to learn, change, transform? Because if we think for a moment this is all just about the people of Egypt, then we have desperately missed the point. We were asleep, and Allah chose to wake us.

We were dead and Allah wants to give us life.

We were conditioned to believe that our enemy was outside of ourselves. That he had power over us. This is also an illusion. The enemy is inside of us. All external enemies are only manifestations of our own diseases. And so if we want to conquer those enemies, we must first conquer the enemy inside ourselves. This is why the Qur’an tells us: Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they first change what is in themselves.” (Qur’an, 13:11) We must first conquer greed, selfishness, shirk, ultimate fear, love, hope and dependence on anything other than Allah. We must conquer (love of this world -the root of all our diseases and all our oppression.

Before we can defeat the Pharaohs in our lives, we must defeat the Pharaoh inside ourselves. So the fight in Egypt is a fight for liberation. Yes. But liberation from what? Who is truly oppressed? Are you and I free? What is true oppression? Ibn Taymiyyah (ra) answers this question when he says: “The one who is (truly) imprisoned is the one whose heart is imprisoned from Allah and the captivated one is the one whose desires have enslaved him.” (Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Wabil) When you are free inside, you will never allow anyone to take away your freedom. And when you have inner freedom, you can look through tyrants and thugs to the Lord of the tyrants and thugs. When you are free inside, you become unenslaveable, because you can only enslave a person with attachments. You can only threaten a person who is afraid of loss. You only have power over someone when they need or want something that you have the ability to take away. But there is only one thing which no person has the power to take away from you: God.

And so when we fight to free Egypt, on a grander and realer scale it is a fight to also free ourselves. It is a fight to free ourselves of the tyranny of our own nafs and desires. A fight to free ourselves from our own false attachments and dependencies, from all that controls us, from all that we worship-other than Him. It is a fight to free us from our own slavery. Whether we are slaves to the American dollar, to our own desires, to status, to wealth, or to fear-the purification of Egypt is a purification of us all.

That is why the formula for true success given to us in the Qur’an consists of two elements: Sabr (patience, perseverance) and Taqwa (fear of God alone): “O you who have believed, persevere and endure and remain stationed and fear God (alone) that you may be successful.” (Qur’an 3:200).

So if we watch Egypt today as if it is only a spectacle happening outside of ourselves, without cleaning, examining, and really changing ourselves and our lives, then we have missed its purpose. After all, it isn’t every day that a sea is opened before our very eyes.

Gaddafi, who is the Devil now?

2011-02-28T08:41:00.000+08:00

by Nazim Baksh
Source: Nazim Baksh Blog

Feb 28 2011

There are two portraits on this page. Both are Libyans but a world of difference separates them. I believe one is the image of piety, the other, despicable evil. The image on the right is Sayyid Muhammad Idris Al-Mahdi As-Sanusi. He was born circa 1889 in Jaghbub when Libya was part of the Ottaman Khilafah. He was the first and only King of Libya. Those who knew him said he prayed Tahajjud every night and was outwardly pious. In 1969 the man on the left, Muammar Al-Gaddafi, who has over 200 spelling of his name and whom the world will soon forget, staged a military coup and toppled Sidi Muhammad Idris. At this time Sidi Muhammad was in Turkey seeking medical treatment. After the coup the King was granted asylum in Egypt. He died on May 25, 1983 at the age of 94. He was buried in Madina Al-Munawwarah in the company of the best of God’s creation. His grandfather was the founder of the Sanusiyah Brotherhood (Tariqa). After Sidi Muhammad’s father died in 1902, he became the leader of the Sanusiyah Tariqa and its active leader when he 16. Following the Italian invasion of Libya in 1922 he was forced into exile in Egypt where he continued to lead his people.

During WWII the exiled King recruited Libyan fighters to aid the Allied forces against Nazi Germany and the Axis. In 1947 he returned home and in 1949 the United Nations determined that representatives of three provinces should meet in a national assembly to decide their future. The assembly met and decided on a constitutional monarchy and offered the reign to Sidi Muhammad. In 1951 Libya declared its independence. The army rose up against the King dubbing him “Idris Iblis.” Those were the famous words of Gaddafi, “Idris wala Iblis,” meaning he would rather the Devil than King Idris.

Shaykh Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Zarruq Ehwass

A senior member of the 1969 coup along with Gaddafi was a young army Major named Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Zarruq Ehwass. He was my first serious Arabic and Islamic studies teacher. In those years he was the Libyan ambassador to Guyana (1977-1981), the country of my birth. Shaykh Ahmad was a pious man. He was a learned scholar, charismatic, generous, patient and kind. The youth of Guyana loved him and his regular weekly classes drew teenagers from remote regions of the country. Many travelled long distances risking their safety to attend his weekend classes in Georgetown.

Shaykh Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Zarruq Ehwass

The elders respected him, but he was a stranger they never really got to know. He played cricket with us, but preferred soccer. He ate what we ate and sat on the floor to teach us the rules of Tajwid. In return, we taught him many Guyanese terms. He fell in love with our poor tropical third world country and was so involved in the affairs of its community that he adopted an orphaned infant raising him as his own. He and his wonderful wife didn’t have any children.

I never saw him get angry. He was a Hafiz of the Quran and recited it every night in prayers. Long after bedtime we would hear him reciting verses of the Quran from memory. He fasted every Monday and Thursday. He followed the Maliki Madhab, but knew enough of the Hanafi fiqh and adopted it in prayers so as not to cause disunity in our small vibrant community. He stood up when the majority of Muslims would stand to send Salat and Salam on the Prophet during the annual Mawlid celebrations. He considered Gaddafi’s Green Book garbage and it was. I knew that when I was 15-years-old.

After the 69′ coup, Shaykh Ahmad came to see Gaddafi for what he was, a tyrant who did not deserve what he coveted. Convinced that the real “Iblis” was about to turn Libya into hell on earth, he spoke out and was jailed. Unable to keep him incarcerated, Gaddafi assigned him to a host of diplomatic positions in Denmark, North Yemen, Somalia, South Yemen, Malaysia and finally Guyana. Ten years after the coup Shaykh Ahmad formed the Islamic Salvation Front for the Liberation of Libya. He was determined to correct the mistake of 1969 by force if necessary.

He quit his position as ambassador in 1981 and left Guyana. None of his many students who are now community activists in Florida, NY, Toronto and throughout the Caribbean, would ever see him again. I was the sole exception. At the ISNA conference in Sept. 1983 I met Shaykh Ahmad in Indianapolis. He was serious. Intense. Scarry in some ways. He was in the company of many Libyan men and some ‘shy’ Americans whom I later realized were masters at the dark art of espionage. I was 19 and none of it made sense to me at the time.

What became evident much later was that in the shadows of the Islamic conference Shaykh Ahmad was planning a coup. King Idris would have been proud of the moral backbone of this son of Libya who so hated the injustices of Gaddafi that he was determined to oust him. King Idris died that same year and knew that Gaddafi was conducting a brutal campaign of assassination against hundreds of opponents to his regime. Human Rights organizations accounted for Libyan ‘Ulema who were killed by Gaddafi, many during the Hajj in the most sacred Islamic cities. Eight months (May 8, 1984) after ISNA, Shaykh Ahmad and a group of armed fighters staged a failed coup at Bab Al-Aziziya. Media reports said they killed 30 bodyguards of Gaddafi but did not succeed in getting him. Shaykh Ahmad was killed and Newsweek printed a picture of him with a story that hinted at the possibility that the men might have been betrayed.

What he started 30 years ago and ultimately gave his life to achieve, hundreds, perhaps thousands of Libyans, have sacrificed their lives trying to complete. I heard an Imam in Tripoli use the mimbar today (Feb. 25) to remind worshippers that the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is reported to have said: If you disapprove of your leaders do not raise your voices nor your swords in protests, otherwise you should be killed (i.e. capital punishment).” Someone should have reminded the young Colonel Gaddafi of this in 1969. It’s a little too late now.

4 Reasons to Change the Way We View Education

2011-02-27T15:26:00.002+08:00

Tuesday, September 14, 2010
4 Reasons to Change the Way We View Education

Mary Hickcox
Activist Post

The way in which we view education has a lot to do with our past; how we grew up, societal influences, and the way we were schooled ourselves. It is the legacy that we pass on to our children. Tragically, the current way our education system is engineered, it appears our children seem doomed to be unsuccessful.

We live in a time where our schools are failing, our children are unhappy and overworked, and the current system becomes more obsolete every year. Something needs to change if we want our children to be happy, and our country to be successful, once again. The system we have now was built on a fault line and it has become increasingly evident that the cracks are growing exponentially. It isn’t too late to change that model.

We could talk about how to improve schools, maybe more money or less political involvement, but in the long run those are not the things that stand in the way of our children’s futures. What stands in the way is an archaic mindset build on false education and an inability to look past the norm. With our country in a dire economic situation with mass joblessness and stifled innovation, it is time to step outside of the box that public education has put us in to find solutions.

1. Our schools are failing miserably: That's not to say that some students do not do well in public school and end up happy, but statistics do not lie. At an annual average cost of over $10,000 per student, the U.S. is lagging behind countries that don’t spend half that much. Money does not appear to be the problem, so throwing more into a broken system is just adding fuel to the fire. No Child Left Behind has been a total failure, where states are suing the federal government over this catastrophe. NCLB puts extreme emphasis on tests -- as if still trying to churn out worker bees -- yet, the U.S. ranks far below most industrialized nations. We seem to be wasting money letting political agendas decide what is best, rather than the parents or teachers who know what children need.

Unsettling Education Statistics
Students are not faring well on national assessments. The most recent NAEP assessments indicate that less than one third of U.S. fourth graders are proficient in reading, mathematics, science, and American history.
More than half of low-income students cannot even demonstrate basic knowledge of science, reading, and history.
U.S. eighth graders ranked 19th out of 38 countries on mathematic assessments and 18th in science.
U.S. twelfth graders ranked 18th out of 21 countries in combined mathematics and science assessments (Source: The Heritage Foundation)
History shows that modern-day schooling started with the Industrial Revolution, but many still refuse to accept that the people who funded its inception did not have children’s education as their main priority. Men like Rockefeller and Carnegie wanted good obedient workers to take the jobs they needed filled. They didn’t want free-thinking students to reach their potential; they wanted a large dumbed-down class, just disciplined and smart enough to show up on time and work their factory jobs.

John Taylor Gatto, teacher for over 30 years, NY Teacher of the Year, bestselling author, and homeschooling supporter, states: “The secret to American schooling is that it doesn’t teach the way children learn, nor is it supposed to. Schools were conceived to serve the economy and the social order rather than kids and their families….that is why it is compulsory.” This is a system set up for all the wrong reasons, and it is a system whose goals were set deep inside of ulterior motives and still are today. Maybe schools are not the best places for our children to gain knowledge.

2. Our children are unhappy: Our children are unhappy, overworked, and not learning what they need in order to be successful. The first thing that needs to change is how we define that word success. We hear it all the time used as a measure of how our children are doing in life, but what if the way we define success has been wrong all along? What exactly are we as parents supposed to focus on? Is happiness even on the radar screen when success is discussed?

It seems most parents these days get so caught up in competition that they can forget that our ultimate goal should be our children’s happiness. Who's to blame them, as we are all conditioned to survive in the rat-race dog-eat-dog economy. But this ultra-competitive model seems to make school an unhappy place, as a record number of children are now on mood-altering drugs to handle their pressure-cooker lives. It is a place where strangers with corporate-government mandates are controlling the minds and bodies of our children.

We cannot expect our children to be free-thinking independent adults if they are kept under lock and key, segregated by age, fully controlled by rules, and forced to learn a federally-mandated curriculum. It is an institutional and cold conditioning of the mind. Americans have been taught to think of the word success as being dependent on excelling at school, but it seems societal success is more dependent on knowledge -- and the two are not synonymous. If we can change our thinking about success then it can equal happiness -- the ultimate human success.

In 2007, for the first time, UNICEF did a study on the wellbeing and happiness of children in 21 industrialized nations. The US and UK, two of the wealthier nations on the list, came in dead last. This alone should raise some eyebrows and prove the point that our children are not happy, and that more money is not the answer to the problem.

Another study was conducted in 2009 by the American Psychological Association to survey stress levels in children; they found some alarming information. To start, it showed that stress levels in adults and children have risen dramatically over the past few years, but even more upsetting is that parents seemed mostly clueless to the fact that their children were stressed at all. What were the main issues causing stress in children? Worry about grades, about getting into college, and family finances top the list. These problems are causing children to experience headaches, nausea, and trouble sleeping. If our goal is happiness, the school system is again, a failure.

3. School has become obsolete: The last 10 years has seen more technological advancement than in the entire century before. All of the world's information is now literally available in the palm of our hands. Almost the entire world’s wealth of knowledge is accessible through the Internet and integrated into our everyday life. Small improvements have occurred to incorporate this new lifestyle, but not nearly enough to catch up with the rest of the world. In fact, some researchers suggest that students would be better off with self-directed learning using the Internet, because we all learn better when it is something that we are interested in.

The current system is repetitive, memorization and test driven, and downright boring. It’s a place that resembles prison where, “Very little of what is taught is learned, very little of what is learned is remembered, and very little of what is remembered is actually used," as John Holt states in How Children Learn. Couple that with the fact that 50% (technological knowledge) of what is learned in the first year of college is worthless by graduation, and you just have to ask yourself: What is the point? And can’t we do better than this? Our children not only deserve better, they require better in order to compete in a market with nearly 10% official unemployment.

College seems to be less cost-effective every year. Rising college costs put our children in insurmountable debt due to the lack of viable employment. Tuitions have skyrocketed in the past few years (Harvard University is now $60,000 per year). To make matters worse, universities are now making kickback profits from credit card companies, while graduates aren’t even able to find jobs. With over 1/3 of college graduates now taking low-skill jobs, and over 65% graduating with crippling debt, it is now legitimate to question if college is the right path to put our children on.

4. The wrong people control the system for the wrong reasons: “The education system was deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects, to hamstring the inner life, to deny students appreciable leadership skills, and to ensure docile and incomplete citizens in order to render the populace 'manageable.'" -- Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, Sr. Policy Advisor for the US Dept. of Education, and whistleblower on government activities to deliberately dumb our children down.

She also notes that the system is set up to make good consumers, as well as standardize people to keep them predictable and easy to control. Does this sound like something you want to support? Do we really want our children controlled and held back in life?

The Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 were the first steps toward a large government role in education. What people failed to realize was that the money from these Acts became obligations to play by their rules and it continues today. Because the Feds were financially supporting the schools, they could control what was taught, thus bringing another facet of American life under their control. This is proven again and again when we see how difficult they make it for people to choose alternative education options for their own children.

It is clear that the purpose of school has become to serve corporations and government. This is evidenced most recently when we learn that BP played a role in writing the environmental curriculum in California. I think we all can agree that public schools should only serve the taxpayer's families and their children's best interests -- not the corporations that write the curriculum. When the day comes that the people in charge make families (and not greedy corporations) the priority then maybe, just maybe, our children will be learning what is really important, rather than learning how to serve the very people who set up this failing system.

Conclusion
In a time when our economy desperately needs more innovators, how can we change education to expand the potential of each child? It seems we must do some things we did NOT learn in school: Question assumptions about education; think for and believe in ourselves; speak up against what we know is wrong; and challenge what we've been taught to believe is right. It is each parent's right and responsibility to decide the best way to guide their child to maximum human potential.

It seems that our modern world provides all of the tools to support a child's natural curiosity to drive their own education. Homeschooling and unschooling may be the most powerful form of revolt against an establishment which is terrified of individuals that question authority and refuse to be good little worker bees. John Holt said it well: “To trust children we must first learn to trust ourselves . . . but most of us were taught as children that we could not be trusted.” We also must begin to trust our own abilities as parents to guide our children toward happiness and independence, not to blindly trust the failed government standards that have resulted in anxiety and stress conditioning.

It is time for all of us to look outside the box for solutions to our education system to ensure our children's happiness -- this should be deemed the ultimate success.

Author Mary Hickcox is an unschooling advocate, mother, and life guide to three sons (11, 7, 3).

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Hope Lost

Perfect Harmony and Equilibrium

2011-02-16T07:05:00.003+08:00

By manifesting all the Divine Names without a trace of Lordship and thereby displaying perfect servanthood, perfect man becomes, one might say, totally ordinary. In him, nothing stands out, since he flows with all the created things in perfect harmony and equilibrium. He is like a tree or a bird in his ordinariness, following the Divine Will wherever it takes him, with no friction, no protest, complete serenity, no waves. He is so much at ease with the continual flux of secondary causes that he remains unnoticed by his contemporaries. There may be outstanding spiritual masters who attract disciples through their teachings and miraculous gifts, but the most perfect of the masters are never noticed except by those whom God chooses and guides.

- Ibn 'Arabi

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf on the Egyptian Revolution

2011-02-12T12:20:00.002+08:00

The lack of an ideology, for me, is the most refreshing aspect of this uprising. The stale rhetoric of “Islam is the solution” that has marked countless demonstrations for decades is absent. The pathetic socialist slogans of the Libyan revolution as well as the Syrian and Iraqi Arab nationalist slogans are all conspicuously absent. Islam is not a political ideology and hence does not offer a political solution per se; basic morality in politics is the solution. Most Muslims would be content living under Finnish or Swedish forms of governance, with a few adjustments to the sexual liberties in those countries, and feel as if it were the time of Saladin, given that they are committed to eradicating poverty and hunger, serving the aged, and even ensuring rights for dogs and cats. If you torture a dog in Stockholm, you go to jail. In the jails of Egypt, people can be tortured with impunity by dogs of the state....

....Islam is not an ideology, political or otherwise. It is a revelation from God that explains and reminds people of their duties toward their Creator in honoring and worshipping God with gratitude for the gift of life and all the concomitants of that gift, and of their duties toward their fellow creatures as unique and protected creations of God. Those duties are well described in all the Books sent by God and enshrined most succinctly in the Ten Commandments. Politics involves making sure the mail gets out, allotting appropriate monies for public works, and ensuring the security of a people from internal or external threats; all of these can be done without recourse to any specific religious tradition.

...The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, left no specific system of government; rather, he taught “constitutional” principles upon which governance should be based. Many of those principles, quite revolutionary at his time, have become common coin for most people today: the idea of equality among races and gender, the concept of economic justice, and the right of an individual to be protected in his person and property from unjust search or seizure. These are constitutional principles accepted by most governments today; whether they are practiced or not is another matter. There are, however, two clearly articulated aspects of governance that do have relevance in any state run by Muslims. The penal code of Islam was developed specifically for an Islamic polity, but only a few actual punishments are agreed upon, and the circumstances of its various applications are highly nuanced in Islamic legal texts, with an aim to avoid their implementation whenever possible. The gross and often perverse so-called “Islamic punishments” meted out today-invariably on the poorest and most helpless in societies-have nothing to do with the Prophet’s teaching, peace and blessings be upon him. Commercial law is, undeniably, another developed area in Islamic law that has implications in the running of a state.

- Excerpted from "When the Social Contract is Breached on One Side, It’s Breached on Both Sides"

Spectrum of Various Islamic Scholars Views on the Egyptian Revolution

2011-02-12T11:59:00.000+08:00

February 9th, 2011 3 Share Print

A wide spectrum of the views of various scholars’ views on the Egyptian Revolution.

Mufti Abdurrahman ibn Yusuf

The main thing we need to realize is that until we become worthy of having decent people above us, then no decent person will come above us. The Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) said, “However you are, that’s the type of people that would be put above you.” Whatever is happening in the Muslim world is also because of our sins.

Look at the current day leaders today- you think you and I can do better than them once you’ve got that power and force? I think the simple way to understand that is, how much do we do in the position that we are in right now? In the limited power we are in right now. Are there people you owe money to and you haven’t give it to them yet? Think about it. Are there people you’ve wronged and not sought forgiveness for? Do you have some hatred in your heart for somebody and you’ve not been able to rectify it?

You see we are all sinning according to the scope we have. And the more scope you have the bigger the sins can be. We are sinning and weak in the limited scope we have and if we are given more scope, our sins will just increase.

In Sahih Bukhari, from Abu Musa al-Ashari that the Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) said, “Allah gives rope to these oppressor, but when he then does seize them, then there is no escape.”

Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad

‎Shaykh Hasan al-Yusi spoke against the Sultan of Morocco: ”I just break the dishes made of earth, while you break Allah’s dishes- you break human beings.”

Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba of Senegal opposed the French and the moment the French put the chains on him, Allah gave him his spiritual opening. The French took him on a ship and forbade him from praying on the ship- the Shaykh stepped off the ship and began praying on the water.

Mufti Ali Gomaa

There is, however, always reason for hope and optimism. As the Quran teaches us: “With every difficulty, there comes ease.” It is with great national pride that I affirm my confidence and trust in the Egyptian people to retreat from violence and aggression to peace and calm. At that point, our nation will have to engage in some profound introspection and soul-searching to make sense of the new state of affairs. Until then, however, the lives and welfare of our countrymen - regardless of their political beliefs - must be our first priority.

There is no denying that we are on the edge of a new period of Egyptian political and social life. The youth of our nation have organised en masse to make their voices heard, and to demand changes. They have demonstrated great resolve in their pursuit of fundamental reforms. There is no doubt that reform is a necessity. Indeed, I have long called, through the Misr El Kheir Foundation, for comprehensive reforms in economics, health and social solidarity.

Imam Zaid Shakir

The vast majority of the people of Egypt have peacefully protested to make their voices heard. They are saying loud and clear, “We demand our dignity, we demand the right to choose our leaders in free and fair elections, and we demand that the wealth our land produces stays in our hands.” These are demands that should resonate with every American. Time will tell how far we have strayed from our foundational principles.

None of us can pretend to know what the Almighty has decreed concerning the outcome of this affair. However, we do know that He hates oppressors. May God bless and protect the people of Egypt and keep them in His care.

And we desired to bestow our grace upon those oppressed in the earth; to make them the leaders and to make them the rightful heirs. Qur’an 28:5

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Having said that, I believe we should maintain a good opinion of the scholars who either take a position or choose to remain silent-a valid option during fitnah. We must recognize that personal ijtihad in difficult times is to be respected. The Mufti of Egypt is an honorable and pious man; he understands the complexity of the situation, the dangers of instability, and the tragedies that can quickly arise when conflagrations take a life of their own. Moreover, his position is certainly consonant with a traditional approach that was taken by many of the great scholars of the past. While some may not agree with his opinion, Muslims should respect religious authority, acknowledge a scholar’s right to it, and not assume we know anyone’s intentions. God alone is the Judge of men’s hearts.

Fitnah is worse than killing, according to the Qur’an, and in this case, the fitnah is persecution. The Egyptians have been persecuted for too long, and while traditional scholars since the days of the early fitnahs have sided with stability in order to prevent bloodshed that often resulted in worse situations than the ones being opposed, in an age where peaceful protest is the only rational means of a people to redress the wrongs of their government, the scholars should not only support but acknowledge this change in the world. The situation in the Middle East is intolerable, and as John F. Kennedy rightly remarked, “If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we make violent revolution inevitable.”

3 Responses

Noor says:
February 10, 2011 at 9:53 pm

TJ Winters points to the example of Shaykh Ahmed Bamba, who in my estimation is the only person to have lead by his example and charisma a non violent campaign for self determination in the Muslim World. I think looking at today’s scholars one’s sees the various stances taken from our past. The seemingly lone stance of Imam Ahmad during the Minha, the death in prison of Abu Hanifah and the flight of Sufyan al Thawri for the complacent Alid support of political change. The persecution of Imam Shafi’i in the Yemen and Iraq, with fanaticism eventually the cause of his death in Egypt. We do not remember those who took no stance. Ibn Taymiyya for all his creedal faults is held high for precisely his willingness to participate in the struggle against the Tartars, while Al Ghazzali is doubted for his silence on the Crusades.

Where is the public counsel of the Ulema? Mufti Abdurrahman stated, “The main thing we need to realize is that until we become worthy of having decent people above us, then no decent person will come above us. The Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) said, “However you are, that’s the type of people that would be put above you.” Whatever is happening in the Muslim world is also because of our sins.”

I wonder if his position would remain the same when discussing the Khilafate of the Ottomans, Abbasids, Ummayads or any of the petty dynasties of later times. I wonder if that hadith is applicable to the successors of the Prophet(saw)? Tough questions that the restrictions and waywardness of the bulk of Sunni Polity have had a difficult time answering. In a day and age when we no longer are dynastic its important to realize whom the Ulema serve. Nizamuddin Auliya stated, “When the ruler comes to my front door, I leave out my back door”. When the Tuglug emperor demanded his audience upon his return from a campaign he coined the now famous phrase, “Delhi is still far away”. The tyrant died before reaching the city. Saadi in his Gulstan states a story about the tyrant Hallaj. He came to a Holy Man and asked for him to supplicate for him. The Sage responded, “Oh Allah kill him now!!!”. When asked why he responded, “by dying now you cannot commit more sin, and we will not have to put up with your sins anymore”. While Democracy or constitutional reform will nor erase injustice or implement some rarefied idea of an “Islamic” state, it will, if successful, give an ounce more freedom that has not existed in our lands……ever. Moreover it will allow Ulema to be more than mere chattels of the state, and insha’allah Islam to be taught outside of political grievances.

Muslim Converts Lost in Translation

2011-01-29T22:30:00.000+08:00

by Peter Gray

Source: Alt Muslimah

Jan 29 2011

Converts to Islam are important ambassadors for American Muslims; increasing their participation should sit high on the priority list of the larger Muslim community. Although many improvements have been made in convert outreach, far too many who are new to the faith lack a strong sense of authenticity as Muslims, and consequently end up slowly disengaging from the religion. Unfortunately the messages they receive from other Muslims often reinforce their alienation.

Changing the way we talk about Islam could go a long way toward cultivating a sense of belonging among these brothers and sisters, and deepening their personal connection to Islam. Whether we were born as Muslims or embraced the religion later in life, we are all students of faith. We may not realize, however, that those who have newly accepted Islam may look to us for guidance, taking our opinions to heart. In this sense, we sometimes become teachers for our fellow Muslims.

One trait shared by successful teachers is the ability to introduce new material without using technical language. By employing clear, familiar terms to lay out a new idea, the concept no longer appears foreign and inaccessible to the listener. This method works just as well in mosques as it does in classrooms, but Muslims rarely use it when “teaching” Islam.

When discussing religion, we tend to sprinkle our speech with Arabic terms and references to the Qur’an. Many of these words have been absorbed into languages like Urdu and Indonesian, but none have made their way into English. What might be a natural way of speaking for some Muslims can leave a convert struggling to keep up. While there is no need to start saying things like “Insha’Allah” (God willing) in English, minimizing theological jargon would do a lot of good.

The Qur’an reminds us that in religion, substance trumps terminology:

Say: “Invoke Allah (God), or invoke Ar-Rahman (the Most Gracious): by whichever name you invoke Him, [He is always the One- for] His are all the attributes of perfection.” (17:110)

Just as God remains unchanged by the names we use, so too do the principles of His religion. Even a single adjustment, like substituting “God” for “Allah,” will introduce a concept or message to a convert in a much more intimate and personalized manner.

Tellingly, it was the words of a non-Muslim that brought me back to Islam when I was faltering in my faith. On a whim one day, I bought a copy of “Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time” by Karen Armstrong. The entire book was brilliant; I was most affected, however, by Armstrong’s analysis of a verse from the third chapter of the Qur’an. I had read this verse before, but never with the translation she used:

For if one goes in search of a religion other than self-surrender unto God [Ar. “Islam”], it will never be accepted from him, and in the life to come he shall be among the lost. (3:85)

Armstrong then goes on to say:

This verse is often quoted to “prove” that the Qur’an claims that Islam is the one, true faith and that only Muslims will be saved. But “Islam” was not yet the official name for Muhammad’s religion, and when this verse is read correctly in its pluralistic context, it clearly means the exact opposite. (p. 87)

Armstrong’s analysis opened my eyes to the reductive way I had been thinking about Islam. In my mind, my religion boiled down to five pillars: belief in God and allegiance to Muhammad (“shahada”), prayer (“salat”), fasting during Ramadan (“sawm”), charity (“zakat”) and pilgrimage to Mecca (“hajj”). Being a Muslim, I assumed, simply meant following these pillars. Armstrong’s simple observation made me realize that “Islam” extends far beyond a checklist of rituals. To Muhammad’s companions, the word signified a state of being – not an institutionalized religion.

At that time, I was what some would call a non-practicing Muslim; after an early spell of enthusiasm, I had stopped praying, reading the Qur’an and visiting the mosque. Looking back, I see that my struggles reflected a larger problem in the Muslim community.

Many converts’ spiritual stagnation comes from the perception that Islam is cut-and-dry. Too many of us see our religion in purely legalistic terms, reducing it to a formula in our minds. As a result, we tend to present Islam to converts as if it were a pre-packaged product rather than a journey of growth and introspection. God forgive us – we have turned Islam into Islam™.

As a new Muslim, my spiritual “starter kit” basically consisted of the promise of paradise, a list of commandments and a glossary of Arabic words. This sustained me in the beginning, but before long I started to feel like an actor, mindlessly parroting lines from a script I barely understood. Instead of expressing Islam’s eternal values in my own life, I was trapped in a performance of someone else’s.

Language played a key role in my crisis. Concealed behind Arabic names, timeless ideas felt like artefacts to me, stripped of their relevance and narrowed in scope. As an English speaker, for example, it was easy to imagine the word Islam as representing only the formal name of a specific, monotheistic belief system. The English phrase “self-surrender unto God,” on the other hand, felt much more expansive and struck a powerful chord with me. Maybe there was more to this religion than I thought.

After finishing Armstrong’s “Muhammad” I began reading the translation of the Qur’an that she used, Muhammad Asad’s “The Message of the Qur’an.” These two books profoundly changed my faith by forcing me, for the first time, to place Islamic concepts in my own idiom, rather than resign myself to rigidly predefined ideas and rituals. “Translating” Islam into familiar terms left me with a much deeper attachment to this self-surrender.

Arabic will always remain important to our religion, and all Muslims should learn the language, not only the alphabet and grammar, if possible. However, we should not mistake the message for its medium. The Qur’an was revealed in Arabic so that Muhammad’s people would understand it. Too few of us follow this principle when communicating with converts. Overused and poorly explained, Arabic terms have become a barrier to their faith. If we learn how to talk about our religion in a more nuanced way – in English, we can give new Muslims an Islam that truly speaks to them.

Abandon Your Anger

2011-01-23T17:56:00.002+08:00

A sober-minded man said to Jesus,
"What in this existence is hardest to bear?"
"O dear soul," he replied, "the hardest is God's anger,
from which Hell is trembling as we are."
"And what is the protection against God's anger?"
Said Jesus, "To abandon your own anger at once."

-- Mathnawi IV: 113-115
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996

GOD'S WIKILEAKS: Ready or not, all secrets will be revealed

2011-01-05T04:45:00.002+08:00

by Hamza Yusuf

To God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and the day on which the end of time will happen, a day on which prattlers will lose out. And you will see every people kneeling; every people will be summoned to its record: "Today you are being repaid for what you used to do. This record of Ours speaks about you in truth; for We have been transcribing what you have been doing." As for those who believed and did good works, their Lord will admit them into divine mercy. That is the evident success. And as for those who scoffed, were not My signs recited to you, yet you were arrogant, and were sinning people? And when it has been said that the promise of God is true, and there is no doubt about the end of time, you have said, "We do not understand what the end of time is; we suppose it merely speculation, and we cannot be sure." And the evils they did will be manifest to them, and what they used to sneer at will have surrounded them.
– Qur’an, 45:27-33

No matter what a Man’s foul character may be,
Though he imagines it is concealed from the people,
It shall be revealed.
– Zuhayr b. Abi Sulma, Favorite seventh century Arabian poet of Umar b. al-Khatab

In the seven years I spent with Mauritanians who are Bedouin people of the Sahara, what struck me most about them was the transparency in their lives. They live without walls, and hence what the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung termed the "shadow self," which holds our repressed weaknesses and darker side, seems wholly absent from their personalities. I never saw the Bedouins hide anything from me. Even when they go to relieve themselves, it is often in open space. Once I was with a particularly gruff Bedouin, and in the middle of our conversation, he turned around, walked a few paces from me, and, taking cover with his outer robe, he dropped his pants, squatted, urinated, cleaned himself with sand, returned, and continued the conversation.
Bedouins are entirely comfortable in their skin and completely unself-conscious. If I intruded on a Bedouin without warning, he did not suddenly become nervous or uneasy; he remained calm. Even after many years in "civilized" society, Bedouins retain an uncanny openness. Their homes in Nouakchott, the Mauritanian capital, always have open doors. A hungry person, upon smelling food being served, will sometimes walk in from the street, eat a meal with them, say little, and depart as unobtrusively as he appeared.
In societies that have walls, closets, and private bathrooms, we develop a keen sense of privacy early on. We also do things in private that we would never do in company. Some of us develop profoundly dark sides; a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality seems quite common in modern society. When we read the statistics in books like Pornified, we can only be horrified at the pervasiveness of people watching pornography; the man next to us in the grocery store line might return home only to settle in for "kiddie" porn on his home computer. Do an online search on registered sex offenders, many of whom are pedophiles, and you might find one living down the street from you. Too many people are hiding things. Wives often know the truth about their "upstanding" husbands, and men may have far more secrets than women, who undeniably have their own share.
So what's all the fuss about Wikileaks? These wikipeaks into the unseemly side of the American Empire have caused quite a stir – and quite a backlash. Julian Assange was arrested for what may end up being trumped up sexual charges in an obvious attempt at distracting people from the real story. The U.S. Attorney General is seeking excuses to bring charges against Assange for what the American media does routinely. Clearly, the war is on. Luke Skywalker-like hackers are whittling away with Wikileaks at the Empire, and the Empire is striking back.
What intrigued me is not so much what is revealed – after all, many of us knew, didn't we? And so far, the crimes and transgressions revealed are not as severe as what the earlier Pentagon Papers revealed. But they are far more disturbing. The recent release of diplomatic cables shows the duplicitous nature on a daily basis of the inner workings of American diplomacy – the "shadow self" of America. Our government demands transparency from corporations and from its citizens in detailed tax returns. Employers do background checks on us, and our credit histories and medical records are routinely reviewed by strangers. Even our time on the internet is now monitored in many places; our phones are tapped with judicial consent. So why should our governments, especially in democratic societies, be exempt from what is routinely done to us? They are public servants, aren't they?
Well, the fact of the matter, as the Wikileaks exposé so cogently reveals, is that they are not serving us – they are serving the Empire's corporate profit-making, its selling of arms, and its oil interests that fuel our cars and their private jets. The corruption in dealing with Afghanistan, highlighted in these recent leaks, had initially shocked some people. But, all things considered, Afghan corruption pales by comparison to our own corruption on Wall Street, not to mention Main Street. Despite the moral depravity we witnessed in the recent financial scandals, everything is back to business as usual. The fat cats are once again doling out multimillion-dollar executive bonuses with our bailout money, as if the party never ended. Our mail boxes are again being stuffed with those same ridiculous credit card offers that had stopped a couple of years ago. The banksters are back in business, thanks to Henry Paulson, Larry Summers, et al. who cleaned out the national treasury in broad daylight, while Congress and the Senate applauded their patriotism. Unbelievable. Jesse and Frank James are no longer robbing them as outlaws: they're on the board of directors. Al Capone must be turning over in his grave.
But something deeper is at work here. "We will show you Our signs on the horizon and within themselves, until it becomes clear to you that this is the truth; is it not enough that God is a Witness unto all these?" (Qur’an, 41:53). The computer has become the Achilles' heel of the secret keepers. They have to use it, and they depend on it, not only to hoard their secrets but to monitor and surveil the rest of us. The inherent weaknesses in the system are now enabling whistleblowers and hackers to bring some of their dark secrets to light. Until now, the defenders of the Empire used the secrets as they wished. Former vice-president Dick Cheney, for instance, had no qualms about using classified, top-secret information in outing Valerie Plame, the CIA agent. This was a retributive act against her husband, Joseph C. Wilson, who wrote a New York Times Op-Ed on the false information that Cheney and George W. Bush were promoting about sales of nuclear materials from Niger to Iraq. So when it suited him, Cheney used his own "wikileaks," but now that the ball's in the other court, suddenly they're crying, "Foul."
So leaks can obstruct justice, and leaks can redress wrongs – a double-edged sword, indeed. More leaks are said to come, and I for one am looking forward to it. It is good to see them squirm and scurry, as they feel, in their cockroach shadow lives, the light of the sun beginning to penetrate their subterranean worlds.
The Qur’an has its own "leaks" and clearly demands utter transparency. The Pharaoh's private conversations are recorded as well as the hidden statements of the Prophet's enemies, not to mention some of the family intrigue in the Prophet's own household. People with integrity have nothing to hide. Like the Bedouins, their transparency is their shield.
When the great and pious Filipino historian and Qur'an scholar Cesar Majul was dying, he remarked to his son, "I want you to know, I have never done anything in my life that you would be ashamed of." Now that's a real deathbed confession of a saint. Murabit al-Hajj, my own teacher, has lived a life of utter transparency. I slept in his tent for months. During that time, I saw him rise every night three hours before dawn and recite the Qur'an in night vigil. I never heard him say anything unkind or unflattering about anyone. A cousin of his who has known him for seventy years affirmed this as well. Murabit al-Hajj never complained or criticized the weather, the food, the company, or any of the hardships so evident in the lives of West African nomads. Once, a man from Geru, a nearby village, saw Murabit al-Hajj in a dream in which he was praying naked. Embarrassed, this man went to a well-known dream interpreter and told him the dream but not the identity of the naked man. The interpreter said, "That could only have been Murabit al-Hajj because I don't know anyone who prays in a completely pure-hearted state other than him."
We are born naked because we are without sin, but we are raised naked because we will be without secrets. The Prophet, peace be upon him, lived an utterly transparent life. Even his bathing habits are described by his wife. Nothing about his life is hidden from us. No split in his personality, no shadow developed by keeping unspeakable secrets, for he is the transparent man. No shameful Wikileaks necessary in his government or family life. God meant for his life to be an open book, as he is an exemplar for leaders until the end of time. Leaders are the servants of the people, and they should never fear public opinion or the light of day. They should be concerned only about doing what is right and lawful.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, wanted to keep private an opinion he had shared with Zaid, his ward and companion, about Zaid's difficult marriage that the Prophet, peace be upon him, had facilitated. However, the Qur'an revealed the confidential statement he had made to Zaid: "Remember how you said to the one God had blessed and you had favored, 'Keep your wife and be conscious of God,' then you kept to yourself what God would reveal, as you feared the people, though God is more worthy of your fear" (33:37). The Prophet, peace be upon him, did nothing sinful in wanting to conceal the conversation he had with Zaid. He was concerned that people would attack his character if they learned of his impending marriage to Zaynab, who was married at that time to his "adopted" son (through a pre-Islamic form of adoption that the Qur'an would later proscribe). People were unaware that Zaid and Zaynab's marriage was an unhappy one because Zaynab wanted to be wed to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and had only accepted the marriage to Zaid due to the Prophet's request of her to do so. So the Prophet, peace be upon him, had kept the matter quiet for fear that if people knew, it would detract from and undermine his essential spiritual message to the people. However, the Qur'an "leaked" this private conversation to the people through the very source of the conversation. Aishah said about the above verse, "Had the Prophet hidden anything from his revelation, it would have been this verse due to the heavy impact it had upon him." This "leak" was clearly designed to reveal the utter sincerity of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his complete and total truthfulness and transparency about his own personal life as well as everything revealed to him. The Qur'an says to all of us:

If you are on a journey and cannot find a scribe, then let pledges be taken. And if one of you entrusts another one with something, let the one entrusted return his trust, conscious of God, his Lord. And do not conceal testimony; whoever conceals it is a sinner at heart. And God knows what you do. Whatever is in the heavens and the earth belongs to God. And whether you reveal what is in your selves or conceal it, God calls you to account for it. And God forgives whom God wills, and God punishes whom God wills, and God has power over all things. (2:283-284)

The Day of Judgment is the day when nothing is concealed. All secrets are to be revealed. The Qur'an informs us that a "digital book" (kitab marqum) contains all the actions of the evildoers in perfect order, and another "digital book" contains those of the righteous. Everyone on the Day of Judgment will have a full trial, but before the actual reckoning, we will all have to endure the ‘ard, which is the review of one's entire life with nothing omitted except those actions for which we repented and for which the repentance was accepted. Wikileaks is nothing in light of what will be revealed on that day. Tyrants will see all of their dastardly deeds, hoarders must carry all they hoarded, liars will be exposed, and traitors will have flags of treachery furled from their backsides announcing their vileness. What a day!
America prides itself on transparency. MBA students learn in school the necessity of fully transparent corporations, where the books are all in order, and nothing is hidden. Taxpayers are told to reveal all in their tax forms. And yet, there is a double standard, as the government reveals little until fifty years later, long after the secret-keepers are dead, when documents are declassified. The Federal Reserve, a private institution of bankers that controls our nation's money, has never been audited. Yet, we the peons can be audited with impunity.
We need more whistleblowers, not less. And we need to exalt the ones who, with honor and courage, risk everything so the truth can be known. Daniel Ellsberg had the courage to blow the whistle on the Pentagon in 1971, and now the Luke Skywalkers of the day are attempting to do it again, revealing the utter hypocrisy of our public "servants" who seem to serve only themselves and their corporate paymasters. We need a far more open and transparent society if we are to flourish. If a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" means anything at all, the people must not only be informed of what is being done in their names, they must also demand of their public servants full accountability.
A close friend in Arabia informed me recently that the Wikileaks revelations have created utter contempt for America in the region, and sadly the respect that was once there despite all the shortcomings of America is now largely gone. While it is hard to restore respect once lost, if it is ever to be regained, the place to start is this: admit one's mistakes and redress one's wrongs. Many of us live in profound denial of why America is perceived so poorly around the world. Even many Europeans look on us with disdain. Envy undeniably plays some part, but to suggest that envy is the only reason is a poor excuse – it is an attempt by a nation's ego to avoid the painful realities of imperial arrogance and the hubris of power. The ancient Greeks believed that arête, virtue, elevated human beings, but hubris brought them down. Hubris, in their understanding, resulted in até or reckless behavior, which unleashed nemeses, the divine forces that laid the haughty low.
I do not wish that upon my native land or fellow citizens, as I am a multi-generational American, and desiring disaster for people is not in my nature. But without real repentance and a change of business as usual, I don't see any other possibility. The Wikileaks controversy is another wake-up call among many to this nation. Perhaps if some of those apathetic and ill-informed people in America addicted to the pipes of the pied piper leading them into the cave of shadows and ignorance would forgo seeing Jackass in 3D and other mindless films at the multiplex and actually pay attention to these developments, some good might come of it. Benjamin Franklin, upon leaving the Continental Congress, was asked by a woman what kind of a government they had settled on. He is reported to have replied, "A republic, if you can keep it." Openness and transparency, not to mention admitting wrongs and redressing them, are all necessary to restore the republic that has clearly been damaged and profoundly threatened.

Answering Michael... Questions about Islam and Extremism

2010-12-29T16:45:00.000+08:00

An interesting question and answer about some relevant issues today...

> Greetings:
> I have been reading several articles you wrote on the Islam For Today
> website and I'm interested in learning a little more of your views on
> the issue of Islamic extremism. I have seen that several authors have
> described moderate Muslims as lost to complete Westernization; would
> this be a fair characterization or is there some middle ground? What
> sort of beliefs characterize a adherent to Islam who is neither
> hard-line nor virtually secular? I've also seen some discussion of the
> roots of such extremism and the bad fruit produced from it. What kind
> of beliefs and which sects are producing such things? Wahhabbism seems
> to get blamed a lot, I don't fully understand the difference or why it
> is blamed. Last, I'm wondering what sort of recourse there is to
> reclaim Islam from such an end. The consensus seems to be that
> educating both Muslims and non-Muslims is key to changing the Western
> perception that Islam is violent; does that seem to be the best option?
> Thanks very much for taking time to answer my questions. Please let
> me know if I need to clarify in any way.
> Michael
>
>

Michael...

Thank you for taking interest in my articles. I hope they were of some use
to you.

Yes, this is a very confusing issue actually, because of all the varying and
different opinions about it out there. The biggest problem with this issue
of "extremist", "moderate", "liberal," etc., starts with definitions.
Westerners (I am also one so I include myself in this category!) like to
apply typically western labels to Islam, which often don't fit. For example,
the term fundamentalist was originally a term used for far-right Christian
groups and connotes a certain type of "reject the world" brand of
Christianity. However, it has become synonymous with Muslim terrorists
(please don't ever use the label "Islamic terrorists" because this is an
oxymoron. Nothing in Islam can be associated with terrorism, however with
Muslims, unfortunately, it can be).

So we have this problem of definitions. Fundamentalist means one who follows
the fundamental teachings of the religion. MOst practicing Muslims - whether
extremist or liberal - believe they are following the fundamental teachings
of the religion. So, in essence, we are all fundamentalists! So there is the
this initial probelm with definitions.

Greetings:
> I have been reading several articles you wrote on the Islam For Today
> website and I'm interested in learning a little more of your views on
> the issue of Islamic extremism. I have seen that several authors have
> described moderate Muslims as lost to complete Westernization; would
> this be a fair characterization or is there some middle ground?

No, this is not a fair characterization. First off, what does that mean -
lost to complete Westernization? What aspects of westernization? The dress?
The culture - if you say culture, what aspects of the culture? We have to be
more specific when we make that claim, because Islam is not a culture, it is
a religion based on worship of God alone. The law in Islam, the shari'ah,
connotes in arabic - 'a wide road', meaning that the law itself is quite
flexible. But it is not a law that can be made up by oneself but must be
followed. See as Muslims we believe that it is not the divine that must
adapt to the human being, but the human being that must mold himself
according to the will of the divine -- this is how human beings perfect
themselves, by literally making themselves "godly", thus, the essence of
Islam -- the striving for self-perfection. The models of that
self-perfection are the prophets of God - Adam, Abraham, Noah, Jesus, Moses,
etc., culminating in the final prophecy of Muhammad.

What
> sort of beliefs characterize a adherent to Islam who is neither
> hard-line nor virtually secular? I've also seen some discussion of the
> roots of such extremism and the bad fruit produced from it. What kind
> of beliefs and which sects are producing such things? Wahhabbism seems
> to get blamed a lot, I don't fully understand the difference or why it
> is blamed.

There is no extremism in Islam. There is extremism among Muslims, but Islam
cannot have extremism because by defiintion it is a middle path. God says in
the Qur'an "Thus have we made of you an Ummah (community) justly balanced,
that you might be witnesses over the nations, and the Messenger a witness
over yourselves." Here, the Muslims are given their task of essentially
being the voice of reason between the extremes. Now, clearly, Muslims in the
current age are not living up to their historical role as a middle nation
and a witness, however, we must always make sure that we separate Islam and
Muslims. Islam is a perfect way of life, complete and fully sufficient as a
solution to all of humanity's problems. Muslims, however, we are human and
prone to error. Islam is a tool, if it is used and adhered to correctly, the
results will speak for themselves, however, we cannot equate these two -
because one is a religion and one is a people that may or may not apply that
religion correctly.

Fundamentalists usually lack the correct knowledge of Islam because of the
way they were taught. They are usually taught nothing but law, and almost
always come from one of the sects associated with Wahhabism. Wahhabism has
bred violence since its early days, but even going back almost to the
beginning of Islam there has been this extremist faction who the Prophet
vehemently condemned and warned about. His warning was so severe about these
people because he knew the damage they were capable of. The worst enemy is
always the one from within! Essentially, traditional Islam - true, moderate
Islam is that which has been passed down from the Prophet to his companions
to the generations of pious scholars, followed by the majority of the Muslim
community. This is known as the ahl sunnah wal jama'at (people of the way of
the Prophet and the majority of his followers, ( or something of the
like...) ). This group, the majority, is made up of what evolved in the
early years of Islam into 4 schools of Islamic jurisprudence, or what this
majority bases their practice of the religion on - all going back to the
correct teachings from the Qur'an and the Prophet's life, which is the
"living Qur'an" or the Qur'anic example. So this is the moderate majority of
Muslims which is still moderate, and still following these 4 schools of law.
However, Wahhabism, which is based on the heretical teachings of a man named
Muhammad Abdul-Wahhab, essentially came and declared war on this main group
of Muslims claiming that most of them were polytheists. He also said that
Muslims didn't have to follow the 4 schools and essentially could interpret
everything how they saw fit, which actually meant only following their
scholars. This is a source of extermism b/c it is a break from the moderate
way of the Prophet and his companions and followers. It is a break from
sound and authentic knowledge and prone to aberration. There are other
factors involved in extremism and it is a very complex issue, I am just
mentioning one of the major factors here...

Last, I'm wondering what sort of recourse there is to
> reclaim Islam from such an end. The consensus seems to be that
> educating both Muslims and non-Muslims is key to changing the Western
> perception that Islam is violent; does that seem to be the best option?

The way to reclaim Islam must come from Muslims, but the West can help. The
West has for so long supported Wahhabism, which ultimately comes back to
bite them. The Saudis for example, are the main exporters of
Wahhabism around the world without a doubt. This is their brand of Islam and
although not all Wahhabi's are violent, it is their teachings that provide
the fuel and justification for violence. Yes, education is also important,
but more importantly Muslims have to be re-educated about their own
teachings, following the traditional ahl sunnah wal jama'at body of
knowledge. Moreover, Muslims must stop focusing so much on legalist aspects
of our faith and focus more on the spiritual aspects and get back to doing
the work of self-perfection, namely, tasawwuf (Sufism). This is only my
opinion of course, but this is what I see as important steps.

Is Islam Peaceful or Harsh? Abrogation and the Verse of the Sword...

2010-11-26T01:43:00.000+08:00

This is another entry about the dire importance of scholarship today to understand things in their proper context. The following is an excerpt from a question to Ustadh Faraz A. Khan about abrogation, and specifically in reference to the famous 'verse of the sword.' The answer is poetic and enlightening, and incredibly important given the number of accusations today about Islam being a violent religion based on certain hadith that are not properly understood....

"This question is of course far too broad to be addressed in this discussion, but perhaps it is sufficient to examine the three verses dealing with peace that you mention in your question.
1) “Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits, for Allah loveth not transgressors.” (2:190)

In his Qur’anic exegesis, Imam Fakhr al-Din Razi rejects the opinion that this verse was abrogated, and interprets the phrase “do not transgress limits” as a timeless prohibition of breaking covenants, deception, or attacking non-combatants such as women, children, or the elderly. This interpretation of “trangression” is affirmed by major commentators of the Qur’an, such as Imam Biqa`i, who adds under trangression “to continue fighting with a people that want to make peace, even though they had initiated fighting in the first place.”
[Razi, Mafatih al-Ghayb; Biqa`i, Nadhm al-Durar]

2) “But if the enemy inclines towards peace, you too incline towards peace.” (8:61)
The great exegete Imam Zamakhshari denies that this verse was abrogated, as many claimed. Imam Biqa`i also interprets the verse as applicable to all times.
[Zamakhshari, Kashshaf; Biqa`i, Nadhm al-Durar]

It is also important to keep in mind what we mentioned above, namely, that many of the early Muslims [salaf] that understood the verses of fighting as abrogators of the verses of peace did so based on a very broad definition of abrogation, which would include specification or limiting general verses or making exceptions to general verses. And many later scholars would often simply cite those early Muslims as stating that such-and-such was “abrogated.” The intent was not that the earlier verses of peace had no application anymore, but rather that their application was no longer broad and general for all situations. This is why several later scholars [as we have seen] rejected the notion of abrogation of these verses, based on their more formal definition of “complete annulment of a legal ruling,” which certainly is not the case with verses of peace.

This also sheds light as to what our illustrious early Imams might have meant with statements such as, “No one is allowed to give explanation [tafsir] of the Book of Allah until they understand abrogation.” That is, unless they understand which verses serve to limit the scope of other verses, specify the generality of other verses, make exceptions to other verses, and completely annul the rulings of other verses. It is no wonder, then, that commentary on the Qur’an was not allowed without understanding this very broad meaning of “abrogation.”
3) “There is no compulsion in religion.” (2:256): The concept that this verse was abrogated is directly related to the understanding - or misunderstanding - of the following hadith.

“I was ordered to fight people…”

One well-known hadith that is often misunderstood is as follows:

“I was ordered to fight people until they bear witness that there is no deity except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; establish the ritual prayer; and pay almsgiving. So if they do that, their lives and wealth are safe from me, except for a right recognized in Islam. Their accounting, however, will be with Allah.” [Bukhari, Muslim]

Unfortunately, this text is often grossly misinterpreted as calling for continuous “holy war” against all non-Muslims until and unless they become Muslim. But examination of context and scholarly interpretation reveals that the hadith by no means refers to all people and is not calling for any sort of war, holy or unholy. The key to understanding the hadith, then, is to understand who exactly is meant by the word “people” in the statement, “I was ordered to fight people.”
This same hadith has various narrations as recorded by different hadith scholars. Imam Nasa’i’s narration reads: “I was ordered to fight the polytheists” rather than the word “people,” and it is an established principle in hadith methodology that various narrations of the same hadith serve to clarify its actual meaning. Hence, the narration of Imam Nasa’i indicates that the word “people” in the first narration does not refer to all people, but rather a specific group of people, namely, certain polytheists. This understanding is confirmed by both the Qur’an and the Sunna, as many incidents in the life of the Prophet [peace and blessings be upon him] clearly show that all of humanity was not intended in the hadith.

This understanding is also confirmed by our codified legal tradition, which is a reflection of the Qur’an and Sunna. Imam Abu Hanifa and his legal school limited this hadith to only the polytheists among the Arabs. And Imam Malik and his legal school limited it to only the Quraysh tribe among them. [Ibn Battal, Sharh al-Bukhari]

That is to say, according to both schools of law, all non-Arabs are excluded from the hadith - whether polytheists, atheists, Jews, Christians, or otherwise. Among the Arabs, any group that does not worship idols are also excluded, whether Jews, Christians, Magians, or otherwise. Only Arab polytheists - or perhaps just the tribe of Quraysh among them - were being addressed by the Messenger [peace and blessings be upon him]. Incidentally, the Hanafi and Maliki schools historically and up to today have constituted the vast majority of the Muslim world.

Imam Kasani, the eminent 6th-century Hanafi jurist, explains that the reasoning of this position is based on the difference between Arab polytheists and all other peoples, including People of the Book [i.e., Jews and Christians, Arab or non-Arab] and non-Arab polytheists. With respect to peoples other than Arab polytheists, it is hoped that by mutual coexistence between them and Muslims, they will be drawn to Islam after reflecting over the beauty of the religion and its Sacred Law [shari'a]. [f: And that hope is sufficient; whether they become Muslim or not is irrelevant to the Hanafi and Maliki perspective that they are not addressed by the hadith.]

The nature of Arab polytheists, however, was to reject anything that conflicted with their customs and traditions, deeming all else to be madness and worthy of scornful ridicule. They were a people - as repeatedly mentioned in the Qur’an - that refused to reflect over anything but “the ways of their forefathers.” Therefore, because the Messenger of Allah [peace and blessings be upon him] was from their same tribe and knew them intimately, he gave them no option but acceptance of Islam or fighting [f: And this statement, of course, was after years of being oppressed by those Arab polytheists].
[Kasani, Bada'i al-Sana'i]

The great early Hanafi jurist and legal theorist, Abu Bakr al-Jassas, confirms this understanding with respect to both the above hadith as well as the related verse, “There is no compulsion in religion” (2:256). In fact, he states that all the early Meccan verses of peace and forbearance with respect to non-Muslims remain in effect and are not abrogated with respect to all peoples other than the Arab polytheists. And with respect to all the later verses commanding Muslims to fight the polytheists, they abrogate the early verses of peace only with respect to the Arab polytheists.

This understanding is also confirmed by the early Hanafi scholar Abu Layth al-Samarqandi, who comments on the verse “There is no compulsion in religion” (2:256), “That is, do not compel anyone whatsoever to this religion, after the Conquest of Mecca and after the Arabs become Muslim [i.e., the Arab polytheists of that time].”
[Jassas, Ahkam al-Qur'an; Samarqandi, Bahr al-Ulum]

Islam, God and the shining light of love

2010-11-24T04:06:00.002+08:00

by William C Chittick
Source: The Huffington Post

Nov 23 2010

“God is love,” the New Testament teaches, and Muslim theologians would respond, “But of course.” The problem is that we are not God. As Jesus said, “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God ” (Mark 10:18). There is no authentic love but one, that is, God. This is tawhid, the assertion of divine unity that is the foundation of Islamic thought.

Religious discussions of love sometimes address how it descends from its divine status and intermingles with human affairs. In any case, everyone recognizes its attractive power, even if they disagree as to what it is and where it comes from. Rumi mentions the two extremes of disagreement in the verse,

For the elect, love is a tremendous eternal light,

for the common people, love is form and appetite. (Divan 18197)

“The elect and the common people” is an expression used in all branches of Islamic learning to distinguish between the experts and the uninformed. For Rumi, the experts are the prophets and saints.

To think that love is “form and appetite” is to imagine that it derives from the realm of sense perception and biological processes. Rumi has nothing against form and appetite, but he sees the distinctiveness of human nature to lie in its openness to the tremendous eternal light.

“Eternal” (qadim) means unchanging. The word is contrasted with “newly arrived” (muhdath), which means dwelling under the sway of time and alteration. God is eternal, and everything other than God — the universe and all it contains — fades away. We change, the eternal light stays the same. We have the appearance of reality, but every appearance disappears.

The Quran says that God is “the light of the heavens and the earth” (24:35). The heavens are the high realms of spiritual beings (such as angels and souls), and the earth is the low realm of bodily things. Nothing appears without light. The more intense the light, however, the more difficult it is to see, which explains why the spiritual realm is invisible. No one can imagine the upper limit of physical light, much less that of nonphysical light, which is the consciousness that animates the heavens and the earth.

Spiritual traditions speak of ascending levels of nonphysical illumination, beginning with the obscure sparkles that typify everyday awareness and culminating in the infinite light of the eternal Self. In the Quran’s retelling of the story of Moses and the Burning Bush, the light said, “I indeed am God; there is no god but I” (20:14): There is no god but God’s very Self, the light of the heavens and the earth.

Rumi’s verse, in short, refers to the axiom of tawhid, the fact that there is no true light but the divine light and no true love but the divine love. Everything in heaven and earth is the reverberation of the loving light. Each thing arrives newly and departs just as quickly. In relation to the universe, God is like the moon in relation to flowing water. As Rumi puts it,

The creatures are like water, limpid and pure,

shining therein the attributes of the majestic God…

Ages have passed, and this is a new age.

The moon is the same, but the water is not.

(Mathnawi 6: 3172, 3175)

Our scientific worldview is rooted in the measurable, but love and God are immeasurable. Scientific theories that speak of love naturally tend to agree with Rumi’s common people: Love is form and appetite, feeling and emotion, impulses in the brain — all these can be measured. The Quranic and Biblical worldviews see love as none other than the only reality that truly is. The word “reality,” of course, fails to stir the heart, and “love” calls for commitment. Those who answer the call can transform themselves and the world.

Among the many mentions of love in the Quran, the favourite verse of love-theorists is this: “He loves them, and they love Him” (5:54). This verse puts the Islamic worldview in a nutshell: God brought the universe into existence because of his love for human beings. Human beings fulfil their calling by loving God.

The radiance of love’s eternal light gives rise to the universe. The goal of love is to overcome separation, to bridge gaps, to bring the two lovers together as one. If love is to do its work, people must recognize the light and love it in return.

“He loves them” brought them into existence. Their recognition of the light feeds “They love Him.” Once love intervenes, form and appetite lose their lustre.

The final goal of lovers is to join the shining light at its source. The power that works this transformation is love. One of the many Quranic names of God is “friend” (wali), an Arabic word that combines the senses of “lover” and “helper.” Both meanings can be seen in the verse, “God is the friend of those who have faith. He brings them out of the darkness into the light” (2:257).

Find Your Own Name...

2010-11-19T21:29:00.002+08:00

"Abraham learned how the sun and moon and the stars all set.

He said, No longer will I try to assign partners for God.

You are so weak. Give up to grace.

The ocean takes care of each wave

till it gets to the shore.

You need more help than you know.

You're trying to live your life in open scaffolding.

Say Bismillah, In the name of God,

As the priest does with a knife when he offers an animal.

Bismillah your old self

to find your real name."

Rumi

From Coleman Barks “The Essential Rumi”

Where Does the Sweetness Lie?

2010-11-16T06:01:00.001+08:00

I am often questioned about the title of this blog, Sweet Sujud, and what it means. The idea for the name came from my own experience living as a Muslim for the past 11 years as well as a comment a friend of mine once made in his attempt to describe what surrendering to God can actually feel like.

The act of sujud (prostration) itself in many ways is the hallmark of the Islamic faith. When people see Muslims in a state of prostration, even those with little familiarity with the faith can identify them as Muslims. The prostration is an act that helps to facilitate total realization of the state of self-surrender, i.e. willing servanthood, to God by putting the body, as a reflection of what lies in one's heart, in a state of utter humility (face on the floor) and self-deprivation. As with all matters in life, there exists an intimate connection between mind, heart (soul) and body; with the body being a vessel for the purification of both the heart and mind, or its opposite. Thus, the prostration -- as the climax of the prayer cycle itself -- acts in many ways as the ultimate posture of devotion and willing self-surrender to God. Thus, the worshipper is able to 'feel' servanthood in all his physical being, rather than just professing with his/her tongue or accepting it in theory. Combined, the knowledge of what it means to prostrate, the faith and desire to prostrate before God in an act of servanthood, and the physical act of putting oneself in the most humble of postures allow the worshipper to feel a sensation of peace and alignment that can only be described as 'sweetness.'

Ultimately, the sweetness is not of the tongue, but of the heart, so let us forgo the need to be seen by others, and focus on humbling our hearts before God with every sweet sujud....

Challenging Falsehood....

2010-11-16T05:39:00.002+08:00

Below is an example of anti-Islam rhetoric spewed by someone who is of the belief that Islam is 'anti-woman.' The response is provided by Sheikh G.F. Haddad. It is only an excerpt from his website, www.livingislam.org, and shows the importance of scholarship and knowledge and why this is the best - and only - way to combat the ruthless anti-Islam rants that are being spewed all over the Internet today. It is also an important reminder of why we can never interpret the Qur'an and hadith on our own without the help of erudite scholarship, and more importantly, why we cannot rely on literalism.

The initial charge is the writer, the 'comment' is the response by the Sheikh...

MEN'S SUPERIORITY

Comment: The true title of this section should be: “Men's greater share of responsibilities.”

The Qur'an expresses the equality of the works of the sexes and the oneness of origin of the sexes in the following verses.

"And their Lord answereth them, 'I will not suffer the work of him among you that worketh, whether of male or female, to be lost. The one of you is the issue of the other." (Q 3:195) Rodwell.

"Mankind fear your Lord, who created you of a single soul, and from it created its mate." (Q 4:1) Arberry

So while the Qur'an holds the works of men and women in equal regard and acknowledges that they are completely interdependent as to their very existence, they are not regarded as having equal worth as people.

Comment: This is a lie. The Qur'an clearly states: {O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female_. Verily the best of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you.} (49:13).

The men are a step above the women and superior to them as is clear from the following two verses.

"And it is for the women to act as they (the husbands) act by them, in all fairness; but the men are a step above them."[7] (Q 2:228) Rodwell "Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other."(Q 4:34) Dawood.

Comment: Here are Muslim translations of the same two passages but _in full_, indicating that the context in each of the two verses denotes superiority of men in maintenance and financial responsibility. Imam al-Sha`rani said, “If the man does not work and support his wife then he loses that degree.”

The famous commentator Ibn Kathir commented on (Q 4:34) saying:

"Men are superior to women, and a man is better than a woman."[8]

8. Ibn-Kathir, commenting on Q 4:34.

Comment: As we already said, the Qur'an states: {O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female_. Verily the best of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you.} (49:13). This is enough to silence the lie that men and women in Islam “are not regarded as having equal worth as people,” which is the premise of the present section.

As for commentary, al-Tabari said the best explanation for 2:223 is that of Ibn `Abbas: "The degree mentioned by Allah Most High here is the exemption, on the man's part, of some his wife's obligations towards him and his indulgence towards her, while he is fully obligated to fulfill all his obligations towards her, because the verse came right after {And they (women) have rights similar to those (of men) over them in kindness}. Hence Ibn `Abbas said: 'I would not like to obtain all (astanzif) of my right from her because Allah Most High said {and men are a degree above them}.'"

Meaning Making in Islam

2010-10-30T15:29:00.001+08:00

by Abd. Lateef Krauss

The role of meaning is of paramount importance in human life (Frankl, 1963). Human beings have a natural inclination to understand and make meaning out of their lives and experiences. It is one of those attributes that makes us distinctively human. As Dewey (1933) wrote, “Only when things about us have meaning for us, only when they signify consequences that can be reached by using them in certain ways, is any such thing as intentional, deliberate control of them possible (p. 19).” Meanings are the cognitive categories that make up one’s view of reality and with which actions are defined. Meanings are also referred to by social analysts as culture, norms, understandings, social reality, definitions of the situation, typifications, ideology, beliefs, worldview, perspective or stereotypes (Lofland and Lofland, 1996). Life experience generates and enriches meanings, while meanings provide explanation and guidance for the experience (Chen, 2001).

A person draws meanings from, or gives meanings to events and experiences. That is, experiencing starts to make sense as the person performs his or her psychological functioning of translating it into how he or she thinks and feels. It is individuals’ subjectivity, or phenomenological world, that forms the very core for meaning origination and evolvement. People have the freedom to choose meaning (McArthur, 1958) through their interactive experiencing with various internal and external contexts (Chen, 2001). As such, meaning is the underlying motivation behind thoughts, actions and even the interpretation and application of knowledge. Meaning is also arrived at through the learning process.

As a convert to Islam, how I construct meaning represents perhaps the greatest difference between my worldview prior to Islam and my post-conversion Islamic worldview. My Islamic worldview facilitates meaning through the tawhidic paradigm by connecting everything in life – every word, act, thought, and event – to the highest source of all, the ultimate reality, God. This means that everything that happens in life is to be responded to according to that which is pleasing to God and in line with his revealed laws. We do not make decisions based solely on our feelings, desires and appetites. Rather, we employ the intellect, which is grounded in knowledge of religion and God, to decide that which is pleasing and acceptable to the Creator, and, as such, optimal for us on all levels. The goal, the ultimate success, the ultimate happiness and contentment is transformed into a spiritual one and is manifested in a life of closeness and intimacy with the Divine, detailed by God-consciousness in every act and thought.

How this differs from my pre-Islamic worldview is that it removes the lower self (ideally) as a guide so decisions are not made according to appetites and selfish desires, but according to that which we believe is best for us, for our lives both here and hereafter. We cease following the direction of the lower self and instead open our hearts to the guidance of our higher self, the one in tuned to the divine will. For that which is best for us cannot be left to the lower self to decide, for that self can only lead us to spiritual destruction. Thus, all of our trust and hope is placed in God and our conviction that He is the best one to guide us being the Creator of all things, the Loving, the Merciful, and the one who wants the best outcome for us which is closeness to Him in this world and direct vision of him in the life after death.

Meaning making, therefore, takes on a whole new form from this worldview. The lens – our cognitive schema – of how we see the world changes. We begin to see with the eyes of the spirit, the eyes of the heart. We judge not according to what we find pleasing or desirable, but according to the knowledge of what God finds pleasing and desirable. As such, we begin the striving, the journey toward the acquisition of the divine attributes. We live a life of effort to reform our own personalities to reflect the attributes. As a real-life example, the one who most perfectly manifested these attributes, we follow the way and life of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his successors. In so doing life becomes one of ongoing self-purification, self-perfection and self-improvement. Meaning making, therefore, is spiritualized. We become highly tuned to everything happening around us.

We find meaning and make meaning of every experience through self-examination. We start by looking inwardly at ourselves and examining how we react to situations around us. We take stock of our feelings, our frustrations, our likes and our dislikes. We examine our minds and look at what we spend time thinking about. We constantly look for ways to improve ourselves. In sum, everything means something because according to our worldview, God sees everything, knows everything, and everything we do is counted—either for us or against us. Every moment thus contributes to our success or failure. This means that as Muslims, we must acquire the attribute of awareness, of always knowing what is happening around us and within us at all times.

Islam helps us to construct meaning on the premise that everything is purposeful because it directly determines our fate both in this world, and the eternal world after death. We approach life as an opportunity because of the knowledge that every moment can either help us or hurt us, depending on what we choose to do with it. In this way, the Islamic worldview puts meaning making in our own hands through the gift of free will, and links the process with the development and refinement of the self.

The spiritualized Islamic worldview brings energy to life and a balance that I did not previously have. The key to it is consciousness and remembrance of God. When we are conscious of God, of his omnipotence, greatness and mercy, we are always aware of ourselves. We are constantly in a state of humility because of the knowledge that He created us at of nothing for no other reason than the love to be known, worshipped and trusted by us. We are also aware that God’s mercy will always help us along on our path when we make a sincere effort to dedicate ourselves to Islamic self-improvement. This awareness includes the belief that heaven is not only the goal for the hereafter, but for this life as well, achieved by closeness to God. As such, by remaining conscious of God, we invite and invoke goodness from both the earthly and spiritual realms, and light a way for ourselves to engage in continuous self-refinement.

An example of how Islam contributes to meaning making is my initial understanding of how a Muslim is to approach something as seemingly mundane as eating. According to my pre-Islamic worldview, eating was an activity undertaken to satisfy hunger. It was never much more than that. Although I understood food as a blessing, I did not approach eating as a spiritual act. How could I? The only knowledge I had of it was that it was an activity undertaken to satisfy a physical need. When I came to Islam, however, I learned that even eating could be a spiritual activity when undertaken with the right intention, in accordance with Islamic law, by way of the Prophet’s (SAW) example and with a deeper understanding of the act itself.

According to the Islamic worldview, every morsel of food is a blessing, a gift, sustenance that comes from God. The food we eat is usually also a blessing for those who grow it, manufacture it, process it and sell it – those who derive their livelihood from it. Food, when consumed with consciousness of God can be a source of barakah – or blessings and divine grace. Therefore, we are more inclined to be less wasteful in our eating, to take less and think of others who also want to eat. Through the spiritual practice of fasting, Islamic worldview also teaches us what it is like to not be able to eat. This alone is enough to make most people appreciate food and increase their gratitude to God when they eat. In addition, there are so many etiquettes (adab) of the Prophet on how to approach and eat food that help us to understand its spiritual role in our lives, such as the proper way of sitting, chewing, handling food, passing it to others, the prayers to recite before eating it, while eating it, after eating it, the way to conduct oneself while eating, the way to wash ourselves after eating, etc. As we can see, something as fundamental to our lives such as food, or eating, when approached from the Islamic worldview becomes a highly meaningful activity that is intimately linked to our personal sense of mission as Muslims.

So what about something as spiritually rich as formal worship? If eating as an activity can be approached with spiritual intelligence, an act of God consciousness and worship, then what about something like our prayer (solat), which to the Prophet (SAW) was not only the comfort of his eyes but a heavenly ascension every time he engaged in it? What does prayer mean to us? Do we approach it as a heavenly ascension, so powerful as to move us to a higher state, or is it just something we have to get through to achieve a place at the heavenly table when it’s all over?

Meaning of Islam is cultivated in us through the knowledge and wisdom found in our tradition, and through teachers that have been blessed with it and continue to pass it on. We must seek them and their works to help us develop meaning in our lives as Muslims. It is an important time for us to make meaning from this way of life. All around us meaninglessness and its culture are fueling the spiritual suicide that is engulfing the world and victimizing people from every race and religion.

Ultimately, meaning of Islam must be individualized and owned by each of us uniquely, based on our individual relationship with Allah. We must find intimacy with Him, strive to love Him, to rely on Him, to seek Him, and to depend and trust Him completely. Lasting and real meaning of Islam cannot come from a movement or someone’s agenda—it can and must come from the knowledge of Truth, and submission to it through the way of life based on it. It must be spiritual, not political. Our uniqueness as an ummah is that our purpose, our basis for deriving meaning in all of life is spiritually based, grounded in heavenly laws and aspirations. When we read the beautiful supplications of our Prophet (SAW) to his Lord, we can feel the intimacy that he had with the All-Merciful. This is the spring of meaning for those who have surrendered themselves, and an important element of our way of life that helps us persevere through difficult times.

REFERENCES

Chen, C.P. 2001. On exploring meanings: Combining humanistic and career psychology
theories in counselling. Counselling Psychology Quarterly 14:4.

Dewey, J. (1933). How We Think. New York, NY: Heath Books.
Frankl, V. 1963. Man’s search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.
Lofland, J. and Lofland, L. 1996. Analyzing Social Settings. Third Edition. Wadsworth

McArthur, H. 1958. The necessity of choice. Journal of Individual Psychology, 14,
153– 157.

Half of U.S. Teens Have Mental Disorders

2010-10-19T13:05:00.000+08:00

If this study is accurate, this is really serious....

National Institute of Mental Health: Half of U.S. Teens Have
Mental Disorders

Oct. 18 (LPAC)--Corroborating Lyndon LaRoouche's recent comments
on the degeneration of the nation's young, a study released by
the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) says that fully
one-half of all Americans aged 13-19 have some mental disorder;
and that in more than 22% of them, the disorder is so severe that
it impairs their daily activities. ``The prevalence of severe
emotional and behavior disorders is even higher than the most
frequent major physical conditions in adolescence, including
asthma or diabetes," the study says.

The study published in the {Journal of the American Academy
of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry} reports that 51% of boys and
49% of girls have mood, behavior, anxiety and/or substance-use
disorders.

Many regional surveys conducted in the United States have
indicated that about one in four to five children experience a
mental disorder sometime in their life. But until now, no
nationally representative surveys had been conducted to determine
if these prevalence-rates of a wide range of mental health
problems hold true across the nation.

Kathleen Merikangas, PhD, of NIMH and colleagues analyzed
data from the National Comorbidity Study-Adolescent Supplement
(NCS-A), a nationally representative, face-to-face survey of more
than 10,000 teens ages 13 to 18.

The NIMH says more research is needed to better understand
the risk factors for developing a mental disorder in youth, as
well as how to predict which disorders may continue into
adulthood. In addition, the researchers acknowledge the need for
more prospective research to figure out the complex interplay
among socioeconomic, biological, and genetic factors that may
contribute to the development of mental disorders in youth.
Before that further research is completed, will will we stop
the descent into a deranged dark age? [fhb]

Prophet Muhammad's (SAW) Kindness to Animals (...all animals!)

2010-10-11T20:37:00.001+08:00

The Prophet Muhammad not only preached to the people to show kindness to each other but also to all the living creatures.

The Arabs before Islam had some customs regarding the animals like cutting tails and manes of horses, of branding animals at any soft spot, and of keeping horses saddled unnecessarily. The Prophet Muhammad forbade such customary performances.

When The Prophet Muhammad saw any over-loaded animal, he would pull up the owner and say: "Fear Allah in your treatment of animals."

One of Muhammad's companions came to him with the young ones of a bird in his sheet and said that the mother bird had hovered over them all along. The Prophet Muhammad commanded the man to replace her offspring in the same bush.

During a journey, somebody picked up some birds eggs. The bird's painful note and fluttering attracted the attention of the Prophet Muhammad who asked the man to replace the eggs.

As the Muslims' army marched towards Mecca to conquer it, they passed a female dog with her little puppies. The Prophet Muhammad not only commanded that the soldiers should not disturb her, but he posted a man to see that this was done.

The Prophet Muhammad also used to command mercy for all animals such that they are well-fed, well-watered, not forced to carry too heavy a burden, and not tortured or maimed for one's enjoyment. Muhammad stated, "Verily, there is heavenly reward for every act of kindness done to a living animal."

Three narrated Hadiths concerning the animals
In His teachings, it is narrated that the Prophet Muhammad said,

(1) 'While a man was walking on a road he became very thirsty. He found a well, he went into it, drank, and came out. Upon coming out of the well he found a very thirsty dog that was breathing hard and quickly. The man said: 'This dog has become stricken with the same degree of thirst which had stricken me.' The man went down into the well and filled his shoe and then held it in his mouth until he climbed out and gave the dog water to drink. Allah thanked the man for his good deed and forgave his sins.' Upon listening to this story, One of Muhammad's companions asked, 'O Messenger of Allah, are we rewarded for taking care of beasts?' Muhammad said, 'There is a reward for you in every living creature.

(2) 'A woman was punished because of a cat. She neither provided it with food nor drink, nor set it free so that it might eat and drink'.

(3) [The Prophet Muhammad passed by a very weak camel that his stomach quite touched its back (due to the lack of food). Upon seeing this he said:] "Fear Allah in these unspeaking animals! Ride them while they are in good health."

Does the Quran Really Sanction Violence Against 'Unbelievers'?

2010-09-29T08:55:00.000+08:00

by Kabir Helminski

Recently some prominent talk-show hosts, Sean Hannity among them, have been referring to certain verses in the Quran that appear to call for Muslims to kill non-Muslims. These verses have too often been quoted with what appears to be a willful disregard for the context in which they occur, thus inflaming the emotions of listeners, perpetuating grave misunderstandings, and contributing to the potential for violence on all sides.

Though we may not be able to influence those who are hell-bent on hatred, an explanation is owed to all reasonable people who are interested in the truth of the matter and are not looking to create enemies. The vast majority of Muslims deserve to be seen as allies in a common quest for social justice and human dignity -- assuming, of course, that we as Americans have the same goals in mind.

A careful and unbiased study of these and other verses, in their proper context, will reveal that the exhortations to fight "idolaters" and "unbelievers" are specific in nature and are not general injunctions for the murder of all those who refuse to accept Islam as their way of life.

Among the most often cited verses is this one: "Kill the idolaters wherever you find them, and capture them, and blockade them, and watch for them at every lookout..." (Quran 9:5).

According to Islamic belief, the Quran was "revealed" to Muhammad in a process of dialog with the Divine, and some parts of the Quran refer to specific situations, while other parts offer universal spiritual principles. To understand this passage, we must take into account the historical circumstances at the time of its revelation.

The "idolaters" (Arabic: mushrikeen) were those Meccan "pagans" who had declared war against Muhammad and his community. The Meccan oligarchs fought against the Prophet's message from the very beginning. When they realized that the flow of converts to Islam was increasing, they resorted to violent oppression and torture of the Prophet and his followers. The Prophet himself survived several assassination attempts, and it became so dangerous for the Muslims in Mecca that Muhammad sent some of his companions who lacked tribal protection to take asylum in the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia. After 13 years of violence, he himself was compelled to take refuge in the city of Medina, and even then the Meccans did not relent in their hostilities. Eventually, various hostile Arab tribes joined in the fight against the Muslims, culminating in the Battle of the Trench, when 10,000 soldiers from many Arab tribes gathered to wipe out the Muslim community once and for all. As we know, the Muslims survived these challenges and eventually went on to establish a vast civilization.

At the time Verse 9:5 was revealed, Muhammad and his followers had begun to establish themselves securely. They had returned triumphantly to Mecca without violence, most Meccans themselves had become Muslims, and many of the surrounding pagan Arab tribes had also accepted Islam and sent delegations to the Prophet pledging their allegiance to him. Those that did not establish peace with the Muslims were the bitterest of enemies, and it was against these remaining hostile forces that the verse commands the Prophet to fight.

The verses that come immediately before 9:5 state, "Those with whom you have treaties are immune from attack." It further states, "Fulfill your treaties with them to the end of their term, for God loves the conscientious." Now, in its proper context, verse 9:5 can be properly understood.

This was a guidance to the Prophet at that specific time to fight those idolaters who, as 9:4 mentions, violated their treaty obligations and helped others fight against the Muslims. It is not a general command to attack all non-Muslims, and it has never signified this to the overwhelming majority of Muslims throughout history. Had it been so, then every year, after the "sacred months are past," (The "sacred months" are four months out of the year during which fighting is not allowed) history would have witnessed Muslims attacking every non-Muslim in sight. This yearly slaughter never occurred. Though the present verse is only one example, none of the Quranic verses that mention fighting justify aggression nor propose attacking anyone because of their religious beliefs. Nor were forced conversions recognized as valid under Islamic law.

The fundamental Quranic principle is that fighting is allowed only in self-defense, and it is only against those who actively fight against you. Indeed, Islam is a religion that seeks to maximize peace and reconciliation. Yet, Islam is not a pacifist religion; it does accept the premise that, from time to time and as a last resort, arms must be taken up in a just war.

If the enemy inclines toward peace, however, Muslims must follow suit: "But if they stop, God is most forgiving, most merciful" (2:192). Also read: "Now if they incline toward peace, then incline to it, and place your trust in God, for God is the all-hearing, the all-knowing" (8:61).

How then do we explain the early spread of Islam through military conquest? In the two decades following the death of Muhammad, Muslim armies challenged and largely overcame the world's two greatest powers, the Persian and Byzantine empires. Were these conquests truly justifiable according to the Quranic principles outlined above? It is a complex question and not one to be readily answered within the limits of a blog post such as this.

It deserves to be understood, however, that the Muslims fought imperial armies, not civilians, and were forbidden to harm non-combatants or destroy property. Islam guaranteed religious freedom for Christians, Jews, and other minority sects, even while they obliged these "protected" minorities to pay a small tax in exchange for being absolved from military service.

Now 14 centuries have passed, and it needs to be recognized that the Quran does not have an inherent, built-in agenda for aggression or domination. The vast majority of Muslims are content to live and let live. In fact, that is part of their religion. Relations with other religious communities are based on acceptance and encouragement to follow the best of your own religion:

To each community among you has been prescribed a Law and a way of life. If God had so willed He would have made you a single people, but His plan is to test you in what He has given you: so strive as in a race in all virtues. The goal of you all is to God; it is He that will show you the truth of the matters in which you differ. (5:48)
And Muslims believe that the God of Islam is not other than the God of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus and that the diversity of religions is according to Divine plan: "Truly those who keep the faith, and the Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabaeans -- whoever believes in God and the Last Day and performs virtuous deeds -- surely their reward is with their Lord, and no fear shall come upon them, neither shall they grieve." (2:62)

Perhaps these verses help to explain why in the city of Jerusalem, which has been ruled by Muslims for most of the last 13 centuries, the sacred sites of Jews and Christians have been protected, and those communities themselves have for the most part been able to live in peace together with Muslims. The assertion that Islam or the Quran inherently call for a "war on unbelievers" is sheer fallacy and fantasy. Peace be with you.

"Be Peacemakers", Sermon by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Eid Al-Fitr 2010

2010-09-15T11:16:00.002+08:00

Click to view

If That 'Mosque' ISN'T Built, This Is No Longer America

2010-09-14T18:15:00.002+08:00

OpenMike 9/11/10

Michael Moore's daily blog

I am opposed to the building of the "mosque" two blocks from Ground Zero.

I want it built on Ground Zero.

Why? Because I believe in an America that protects those who are the victims of hate and prejudice. I believe in an America that says you have the right to worship whatever God you have, wherever you want to worship. And I believe in an America that says to the world that we are a loving and generous people and if a bunch of murderers steal your religion from you and use it as their excuse to kill 3,000 souls, then I want to help you get your religion back. And I want to put it at the spot where it was stolen from you.

There's been so much that's been said about this manufactured controversy, I really don't want to waste any time on this day of remembrance talking about it. But I hate bigotry and I hate liars, and so in case you missed any of the truth that's been lost in this, let me point out a few facts:

1. I love the Burlington Coat Factory. I've gotten some great winter coats there at a very reasonable price. Muslims have been holding their daily prayers there since 2009. No one ever complained about that. This is not going to be a "mosque," it's going to be a community center. It will have the same prayer room in it that's already there. But to even have to assure people that "it's not going to be mosque" is so offensive, I now wish they would just build a 111-story mosque there. That would be better than the lame and disgusting way the developer has left Ground Zero an empty hole until recently. The remains of over 1,100 people still haven't been found. That site is a sacred graveyard, and to be building another monument to commerce on it is a sacrilege. Why wasn't the entire site turned into a memorial peace park? People died there, and many of their remains are still strewn about, all these years later.

2. Guess who has helped the Muslims organize their plans for this community center? The JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER of Manhattan! Their rabbi has been advising them since the beginning. It's been a picture-perfect example of the kind of world we all want to live in. Peter Stuyvessant, New York's "founder," tried to expel the first Jews who arrived in Manhattan. Then the Dutch said, no, that's a bit much. So then Stuyvessant said ok, you can stay, but you cannot build a synagogue anywhere in Manhattan. Do your stupid Friday night thing at home. The first Jewish temple was not allowed to be built until 1730. Then there was a revolution, and the founding fathers said this country has to be secular -- no religious nuts or state religions. George Washington (inaugurated around the corner from Ground Zero) wanted to make a statement about this his very first year in office, and wrote this to American Jews:

"The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy -- a policy worthy of imitation. ...
"It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens ...
"May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants -- while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid."
3. The Imam in charge of this project is the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. Read about his past here.

4. Around five dozen Muslims died at the World Trade Center on 9/11. Hundreds of members of their families still grieve and suffer. The 19 killers did not care what religion anyone belonged to when they took those lives.

5. I've never read a sadder headline in the New York Times than the one on the front page this past Monday: "American Muslims Ask, Will We Ever Belong?" That should make all of us so ashamed that even a single one of our fellow citizens should ever have to worry about if they "belong" here.

6. There is a McDonald's two blocks from Ground Zero. Trust me, McDonald's has killed far more people than the terrorists.

7. During an economic depression or a time of war, fascists are extremely skilled at whipping up fear and hate and getting the working class to blame "the other" for their troubles. Lincoln's enemies told poor Southern whites that he was "a Catholic." FDR's opponents said he was Jewish and called him "Jewsevelt." One in five Americans now believe Obama is a Muslim and 41% of Republicans don't believe he was born here.

8. Blaming a whole group for the actions of just one of that group is anti-American. Timothy McVeigh was Catholic. Should Oklahoma City prohibit the building of a Catholic Church near the site of the former federal building that McVeigh blew up?

9. Let's face it, all religions have their whackos. Catholics have O'Reilly, Gingrich, Hannity and Clarence Thomas (in fact all five conservatives who dominate the Supreme Court are Catholic). Protestants have Pat Robertson and too many to list here. The Mormons have Glenn Beck. Jews have Crazy Eddie. But we don't judge whole religions on just the actions of their whackos. Unless they're Methodists.

10. If I should ever, God forbid, perish in a terrorist incident, and you or some nutty group uses my death as your justification to attack or discriminate against anyone in my name, I will come back and haunt you worse than Linda Blair marrying Freddy Krueger and moving into your bedroom to spawn Chucky. John Lennon was right when he asked us to imagine a world with "nothing to kill or die for and no religion, too." I heard Deepak Chopra this week say that "God gave humans the truth, and the devil came and he said, 'Let's give it a name and call it religion.' " But John Adams said it best when he wrote a sort of letter to the future (which he called "Posterity"): "Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present Generation to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it." I'm guessing ol' John Adams is up there repenting nonstop right now.

Friends, we all have a responsibility NOW to make sure that Muslim community center gets built. Once again, 70% of the country (the same number that initially supported the Iraq War) is on the wrong side and want the "mosque" moved. Enormous pressure has been put on the Imam to stop his project. We have to turn this thing around. Are we going to let the bullies and thugs win another one? Aren't you fed up by now? When would be a good time to take our country back from the haters?

I say right now. Let's each of us make a statement by donating to the building of this community center! It's a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization and you can donate a dollar or ten dollars (or more) right now through a secure pay pal account by clicking here. I will personally match the first $10,000 raised (forward your PayPal receipt to webguy@michaelmoore.com). If each one of you reading this blog/email donated just a couple of dollars, that would give the center over $6 million, more than what Donald Trump has offered to buy the Imam out. C'mon everyone, let's pitch in and help those who are being debased for simply wanting to do something good. We could all make a huge statement of love on this solemn day.

I lost a co-worker on 9/11. I write this today in his memory.

“If They Can Burn It, We Can Read It”

2010-09-06T10:07:00.000+08:00

“If They Can Burn It, We Can Read It.”

A UCC Minister’s Response to Burning the Qur’an.

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Zachary

There are some things that really get under my skin. One of those things is religious intolerance, be it from Christians, Muslims, Jews, Agnostics, Pagans, Pastafarians, or the like. Larry Reimer, a minister of the United Church of Gainesville, has decided to read scripture from the Qur'an in worship service in response to a local Qur'an burning.

It’s good to know that I’m not the only one, then, who sees Gainesville, Florida’s Dove World Outreach Center’s plan to burn as many copies of the Qur’an as possible a stab in the heart to groups of religious followers that care about tolerance. Larry Reimer is a minister at the United Church of Gainesville, a deep advocate of civil rights, and the man responsible for what seems to be a very intelligent response to Dove’s outlash at Islam.

“If they can burn it, then we can read it,” said Reimer from an armchair across from mine in his office, lined with bookshelves and photos from many events canvassing the years. On a side table next to me, there’s a statue of the Buddha, along with various other spiritually-themed trinkets that seem to indicate that this office does not belong to a spiritually firm-handed man.

Reimer, along with other Gainesville religious leaders, will read scripture from the Qur’an as part of worship services on Sunday, September 12.

When asked about how he came about with the idea, “Almost right away, members of the congregation here asked me, ‘what are we going to do about this?’ Originally, I had the intention of giving [Dove Center] no more attention in the media. But as I thought about it, I asked myself what we could do that would be effective and proactive in promoting cooperation among our religious relatives.”

I prodded further about religious relatives. “Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are all part of the Abrahamic tree of faith. We all believe in the same God, and in many aspects we are all trying to accomplish the same goals. And in Islam, there are things that I think any follower of any other religion could learn from. Take prayer, for example. In Islam, one prays at least five times a day. The discipline to do that? Few of us have it. And like Christianity and Judaism, there is a strong call to love God and your neighbor.”

We chat on for a bit about the differences and similarities that each of the Abrahamic religions have when he says to me, “You know, we learn best from our rival siblings. We might not always agree with them, but they always point out our shortcomings. And in the end, we have the most in common with them. We pull from one another and make each whole.

“Look at FSU and UF, or Michigan and Ohio State. All students who grew up together, went to the same high schools, and in reality should be the most understanding of one another. Now that they’re on opposite sides of the stadium, they act like they have nothing in common. But they do, and if each member stopped for a minute and thought about it, they would realize they’re the same students, with the same dreams, looking and hoping to do the same things when they graduate.”

Then I ask him why he thinks these negative attitudes toward Islam exist. “The average American inherently assumes that Islam is violent and decidedly anti-American because we haven’t taken the time to experience Islam from an individual perspective or as a faith up close. A friend of mine was in Egypt when news of Dove Outreach’s Qur’an burning hit, and he told me that it was represented as mainstream Christianity, much in the same way that the violent acts we hear about here are represented as mainstream Islam. Here, Islam is still associated with terrorism. The acts of September 11th were not acts that were Islamic in nature. They were acts of fanatical extremists. And fanaticism is not confined to any one faith. I think that there’s no better time than September 12th to remind ourselves of this, and to read from Qur’an in worship to point out how much we really do have in common.”

Then I asked him the big one. If you could preach to the members of Dove Outreach Center for even five minutes, what would you say? “The danger to our faith comes not most from outside, but from the shadows within. We must pay attention to our neglect to look at ourselves, instead of automatically pointing the finger elsewhere. God’s call is for constant opening.”

Already, Larry has been interviewed for the New York Times. As of now, Fifteen religious leaders in Gainesville have agreed to share verses from the Qur’an on Sunday, September 12th. And he thinks that more will follow. “I’m not trying to make this a national or international event, but I feel that those who understand that allowing [the Qur'an burning] to pass silently by allows Dove Outreach to win in the fight against tolerance and religious compassion will stand up and share scripture from the Qur’an.”

Not a moment too soon. In the words of German poet Heinrich Heine written in 1820, now enshrined on a plaque at the site of Nazi Propoganda Minster Joseph Goebbels’ book burnings, “There, where they burn books, they will in the end burn people.”

Islamic Medicine and the Story of Prophet Musa (as)

2010-09-03T14:56:00.000+08:00

Once, Prophet Musa/Moses (as) became ill. The Bani Israel (Children of Israel) came to him and realizing what his illness was, advised him: "If you consume such and such medicine you will recover from your sickness." "I shall not seek any cure but will instead wait till Allah (SWT) cures me without the help of any medicine," said Prophet Musa/Moses (as) to them. His illness became prolonged whereupon Allah (SWT) revealed to him: "By My Majesty and Glory! I shall never cure you till you have consumed the medicine which they had recommended to you."

Prophet Musa/Moses (as) asked the Bani Israel to treat him with the medicine that they had previously suggested. They treated him and shortly after that, Prophet Musa/Moses (as) regained his health. However, this incident left Prophet Musa/Moses (as) with a feeling of complaint and dejection but Allah (SWT) revealed to him: "You desired to annul My Wisdom by means of your trust in Me! Is there one, other than Me, who has placed the medicinal and beneficial effects in plants and various things?"

Proofs Against Corruption in Islam...

2010-09-03T14:52:00.000+08:00

Ironic, considering things like this go on all the time in the Muslim world.... Here's two hadith that emphasize how much things like nepotism and corruption are despised by Allah SWT...

“He who hires a person and knows that there is another one who is more qualified than him has betrayed Allah and His Prophet and the Muslims.” - Bukhari

‘Whoever is in charge of running Muslim affairs and hires a person on the basis of nepotism has deserved the curse of Allah and will not accept whatever justice he does beyond that.” - Muslim

The Loss of Muslim Spirituality?

2010-09-03T12:30:00.000+08:00

Why Ramadan in Egypt means overeating and John Travolta on TV

By Justin D. Martin – Wed Sep 1, 3:38 pm ET

Cairo – During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Muslims are supposed to refrain from eating, drinking, and sexual activity (among other things) while the sun is out. Along with a renewed emphasis on charitable giving, Ramadan is meant to remind Muslims about the pain of hunger and refocus their reliance on Allah.

But here in Egypt, home to more than 80 million Muslims, Ramadan is ironically often marked by overconsumption – of both food and TV.

For weeks, I’ve seen advertising for a new Egyptian mini-series called “I Want to Get Married,” starring Hend Sabry, probably the most famous actress in the Arab world. Billboards, TV spots, and online promotions have heralded the comedy series, now airing during Ramadan. The program parodies the very real, frustrating process young Egyptians endure in finding a spouse their highly nuclear families approve.

The marquee series is just one on a long playbill of special programs that entertain Muslim families and help them pass Ramadan hours. Indigenous TV producers, news networks, and channels that beam Western movies all up the ante during Ramadan, the sweeps month, in a way, of the Muslim world. As I write this, MBC 2, a pan-Arab satellite channel that shows mostly American movies, is offering “Ladder 49,” a firefighting film with John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix, a film the channel probably wouldn’t offer at 11:00 a.m. on a Thursday outside of Ramadan.
Less fasting, more TVEgypt has been criticized for its reliance on television, truncated work hours, and overconsumption of food during Ramadan. Egypt literally changes the time that the sun sets to make fasting easier; the country changed clocks back one hour on August 10, Ramadan eve, and will roll the clocks forward again after Ramadan ends.

Relatives of mine, Muslims living in Turkey and who visited me during Ramadan this year, were shocked by many of the ways Egyptians mark the holy month. Charitable giving does increase in Egypt during Ramadan, but so do marketing, consumption, and exploitation. Many Egyptian merchants raise prices to take advantage of the greater number of family gatherings.
An NPR story on the Egyptian time change for Ramadan discussed the country’s “Ramadan Effect,” a month-long slump in the economy, as Egyptian Muslims spend more time eating, watching television, and less time working, and use of imported goods soars. Many Egyptian Muslims, and, admittedly, many Muslims elsewhere, gain weight during Ramadan. NPR quoted sociologist Said Sadek, who lamented that Ramadan is like “thirty days of Christmas eve, full of banquets and food. Egypt consumes three times its normal food consumption during the month of Ramadan…[Egyptians] are semi-drugged by media, by food, banquets....”

Some Egyptians are embarrassed by the TV-induced hypnosis and gorging that subdues their compatriots during the holy month. My wife and I recently hosted a Muslim iftar, a meal marking the end of a day of fasting, and, when discussing the inertia and TV consumption that often accompanies Ramadan in Egypt, a young Muslim guest said, “Ramadan is supposed to be about working harder, not less.”

I have to admit that as a non-Muslim living in Egypt, I enjoy the spoils of Ramadan. I get better TV programming for a month without bearing the daylight sacrifices.

Nothing compared to American ChristmasAnd, to be fair, I must say that commercialism during Ramadan – in Egypt or elsewhere – is nothing compared to American Christmas. I’m often surprised by how Ramadan, a month-long affair, drives much less TV advertising and useless trinket-buying in Muslim countries than Christmas does in the United States. There’s none of this “Christmas in July” nonsense, no collective counting down the shopping days until loved ones demand gifts. Sure, McDonald’s in Muslim countries whips up cheap and toxic Ramadan meals, but the whole ordeal feels less compromised than Nordstrom in November.

American Christmas, though, doesn’t bill itself as a time of self-denial – far from it. Ramadan, on the other hand, is when Muslims are asked to pass the time with prayer, not TV premieres. Muslims are called to read one-thirtieth of the Koran each day during Ramadan, not slouch on the sofa watching “Ladder 49.”

The good news, my Muslim cousin reminded me, is that the poorest Egyptians enjoy more entertainment and eat better during Ramadan, too. A rising tide expands all bellies, I suppose. I don’t doubt that many of Egypt’s poor look forward to Ramadan as a month of media distraction and a time when the country’s better-off pay more attention to their afflictions.

On a recent evening, there was a Ramadan-inspired show at a fountain-lined string of lovely outdoor cafés in my neighborhood here in Cairo. The venues had TV screens off to the side flickering muted music videos and movies. There was little personal reflection and virtually no self-denial. But if you have a slightly broader expectation of what Ramadan should be, it’s probably OK.

The Real Agenda...

2010-08-30T08:17:00.000+08:00

Tea Party Reveals Real Reason Behind Mosque Opposition Frenzy

Ahmed Rehab ahmedrehab.com

Leaders of astroturf groups opposing the Not-At-Ground-Zero-Muslim-Center can't seem to decide on an argument. They have thrown everything and the kitchen sink at us in the way of fabricated reasons.

First, they tried the "legal" route. When it became apparent that American Muslims had a constitutionally guaranteed right to religious, cultural, and communal services in lower Manhattan just like everyone else, they invoked the "sensitivity to the 9/11 families" line.

When it was argued that there is nothing insensitive about Muslims with no connection to 9/11 establishing a center two blocks away (unless you assume collective guilt), and that Muslims died in the Twin Towers, too, they tried to smear the center's imam as a radical.

When it was revealed that imam Feisal's 37-year track record was so consistently antithetical to radicalism that it earned him the "moderate model imam" accolade from this administration, the Bush administration, the FBI, and the New York interfaith community, they tried the "sacred ground" argument.

When it was revealed that the center was not actually "at" Ground Zero and that there were offices, delis, dollar stores, bars, and a strip club in the same vicinity that no one was taking issue with for being on sacred ground, they tried the foreign funding route.

When it was revealed that the imam has no intention of receiving funding from foreign governments or groups, or even individuals with a less-than-stellar reputation, they tried the sensitivity route again.

It seems that they just can't decide on the public strategy to keep Park51 from taking its rightful place among Manhattan's blossoming diversity.

Privately, however, there seems to be little such confusion. The reasons there are given clearly, and it turns out it is precisely what many of us have argued all along: opposition organizers are motivated by an ideological belief that "Islam is evil and must be stopped; America is Judeo-Christian."

That's it.

That is the undisguised rallying cry on the private email listservs, the blogs, and the viral youtube videos administered by the right-wing oppositional leadership. On the prime time networks, they openly lie to the American people about harboring an anti-Muslim agenda, perhaps wishing to avoid being exposed for their religious intolerance.

Not for long.

Check out the uber-creepy Tea Party email below, released by no less than teaparty.org.

In it, the Tea Party folks argue that America is exclusively "Judeo-Christian" and that Islam should be "expelled from our shores."

And that's just for starters.

The rest of the email displays a fundemental disdain for a pluralistic America and reveals chilling levels of Islamophobia and hatemongering.

It poses the freakish question: "Will 'blanket tolerance' be the downfall of the Judaic/Christian basis of the American society?"

It quotes select passages from of the Quran out of context, a game that can just as easily be played with the Torah or the Bible.

It then suggests to its members that Muslims at large -- not terrorists, mind you, but Muslims at large -- plan for the "complete annihilation of the west," for "our demise," for "our destruction," and that they are "working dilligently" to "celebrate the day America will be no more." It warns that "the United States Judaic/Christian roots are being 'God Shocked,'" and wonders if "the courts should hand down a litmus test" for religions before they are "expelled from our shores."

So let me ask you again? Do you still think that the sudden rise in anti-mosque hysteria is really about sacred ground? Sensitivities to 9/11 victims? Funding sources?

Or is it about the rise of an ideological anti-Islam movement and the desire to curb, if not outlaw, religious freedoms for Muslims?

What would it take to wake the media up, if not this blatant piece of evidence? Will the media now pay attention? Is it remotely interested in the facts that are practically smacking it in the face? Where is the FOX News coverage of everything "Mosque at Ground Zero," the same FOX News that desperately scrutinizes Imam Feisal's every utterance in the hope of unearthing a controversial statement? Laura Ingraham, are you listening?

Re: Tea Party - Truth Behind 911 Mosque

From: teaparty@teaparty.org

On: Friday, August 20, 2010 8:46 PM

The American people find articulating their concern over the proposed Mosque near the sight of the 911 attacks problematic. On one hand, many view the First Amendment a shield of protection for religious freedom, on the other hand, some view the First Amendment as providing a haven for religions with a hostile political agenda wrapped in cleric's robes.

Is it any wonder that there is so much confusion on this matter? Most Citizens of the United States have never experienced the driving and all consuming force of a Theocratic government with its crushing Theo-political tenet.

The American religious experience is the usual Sunday morning 'hymn singing'; passing the offering plate, an off tempo choir and the occasional neighborhood revival. The 'Church supper and bake sale mentality' gives way to a much colder and more formidable view of religious practices, which are not only unfamiliar, but also antithetical to the 'Sunday Go To Meeting' crowd.

The United States Judaic/Christian roots are being 'God Shocked' by the concept that a religion can and does demand world domination by any means, including violence if necessary.

The Koran states: Sura 61:9 He it is Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islamic monotheism) to make it victorious over all (other) religions even though the Mushrikun (polytheists, pagans, idolaters, and disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah and His Messenger Muhammad) hate (it). (Hilali and Khan, The Noble Qur'an, Riyadh: Darussalam, 1996)

Allah's Messenger said: "By Him (Allah) in Whose Hand my soul is, surely the son of Mary [Isa (Jesus)] will shortly descend amongst you people (Muslims), and will judge mankind justly by the Law of the Quran (as a just ruler) and will break the Cross and kill pigs and abolish the Jizyah [a tax] ...." (Bukhari 3:2222) .

The growing confusion among Ministers and their Congregations over the nature of legitimate Islamic worship and the practice of Taqiyya[1] is causing serious questions regarding the constitutionally protected practice of religion, if that religion is detrimental to the welfare and domestic tranquility of the very nation whose constitution protects it.

The emerging question is: Should the first amendment protect the practice of a religion which has a hostile political agenda wrapped in cleric's robes? Should the U.S. Constitution protect a religion whose focus is converting the United States from a Democratic Republic into a Theocracy lead by religious cleric's who are antithetical to what made this nation great and what keeps it great? Is this the change America should have or needs?

How can the Citizenry demarcate a concept which holds the well established fact that millions of the Islamic faith have called for a Holy Jihad and thereby demand the complete annihilation of the west? Yet, this same Citizenry is expected to open their arms to that very same religion, welcoming them as friends, protecting them with the same Constitutional protection Synagogues and Churches have enjoyed for over 234 years.

To make matters worse, this same Citizenry is expected to grant permission to build a Mosque on American hallowed ground, thereby, offering sanctuary and worship for the same religion which was instrumental in the 911 attacks.

Will it become necessary for the courts to hand down a litmus test for religion? If a religion passes the litmus test, then and only then that religion is welcome and protected?

However, if the religion in question fails the litmus test... will that be reason enough to expel the failed theological expression from our shores?

Should 'We The People" give haven to religions whose main purpose it to install a system of Theo-political colonization? Shall the American people welcome with open arms a religion having untold millions of members demanding the beheading of western infidels? Shall the People of America grant safe haven to those who cheerfully work for the day Israel, the United States and all other non-Islamic states are finally eradicated off the face of the earth?

These bothersome questions are not ones of religious rights, but rather of the will of the people. Will the people tolerate everything?

Will 'blanket tolerance' be the downfall of the Judaic/Christian basis of the American society?

Is there nothing which will compel We The People to stand up and say: "It stops here and no further," shall this be America's crucifixion?

Or, shall the American people create a feathered bed for all those who plan our demise, who work diligently for our destruction and for those who will celebrate the day America will be no more.

Stephen Eichler J.D.

America's Legal Analyst

[1] The practice of precautionary dissimulation whereby believers may conceal their faith when under threat, persecution or compulsion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taqiyya

Ramadan Inspiration

2010-08-10T04:40:00.000+08:00

Ramadan means no water during workouts for Husain Abdullah

By MJD

NFL practices this time of year are designed for maximum sweat production. Coaches are trying to build up stamina and endurance. Players push themselves to the limit, in pursuit of jobs and starting spots. It's also really, really hot.

And starting on Aug. 11, the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan, Minnesota Vikings safety Husain Abdullah(notes) will be going through these practices without the benefit of water. Or food. Or any other kind of hydration.

During Ramadan, observing Muslims like Abdullah will fast for 30 days; eating or drinking nothing while the sun is out. Food and drink are permitted after dark and before sunrise, but during the day, there's nada -- not a tiny little sip of water, or the smallest release of Powerade's mystic mountain blueberry. From the AP:

Even while sprinting in the heat and humidity during drills, sometimes in full pads, Abdullah is adamant about his faith. He will not allow himself so much as a cup of water until the sun sets and before it rises.

“I’m putting nothing before God, nothing before my religion,” Abdullah said. “This is something I choose to do, not something I have to do. So I’m always going to fast.”

Abdullah's worked with the team's nutritionist on a way to keep himself healthy through Ramadan with a couple of big meals when it's dark, and a protein shake in the middle of the night. Of course, they know better than I do, but I think about these intense workouts in 90-degree heat, and as soon as I even imagine doing it without water, my kidneys start to shut down.
"Last year it occurred in early September, and we saw a dip in his performance," coach Brad Childress said. "We said, 'What's wrong with Husain Abdullah? It doesn't seem like he has enough spunk.

"I think we have our arms around it now and know when he is going to wake up and when he is going to eat and what we can pack on him before the sun comes up."

I'm in awe of his commitment, and I'm glad he is doing what feels right. That said, I ask him to please, please be as careful as he goes through this. We've seen way too many times that heat-related illnesses are real, extreme and unforgiving dangers.

Too Good to be True: A Positive, Level-headed Article about the "Ground-Zero Mosque"

2010-08-04T16:57:00.000+08:00

Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Imam Behind the 'Ground Zero Mosque'

By BOBBY GHOSH – Tue Aug 3, 6:00 pm ET

The last legal hurdle to the proposed Islamic center near the site of the World Trade Center has been removed, but ignorance, bigotry and politics are more formidable obstacles. The unanimous vote Tuesday, Aug. 3, by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission means the building that currently occupies 45-47 Park Place can be torn down, clearing the way for Park51, a project known to its critics as the "Ground Zero Mosque." Criticism spans the gamut, from the ill-informed anguish of those who mistakenly view Islam as the malevolent force that brought down the towers to the ill-considered opportunism of right-wing politicians who see Islam as an easy target. (Ironically, Islam's roots in New York City are in the area around the site of the World Trade Center, and they predate the Twin Towers: in the late 19th century, a portion of lower Manhattan was known as Little Syria and was inhabited by Arab immigrants - Muslims and Christians - from the Ottoman Empire.)

With city authorities now out of the way, it is the people spearheading the project who must bear the enormous pressure to give up their plans and scrap the building. They are being accused of sympathizing with the men who crashed the planes on 9/11 and of designing the project as, in Newt Gingrich's reckoning, "an act of triumphalism."

And yet Park51's main movers, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan, are actually the kind of Muslim leaders right-wing commentators fantasize about: modernists and moderates who openly condemn the death cult of al-Qaeda and its adherents - ironically, just the kind of "peaceful Muslims" whom Sarah Palin, in her now infamous tweet, asked to "refudiate" the mosque. Rauf is a Sufi, which is Islam's most mystical and accommodating denomination. (See the very best #Shakespalin tweets.)

The Kuwaiti-born Rauf, 52, is the imam of a mosque in New York City's Tribeca district, has written extensively on Islam and its place in modern society and often argues that American democracy is the embodiment of Islam's ideal society. (One of his books is titled What's Right with Islam Is What's Right with America.) He is a contributor to the Washington Post's On Faith blog, and the stated aim of his organization, the Cordoba Initiative, is "to achieve a tipping point in Muslim-West relations within the next decade, steering the world back to the course of mutual recognition and respect and away from heightened tensions." His Indian-born wife is an architect and a recipient of the Interfaith Center Award for Promoting Peace and Interfaith Understanding. (Can Sufism defuse terrorism?)

Since 9/11, Western "experts" have said repeatedly that Muslim leaders who fit Rauf's description should be sought out and empowered to fight the rising tide of extremism. In truth, such figures abound in Muslim lands, even if their work goes unnoticed by armchair pundits elsewhere. Their cause is not helped when someone like Rauf finds himself being excoriated for some perceived reluctance to condemn Hamas and accused of being an extremist himself. If anything, this browbeating of a moderate Muslim empowers the narrative promoted by al-Qaeda: that the West loathes everything about Islam and will stop at nothing to destroy it. (See Daisy Khan explain the role of women leaders in Islam.)

Rauf and Khan have said Park51 - envisaged as a 15-story structure, including a mosque, cultural center and auditorium - will promote greater interfaith dialogue. The furor over the project only underlines how desperately it is needed.

Be People with Minds of Your Own...

2010-08-01T16:40:00.003+08:00

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Do not be people without minds of your own, saying that if others treat you well you will treat them well and that if they do wrong you will do wrong. But (instead) accustom yourselves to do good if people do good and not to do wrong if they do evil."

Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1325

An important hadith for our times....

For Parents: Understanding the L.E.T.S. Phenomenon

2010-07-18T13:11:00.000+08:00

The following is an excerpt from a magazine interview on parenting and popular media:

(Q) In your opinion, do you think that Reality TV featuring young children opens doors to pedophilia? (You would probably answer that "some may run the risk of doing so," so maybe you can elaborate on well-constructed shows that protect the dignity of children as compared to those that leverage on young children's vulnerability).

(A) This is a really difficult question to answer, because scientifically it is a bit difficult to make the claim that reality TV leads to pedophilia. That being said, however, I think there is a bigger issue at play and Reality TV is just one aspect of it. There has been an explosion in reported cases and incidents of pedophilia and sex crimes against children across the planet in recent decades. Now there are many possible factors that could be contributing to it, but one factor without a doubt is the explosion of what I like to call the L.E.T.S. phenomenon -- the Latest Expendable Teenage Superstar. This is the Britney Spears phenomenon; the young – too young, sexy, anorexic, paper cut-out superstar that is good for a few million in sales before they are discarded for the next, big upcoming LETS. I’m not sure if people in Malaysia heard the news, but the most recent controversy is over a new LETS named Miley Cyrus. She starts in the hit Disney Channel show Hannah Montana. This young woman is 15 years old and is now embroiled in ‘controversy’ over racy photos in a popular U.S. magazine named Vanity Fair, in which the young woman is seductively shown wrapped in a bed sheet. The thing about the LETS phenomenon is that the girls are getting younger and younger. The next big up and coming star is another 15 year-old named Selena Gomez, also a Disney product. The irony is that others like Britney, Christina Aguilera, Hillary Duff and Justin Timberlake are all former Disney products. Disney is becoming a major contributor to the LETS phenomenon. As we see, for many of them, like Britney, life gets pretty gruesome and by the time they are in their 20s many of them are burned out, on drugs, broke, divorced, etc.

The LETS phenomenon most definitely creates a very dangerous norm, that is, it not only objectifies woman more than they are already, but now involves teens as well, for these girls are only 15 years old! Fifteen year olds wrapped in bed sheets on the cover of magazines is as pretty close to exploitation as it gets. Soon it will be 14 year olds, then 13, then 12 -- the trend is getting younger and younger. So when does it become a ‘contributor’ to pedophilia? I don’t know, but again, look at the statement that they are making by using such young girls as sex symbols. Having a popular, half-naked 15 year old in seductive poses in adult magazines is not about selling children’s shows for Disney! It’s about the sickening reality of sexual attraction to very young women and girls, and when it becomes a norm and part of the culture, we can see what the results have been.

If you notice, many of the young, female music stars now are young and young-looking, which is what they are selling. They’re taking pretty, young girls and using their sexual allure to sell records, videos, and everything else. Of course, the bottom line is still about economics but it just shows the lengths they are willing to go now to sell – pushing the boundaries of what’s considered decent, ethical and acceptable. Being old is not cool and now, being 30 is old! That’s why we see older stars trying to desperately to appear young – the lengths people are going to in order to appear young is astounding. They are even injecting poison into their bodies and faces to attempt to slow down the aging process (e.g., Botox). Youth truly is king and getting old is very uncool. That is the message that Disney and others are constantly sending by plastering LETS across the TV’s and every other form of mass media.

The Problem with Negativity...

2010-06-20T10:44:00.000+08:00

I just finished reading a post from a Muslim commenting (or lamenting) about politics in Malaysia. Though somewhat insightful and factual, much of the article, like too many we read today, was one-sided and negative. It made me reflect. Is all this negativity that we pre-occupy ourselves with getting us anywhere? Can it possibly lead to anything positive?

I have a good friend, a convert, who some look down upon because they say he's not a 'real' Muslim; after all, he converted to marry a Muslim woman. Even though he keeps up with his fardu 'ain and his other responsibilities, he doesn't look the way other more 'religious' Muslims look. The funny thing about my friend is that he has a heart of gold. He spends his days and nights working on scientific projects aimed at helping the Muslims and the world at-large improve their well-being through science-based development. He is a child of the 'atoms for peace' era where the dreams of the young people were to develop the entire world using science and technology, including nuclear energy. He's a holdover from that era and still believes that science and technology is the greatest weapon in the hands of those wanting to do good for ending poverty and other humanitarian crises. He puts his money where his mouth is. He is a freelancer who works with anyone who has the same goals and aspirations.

The interesting thing about my friend is that he doesn't get bogged down in the endless negativity plaguing the Muslim community, where everyone is a scholar, everyone is a critic and everyone has something to say but few actually DO anything to improve things. We have some brilliant critics in our midst. They spend hours on the web, blogging about how bad everyone else is, even their own countries, but couldn't tell you five good things they actually did in their lives. My friend has taught me an invaluable lesson and has reminded my about the importance of a unfettered, brilliant mind guided by a pure heart. This combination has the power to transform people and nations and is the greatest weapon against ignorance, greed, racism and every other evil out there. The Prophet (SAW) never spent a moment of his time talking about how bad his enemies were. He hated negativity and spoke about it in the following hadith: "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should say something good or keep quiet."

My theory is that we spend so much time on the negative because we have little positive to offer. We lack ideas and the creative ability to envision a better future. We don't really believe in Allah's promise of success through surrender and trust in Him. We need to learn, acquire knowledge and act on it. We need to envision something better and take small steps to work towards it, without expecting all the worldly rewards that so many are selling themselves everyday to attain. My friend is an inspiration for what good ideas and good intentions combined can do towards helping the less fortunate and building a better world.

This has been a great reminder to myself -- shut up and do something, no matter how small, to improve this world. Until we act, nothing will change.

Knife Training with my Guru...

2010-06-18T23:19:00.002+08:00

Find more videos like this on Silat Seni Gayong International

Malaysia’s Young ‘Nuclear Ambassadors’

2010-06-17T17:49:00.001+08:00

by Mohd Daniel Davis

June 4—Like an old general addressing his army before
an important battle, Prof. Noramly Muslim, father of
Malaysia’s 1970s civilian nuclear power program that
has never been enacted, gave us a crystal-clear mission.
“Malaysia hopes to have nuclear power by 2021.
You are now our ambassadors for nuclear power in this
country. I want you to be proactive and become opinionated
citizens who will speak up to the media by writing
to the newspapers and magazines when people come out
and attack nuclear power as unsafe. After this, I want
you to give advanced reasons rather than just layman
reasons for the usage of nuclear power in this country.”
Professor Noramly gave the the closing speech at the
2nd Nuclear Power and Engineering Summer School
program, held May 17-27, in collaboration with National
University of Malaysia (UKM) and the Korean
Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
In the 1970s, Noramly was the founding director general
of the Pusat Penyelidikan Atom Tun Ismail (PUSPATI),
now renamed the Nuclear Malaysia Agency.
Back then, Malaysia’s brightest students were sent overseas
for training in nuclear science and engineering.
This first generation of nuclear experts is now retiring.
Now, here we were, at the Nuclear Summer School,
a fresh generation of mostly young, under 35, working
professionals, who hope to further their studies at the
world’s top nuclear universities.

Three professors from KAIST, and one from the
Korean Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS), were invited
to UKM to lecture on nuclear reactor design, fuel,
instrumentation, and radioactive waste management.
The program attracted numerous professionals from
Malaysia’s research and energy industry, including,
Tenaga Nasional Berhad (Malaysia’s main electricity
supplier), Nuclear Malaysia Agency (responsible for
handling Malaysia’s experimental reactor), Atomic Licensing
Board, and other government and private educational
institutions.

Malaysia, sandwiched between Thailand and Singapore,
has long prided itself as being a leader among developing
countries, demonstrating how to progress in a
multicultural society without racial conflict. In the
1970s, when oil prices were soaring, Malaysia initiated
its own civilian nuclear power plan under the umbrella
of President Eisenhower’s 1953 Atoms for Peace program.
Its first experimental nuclear reactor, Triga, was
built in the early 1980s. The 1-MW reactor has been primarily
used for isotope production for agricultural and
medical use, and research into radioactive applications
of fertilizers, crops, and the study of soil sedimentation.
Today, with no coal reserves, oil reserves expected
to last for only five more years, and natural gas a bit
longer, Malaysia is looking back wistfully at the shelved
nuclear program that Noramly and his colleagues initiated
nearly 40 years ago.

South Korea Leads the Way in SE Asia
Few could have believed that South Korea could
beat out the United States, France, and Japan last year for
a $20 billion contract to build state-of-the-art 1,400-MW
nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates by
2020. It was a first for the South Koreans. How could this
small Asian country have beaten traditional nuclear
heavyweights? South Korea has come a long way since
its first 563-MW Kori-1 reactor in 1978. It now has 20
nuclear power plants, which produce 40% of the nation’s
total electricity. This has sparked heightened interest in
other developing countries, especially, in Southeast Asia,
where Korean-built nuclear plants are cheaper. It costs
only $3 billion for the South Koreans to build a unit, while,
the cost for United States to build one will be $5-6 billion.
What about the doubts that many people express
about “nuclear waste”—fears which largely stem from
the hysteria of the anti-nuclear crowd and the mass
media hype about Chernobyl and Three Mile Island? I
am reminded of the powerful message that Prof. Jong
Kim of KAIST gave a year ago, during a public lecture
at UKM. South Korea initially had problems finding a
suitable place for the nuclear waste from their power
plants. Jong explained:

“In the end we simply asked any areas which wanted
to have the nuclear waste facility to submit their entries.
Four areas submitted their entries; the winner went to
the area with an 80% resident approval for building the
nuclear waste management facility. The technical aspect
of it had been solved long ago. It is relatively safe. If it
wasn’t safe why would South Korea build not only one
but 20 nuclear power plants? What is left for other
countries is only the political will power to do so. . . .”
To date, people who live in areas that operate a nuclear
power facility are healthy and happy, as is evident
in France, for example, where over 70% of the energy
is generated by nuclear power.

As a physics undergraduate, and the youngest “nuclear
ambassador” attending the summer school program,
I feel the following points needs to be addressed
with urgency:

• With nuclear power, the Malaysian monthly
household electricity bill will be reduced from the average
RM100-200 per month, to an average of only
RM40-50 per month. This is because nuclear power
plants can generate a stable base load of electricity 24
hours, 7 days a week, with shutdowns only every 18
months to service and re-fuel, during their 50-60 year
lifetime. Electricity generation using nuclear power
costs only $.39 per KW-hour versus $.54 for coal, $1.47
for natural gas, and $1.95 for oil.

• Nuclear power produces 10 grams per KW-hour
of CO2 (this figure, from the South Koreans, includes
uranium ore mining and nuclear plant construction),
against 991 grams per KW-hour of CO2 produced using
coal, and 782 grams of CO2 for oil. So for those worried
about CO2 emissions, nuclear has the least greenhouse
gas emission in the energy industry.

As young nuclear ambassadors, how then will we win
over other youth to take up nuclear as a career? We must
catch them in their final school years, and inspire
them with the future of a Nuclear Malaysia. But this will
not happen unless Malaysia makes a clear decision to go
nuclear. The youth are not stupid. They have seen their
parents’ generation, which answered the nuclear call in
the 1970s, rot in the government nuclear establishments,
without being allowed to produce a single kilowatt of
electricity or to launch hi tech industries as South
Korea has done. Until Malaysia makes a clear commitment
to go nuclear, the youth will boycott nuclear as
having no future in Malaysia.

Malaysia often brags about being the role model for
other developing countries. This is only partly true (with
its successful urbanization and some low-tech industries).
But it is impossible to live and raise a family on the
low salaries most young people receive, even as graduates,
without considerable financial assistance from their
parents. But, by partnering with South Korea in nuclear
power plants and other technologies, such as cars and
electronics, Malaysia can achieve the stated government
aim for a high-wage, hi-tech transformation of the economy.
South Korea stated loud and clear at the summer
school, that it is eager to work alongside Malaysia.
In the words of Prof. Kun Jai Lee, a senior professor
from KAIST, in his closing speech: “Korea will gladly
help Malaysia to build its first nuclear power plant.
Since your government has stated that it aspires to have
the first nuclear power plant by 2021, we don’t have
much time to waste!”

As Malaysia’s newly appointed “nuclear ambassadors,”
we were impressed. This is an offer from our
Asian technological “big brother,” which has proved to
the world its mastery in safely harnessing nuclear
power, that is simply too good to refuse. What on Earth
is stopping Malaysia from making the simple decision
to Go Nuclear? Half of Malaysia’s population, like me,
is under 23 years old. We want an answer and a future.

(From: Executive Intelligence Review - June 18, 2010)

Worship is for Al-Khalaq, the Endless Creator of All

2010-06-03T15:23:00.000+08:00

The duty of the human being in this world is to responsibly care for the trust which we have been given: to have freewill, to exercise self-reflection, to worship and know one’s Lord, to live and work in harmony with the creation and to adopt one’s correct position to God and life. We are here to love, to appreciate, to learn and to move on. Worship is only for the Creator, not for the created. If you worship the created, then you will find yourself in loss, because whatever is created is going to change; it will disappear and die before your eyes. If you worship the Creator, you find yourself fixed on that which never changes or dies.

Over time, verily the human being is in loss, except such as have faith and do righteous deeds and band together in the mutual enjoining of Truth, Patience and Constancy. (SURAH AL-ASR, HOLY QUR’AN 103)

- Sheikh Din Muhammad al-Dayemi

On true thankfulness...

2010-05-21T04:05:00.001+08:00

[The Prophet] David (peace be upon him) once said:

"My God, how can I thank You, when my thankfulness to You is itself a blessing from among Your gracious favors?"

So Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) conveyed to him by way of inspiration: "Now you have thanked Me indeed!"

- Sheikh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (ra)

Too often, we look for Allah's blessings in the the form of reward, i.e. the products or outcomes of good deeds. What we too often fail to appreciate is that the real gifts of Allah are in being given the opportunity and means to do good. For example, rather than focusing on the reward we hope to receive by performing a good deed, we often overlook the fact that it is Allah who facilitated the entire situation to begin with! Thus, the real gift lies is in the desire, knowledge, opportunity and ability that we have been given to perform the act. When we are able to see in this manner, then gratitude to Allah takes on a new form: I don't hope for reward from fasting, but am grateful for even being given the opportunity and ability to fast; I don't hope for reward in praying, but am overwhelmed with gratitude and humility in being chosen by Allah to have the honor of bowing down to Him five times a day; I do not perform a service in hope of reward, but am awe-struck when I receive inspiration - seemingly from out of nowhere - to even want to do something good for someone. Thus, by being grateful for being given the opportunity to serve Allah is -- according to the great Sheikh -- the greater gratitude, if you will, that we should be striving and hoping for, insya-Allah...

A Muslim Response to 'Draw Muhammad Day'

2010-05-20T16:22:00.000+08:00

A Muslim Response to 'Draw Muhammad Day'
By Nihad Awad

[Nihad Awad is national executive director for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil liberties organization. He may be contacted at: nawad@cair.com ]

I will be the first to defend anyone's right to express their opinion, no matter how offensive it may be to me. Our nation has prospered because Americans value and respect diversity.

But freedom of expression does not create an obligation to offend or to show disrespect to the religious beliefs or revered figures of others.

In reaction to the recent controversy over a depiction of Islam's Prophet Muhammad in an episode of Comedy Central's "South Park," a Seattle cartoonist apparently declared May 20th to be "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day."

I say "apparently" because cartoonist Molly Norris -- the creator of the cartoon showing many objects claiming to be a likeness of the prophet -- now says she never intended to launch "Draw Muhammad Day."

On her web site, she has since posted a statement that reads in part: "I did NOT 'declare' May 20 to be 'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.'...The cartoon-poster, with a fake 'group' behind it, went viral and was taken seriously...The vitriol this 'day' has brought out, of people who only want to draw obscene images, is offensive to the Muslims who did nothing to endanger our right to expression in the first place...I apologize to people of Muslim faith and ask that this 'day' be called off."

Norris even visited a mosque at the invitation of the local Muslim community.

The creator of a Facebook page dedicated to the day also repudiated the "inflammatory posts" it inspired. He said, "I am aghast that so many people are posting deeply offensive pictures of the Prophet...Y'all go ahead if that's your bag, but count me out."

Despite the cartoonist's and the Facebook page creator's seemingly sincere attempts to distance themselves from the fake event, Muslim-bashers and Islamophobes made sure the call to "draw Muhammad" went viral on the Internet. They are hoping to offend Muslims, who are generally sensitive to created images of the Prophet Muhammad or any prophet.

[The majority of Muslims believe visual representations of all prophets are inappropriate in that they distract from God's message and could lead to a kind of idol worship, something forbidden in Islam.]

So how should Muslims and other Americans react to this latest attempt by hate-mongers to exploit the precious right of free speech and turn May 20 into a celebration of degradation and xenophobia?

Before I answer that question, it must first be made clear that American Muslims value freedom of speech and have no desire to inhibit the creative instincts of cartoonists, comedians or anyone else.

The mainstream American Muslim community, including my own organization, has also strongly repudiated the few members of an extremist fringe group who appeared to threaten the creators of "South Park." That group, the origins and makeup of which has been questioned by many Muslims, has absolutely no credibility within the American Muslim community.

I, like many Muslims, was astonished to see media outlets broadcasting the views of a few marginal individuals, while ignoring the hundreds of mosques and Muslim institutions that have representatives who could have offered a mainstream perspective.

Next, one must examine how the Prophet Muhammad himself reacted to personal insults.

Islamic traditions include a number of instances in which the Prophet had the opportunity to retaliate against those who abused him, but refrained from doing so. He said, "You do not do evil to those who do evil to you, but you deal with them with forgiveness and kindness."

Even when the prophet was in a position of power, he chose the path of kindness and mercy. When he returned to Mecca after years of exile and personal attacks, he did not take revenge on the people who had reviled him and abused and tortured his followers, but instead offered a general amnesty.

In the Quran, Islam’s revealed text, God states: "Invite (all) to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching, and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for your Lord knows best who have strayed from His Path and who receive guidance." (16:125)

Another verse tells the prophet to "show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant." (7:199)

This is the guidance Muslims should follow as they express concern about an insulting depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, or of any other prophet of God.

Instead of reacting negatively to the bigoted call to support "Draw Muhammad Day," American Muslims -- and Muslims worldwide -- should use that and every other day as an opportunity to reach out to people of other faiths and beliefs to build bridges of understanding and respect.

The best and most productive response to bigoted campaigns like "Draw Muhammad Day" is more communication, not less communication -- including not restricting the free flow of ideas with measure like banning Facebook.

Research has shown that anti-Islam prejudice goes down when people interact with ordinary Muslims and have greater knowledge of Islam.

Therefore, the best reaction to those who would mock the Prophet Muhammad (or the religious symbols of any faith) might be a mosque open house for the local interfaith community, a community service activity organized by Muslims and involving people of other faiths, or a newspaper commentary describing the life, legacy and personal character of the prophet, which is the opposite of the calumny some people fabricate about him. This should be of concern to all decent and objective people.

We will all benefit if each of us -- whether Muslim, Jew, Christian, Buddhist, or Hindu -- exhibits the common human decency required by our respective faiths.

Developing the Muslim Self Through Martial Arts

2010-05-20T07:34:00.000+08:00

Developing the Muslim Self Through Martial Arts

By Hwaa Irfan

Al-jihad al-akbar the greater jihad, is the inner battle; the invisible war towards self development and unity of mind, body and soul. Many Islamic scholars view this as the prime ambition in Islam, for without this inner jihad, man’s will over his personal and public life is meaningless as man’s physical tendencies and weaknesses cannot be overcome. The modern exterior of life created by man has added ugliness where the signs of Allah (SWT) through nature once added beauty, meditation and reflection. The Qur’an states:

{…Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition…} (Surat ul Ra’d 13:11).

However, before the external changes (political and social) can take place, the internal must transpire first; otherwise it is all short lived.

In the past for Chinese Muslims, the martial arts were a means to bring the innerjihad into a tangible method of self development.

Many reports have shown that the proper learning of martial arts has helped troubled youths claim and earn self-respect and understanding. The enemy within is thus tamed and understood.

“A man’s enemies can be of more benefit to him than his brothers, for they draw attention to his faults from which he can then turn away.” – Ali ibn Abi Talib

Mind-Body-Spirit Union

Martial arts is seemingly a physical art form that has undergone many transformations over the years making it appear to focus on defense and attack. Yet in its truest form, as in Islam, it uses the physical world of man to understand the non-physical world to create a mind-body-spirit union.

Christian educator and theosophist Rudolph Steiner once pointed out that a great debt was owed by western natural science to the spiritual stream of what he called ‘Arabism’. He argued that Western natural science was the product of the Christian Crusades and Muslim Holy War in a martial age. It was during the battle for Christendom in Northern Spain that the works of ibn Sina (Avicenna) and others’ overwhelming belief in the transcendence of Allah (SWT) affected and influenced such prominent Christian scientists of the times such as Roger Bacon. Crusaders perceived Muslims as having a spiritual power and sense of unity that moved them with elemental force.

Kung fu is part of our long history as Muslims in seeking to learn and develop within ourselves. The word “Kung fu” actually means the ‘mastery of a difficult task to a standard of excellence’. It is the origin of most of the Asiatic martial arts, but focuses on the development of the complete person mentally and physically. The art of energy management, however, is not confined to Chinese martial arts forms which Muslims have helped to develop and even originate as some might claim!

Energy as in the life force directed through the human energy field in Chinese is called chi and shan. In Islam it is nafas and ruh. Used in spiritual cultivation, the direction of the life force plays a different role – the inner jihad.

Islam and the Martial Arts

Muslims in Malaysia and Indonesia practice Muslim forms of martial arts like Silat. In China, where the Muslim place of worship is called Qing Zhen Si (Temples of Purity and Truth), Muslims have contributed to the development of chi kung and kung fu.

Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was the founder of the famous Ming Dynasty, and although he never proclaimed to be a Muslim, his six most trusted commanders were. They were Chang Yuchan, Hu Dahai, Mu Ying, Lan Yu, Feng Sheng and Ding Dexing. They were all wushu (Chinese for martial arts) masters. As commanders they defeated rebellious activities including that of the Mongols. A significant number of Muslims died between 1644 –1911 AD in the attempt to restore the Ming Dynasty, which was instituted to bring harmony and fellowship amongst all the different groups of China.

The leaders of the Hui, a Muslim minority of five million, called on the people to learn wushu as a “holy practice in the struggle for survival and self-improvement.” During the Lesser Bairam (Eid ul Fitr) and the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) birthday, the Hui local mosques held wushu contests or exhibitions. The Chinese martial arts technique called “Tan Lui” (spring leg) was actually developed by a Hui Muslim named Chamir from Xingjiang during the Ming Dynasty (1368 –1644 AD).

Cha Kungfu is a Muslim technique from Northern Shaolin also named after a Muslim Kung Fu master – Cha Mi Er. Another Muslim master was Cheong Ho, an admiral of the Ming Dynasty.

The Baijiquan (8 extreme fists – rake hand) was first practiced by Wu Zhong, a Chinese Muslim from the Mong village in Kang country. In 1936, Zheng Wen Guang, a Muslim, attended the 11th Olympic Games as a specially invited member on the Chinese Wushu team.

This is a glimpse at what once was. Last August, China’s military completed a large-scale ‘exercise’ in the Muslim region of Xingjiang.

Not acknowledging our religion and the wealth that has been offered to us is a reflection of our inability to bring into focus the inner jihad, as we seek to develop understanding and further control over our lives.

This was orginally written in 2002…

Sources:

Boardman. Terry. “ ‘Asia’ and ‘The West’ at the End of the 20th. Century. 01/31/00. 1-9. Monju.pwp. 08/30/01.

Coralweb.net “Chinese Muslims Developed What We Now Call ‘Kung Fu’. 08/08/99.1-2. Coralweb.net. 08/16/01.

Geocities.com. “Answers to Readers Questions – August 2000. Pt.2”. 1-18. Wong Kiew Kit’s Home Page. Geocities.com. 08/30/01.

Haeri, Fadhlalla. “The Sayings & Wisdom of Imam ‘Ali”. Britain & N. Ireland. Muhammadi Trust & Zahra Publications. 1992.

Kabiling. Karen. “History of Chinese Muslims Discussed”. Spartan Daily. 03/15/01. 1-3. News. Webcom.com. 08/16/01.

Lohan.8k.com. “About Kung Fu”. 1-3. Kung Fu History. Lohan 8k.com. 08/30/01.

McGregor. Richard. “China Completes Military Exercises in Muslim Region”. 08/14/01. 1-2. Asia Pacific: News & Analysis/World. FT.COM. 08/20/01.

Stark. Michael, J. “Chinese Martial Arts and the Hui”. 01/06/97. Takalmakan.org. 08/16/01.

Xianging. Ma. “Han Chinese Muslims Developed Many Forms of Wushu”. Singapore News Forum. 07/01/01. Singapore. Asiaco.com. 08/16/01.

Zheng Dao Lo Martial Arts Academy “Zheng Dao Lo Martial Arts”. 1-4. Members.tripod.co.uk. 08/18/01

Muhammad Ali's Message to His Daughter

2010-05-06T14:06:00.002+08:00

The following incident took place when Muhammad Ali's (KELAY) daughters arrived at his home wearing clothes that were not modest. Here is the story as told by one of his daughters:

When we finally arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my father's suite. As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us. We exchanged many hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day.

My father took a good look at us. Then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Hana, everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to. Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected. Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell. Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock.
You've got to work hard to get to them."

He looked at me with serious eyes. "Your body is sacred. You're far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too."

Source: Taken from the book: More Than A Hero: Muhammad Ali's Life Lessons Through His Daughter's Eyes.

The Missing Link in the Education of Our Boys

2010-04-28T15:41:00.003+08:00

April 27, 2010 at 1:08 pm (Education, Gender, Life, Self Development, Story Time for Adults)
Tags: U.S., gender, girls, schooling, factory education, boys, male, coed, unisex,coeducation, teachers, pupils, learning, curriculum, U.K., Hong Kong, E.U.

The Missing Link in the Education of Our Boys

By Hwaa Irfan

It has become generally accepted that the education of boys and girls in a mixed environment is far superior to single-sex education. With the 1994 European Community resolution ending single sex schools on the basis of sex discrimination, further moves by the European Union towards standardizing the curriculum of schools throughout Europe have been taking more entrenched steps to make this the norm through sex education despite long term research projects in the U.K. providing strong evidence towards a negative impact on boys academically. The reasons for this general acceptance may have more to do with the focus on gender equity when it comes to girls academically speaking, negating the socio-psychological implications on both genders, and that boys have needs to.

The U.S., has seen a renaissance in single sex education. Since 2004, 445 single-sex classes, and 95 single sex public schools have sprung up across the U.S in response to a change in federal law. One of those schools, the Public School in New York, returned to single sex education in 2009, in response to falling grades and increasing behavioral problems. Attending that school, Samuel Little’s son, Gavin is in his second year of single sex education at Public School. Little told New York Times:

“Before it was all about showing the girls who was toughest, and roughing and being cool”“Now I never hear a word from teachers about behavioral problems, and when he talks about school, he actually talking about work”.

One satisfied parent and son who have done what they have considered best for them despite coeducation being the main mode of education in the U.S. today. Coeducationalists continue to argue against single sex schools, often falling on the belief that single sex schools reinforces stereotypes. Certain things can be taken for granted, as long as the key element desired is in place. Advocates against single-sex education usually measure success of coeducation in the measureable terms of grades, losing oversight of the overall repercussions in the long term.

The coeducation movement began in 1890, when the call for mixed education was based on social reasons rather than academic ones. Brehony in his Coeducation: Perspectives and Debates in the Early Twentieth Century” argued that “… no record of cognitive outcome was ever presented”, and Carol Dyhouse in her “No Distinction of Sex? Women as British Universities 1870-1939 found that coeducation was for the benefit of boys not girls, out fear of homosexuality occurring in boys’ only schools. Dyhouse was referring to the resolutions of the Association of Headmistresses in 1905. That move was essentially a financial one, due to the difficulties of procuring endowments for girls/women’s education. The changes in the U.S. were at the forefront of this movement, influencing the move towards coeducation in the U.K via the Bryce Commission at a time when resources (qualified female teachers, and financial support) were limited for girls’ only schools.

The reasons for seeking coeducation at the turn of the 19th century, were simple ones, but the consequences were a little more complicated. Boys do behave differently under certain situations, and so do girls, but because of certain social movements, we are supposed to not acknowledge the truth of our lives. We consider children as products of our minds, neglecting their souls. We assume that through the narrow secular meaning of the word “education” that future generations will be less predisposed to acts of nature. To demonstrate, is the study from the University of Alabama, U.S. by Barton and Cohen “Classroom Gender Composition and Peer Relations”. There were 46 boys (5th and 6th graders) and 47 girls who had attended single sex schools in a study, along with 45 students who had attended coed. It was found that:

• Mutual friendships had improved for boys on changing to single sex classrooms• Aggressive behavior (both overt aggression and relational aggression) had increased for girls on moving to single sex classrooms• Victimization behavior increased for girls and not for boys on moving to single sex classroomsIn the follow-up after first year transition into single sex classes, it was found that:• Boys continued to show an increase in establishing mutual friendships, but also overt aggression began to increase.• Negative behavior in girls’ classes increased within the 5th grade, but began to tail off in the 6 grade along with victimization.

It has been found that boys tend to lean towards overt aggression, which is more demonstrative and physical, whereas girls demonstrate a relational aggression which is based on the manipulation, intimidation, victimization of relations, and rejection. It is interesting to note that girls exhibited both overt and relational aggression after separating from coed classes, but tailed off what is considered “boys” behavior, and increased on what is considered “girls” behavior within single sex schools. Whereas for boys they were more likely to have peers amongst their own gender the longer they remained in single-sex classes.

This clearly demonstrates the effect of one gender upon the other, and vice versa. Transference is a psychological term that everyone is prone to. We are bound to transfer behaviors and feelings when in the presence of others. The cost of such exercise is prolific in our schools today in the form of school violence, and teenage pregnancies.

Impact on Boys

Concerns were raised as to the benefits of coeducation on male self concept as early as the first decade of 20th century. The concerns arose out of the fact that mixed schools had a larger female population than boys. Members of the British Mosely Education Commission (1903), compared American boys with English boys because coeducation in the U.K. was still in its infancy. Member of the Commission, C.J. Hamilton felt that coeducation “… no doubt softens the manners (some would say to the point of effeminacy) of the boy”. There was also concern that:

“The great preponderance of women teachers threatens the virility of the nations”.

The above might seem irrational, but even today one American headmaster based on his observations had the following to say in the report “Give Boys Their Space”:

“[When we switched to single-sex classrooms] the guys really came together. They worked, their guards came down, they revealed the really caring side of themselves. Once we removed the girls from the equation, all of this “I’m this big tough guy” stuff just completely disappeared. One time we had a coed lunch, and it was a disaster. We had guys talking loud, and girls acting sassy”

This confirms what members of the Bryce and Mosely Commission at the turn of the 20th century had expressed, and confirms the result from the Barton and Cohen study whereby the boys after transferring to single-sex classes had more mutual friends.

From an in-depth study “The Effects of Schooling on Gender Differences” in Hong Kong there were additional considerations to their findings. The cultural backdrop played a major role as Hong Kong is a traditional male oriented society that had been subject to the implementation of a Western education system, along with a single-sex education system that has a male (physical sciences, and Math) oriented and female (Arts and Social Sciences) oriented curriculum. Carried out over a period of years, with investigation of 45,000 secondary school students in Hong Kong, the authors Kam-cheung Wong, Raymond Lam, and Lai-ming Ho found that:

“…while boys performed better on average in SSPA (Single Sex Placement Allocations) when entering secondary schools in Hong Kong, five years later, the situation was reverse. Girls out performed in almost all subjects [coed]. The findings coincide with the results observed from studies in United Kingdom and Australia that girls did better than boys in all areas of the high school curriculum…”

The authors suggested, which is affirmed elsewhere that girls perform better than boys in coed. It is believed that the reason for this is that girls respond better to the systemized method of schooling, school work, and seeking advice from classmates and friends, however girls still did better in single-sex schools.
Bear in mind that this is reference to schooling (factory education) in general, as there are other factors that affect the success or lack thereof including the quality of teachers, the social background of the pupils, and the resources that are made available. The academic success of coeducation cannot be denied, as the resources offered to it allowed for girls to be educated like boys. Later one will find that although there are still some subjects like math and the physical sciences which are still male dominated, and the Arts, which is female dominated, within coed, which does not follow through in single-sex education, particularly for boys.

The State of Education for Boys Today

The American Academy for Educational Development in their 2005 “A Report in the Growing Crisis in Boys’ Education” found that:

• Boys were more likely to be referred to a school psychologist• Boys represented 70% of the students with learning disabilities• Boys represented 80% of the students with social and emotional disabilities• Boys (particularly minorities) represented 70% of school suspensions• Boys were behind 80% of the school violence, and were the main victims

The hype some feminists and pro-coeducationalists do cry. Clearly the research has centered on U.K., Germany, Belgium, the U.S, Sweden, and Australia that may have peculiarities pertaining to their system of coeducation, and given that adolescence is a cultural paradigm that is heightened or abated by the cultural context in which one lives, the facts bear out further. Additionally, some of the concerns would not have received much attention if boys did well academically, but did not so well on a personal level.

At a conference of the International Boys’ Schools Coalition that took place in the U.K. in 2010, a report was presented to headmasters of both private and state schools. In favor of boys schools, the findings were as follows:

• Boys in single sex schools were more likely to do cultural and artistic activities, which develops their emotional side, because they did not feel obliged to “perform” to stereotypes that called on them to “behave like a man”• Boys in single sex schools were more likely to express their emotions• That despite the stereotypes, boys are more emotional than girls• Boys performed badly in mixed schools because they are demoralized by their female counterparts when it comes to verbal and reading skills, because the left side of the brain develops faster in girls• Boys felt the need to be “cool” rather than studious in mixed schooling• That the British education system has become too focused on girls education• Boys learn best through touch, and hands-on experience, as they are more spatial, more impulsive, and more physical, so they need to walk around without being made to feel disruptive• “In the present sexualized atmosphere prevalent in mixed schools, boys feel coerced into acting like men before they understand themselves well enough to know what that means”

The 4-year project “Raising Boys Achievement” undertaken by the reputable University of Cambridge, U.K looking into the forces that undermine boys’ education took place in the U.K., from 2000 – 2004. Over 50 primary, secondary and special schools were explored for the following reasons as stated in the report:

“Rather more boys than girls fail to achieve level 4 in English national tests at the end of key stage 2; rather more boys than girls fail to achieve the 5A*-C benchmark grades in GCSE examinations taken at 16+. These patterns of academic achievement are evident in most schools in England”

The report rested firmly on the academic issues that have led to a gender gap, and how schools can overcome them through various teaching and classroom strategies, including mentoring. However, to consciously know what one is doing to eradicate a problem one has to understand all the dynamics at play, and in this situation that is the admittance, and applicable knowledge that how boys learn, and how girls learn differ, and what girls need, and what boys need differ too without falling into preconceived stereotypes which are void of the laws of nature! This means an evaluation on not only the school ethos, curriculum etc., but also on the maturity of the type and age of the teachers employed, and whether they are employed to do admin work (which has forced so many good teachers to leave), or to whether they are employed to teach.

However, back to the report “Raising Boys Achievement” the authors commented on the advantages of single sex schools as perceived by the teachers:

• “Provision of a context in which teachers could challenge boys’ stereotypes more effectively”

• “The existence of an all-male environment which was more conducive to learning, with fewer distractions and less embarrassment, enabling boys to be more open and responsive in class, and able to concentrate and participate more”.

In the projects review of single sex education the researchers felt to do what many liberalists do as in the case of standardizing sex education, and that is to ask the opinion of those who wish to feel comfortable with their lower desires – in this case the students. Of course the students themselves would say that learning in a mixed environment is good for them, and so they did. However, there was a leaning towards learning in a single-sex setting.

Boys felt:

• “My hormones are not dancing to the beat of the night!’

• “It gives you a lot more confidence to answer questions in class because there is not so much pressure and embarrassment if you are wrong as there would be with girls about”.

Girls felt:

• “You don’t need to act as though you’re really cool, especially when you’re not
feeling as though you are!”

• “You feel braver and less embarrassed in offering answers, because there are no boys to make fun of you when you are wrong”.

As one headmaster to an American school pleaded in “Give Boys Their Space”

“When we switched to single-sex classrooms, the guys really came together. They worked, their guards came down, they revealed the really caring and nurturing side of themselves. Once we removed the girls from the equation, all of this, “I’m this big tough guy” stuff just completely disappeared. One time we had a coed lunch, and it was a disaster. We had guys talking loud and girls being extra sassy”.

Conclusion

It has to be noted that the above is a reflection of “factory education”/schooling, and cannot be said to represent all forms of mixed education today. The problem is though, a growing percentage of the global population is being force-fed through this system of education, which we all take to be quite normal, when the above studies only represent a small percentage of the studies researched for this article, which echo the same results. These studies not only reflect on the education of boys, but on the conduct of females in the presence of males. Boys today will be the colleagues, co-workers, husbands, fathers, and heads of family, organizations, and societies of tomorrow; and if they are hindered from going through their natural stages of development, then society as a whole will suffer. How many women complain about their men, and how many young male Muslims complain about the lack of male role models?

Islam advises a certain code of conduct between men and women in our daily lives, but it is to our own downfall if we allow ourselves to believe as those who defame Islam want us to believe, that Islam is “out of date”. It is far from out of date, but is always “in date” with the actual needs of the human heart, soul and mind as long as we “update” our knowledge of Islam.

If anything is to be learned, by the societies in which we live, it is and has been to ensure fair treatment and allocation of resources to both girls and boys, both men, and women, and both child and adult regardless of status, and ethnicity with generations in mind. We can no longer afford to neglect the needs of any member of society, and we must reflect on our role in that neglect.

Sources:

Albisetti, J. “Un-Learned Lessons from the New World? English Views of American Coeducation and Women Colleges c. 1865 – 1910” History of Education, 2000. Vol. 29: 5 p473 – 489. History Department, University of Kentucky.

Barton, B.K. & Cohen. R. “Classroom Gender Composition and Children’s Peer Relations.” Child Study Journal. Vol. 34: 1. 2004. Department of Psychology. University of Alabama.

Froschl, M & Sprung, B “Raising and Educating Healthy Boys: A Report on the Growing Crisis in Boy’s Education” Academy for Educational Development.

Medina, J. “Boys and Girls Together, Taught Separately in School” New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11education/11gender.html.

Smith, I. D. “Gender Differentiation: Gender Differences in Academic Achievement and Self Concept in Coeducational and Single-Sexed Schools”. Australian Research Council. Institutional Grants Scheme.
Williams, R. Single-Sex Schools Help Boys to Enjoy Arts, Study Says. Guardian.co.uk.

Wong, K. et al “The Effects of Schooling on Gender Differences” University of Hong Kong. 1997.
Younger, W. et al. Raising Boys Achievement. Department for Education and Science.

Perception

2010-04-22T12:04:00.004+08:00

THE SITUATION

In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

About 4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

At 6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At 10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

This experiment raised several questions:

*In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

*If so, do we stop to appreciate it?

*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made . . .

How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?

Muslim Youth and Anger

2010-04-16T15:02:00.000+08:00

Youth
The challenge of anger among young Muslims in America
By Abdul Malik Mujahid

In a Gallup survey last year, 26 percent of Muslim youth in the United States reported feeling angry as compared to 14 percent of Protestant youth and 18 percent of the general American population. They are angrier than their parents. This survey had 10 questions on mental health and almost all results when it came to young Muslims revealed that they were the least happy and the most angry.

It is important to note that this March 2009 report, entitled, “Muslim Americans: A National Portrait”, is not just any poll or survey. It is highly reliable since it compiles results of almost 500 Gallup surveys. The Gallup surveys America every day and for this report, they picked a year and a half worth of surveys and cross- tabulated the results among different faith groups between Muslims, Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Mormons and the general American population.

It is critical that all community leaders, Muslims and non-profit foundations, as well as our government, pay more attention to this demographic group and find effective ways to address its challenges.

My reaction: so stunned I had to meet with Gallup’s pollsters

Only 40 percent of Muslim youth surveyed by Gallup considered themselves to be “thriving” as compared to 61 percent of Protestants and 53 percent of the general U.S. population. That is the lowest level among all youth groups surveyed.

After reading the whole report, I was so concerned about the findings revealing the anger and frustration of our youth that I interviewed one of the report’s senior analysts for Radio Islam and met the other two in person to discuss these statistics.

I asked them what they thought would be the three major reasons for American Muslim youth’s lower level of happiness and higher level of anger. Unfortunately, Gallup did not ask those questions in their survey. But I found in their study and in other ones, some other information which might provide insight into this.

What young Muslims are facing in America

Islamophobia clearly seems to be playing a role in shaping the attitudes of young Muslims. According to one Zogby international poll, 75 percent of young Muslims said they or someone they know has been discriminated against. A Columbia University survey of Muslim students in New York public schools found that 28 percent had been stopped by police as a result of racial profiling and seven percent of them said they had been physically assaulted because of who they are.

This may explain why young Muslims are also the least likely to feel safe at night in their communities. According to the Gallup survey, only 59 percent of young Muslims responded yes to the question “do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or the area in which you live” as compared to 70 percent of youth in the general U.S. population.

The Gallup survey found that young Muslims are also less likely to be employed. Sixty-seven percent as opposed to 79 percent of young Protestants who have jobs. Muslim youth were also the least likely youth group to report being satisfied with their jobs.

The human face of this pressure from Islamophobia can be found in cases like that of a Muslim girl featured on the NPR program “This American Life” in December 2006 (). The show detailed how she went from being a well-adjusted student to a pariah mocked by both fellow students and teachers for her faith This was at a school in an unnamed small town in the state of New York. As a result, she wanted to leave Islam. The crisis also resulted in her parents splitting up.

Harassment and discrimination are hardly news to older American Muslims, who have become accustomed to hearing or even experiencing it on a regular basis. The FBI has conducted more than 500,000 interviews of Muslims in America; American Muslim leaders, advocates and activists are routinely harassed when traveling, especially when returning home; mosques in America have been checked for nuclear bombs; a majority of Americans think very negatively of Islam and Muslims and 22 percent don’t even want a Muslim as their neighbor.

In addition, America’s wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, its heavy military presence in all but 19 of the world’s 195 countries and the deadly acts of terrorists have led to deep-seated animosity towards Islam and Muslims.

What had not been known on a quantitative level until the Gallup survey was how deeply this has all affected Muslim youth. It’s obvious that there has been a serious trickle down effect.

For instance, Muslim wages post-9/11 have gone down by 10 percent and scholars, counselors and community activists have reported that there are a higher number of mental health issues Muslims are grappling with. All of these factors affect youth in our community as well, who are not immune to their environment.

How young Muslims are responding to these pressures

Young Muslims are responding differently to these pressures. Forty seven percent of college-going young Muslims drink alcohol, while 16 percent engage in binge drinking; 29 percent of Muslim students in New York public schools sometimes use a non-Muslim name to get by. Some have changed their names to Christian names. A small number have joined urban gangs. Some have left Islam and some have become more religious.

These pressures and the resulting anger may explain why Muslim youth are the most disengaged among all the youth groups surveyed by Gallup when it comes to voting. Young Muslim Americans are the lowest percentage of any youth group registered to vote.

This marginalization of the community and alienation of its youth constitutes a breading ground for extremism, while proper engagement has only benefits for both Muslims and the United States in general.

The risk of rising extremism among young Muslims

When a Pew survey in May 2006 asked “can suicide bombings of civilian targets to defend Islam be justified?”, 69 percent of American Muslims, aged 18 to 29, said never; 26 percent said ever; 15 percent said often; 11 percent said rarely and 5 percent said they didn’t know.

These 31 percent who did not choose the “never” option are a real concern for this author, considering that in Islamic law, taking a civilian’s life is never justified. Period. To figure out who this particular subset of young Muslims is, we need to ask the following questions:

Are these Muslims driven by any ideology?

Have they accepted extremist interpretations?

Why have they come to this conclusion?

Were the Pew’s questions clear enough?

Were they thinking of a battlefield while answering these questions or of their neighborhoods?

No matter how we look at the data, these are serious numbers which require serious deliberation in our society, our Muslim communities, as well as for people concerned with peace and justice, our governments as well as those responsible for keeping our neighborhoods safe and healthy.

Muslim Americans are concerned about youth radicalism

It seems as if a good number of Muslims are concerned about this issue of youth and radicalism as well. A Pew survey question asked respondents “how concerned are you about the rise of Islamic extremism in the U.S.” Thirty-six percent said “very concerned” and 25 percent reported being “somewhat concerned”.

While this author has never been worried about Osama bin Laden having any appeal to Muslim Americans, I am not so sure about Anwar al-Awlaki. The latter is a U.S.-born citizen who has served as an Imam in three Masjids in America, and has reportedly been considered a balanced source of Islamic education through his audio cds for a number of years. His audio lectures have sold far more widely than the most popular American Muslim preacher, Hamza Yusuf. The fact that Al-Awlaki has reportedly condoned violence is the most authoritative challenge to date for the Muslim community in North America, despite the fact that he currently lives in Yemen.

The challenge of engagement: start with the schools and colleges

Almost 99 percent of Muslim children attend public schools. Only one percent attend an Islamic day school. About four percent attend some form of additional Islamic education like weekend schools which are mostly limited to 40 hours of instruction per year. Therefore, the place where almost all Muslim youth are found are in American schools, colleges, and universities.

Our schools, our foundations, and people in the field of youth development must urgently develop programs and devise strategies which focus on engaging Muslim youth positively.

The mainstream media must equate Islamophobia with racism

Considering that most youth over 50 hours a week consuming media, it is important that responsible media discuss the challenges of Islamophobia and demonization of Muslims in American society. We cannot have healthy children unless we improve the environment we are raising our children in.

Although many Muslim organizations are trying to reach out to the media, their efforts seem to have not had little impact on Islamophobia in society. The vilification of Muslims and Islam has become relentless. Muslims are consistently portrayed as “the other”, not part of the United States, and unworthy of tolerance. Millions of dollars are being spent on a focused program that emphasizes that Muslims are inherently violent, holding them responsible for WWI and WWII, along with recent conflicts.

Even organizations like The ADL (Anti-Defamation League) , which was established to fight hate, suggested that Islam’s declaration of faith, the Shahada, is an “expression of hate” that is “closely identified” with terrorism. They later apologized.

FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) has done an excellent job of documenting how Islamophobia is becoming mainstream. http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3648

Public policy must engage Muslims

While President Barack Obama has been reaching out to the Muslim world since he took office, it is critical that he engage Muslims at home first. America needs its Muslims, except that the only Muslim serving in the White House who helped the President with his speeches, is no longer working there.

The last presidential administration treated American Muslims as virtual enemies of the state, discouraged our civic involvement and suppressed our voices. We were isolated and essentially shunned. In this new era of change, however, it is vital to U.S. interests to engage American Muslims as partners in building relationships with the Muslim world. This is not only a matter of respect, but one of common interests.

American Muslims are a global village made up of diverse communities of African-Americans and immigrants from many nations. Among Muslims, they are one of the largest groups of highly educated professionals in the world.

Tens of thousands are physicians and surgeons. Others serve in higher education. Many proudly serve in the U.S. military. I personally know of at least six Muslims in Chicago who played critical roles in key Muslim governments. Many are directly connected with the ruling elites of the countries of their birth.

Part of the change that American Muslims hope for is to be valued as an asset by their country rather than viewed as suspects.

Muslims are not looking for handouts. We're simply striving for equal opportunity and inclusiveness. That will give a far better message to the Muslim world than speeches. This will send a far stronger message to Muslim youth in America than anything else.

The Muslim community must reallocate its resources for youth development

The Muslim community in the United States is a strong and self-reliant community. It is pouring in hundreds of millions of dollars every year in Islamic education. However, most of these funds are going into Islamic schools. This author is personally committed to Muslim schools. However, these institutions educate less than a one percent of Muslim students. The above described challenge requires our community to reallocate a substantial amount of its resources to reaching out to it’s youth in public schools and campuses for supplemental education, moral support and counseling.

Just looking at five campuses in Chicago, I noticed that Hillel chapters, which represent Jewish students, have more than 30 full-time staff including rabbis. However, there is not a single full-time or part-time staff member at Muslim organizations on campus, much less an Islamic scholar. We can learn a great deal from the Jewish community in the U.S. in their struggle to keep young Jews connected to their Jewish heritage and community.

Sound Vision intends to develop a great amount of content this year focused on topics like Islam in a pluralistic context and discussing objections to Islam. However, we and others who have been concerned about the challenges and frustrations of Muslim youth in America are unable to do much because of the absence of resources.

Please donate to Sound Vision and other institutions providing assistance to the 95% Muslim youth who are not connected with the Muslim community.

Generous Peace

2010-03-16T14:39:00.002+08:00