Tag: Islam

  • newsflick:

    Muslims to NYPD: ‘Respect us, we will respect you’

    Hundreds of Muslims prayed in a lower Manhattan park and marched to New York Police headquarters Friday to protest a decade of police infiltrating mosques and spying on Muslim neighborhoods.

    Bundled in winter clothes, men and women knelt as the call to prayer echoed off the cold stone of government buildings. 

    “Being Muslim does not negate our nationality,” Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid told the crowd of about 500 gathered in Foley Square, not far from City Hall and local courthouses. “We are unapologetically Muslim and uncompromisingly American.” (source)

    Alhamdulillah…this is encouraging to see that Muslims are finally snapping out of that apologetic and victim state of mind, and finally starting to stand up and prove to the world that we’re not the sum total of the propaganda in the western media, nor are we accurately reflected in the actions of those that use Islam to pursue their own political and personal interests. 

  • Purpose of Debate

    I once heard that the point of a debate should be to arrive at the truth and not to prove you’re right. This is something I fully subscribe to, but also forget often. After reflecting on some of my posts recently, especially in this blog, I believe that I have been blurring these very same lines in my tone and focus. I sometimes try to prove why others are wrong or why I’m more right, when in fact the focus of this blog, as my first post suggested, was to be an articulation of my struggle to come to terms with what I find distasteful around me, and in turn to formulate my own views based on principles that I subscribe to, and not views that may have been indoctrinated into me. 

    Whether or not I agree with the atheistic views, or even what exception I take to the traditional/ritualistic Muslims should remain a point of reference as to why I choose the views and opinions that I hold, but should not go as far as trying to convince them that they’re wrong. The Qur’an sums it up beautifully in Chapter 17, verse 81:

    And say: Truth has come and falsehood has vanished away. Lo! Falsehood is ever bound to vanish.

    Some may interpret this to be Muslim arrogance, yet others, if seen objectively, would acknowledge it as confirmation that whichever party is on the true path, this will become self-evident, and therefore there should be no need to shove our views down anyone’s throats. 

    So I hope that I will remain focused in presenting my views not at the expense of others, but rather relative to others only. Context is important, but it should never be used as an excuse to bash any other religion, philosophy, or personal perspectives. Which reminds me of another pertinent verse from the Qur’an in Chapter 18, verse 10:

    Our Lord! Send upon us Your mercy, and show us the solution to our problem in the right way.

    Sincerity of intention and resolve in purpose are always extremely difficult to maintain because of the trappings of the ego. 

  • Muslims, Christians, and Atheists. Spot the difference…

    I find it strange, if not unfortunate, that people that choose atheism, a great many of which despise religion, do so on the basis of acquiring (sometimes) in-depth knowledge of Christianity mainly, finding the flaws in their logic, tenets and scriptures, and then proclaiming that as the illogical base that substantiates their views on religion in totality.

    Muslims, unfortunately in their present form, do very little to dissuade such an approach because we’re just so ritualistic and often illogical in our application of the beauty of Islam based on how our forefathers did it, rather than a conscious effort through understanding the principles of what Islam offers, with the only saving grace being that we have a more logically sound base off which to work.

    But when we contaminate Islam with cultural rubbish and use that as a yardstick to measure the worth of other Muslims, boldly proclaiming who is kaafir and who is not, we erode that very same pristine base and expose ourselves to the same debasement and ridicule that the majority of Christians have so rightly earned, thereby playing into the hands of the atheists that can rightfully find so much in our actions to ridicule any true belief in the Oneness of Allah. 

    We imitate them (Christians) more than we realise. Look at our clerical hierarchies that we’ve created? Our symbolism that we attach to our places of worship? Our rhetoric from the pulpits launching our lectures on the basis of us all being sinners? The list goes on. We quote dogmatically from the books of scholars because we’ve been led to believe that we’re too simple-minded to apply the source in our own lives because the true teachings of Islam contained in the Qur’an and Hadeeth have been reduced to a science to be studied before it can be applied. We define the scholars as superior to the masses and openly refer to the masses as the ‘Awwaam’, which despite the best intentions of the one using that term, is a condescending term steeped in pride and arrogance. 

    I am not of the scholars, nor am I of the Awwaam. I am a Mu’min before I am a Muslim. This, to me, is the meaning of taqwa (piety/god-consciousness); realising who I am, and what I believe in before I contemplate how I wish to present my beliefs to the world in my appearance or rituals that are to be observed by others, hopefully in conformance with their expectations so that I may be accepted in those circles. Purity of intention is lost when we try to conform to a broader societal expectation. We’re breeding well-intentioned hypocrites by insisting that our children are schooled in the rituals of Islam without ensuring that they understand the principles and substance of the beauty that Islam offers. 

  • toobaa:

    Our use of the phrase ‘The Dark Ages’ to cover the period from 699 to 1000 marks our undue concentration on Western Europe… From India to Spain, the brilliant civilisation of Islam flourished. What was lost to Christendom at this time was not lost to civilisation, but quite the contrary… 

    —- Bertrand Russel, History of Western Philosophy, 1948

    This is the kind of context that is usually missing, not only in the western media or other spheres of western influence, but it’s also almost entirely absent in the discussions of Muslims when they’re trying to explain the beauty and benefit that Islam has brought to this world. We’re so busy trying to justify our existence relative to every other religion that we become unconsciously apologetic. Worse still is that in the absence of the above realisation, we lose the very essence that made the Muslims respectable in the first place. When Muslims were sincere in establishing the principles and not just the rituals of Islam in their lives, we flourished in every sphere of science, medicine, physics, philosophy, etc. When we became ritualists focused on individual piety, we lost the plot…and have been searching for it ever since. 

    (Source: http://MattTheSamurai.deviantart.com/art/Fire-Masamune-91536135)

  • Some stray thoughts

    I’ve often read about incidents where strangers approached a gathering looking for the leader of the Muslims, including the Prophet (SAW) and some of the Caliphs after him, and often they would not be able to determine who he was because he would appear as ordinary as the rest of them.

    Today I wondered about the context of this and how it may apply to what I’m doing in my life. The dress code and appearance of these blessed leaders was similar to the common people around them, not different. They didn’t appear to be more pious, or more religious, or more anything; they must have appeared to be as common as the rest. So I considered this in line with the obvious difference in appearance between the present day scholars, especially those living in western societies with no ties to the Arabian culture, and the common people of those same areas. 

    While I can accept that there is sincerity among many that choose to dress according to what is interpreted to be the Sunnah, I once again wonder how much of the principles of this simple Sunnah have been forgotten or overlooked, and how much of the practice is just a custom. For me, the Sunnah is about establishing your appearance based on modesty, not extravagance. Which leads me to question whether a man dressed in a casual jeans, with a casual top that covers his body appropriately to perform Salaah is in fact more modest than a man dressed in a cloak designed in the style of the Sunnah, made of the finest non-crease fabric, and with a recognised label from a prominent designer house with just the right combination of expensive pens sticking out from his top pocket, and an equally elegant watch to match. 

    I don’t know…that’s a pretty long winded way of trying to make sense of this. But the lingering thought in my head is still whether or not attention to detail in appearance taints our intentions or not? I think it does. And some may accuse me of extremism or impracticality in my views on this, but given the stigma that is attached to appearance being a measure or at least an indicator of piety, dressing according to the Sunnah, knowing about this stigma, surely must introduce a significant distraction about conformity of appearance with those social circles we aspire to be a part of, rather than establishment of modesty? Incidentally, one of the common traits in appearance of these pious predecessors was that it was often possible to count the number of patches on their clothes. I can barely recall the last time I saw a scholar walking in clothes that had any signs of excessive wear on it, let alone patches. 

  • jeuxdeau:

    The Mecca Clock Tower dominates the city as Muslim pilgrims walking around the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque of the holy city of Mecca during the annual Hajj pilgrimage rituals on November 7, 2011. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images)

    You’ve just gotta love that symbol of Diana, goddess of the Hunt towering over the Haram of Makkah. Muslims must really be proud of such colossal ignorance. But of course, at times like this, we’ll pretend it doesn’t matter because it’s intention that counts, right? And of course, if the Saudi’s do it, it must be right…after all, they’re the esteemed custodians of the two holy mosques, right? 

    May Allah protect me from such blasphemy, and such ignorance, and grant me the strength to continue to abstain from those places dedicated to His worship that have been defaced with this disgusting symbol of kufr! Aameen…Thumma Aameen…Ya Rabbul A’lameen!

    (Source: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/11/the_hajj_and_eid_al-adha.html#photo5)

  • leftoftheleft:

    It is narrated from Abu Tha’labah al-Khushani that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه و آله و صحبه و سلم said:

    “After you there will come days during which being patient will be like holding on to a live coal. The one who strives during those days will have a reward like that of fifty men who strive as you do.”

    According to another report: It was said: “O Messenger of Allah, the reward of fifty men like them or like us?” He said: “No, the reward of fifty men like you.”

    {Sahih Hadith ===> Sunan at-Tirmidhi # 3058}

    Desperate for serenity tonight…

  • the72sects:
    For the sake of brevity, I’ve omitted the original parts of this post which can be found here. In response to brad-t: Firstly, if you read my blog, you’ll note that I am totally against radical or irrational responses to the slander that is heaped against Islam and Muslims. So…
    Unfortunately you choose to read into my posts whatever perspective suits your argument best. There’s no implicit justification of either, and if there was, let me clear that up for you now. Every action comes with the responsibility of accepting the accountability of the backlash or response that it will get. Assuming anything less is naively liberal and impractical in the real world. It’s not just about sensitivity but about respect as well. Don’t selectively paraphrase what the Quran contains about scientific content. Or would you assume to know more than esteemed Western scholars of medicine that confirmed the accuracy of both the detail and the sequence of embryology as described in the Quran? And no, the Quran does not stop at stating that sperm is required for procreation. Furthermore, assuming that there is even an iota of credibility to your claim that the ancient Greeks knew all this before the Arabs around 600 AD, pray tell would you hazard a theory on how an unlettered prophet that never left the peninsula came across such knowledge, and then related in such eloquent poetry that not even the most accomplished of poets of the time could equal it? Before you answer that, you should study the importance of poetical eloquence and the social status it carries in the Arab world before assuming that it was something that was taken lightly. By the way, if you assume that the publisher did not do anything wrong, then why does your secular system of justice allow for crimen injuria? Surely then everyone is entitled to their opinion about anything and everything regardless of how insensitive, blasphemous or slanderous it may be? Besides, who decides who has the moral high ground to begin with? If I were to listen to you, I’d have to believe that it would be the self-proclaimed progressives. It’s all relative, isn’t it? All the more reason to show respect and consideration for the belief system of others. If it doesn’t concern you, leave it alone. A simple rule that would find the world in a much better place instead of looking for deliberately inflammatory content of a sector of society that had nothing to do with them, yet they found it necessary to vilify its followers? Oh, let me guess, by me presenting this view, you will once again assume that I am defending the action of the Muslims in this case. So again, NO, I’m not! Just trying to get you to understand that nothing is ever as cut and dried as you’d like to paint it to be.  Beyond this, we’ll have to agree to disagree. And no, I won’t take out a fatwa to have your house fire bombed, or your blog hacked. 🙂 Peace.

    brad-t: the72sects: For the sake of brevity, I’ve omitted the original parts…