Tolerance In Islam - Pickthall

Tolerance In Islam
An Abridged Version of the 1927 Lecture
by MM Pickthall
http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/toleran1.html
Full Article in the E-Book

Introduction

Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall was an Englishman, an orientalist, and a Muslim who translated the meaning of the Holy Qur'an. His translation was first published in 1930 and he was supported in this effort by His Highness, the Nizam of Hyderabad (the ruler of Deccan, in the South), India. Pickthall traveled extensively to several Muslim countries, including Syria, Palestine, Turkey, Egypt, Arabia and India. He spent several years in India and had interacted with the Muslims of India.

In 1927 Pickthall gave eight lectures on several aspects of Islamic civilization at the invitation of The Committee of "Madras Lectures on Islam" in Madras, India. Parts of Pickthall's lectures were made available in India at various times. All of his lectures were published under the title "The Cultural Side of Islam" in 1961 by Sh. Muhammad Ashraf Publishers, Lahore from a manuscript provided by M.I. Jamal Moinuddin. The book has gone through several reprints since then.

An abridged version of his fifth lecture on the "Tolerance in Islam" is presented below. His long lecture frequently used quotations from the Holy Qur'an to emphasize many points and to support his analysis and conclusions. The major theme of his lecture is retained here. All of Pickthall's eight lectures draw upon his vast knowledge of Islamic history, the Western religious, political and intellectual history through the ages, and their reasons for rise and fall. His lectures are very enlightening, analytically useful, and of great value even today.

An Abridged Version of Pickthall's Lecture

In the eyes of history, religious toleration is the highest evidence of culture in a people. It was not until the Western nations broke away from their religious law that they became more tolerant, and it was only when the Muslims fell away from their religious law that they declined in tolerance and other evidences of the highest culture. Before the coming of Islam, tolerance had never been preached as an essential part of religion.
If Europe had known as much of Islam, as Muslims knew of Christendom, in those days, those mad, adventurous, occasionally chivalrous and heroic, but utterly fanatical outbreak known as the Crusades could not have taken place, for they were based on a complete misapprehension.

Innumerable monasteries, with a wealth of treasure of which the worth has been calculated at not less than a hundred millions sterling, enjoyed the benefit of the Holy Prophet's (Muhammad's) Charter to the monks of Sinai and were religiously respected by the Muslims. The various sects of Christians were represented in the Council of the Empire by their patriarchs, on the provincial and district council by their bishops, in the village council by their priests, whose word was always taken without question on things which were the sole concern of their community.

The tolerance within the body of Islam was, and is, something without parallel in history; class and race and color ceasing altogether to be barriers.
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One of the commonest charges brought against Islam historically, and as a religion, by Western writers is that it is intolerant. This is turning the tables with a vengeance when one remembers various facts: One remembers that not a Muslim is left alive in Spain or Sicily or Apulia. One remembers that not a Muslim was left alive and not a mosque left standing in Greece after the great rebellion in l821. One remembers how the Muslims of the Balkan peninsula, once the majority, have been systematically reduced with the approval of the whole of Europe, how the Christian under Muslim rule have in recent times been urged on to rebel and massacre the Muslims, and how reprisals by the latter have been condemned as quite uncalled for.

In Spain under the Umayyads and in Baghdad under the Abbasid Khalifas, Christians and Jews, equally with Muslims, were admitted to the Schools and universities - not only that, but were boarded and lodged in hostels at the cost of the state. When the Moors were driven out of Spain, the Christian conquerors held a terrific persecution of the Jews. Those who were fortunate enough to escape fled, some of them to Morocco and many hundreds to the Turkish empire, where their descendants still live in separate communities, and still speak among themselves an antiquated form of Spanish. The Muslim empire was a refuge for all those who fled from persecution by the Inquisition.

The Western Christians, till the arrival of the Encyclopaedists in the eighteenth century, did not know and did not care to know, what the Muslim believed, nor did the Western Christian seek to know the views of Eastern Christians with regard to them. The Christian Church was already split in two, and in the end, it came to such a pass that the Eastern Christians, as Gibbon shows, preferred Muslim rule, which allowed them to practice their own form of religion and adhere to their peculiar dogmas, to the rule of fellow Christians who would have made them Roman Catholics or wiped them out.

The Western Christians called the Muslims pagans, paynims, even idolaters - there are plenty of books in which they are described as worshiping an idol called Mahomet or Mahound, and in the accounts of the conquest of Granada there are even descriptions of the monstrous idols which they were alleged to worship - whereas the Muslims knew what Christianity was, and in what respects it differed from Islam. If Europe had known as much of Islam, as Muslims knew of Christendom, in those days, those mad, adventurous, occasionally chivalrous and heroic, but utterly fanatical outbreak known as the Crusades could not have taken place, for they were based on a complete misapprehension. I quote a learned French author:

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"Every poet in Christendom considered a Mohammedan to be an infidel, and an idolater, and his gods to be three; mentioned in order, they were: Mahomet or Mahound or Mohammad, Opolane and the third Termogond. It was said that when in Spain the Christians overpowered the Mohammadans and drove them as far as the gates of the city of Saragossa, the Mohammadans went back and broke their idols.
"A Christian poet of the period says that Opolane the "god" of the Mohammadans, which was kept there in a den was awfully belabored and abused by the Mohammadans, who, binding it hand and foot, crucified it on a pillar, trampled it under their feet and broke it to pieces by beating it with sticks; that their second god Mahound they threw in a pit and caused to be torn to pieces by pigs and dogs, and that never were gods so ignominiously treated; but that afterwards the Mohammadans repented of their sins, and once more reinstated their gods for the accustomed worship, and that when the Emperor Charles entered the city of Saragossa he had every mosque in the city searched and had "Muhammad" and all their Gods broken with iron hammers."

That was the kind of "history" on which the populace in Western Europe used to be fed. Those were the ideas which inspired the rank and file of the crusader in their attacks on the most civilized peoples of those days. Christendom regarded the outside world as damned eternally, and Islam did not. There were good and tender-hearted men in Christendom who thought it sad that any people should be damned eternally, and wished to save them by the only way they knew - conversion to the Christian faith.

It was not until the Western nations broke away from their religious law that they became more tolerant; and it was only when the Muslims fell away from their religious law that they declined in tolerance and other evidences of the highest culture. Therefore the difference evident in that anecdote is not of manners only but of religion. Of old, tolerance had existed here and there in the world, among enlightened individuals; but those individuals had always been against the prevalent religion. Tolerance was regarded of un-religious, if not irreligious. Before the coming of Islam it had never been preached as an essential part of religion.

For the Muslims, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are but three forms of one religion, which, in its original purity, was the religion of Abraham: Al-Islam, that perfect Self-Surrender to the Will of God, which is the basis of Theocracy. The Jews, in their religion, after Moses, limited God's mercy to their chosen nation and thought of His kingdom as the dominion of their race.

Even Christ himself, as several of his sayings show, declared that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel and seemed to regard his mission as to the Hebrews only; and it was only after a special vision vouchsafed to St. Peter that his followers in after days considered themselves authorized to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. The Christians limited God's mercy to those who believed certain dogmas. Every one who failed to hold the dogmas was an outcast or a miscreant, to be persecuted for his or her soul's good. In Islam only is manifest the real nature of the Kingdom of God.

The two verses (2:255-256) of the Qur'an are supplementary. Where there is that realization of the majesty and dominion of Allah (SWT), there is no compulsion in religion. Men choose their path - allegiance or opposition - and it is sufficient punishment for those who oppose that they draw further and further away from the light of truth.

What Muslims do not generally consider is that this law applies to our own community just as much as to the folk outside, the laws of Allah being universal; and that intolerance of Muslims for other men's opinions and beliefs is evidence that they themselves have, at the moment, forgotten the vision of the majesty and mercy of Allah (SWT) which the Qur'an presents to them.

In the Qur'an I find two meanings (of a Kafir), which become one the moment that we try to realize the divine standpoint. The Kafir in the first place, is not the follower of any religion. He is the opponent of Allah's benevolent will and purpose for mankind - therefore the disbeliever in the truth of all religions, the disbeliever in all Scriptures as of divine revelation, the disbeliever to the point of active opposition in all the Prophets (pbut) whom the Muslims are bidden to regard, without distinction, as messengers of Allah.

The Qur'an repeatedly claims to be the confirmation of the truth of all religions. The former Scriptures had become obscure, the former Prophets appeared mythical, so extravagant were the legends which were told concerning them, so that people doubted whether there was any truth in the old Scriptures, whether such people as the Prophets had ever really existed. Here - says the Qur'an - is a Scripture whereof there is no doubt: here is a Prophet actually living among you and preaching to you. If it were not for this book and this Prophet, men might be excused for saying that Allah's guidance to mankind was all a fable. This book and this Prophet, therefore, confirm the truth of all that was revealed before them, and those who disbelieve in them to the point of opposing the existence of a Prophet and a revelation are really opposed to the idea of Allah's guidance - which is the truth of all revealed religions. Our Holy Prophet (pbuh) himself said that the term Kafir was not to be applied to anyone who said "Salam" (peace) to the Muslims. The Kafirs, in the terms of the Qur'an, are the conscious evil-doers of any race of creed or community.

I have made a long digression but it seemed to me necessary, for I find much confusion of ideas even among Muslims on this subject, owing to defective study of the Qur'an and the Prophet's life. Many Muslims seem to forget that our Prophet had allies among the idolaters even after Islam had triumphed in Arabia, and that he "fulfilled his treaty with them perfectly until the term thereof." The righteous conduct of the Muslims, not the sword, must be held responsible for the conversion of those idolaters, since they embraced Islam before the expiration of their treaty.

So much for the idolaters of Arabia, who had no real beliefs to oppose the teaching of Islam, but only superstition. They invoked their local deities for help in war and put their faith only in brute force. In this they were, to begin with, enormously superior to the Muslims. When the Muslims nevertheless won, they were dismayed; and all their arguments based on the superior power of their deities were for ever silenced. Their conversion followed naturally. It was only a question of time with the most obstinate of them.

It was otherwise with the people who had a respectable religion of their own - the People of the Scripture - as the Qur'an calls them - i.e, the people who had received the revelation of some former Prophet: the Jews, the Christians and the Zoroastrians were those with whom the Muslims came at once in contact. To these our Prophet's attitude was all of kindness. The Charter which he granted to the Christian monks of Sinai is extant. If you read it you will see that it breathes not only goodwill but actual love. He gave to the Jews of Medina, so long as they were faithful to him, precisely the same treatment as to the Muslims. He never was aggressive against any man or class of men; he never penalized any man, or made war on any people, on the ground of belief but only on the ground of conduct.

The story of his reception of Christian and Zoroastrian visitors is on record. There is not a trace of religious intolerance in all this. And it should be remembered - Muslims are rather apt to forget it, and it is of great importance to our outlook - that our Prophet did not ask the people of the Scripture to become his followers. He asked them only to accept the Kingdom of Allah, to abolish priesthood and restore their own religions to their original purity. The question which, in effect, he put to everyone was this: "Are you for the Kingdom of God which includes all of us, or are you for your own community against the rest of mankind?" The one is obviously the way of peace and human progress, the other the way of strife, oppression and calamity. But the rulers of the world, to whom he sent his message, most of them treated it as the message of either an insolent upstart or a mad fanatic. His envoys were insulted cruelly, and even slain. One cannot help wondering what reception that same embassy would meet with from the rulers of mankind today, when all the thinking portion of mankind accept the Prophet's premises, have thrown off the trammels of priestcraft, and harbor some idea of human brotherhood.

But though the Christians and Jews and Zoroastrians refused his message, and their rulers heaped most cruel insults on his envoys, our Prophet never lost his benevolent attitudes towards them as religious communities; as witness the Charter to the monks of Sinai already mentioned. And though the Muslims of later days have fallen far short of the Holy Prophet's tolerance, and have sometimes shown arrogance towards men of other faiths, they have always given special treatment to the Jews and Christians. Indeed the Laws for their special treatment form part of the Shari'ah.

In Egypt the Copts were on terms of closest friendship with the Muslims in the first centuries of the Muslim conquest, and they are on terms at closest friendship with the Muslims at the present day. In Syria the various Christian communities lived on terms of closest friendship with the Muslims in the first centuries of the Muslim conquest, and they are on terms of closest friendship with the Muslims at the present day, openly preferring Muslim domination to a foreign yoke....

From the expulsion of the Moriscos dates the degradation and decline of Spain. San Fernando was really wiser and more patriotic in his tolerance to conquered Seville, Murcia and Toledo than was the later king who, under the guise of Holy warfare, captured Grenada and let the Inquisition work its will upon the Muslims and the Jews. And the modern Balkan States and Greece are born under a curse. It may even prove that the degradation and decline of European civilization will be dated from the day when so-called civilized statesmen agreed to the inhuman policy of Czarist Russia and gave their sanction to the crude fanaticism of the Russian Church.

There is no doubt but that, in the eyes of history, religious toleration is the highest evidence of culture in a people. Let no Muslim, when looking on the ruin of the Muslim realm which was compassed through the agency of those very peoples whom the Muslims had tolerated and protected through the centuries when Western Europe thought it a religious duty to exterminate or forcibly convert all peoples of another faith than theirs - let no Muslim, seeing this, imagine that toleration is a weakness in Islam. It is the greatest strength of Islam because it is the attitude of truth.

Allah (SWT) is not the God of the Jews or the Christians or the Muslims only, any more than the sun shines or the rain falls for Jews or Christians or Muslims only.

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Allah: Allah is the proper name in Arabic for The One and Only God, The Creator and Sustainer of the universe. It is used by the Arab Christians and Jews for the God (Eloh-im in Hebrew; 'Allaha' in Aramaic, the mother tongue of Jesus, pbuh). The word Allah does not have a plural or gender. Allah does not have any associate or partner, and He does not beget nor was He begotten. SWT is an abbreviation of Arabic words that mean 'Glory Be To Him.'

s or pbuh: Peace Be Upon Him. This expression is used for all Prophets of Allah.

ra: Radiallahu Anhu (May Allah be pleased with him).

"The Meaning of the Glorious Koran," An Explanatory Translation by Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, a Mentor Book Publication. (Also available as: "The Meaning of the Glorious Koran," by Marmaduke Pickthall, Dorset Press, N.Y.; Published by several publishers since 1930).

Pickthall writes in his foreward of 1930: "...The Qur'an cannot be translated....The book is here rendered almost literally and every effort has been made to choose befitting language. But the result is not the Glorious Qur'an, that inimitable symphony, the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy. It is only an attempt to present the meaning of the Qur'an-and peradventure something of the charm in English. It can never take the place of the Qur'an in Arabic, nor is it meant to do so...."

For the serious readers of the meaning of the Qur'an in English, it is recommended that it should be read along with a good commentary to comprehend the essential meaning and scope of verses. Either Yusuf Ali's or Mawdudi's commentaries are a good starting point. The former presents the meaning Ayah (verse) by Ayah with footnotes and includes a detailed index of the topics mentioned in the Qur'an, while the latter presents commentaries for each Surah (chapter) of the Qur'an.

Jihad, Women & Terrorism

What is Jihad?
Under what conditions does Islam allow the use of Violence?
What would you tell the suicide bombers who invoke Islam to Justify their actions?

By Chandra Muzaffar

The term 'jihad' means to exert or to strive in the path of God.

It does not mean 'holy war'. It should be emphasized that there is no concept of 'holy war' in Islam. 'Holy war' was a term associated with the Christian Crusades which seeped into medieval European literature as it maligned and vilified Islam.

It is true that from the early days of Islam, striving or struggling against an aggressor or oppressor on the battlefield was regarded as jihad. But jihad also meant--- right at the outset--- striving to live according to the will of God. Thus, the struggle of a human being to lead an honest life would be a jihad just as a government's endeavor to eradicate corruption would be a jihad.

Seen in this light it is understandable why the Prophet Muhammad described striving against one's own lust as "the greater jihad" compared to victory in war which to him was "the lesser jihad".

This clarification of the meaning of jihad tells us something about Islam's attitude towards violence. War is permissible only if the purpose is to repel aggression or to end oppression. There is an oft-quoted verse in the Qur'an which states, "Fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not commit aggression, for God loves not aggressors" (2:190). There are other verses which convey a similar meaning that one fights only if one has been expelled from one's home or if one has been persecuted.

It is partly because of Qur'anic sanction that there is tremendous solidarity among Muslims everywhere with Palestinians and Arabs who are resisting Israeli occupation of their land. In fact, it is not widely known that Muslims even in Southeast Asia began to express sympathy with the Arab cause soon after Zionist colonization of Palestine intensified in the wake of the Balfour Declaration of 1917.

Today, the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq has elicited worldwide Muslim condemnation. Like a huge segment of Western society, Muslims are of the view that the occupiers have no right to seize control of Iraqi oil.

Of course, Muslims are aware of other injustices -- such as the oppression of the people of Chechnya and Kashmir -- but at this juncture, Muslim anger is directed mainly at the US and Israeli governments.

While defending oneself in the face of aggression and oppression is legitimate from a Quranic perspective, the religion is also clear about the limits that one should observe in war. The Prophet Muhammad had commanded that those who are not combatants in a battle should not be harmed in any way. Children, women, the old and the infirm should be spared in a war, however just the cause may be. Even animals and plants and any house of worship should be protected.

It is a shame that some Muslims in the name of fighting oppression deliberately target civilians. It is in this context that some of the so-called 'suicide bombers' have brought disrepute to Islam. They have tarnished the moral integrity of their cause.

HOW DOES ISLAM DEFINE APOSTASY? IS IT PERMISSIBLE FOR A MUSLIM TO CONVERT TO ANOTHER FAITH? HOW CAN LAWS AGAINST APOSTASY AND BLASPHEMY BE RECONCILED WITH THE KORANIC INJUNCTION OF "NO COMPULSION IN RELIGION"?

It is significant that the Qur'an -- Islam's supreme book of guidance and its primary source of law -- does not prescribe any form of punishment for the apostate, a person who chooses to leave the religion. To be sure, it regards apostasy as a sin but the Qur'an does not view it as a crime. It says. "Those who believe, and then disbelieve, and then (again) disbelieve, and then increase in disbelief, Allah will never pardon them, nor will He guide them to the (right) way. (4:137). This suggests that while the apostate incurs God's displeasure because he has committed a grave sin, we human beings have not been instructed to mete out any form of penalty. How the apostate will be punished, presumably in the hereafter, is God's prerogative.

This Quranic approach to apostasy is consistent with its general tone and tenor which respects freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. "There is no compulsion in religion"(2:256) is one of the best known Qur'anic lines. This means that no one should be coerced to join the religion or to remain in it or to leave the religion. The Qur'an also makes that profound observation: "To you your religion and to me mine". (109:6).

Even in the Sunnah -- the Way of the Prophet -- there was no evidence of anyone being punished for exiting the religion in a peaceful manner. If apostates were put to death, it was because they were part of a violent rebellion against the nascent Islamic state. In such circumstances the issue was rebellion and not apostasy per se.

However, as time went on, the jurists came to regard the act of apostasy itself as a crime which was punishable by death. They did not make a distinction between peaceful exit and violent denunciation of the religion through an assault upon the state. This thinking --- which views apostasy as a terrible crime that should be punished through the law---is pervasive within the Muslim community or ummah.

It is a mindset that has to change. The Qur'an's humane and compassionate perspective should inspire Muslims to adopt a different approach towards the question of apostasy.

Instead of punishing the apostate, he should be counseled with civility and kindness in order to persuade him to remain within the faith. If, after counseling, the apostate is still adamant about leaving the religion, he should be allowed to do so. He should have the freedom to embrace another faith or not to subscribe to any religion.

WHAT ARE THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN ISLAM? HOW DOES ISLAM'S VIEW OF MALE-FEMALE EQUALITY DIFFER FROM THE WESTERN VIEW?

Those who have studied the Qur'an and looked closely at the evolution of Muslim societies in the early centuries know that women enjoyed a wide spectrum of rights some of which their counterparts in the West secured only in the early decades of the twentieth century. A woman had the right to education, to work outside the home, to a just wage, to own and inherit property, to choose her life partner, to keep her maiden name after marriage, to initiate divorce, to re-marry, and to do various other things in accordance with her honor and dignity as a woman and as a human being. It is not surprising therefore that in a number of pre-colonial Muslim societies women played prominent roles in the public sphere. Some of the Queens in what is today the Indonesian province of Acheh for instance were Admirals of their navy.

Nonetheless, in Muslim societies as a whole --- as in other societies--- it was invariably the men, and not the women, who ruled the roost. Male patriarchy has been a constant feature of most societies right through history. It would be unfair to highlight male dominance in Muslim societies as if it was their unique attribute. Besides, some of the gross injustices against the Muslim female which the Western media exposes such as genital mutilation and honor killing are not confined to Muslim societies since these are cultural practices which transcend religion.

What the media should emphasize are some of the positive changes that are taking place in a number of countries largely because of the tireless efforts of courageous and determined women's groups seeking equality and justice for their kind. Even in ultra conservative societies such as Saudi Arabia, women are beginning to be accorded limited but visible roles in the public sphere. It is partly because Muslim women have been asserting their rights and roles that certain dogmatic, often bigoted notions of how Islam should be practiced today, propagated by jurists with a closed mind, have been challenged and demolished.

But the struggle for gender equality will not --- and should not---lead to a situation where the enhancement of the position of the woman results in the decline of the family or the erosion of the moral foundation of society. For Islam, the integrity and cohesiveness of the family institution is fundamental. It should not be sacrificed at the altar of the self-serving interests of the husband or the wife, or for that matter, the child. This is one of the reasons why some contemporary Muslim thinkers are wary of the intrusion of an exaggerated form of individualism into the family fabric. It also explains why many Muslims while cognizant of the importance of male-female equality also continue to emphasize that the husband complements the wife just as the wife complements the husband. This complementary dimension in the relationship between the sexes is beautifully encapsulated in a line from the Qur'an that reads," They (your wives) are raiment for you and you are raiment for them". (2:187).

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/muslims_speak_out/2007/07/chandra_muzaffar.html

Prophet Muhammad

I am pleased to include four articles on Prophet Muhammad and will continue to include pieces that are less than 600 words in lenght.

1. Ingrid Mattson - Finding the Prophet
2. Javed Jamil - Best Product of the Creation
3. Shamim Siddiqi - Hope for Mankind
4. Mike Ghouse -The Peacemaker

I urge you to read Karen Armstrong's book "Muhammad". It has influenced me deeply in understanding Islam and relating with the prophet. He is my mentor along with Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, Buddha, MLK, Mother Teresa my Dad, Mom and my Grand Father; indeed the definition of Muslim I have been working is inspired by the work of these men and women.

To be a Religious (Muslim) is to be a peace maker; one who constantly seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for co-existence and peace through Justice. God wants his creation to be in peace and harmony, and that is the chief purpose of Religion (Islam); If our words and actions cause peace and bring harmony instead of aggravating the conflict, we are the peace makers.

Mike Ghouse
http://www.worldmuslimcongress.com/
http://quraan-today.blogspot.com/
http://sharialaws.blogspot.com/
http://hatesermons.blogspot.com/
http://www.foundationforpluralism.com/

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Finding the Prophet in his PeopleBy Dr. Ingrid Mattson*
http://www.feath.com/story/findingtheprophet.htm

I spent a lot of time looking at art the year before I became a Muslim. Completing a degree in Philosophy and Fine Arts, I sat for hours in darkened classrooms where my professors projected pictures of great works of Western art on the wall. I worked in the archives for the Fine Arts department, preparing and cataloging slides. I gathered stacks of thick art history books every time I studied in the university library. I went to art museums in Toronto, Montreal and Chicago. That summer in Paris, "the summer I met Muslims" as I always think of it, I spent a whole day (the free day) each week in the Louvre.

What was I seeking in such an intense engagement with visual art? Perhaps some of the transcendence I felt as a child in the cool darkness of the Catholic church I loved. In high school, I had lost my natural faith in God, and rarely thought about religion after that. In college, philosophy had brought me from Plato, through Descartes only to end at Existentialism-a barren outcome. At least art was productive-there was a tangible result at the end of the process. But in the end, I found even the strongest reaction to a work of art isolating. Of course I felt some connection to the artist, appreciation for another human perspective. But each time the aesthetic response flared up, then died down, it left no basis for action.
Then I met people who did not construct statues or sensual paintings of gods, great men and beautiful women. Yet they knew about God, they honored their leaders and they praised the productive work of women. They did not try to depict the causes; they traced the effects.
Soon after I met my husband, he told me about a woman he greatly admired. He spoke of her intelligence, her eloquence and her generosity. This woman, he told me, tutored her many children in traditional and modern learning. With warm approval, my husband spoke of her frequent arduous trips to refugee camps and orphanages to help relief efforts. With profound respect, my husband told me of her religious knowledge, which she imparted to other women in regular lectures. With deep affection, my husband told me of the meals she had sent to him, when she knew he was too engaged in his work with the refugees to see to his own needs. When I finally met this women I saw that she was covered, head to toe, in traditional Islamic dress. I realized with amazement that my husband had never seen her. He had never seen her face. Yet he knew her. He knew her by her actions, by the effects she left on other people.
Western civilization has a long tradition of visual representation. No longer needing it to do more than allow me a moment of shared vision with an artist alive or dead, I can appreciate it once more. But popular culture has made representation simultaneously ominprescent and anonymous. We seem to make the mistake of thinking that seeing means knowing, and that the more exposed a person is, the more important they are.

Islamic civilization chose not to embrace visual representation as a significant means of remembering and honoring God and people. Allah is The Hidden, veiled in glorious light from the eyes of any living person. But people of true vision can know God by comptemplating the effects of his creative power,

Do they not look to the birds above them Spreading their wings and folding them back? None can uphold them except for The Merciful Truly He is over all things watchful (Qur'an, 67:19)
If God transcends his creation, it is far beyond the capacity of any human to depict him. Indeed, in Islamic tradition, any attempt to depict God with pictures is profound blasphemy. Rather, a Muslim depicts God only with words that God has used to describe himself in his revelation. Among these descriptions are the so-called "99 Names of God," attributes that are recited melodiously throughout the Muslim world: The Merciful, the Compassionate, the Forbearing, the Forgiving, the Living, the Holy, the Near, the Tender, the Wise. . . . Written in beautiful script on lamps, walls, and pendants, the linguistic sign provokes a profoundly personal intellectual and spiritual response with each reading.

Deeply wary of idolotry, Muslims, with few exceptions, declined to glorify not only God, but even humans through visual representation. Historians, accustomed to illustrating accounts of great leaders with their images captured in painting, sculpture and coin have no reliable visual representations of the Prophet Muhammad. What is seen rather, is the Prophet's name, Muhammad, written in curving Arabic letters on those spaces where sacrality is invoked. Along with the names of God and verses of the Qur'an, the name Muhammad, read audibly or silently, leads the believer into a reflective state about the divine message and the legacy of this extraordinary, but still human messenger of God.

Words, written and oral, are the most important medium by which the life of the Prophet and his example have been transmitted across the generations. His biography, the seerah, has been told in verse and prose in many languages. Even more important than this chronological account of the life of the Prophet are the thousands of individual reports of the Prophet's utterances and actions collected in the hadith literature. These reports were transmitted by early followers of the Prophet who heeded God's words, "Indeed in the Messenger of God you have a good example to follow for one who desires God and the Last Day (Qur'an, 33:21)". Eager to follow the divinely inspired actions of the Prophet, his Companions paid close attention not only to his style of worship, but to all aspects of his comportment-everything from his personal hygeine to his interaction with children and neighbors. The Prophet's way of doing things, his sunnah, formed the basis for Muslim piety in all societies where Islam spread. The result was that as Muslims young and old, male and female, rich and poor, adopted the Prophet's sunnah as a model for their lives, they became the best visual representations of the Prophet's character and life. The Muslim who implements the sunnah is an actor who internalizes and, without artifice, reenacts the behaviour of the Prophet. The performance of the sunnah by living Muslims is the archive of the Prophet's life and a truly sacred art of Muslim culture.

I first realized the profound physical impact of the Prophet's sunnah on generations of Muslims as I sat in the mosque one day, watching my nine year old son pray beside his Qur'an teacher. Ubayda sat straight, still and erect beside the young man from Saudi Arabia who, with his gentle manners and beautiful recitation, had earned my son's deep respect and affection. Like his teacher, Ubayda was wearing a loose-fitting white robe that modestly covered his body. Before coming to the mosque, he had taken a shower and rubbed fragrant musk across his head and chin. With each movement of prayer, he glanced over at his teacher, to ensure that his hands and feet were postitioned in precisely the same manner. Reflecting on this transformation of my son who had abandoned as his norm grubbiness and impulsivity for cleanliness and composure, I thought to myself, "thank God he found a good role model to imitate." My son's role model could have been an actor, a rap singer or an athlete. We say that children are "impressionable," meaning that it is easy for strong personalities to influence the formation of their identity. We all look for good influences on our children.

In my son's imitation of his teacher, however, it occurred to me that there was a greater significance, for his teacher was also imitating another. Indeed, this young man was very keen in all aspects of his life to follow the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad. His modest dress was in imitation of the Prophet's physical modesty. His scrupulous cleanliness and love of fragrant oils was modelled after the Prophet's example. At each stage of the ritual prayer he adopted the positions he was convinced originated with the Prophet. He could trace the way he recited the Qur'an back through generations of teachers to the Prophet himself. My son, by imitating his teacher, had now become part of the living legacy of the Prophet Muhammad.

Among Muslims throughout the world, there are many sincere pious men and women; there are also sinners, criminals and hypocrites. Some people are deeply affected by religious norms, others are influenced more by culture-whether traditional or popular culture. Some aspects of the Prophet's behaviour: his slowness to anger, his abhorence of oath taking, his gentleness with women, sadly seem to have little affected the dominant culture in some Muslim societies. Other aspects of his behaviour: his generosity, his hospitality, his physical modesty, seem to have taken firm root in most Muslim lands. But everywhere Muslims can be found, more often than not, they will trace the best aspects of their culture to the example of the Prophet Muhammad, for he was, in the words of one of his Companions, "the best of all people in behaviour."
It was their excellent behaviour that attracted me to the first Muslims I met, poor West African students living on the margins of Paris. They embodied many aspects of the Prophet's sunnah, although I did not realize it at the time. What I recognized was that, among their other wonderful qualities, they were the most naturally generous people I had ever known. There was always room for one more person around the platter of rice and beans they shared each day. Over the years, in my travels across the Muslim world, I would witness the same eagerness to share, the same deep belief that it is not self-denial, but a blessing to give away a little more to others. The Prophet Muhammad said, "The food of two is enough for three, and the food of three is enough for four." During the attack on Kosovo, there were reports of Albanian Muslims filling their houses with refugees; one man cooked daily for twenty people he allowed in his modest home.

The Prophet Muhammad said, "When you see one who has more, look to one who has less." When I was married in Pakistan, my husband and I, as refugee workers, did not have much money. Returning to the refugee camp a few days after my wedding, the Afghan women eagerly asked to see the dresses and gold bracelets, rings and necklaces my husband must have presented to me, as is customary throughout the Muslim world. I showed them my simple gold ring and told them we had borrowed a dress for the wedding. The women's faces fell and they looked at me with profound sadness and sympathy. The next week, sitting in a tent in that dusty hot camp, the same women-women who had been driven out of their homes and lands, women who had lost their husbands and children, women who had sold their own personal belongings to buy food for their families-presented me with a wedding outfit. Bright blue satin pants stitched with gold embroidery, a red velveteen dress decorated with colorful pom-poms and a matching blue scarf trimmed with what I could only think of as a lampshade fringe. It was the most extraordinary gift I have ever received-not just the outfit, but the lesson in pure empathy that is one of the sweetest fruits of true faith.

An accurate representation of the Prophet is to be found, first and foremost, on the faces and bodies of his sincere followers: in the smile that he called "an act of charity," in the slim build of one who fasts regularly, in the solitary prostrations of the one who prays when all others are asleep. The Prophet's most profound legacy is found in the best behaviour of his followers. Look to his righteous people, and you will find the Prophet.

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Dr. Ingrid Mattson, is a professor of Islamic Studies at Hartford Seminary. In 1995, she was an adviser to the Afghan delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The first woman to be elected President of the Islamic Society of North America. Raised a Roman Catholic in Canada and reverted to Islam, she is now a highly regarded academic specialising in Islamic society and law.
"Whosoever chooses to follow guidance, follows it for his own good; whosoever goes astray, goes astray for his own loss"(al-Isra' 17:15)

Video: Dr. Ingrid Mattson: Women of Islam (1 of 4)
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Dr. Ingrid Mattson: Women of Islam (2 of 4)
Dr. Ingrid Mattson - Gender Equity: The Islamic Perspective
Dr. Ingrid Mattson: Women of Islam (4 of 4)
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Gender Equity in Islam: Dr. Ingrid Mattson Part 1/6
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Dr. Ingrid Mattson: Women of Islam (3 of 4)
Professor Ingrid Mattson talks about Community in ISLAM
Women AND Islam grrrrr!!! :) a talk by Sister Aminah Assilmi
Dr.Ingrid Mattson Perspectives on Faith 3

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Muhammad: the Best Product of the Creation

By Dr Javed Jamil
Executive Chairman
International Centre for Applied Islamics

There is a popular principle of Physics known as Anthropic Principle. There was a time before Galilee when the scientists regarded the universe as earth-centric; for they considered earth as the central point of the universe. Then the scientists realised that the earth in fact revolves around the Sun and started theorising that the earth and therefore man has no privileged position in the universe; the earth forms only a minute insignificant part of it. With the arrival of the twentieth century the new realisation started gaining ground, which put mankind as the privileged creation in the universe. Anthropic principle says that man was created because there would not have been anyone to admire the beauty of the Universe if man was not there. Anthropic Principle has come closer to what has been the established position of Islam since the time of Prophet Muhammad. There is a significant difference though. As scientists have vowed to keep Allah out of the arena of Sciences, they have given an atheistic definition of Anthropic Principles known as Trivial, Strong and Weak Anthropic principles. Islam’s version of Anthropic Principle (I have named it True Anthropic Principle) is that man was created to admire the beauty of the Universe, to recognise its Creator and to submit to His System. Quran says:

Not without purpose did We created heaven and earth and all between! that were the thought of Unbelievers! (38: 27/Abdullah Yusuf Ali)

I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve Me. (51: 56)

Anthropic Principles regard man as the desired Product of the Creation; True Anthropic Principle would regard Prophet Muhammad the Final Product of the Creation and the Quran as the Final Document sent for the guidance of the product. Let me explain it further. Allah created the universe, and first of all made Physical laws for its governance. Each and every particle and each and every corner of the space that formed the universe submitted to the Physical Laws of Allah. It was simply not in their power to act otherwise. Having created the Physical universe, Allah intended to create a kind of existence that will not just submit to Allah because of the inability to act otherwise. This creation will have the capability if it chooses to even disregard the Laws of Allah. The submission as well as rejection by this new creation would of course carry more weight. Greater reward and punishment would await it, as it would willingly accept or reject the System of Allah rather than as part of its in-built nature. To bring this product, Allah first created biological laws and then spiritual ones. Once man was created and started multiplying, social laws were created and recreated in accordance with the demands of the developing world. Mankind as a whole was the best product of the creation, as it was capable of admiring the beauty of the universe, analysing its functioning and using its parts for its own benefit. But the Best of the best would be those who would recognise the biggest truth of the Universe—that it has been created and is governed by a Supreme Being—and would be His representatives in the world. The messengers came with the books of Guidance in their areas of influence ultimately paving the way for the arrival of the Final Product of Creation who will start the process of unification of the whole mankind under the Final System of Allah. Muhammad (PBUH) came and showed to the world the Way, confirming the truth that was revealed before him and inviting all to the Final version of the Truth. The unity of Allah was aimed at the unity of mankind, and if the mankind fails to unite in its submission to One System, the ultimate purpose of the unity will not be achieved. The duty to achieve this is man’s and if it fails it will be held responsible. Allah has however taken upon Him to help him fulfil this Duty by sending guidelines and models for the mankind. If Muhammad (PBUH) is the Final Product of the creation, he is truly the Rahmat-al-lil-aalameen, the Mercy for the Universe, for the universe would not have come into existence if it was not destined to create its best product.

I feel sorry for those who discuss the relevance of Muhammad (PBUH) in the current world. This in my view is a serious degradation of his status. When we speak of his relevance in the world, it means that we are taking the present world as the criterion to judge different personalities, and in the process we want to judge Muhammad too. The truth on the contrary is that Muhammad is the final Criterion and the only Role Model for the world. The world has to be judged in accordance with the Final Criteria, Muhammad (PBUH) and the Book he brought. Rather than studying the relevance of the Prophet in the current world, we must study the relevance of the current world in the light of Prophetic Seerah. And when we analyse the modern world in the light of the Seerah, we find it to be totally irrelevant. Its aims are other than his aims, its dos and don’ts are in clear violation of the dos and don’ts of his mission and its institutions are nothing but a travesty of the system of justice, purity and equality he perfected. The current world is unfortunately not the paradise the Lord of the Universe asked mankind to make but a Shangri-La of the Devil, which looks alluring to eyes from a distance but is nothing but a blazing inferno inside.

Muhammad’s (PBUH) agenda, as shown by the Quran and his seerah, is to establish Natural Word Order. The agenda of the present world is to establish and sustain New World Order. The truth however is that New World Order is unstable by its very meaning; what is new now will become old tomorrow. The Order has only brought chaos at all levels. It has led to the development of a strange kind of world, which appears to be paradise from outside, but as one enters it, one finds nothing but hell. We are living in a world where, thanks to the designs of merchants, immorality reigns. Where it is easier to be bad than good. Where wearing a scarf is banned and baring the body is promoted. Where being a wife or husband is outdated and being a bed partner is smartness. Where piety is ridiculed and impudence glorified. Where prosperity is considered to be the synonym of peace, education that of knowledge and entertainment that of happiness. We are living in a world where children are aborted in the name of women’s rights. Where, murderers and rapists are protected in the name of ‘right to life’. Where, criminals are given all amenities of life in the name of human rights. Where, sexual perverts receive all kinds of sympathy and attention. Where those talking of righteousness in life are condemned as “bloody moralists”. Where, the media do everything to change the choices of the people, but if some reformer tries to warn them against evils, he is dubbed as a retrogressive, who has no business to teach lessons of good behaviour to the people. Alcohol, smoking, gambling and unrestrained-sex are considered to be the biggest symbols of liberty, brothels, beaches, bars and casinos the citadels of “freedom”. One third of the total population of the world smokes, millions of people take drugs, millions drink and gamble and a sizeable percentage indulges in all forms of unhealthy sexual behaviour, including promiscuity, homosexuality, purchased sex, etc. In short, we are inhabitants of a world where the biggest virtue is to openly indulge in the biggest sin; and the biggest sin is to try to exhibit virtuousness.

The globe of New World Order is therefore rapidly developing into nothing but a fireball of chaos. It is hardly surprising then that

· More than 1 million people are murdered every year. (More than 240 million people lost lives in wars in the last century)

· More than 2 million people commit suicides

· More than 5 million people die of sex related diseases (more than 20 million have died of AIDS in recent years); more than 100 million suffer from sex transmitted diseases (42 million from HIV/AIDS)

· More than 2.2 million die of alcohol related problems; more than a hundred million suffer from alcohol related illnesses

· More than 5 million die of smoking related problems; more than 2000 millions smoke

· More than 70 million children are not allowed to take birth and are aborted.

· Hundreds of millions indulge in gambling. 500 million are now using Internet alone for gambling. (In US alone, 20 millions show some signs of gambling addiction and 2 million divorces had gambling as a significant factor.)

· Tens of millions of women are in prostitution and other sex related businesses (more than one million Americans alone have served as prostitutes)

· More than 1.2 million of children are exploited annually in prostitution and other sex trades

· More than 800 million watch pornography

· Millions of homes are broken every year

· Millions of women are raped every year; in many Western countries one tenth to half of all women have been raped (The total number of women who have been raped at least once is in hundreds of millions)

· Sexual abuse of children is on the rise all over the world; in many Western countries up to one third of all people have been sexually abused in their childhood

· Drug addiction is also persistent; tens of millions of people are addicted of harmful drugs

· Civil wars, wars and riots for various reasons are also not showing any remarkable decline, consuming thousands of lives every year

· Economic disparity between different countries and people of the world and among the people of the same countries is continuously growing; poverty may be on the decline but relative poverty is showing steep rise.

It is in the backdrop of this universal disharmony that Islam, in its final form established by the Last Prophet, has to play its role. The whole social, legal, economic, administrative, scientific, health and educational set-up all over the world is founded on un-Islamic premises. Yet Muslims seem to be in a permanent somnolence. Everything that Quran expressly prohibits is destroying the social fabric everywhere. All international organisations including the UN, WHO, WTO and Amnesty have been dancing to the melody of globalisation trampling, in the process, individual’s physical, mental and spiritual health, family peace and social order. We have to fight New World Order and establish Natural World Order, in accordance with the principles laid down by the Book of God .and the life of the Prophet

The uniqueness of Muhammad’s (PBUH) mission was its totality, comprehensiveness and perfection; there is no way mankind can improve on it; if it tries to improve upon it, it would only distort and degrade it. What we can however do and must do is to study how best it can be applied to the modern world; and how best we can change the world in accordance with Islam the Prophetic Mission. Muhammad’s revolution was no ordinary revolution; it was an ideological, intellectual, social, economic, political, moral and spiritual revolution moulded into One Single System based on the unification of the mankind under the unified system of the Only Creator and Sustainer of the world. Seen from the worldly point of view, Muhammad was a genius unparalleled in the history of mankind, Viewed from the point of Divine view, he was no genius; for geniuses are only highly intelligent human beings capable of doing better than others. On the contrary, he was a chosen man, chosen not by the majority of the human beings but by the Creator of God; he was chosen because he was the final destination in the evolution of conscious beings. There are unfortunately some scholars who try to turn the “messenger into a “postman”. There cannot be a worse commentary on his mission than this. He was not a postman who just brought God’s messages to the mankind; he was the true Ambassador and envoy of God who guided individuals, then moulded them into a community, then led them to develop a system and then gave Islam the true global colours it was meant for. The earlier the inhabitants of the globe recognise him as the sole Role Model, the better it will be for them individually as well as collectively.

The author can be contacted at javedjamil@rediffmail.com

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MUHAMMAD– THE HOPE OF MANKIND

[Shamim A Siddiqi, New York]

INTRODUCTION: At the end of sixth century AD humanity had lost all the guidance that came from its Creator and Sustainer as how to live, act and behave on earth. There were no human rights any where in the world. Under the domination of both the superpowers of the time, the Roman and the Persian Empires, only the ruling class was enjoying all rights and privileges. The common man has no rights worth its name and was treated as serfdom. Women folk were treated in Christianity something as “untouchables” and under the fold of Hindu paganism, they had no right to live after the death of husband. They were to die with them alive due to age old prevalent custom of “sati”. Europe was grappling under its dark ages and America was not known at all to the civilized world of the time. Humanity was, thus, passing through dark pages of its history; its fate was lying in obscurity and apparently had no hopes in its “destiny”.



The Christian priests, saints and hermits of the time were all in waiting for the coming of a Messenger from a land in the desert covered with date trees as prophesies in Bible foretold. Only the City of Madinah in the heart of Arabian Peninsula fulfilled that criterion. They had established numerous monasteries at the northern arch of Arabian Peninsula. The monastery of Ba'hirah Rahib was one of them. Professor Taha Yaseen of Egypt has given a vivid description of these monasteries in his book of Seerah of Rasulullah (S) and has shown that how eagerly Judeo-Christian world was waiting for the new Messenger of Allah. The detail account given by Prophet’s beloved companion Salman Farsi (RA) of his reaching to Madinah in search of the Messenger as directed by Christian priests confirms the quest and long waiting of Christian world.



Unfortunately, at the end of 20th and the beginning of the 21st century, the humanity is experiencing as a whole more or less the similar situation as that of 6th century but in a different perspective. In 6th century, the causes of concern and waiting were genuine as all the previous guidance from God were either lost, or mutilated through human innovations and manipulations along with the life pattern of the previous Messengers too except with some scanty account that could not lead and deliver to human society a system and a model of their life-pattern to live with. In the context of the present world, both the Guidance from the Creator and Sustainer is available intact in its original form along with the life-pattern of the Messenger, the guide, the model as how to live, act and behave in the world in its minutest details. It is just the self-denial attitude of Judeo-Christian-Pagan world that is blind to its existence in its totality. It is due to age old prejudices, historical animosity and ignorance of an unprecedented nature; it is being ignored one way or the other.



Their blindness is by their free-choice and not by accident or any natural mishap. It can be termed as “day-light-blindness”. They are in disparate need of a system for getting justice, peace, security and an ideal model to lead a balanced and an organized life in their personal, family and society at individual, national and international levels. They are making blind rough shots here and there, grappling in darkness but having no semblance of light either in their vision, approach, programming or projections. They are seeing every thing from the ken of mortal eyes and not as their urgent need for Divine Guidance and the life-pattern that the Messenger sets in its minutest details for human beings to follow. That is why man has failed in all its programming, projections and man-made systems whether it was feudalism, monarchy, capitalism, socialism, communism and secular democracy or military dictatorship. All have multiplied human problems and provided only some band-aid-treatment or some namesake temporary respite only. Problems are gradually heaping and pilling up in Himalayan size.



In sequence, humanity has lost all its hopes. The forthcoming era of Globalization, World Trade and forming of different Group Markets on the pattern of EUC are bound to fail as their objective is to exploit the human needs and meager resources of under-developed and developing countries around the world to add a few degrees to the standard of living of the developed countries at he cost of increasing the poverty level in the poor countries higher and higher. By denying the existing Divine Guidance and the role of the Messenger of time, humanity cannot survive anymore. It has no choice but to turn its face to follow the life-pattern of Rasulullah (S) with all hopes and expectations and it would get it there. Let us see what hopes the life of the Messenger of the time, Prophet Muhammad has in store for the suffering humanity that all the secular isms could not deliver at all.



THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS BUIILDING THE FATE OF HUMANITY: After his appointment as the Messenger of Allah in the cave of Hear in 572 AD, Prophet Muhammad (S) concentrated, on individuals, the epic center of all troubles and corruptions on earth. He (S) rightly concluded that if individuals are corrected, reformed and their character is re-build on the basis of fear of Allah and accountability in Akhirah, society as a whole can be reconstituted afresh on balanced moral grounds. As such:



* He (S) cemented the relations of each individual with his/her Creator and Sustainer;

* Every individual is a trustee of what Allah has given him and not master or owner;

* Every one is accountable to Allah for all his/her actions and deeds one earth in Akhirah;

* He (S) presented his life as ideal for all individuals to follow in every walk of life till

eternity.



Rasulullah (S) made every effort in remodeling their respective individual character on these principles and made them the most trustworthy people of the time. This was his (S) team of workers that he first built and they were the instruments in changing the society altogether on the concept of Tawhid, Amanah, Akhirah and his Prophethood. He (S) purified individual’s character and motivated them to carry out the mission of Islam to the four corners of the world. His (S) Kalimah: La Ilaha Ilallah, Muhammadun Rasulullah was, in fact, the most revolutionary political slogan and a motivating force that kept his (S) followers always active, motivated and involved in the service of mankind: to be good to others, in removing the evil from the society and establishing the Ma’roof all around. This benevolent character that he (S) created amongst his (S) followers was by serving himself as its model in every walk of life. He (S), thus, transformed the Arab society of Jahiliyah [ignorance] in to a benevolent and Allah conscious society all around in his (S) life time within a limited period of 23 years. This is his (S) prescribed, well-practiced and trusted model for mankind to follow till eternity. If humanity wants today to remove corruption, favoritism, nepotism and discrimination in all its forms and shape from its ranks and files, this is the only way now left for mankind to accept and follow, the only hope to get justice, peace and a balanced harmonious growth in the world.

THE MOST INSPIRING CHARACTER OF HISTORY:

* He (S) was very kind and merciful and full of concern for believers in Allah [Q9: 128];

* He (S) was at the highest order of morality [Q.68: 4];

* His (S) morals were the embodiment of the Qur’an [Hadith]

* Rasulullah (S) confirmed, “I have been appointed to perfect the morality”. [Hadith]

* He (S) was the Messenger for entire mankind [Q. 7: 158]

* Arabs acknowledged him (S) unanimously and used to call him Al-Sadiq & Al-Ameen

[the Truthful and the Trustworthy]

* He (S)” never speaks out of his own desire and that [what he coveys to you] is but [a

Divine] inspiration with which he is being inspired” [Q. An-Najm: 3-4]

* He (S) said, “Ana Afsahul Arab” [I am the most eloquent person amongst the Arabs]

* An Extraordinary advocate and promoter of “Ilm” [knowledge] in the society:

“Talabul Ilme farizatun ala kulley Muslim” [Acquiring knowledge is obligatory on

every Muslim [and Muslimah] – Hadith –Ibne Ma’ja]

* He (S) was the most ideal and perfect Da’ee Ilallah for all time to come:

* He (S) declared the first Charter of Human Rights in 631 AD from the Mount of

Arafat when he (S) performed his (S) first and the last Hajj.

* He (S) was the most ardent advocate of human rights, wage-earners rights, very benevolent to slaves, care takers of the way farers and the oppressed, the orphans and the rights of women;

* He (S) established the concept of equality amongst human beings, eradicated all kinds of discrimination on account of color, race, wealth, language and geographical boundaries. He made Bilal bin Ribah (RA), a Negro from Eretria the Moazzin of his Mosque and his personal exchequer;

* He (S) was an affectionate father, a dutiful and loveable husband, an ideal neighbor, a trustworthy and honest trader, an efficient administrator, a foresighted statesman and a brilliant general. In short he (S) was the most accomplished human being. Whoso ever came in contact with him (S) adored him, including his adversaries. He (S) is the most perfect ideal in every walk of life for any individual and society to follow as model, the only hope of mankind to deliver Khair [good] to all who resolve to follow him and his teachings.

BUILDING A MODEL HUMAN SOCIETY - Rasulullah (S) first built his (S) team of workers on the lines stated above. We call them Sahabah out of reverence. He (S) built it through person to person contacts who in turn became the king pins of the Islamic society that he (S) established in Arabian Peninsula based on the principles of equality, justice and complete social security for the poor, needy, destitute, underfed, unemployed, incapacitated and wayfarers – the have-nots, through a well-established social-welfare system of Islam that advocates: “Collect from your affluent and return it back to your poor and needy” [Hadith}

He (S) build a society in which justice was free, education was obligatory and free for all. It was free of corruption and favoritism. Rate of crime was extremely low to the extent that often jails were found empty. Situation of law and order was so perfect that an old lady could travel from Sana’a to Hazarmaut, a distance of about 1,000 miles with gold in her hands and she had no fear except that of Allah. Adi bin Hatim (RA) confirmed it by his own observation.

CONCLUSION: The forgoing proves beyond any shadow of doubt the life pattern that Prophet Mohammad (S) demonstrated to the world and the system of life that he (S) delivered to mankind are now the only hope of mankind to get justice, peace and security on earth. The more its adoption is delayed, the more it is drifting away from its cherished goal to attain perfection in transforming the abode of man into the cradle of peace and free of exploitation; where both the affluent and the poor will feel contented in their respective field and where the opportunity of progress will be available to all and sundry without any prejudice as a right of all human beings. Humanity can attain this goal only when it would accept the leadership of Prophet Muhammad (S) as the only hope of its survival and delivering good to its specie.

However, it would be possible only when the Muslim Ummah establishes Islam as a political entity some where in its midst and sets a model for humanity to follow. If the Ummah does it, the world would rush to it and accept it like a hot cake, Insha Allah. Will the Muslim Community and its leadership accept it as the most important challenge of time and replenish the ‘skeleton” cheeks of humanity with new hopes and blood.

Shamim Siddiqi
WWW.dawahinmaericas.com

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MUHAMMAD, THE PEACE MAKER

By Mike Ghouse
World Muslim Congress

Muslim Philantrophist Meet

World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists

A few articles on the subject:
1. Charity organizations unite against rising poverty
2. Muslim philanthropists seek cooperation with the rest of the world
3. New Group Meets to Promote Muslim Charity Worldwide
4. “Do good works, engage politically, and get involved”

Charity organizations unite against rising poverty
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=137110

The first international World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists took place in İstanbul over the weekend under the theme "Facing Challenges and Finding Solutions."

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a speech at the event in which he said charity is a common human value that transcends cultures and beliefs.

"Because of problems stemming from changing ecological conditions, inequalities in income distribution and injustice in the world, millions of people live in difficult conditions," he said.
Pointing out the importance of nongovernmental charities at times when natural disaster strikes, Erdoğan said such institutions must work effectively and strengthen the public's charitable feelings. "One of the most fundamental ways to achieve this is by making the activities of these charity organizations transparent, with financing at the top of the list," he said. Erdoğan also highlighted the need to maintain efficiency among NGOs as they coordinate independent activities and services.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Religious Affairs Directorate head Professor Ali Bardakoğlu stated that social charities are not inferior to religious exercises. "The Quran demands of us to think about those living next to us. We should broaden the social aspect of our religious devotion," he said.

South African Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool supported Bardakoğlu's emphasis on dialogue between religions. Lamenting the Western perspective of the Muslim world as underdeveloped and violent, Rasool underlined that Muslim countries should combine to launch a $20 million grant of aid under a specific fund, even while struggling with poverty.

State Minister for Women and Children's Affairs Nimet Çubukçu also supported a point raised by Rasool that poverty is not just a problem among old people but also one affecting the young. Although feelings like benefaction, compassion and charity have not been highly valued in recent years, they will continue forever within humanity, Çubukçu said, adding, "Love, solidarity and charity are the things that make us human."

Qatar Princess Sheikha Al-Thani took the opportunity to highlight that more than 100 million children worldwide do not attend school -- most of them in the Middle East.

One of the main points raised during the congress was the pressure on Muslim countries following Sept. 11 and how this affected the battle against poverty in these regions. "Following Sept. 11, Muslim charity organizations were shut down due to pressure," said Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu.

Doctors Worldwide-Turkey head İhsan Kahraman, also speaking at the congress, considered the gathering as a step to coordinate the feelings of individual compassion and benevolence to those in need across the world. British Minister for International Development Shahid Malik, on the other hand, emphasized that in order to end Islamophobia in the Christian world, there is an urgent need for Muslim politicians.

İstanbul Governor Muammer Güler, al-Jazeera Network General Director Wadah Khanfar, the heads of various charity organizations, businessmen, academics and other charitable individuals also attended the congress.

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Muslim philanthropists seek cooperation with the rest of the world
Monday, March 24, 2008
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=99840
Philanthropists and charitable organizations the world over are moved by different incentives, said educator Hamza Yusuf Hansor, noting that secular donors help people for secular reasons, while Muslims do it for the sake of God.

Hanson, the founder of the U.S.-based Zaytuna Institute and Academy, was in Istanbul over the weekend to participate in the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists (WCMP).

“Bill Gates donates $1 billion and he doesn't believe in anything, however Muslims are not that organized and should be ashamed of it,” Hanson said in an interview with the Turkish Daily News. “Gates donates one out of every $6 billion, but it is still not enough, since people like him have billions while poorer people suffer across the world,” said Hanson.

Since Muslim philanthropists are poorly organized, their activities are not visible around the world, many Congress attendees agreed.

Another factor is a modesty inherent to Islam, one participant observed.

“Philanthropy is not visible among Muslims, because we believe in the secrecy of it, said Ebrahim Rasool, premier of the Western Cape of South Africa. “Islam says you should not tell one another about your favor and charity.”

Meanwhile, Christian charities are highly organized, because they lack the stigma of secrecy.

“Everyone who gives publicizes it,” Rasool said. “Muslims give, they but hide it; however, while we remain modest, we must be coordinated, too.”

An organization that coordinates Muslim donations is urgently needed, participants agreed.

Hanson, who converted to Islam in 1977, said Muslim donors should be organized not only to “give fish” but also to “teach poor people how to fish.” He called on nongovernmental organizations and governments to work together, since caring for the poor should not be the government's job, alone.

“People working for NGOs are much more sincere and passionate,” Hanson said.

As the number of charitable organizations increases, corruption invariably shows its ugly head, and this, too, was debated during the meeting.

“Every institution faces this problem, but we have transparency so we can be accountable,” said Peter D. O'Driscoll, executive director of Action Aid.

“One World Trust,” a global accountability project in which governments and NGOs work together, was established for just such a purpose, he said.

Turkey needs an organization that works like the International Monetary Fund to control whether funds collected by aid organizations are distributed fairly or not, Hanson said.

The WCMP and similar outfits are needed to bring Muslim philanthropists together and lead them to help not only Muslims, but also the rest of the world, participants acknowledged. This could change the world's attitude toward Muslims, said Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

After the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks Muslims and many Muslim aid institutions were subject to partial treatment, Awad said.

“We should coordinate with other secular or Christian organizations and governments,” he added. “Otherwise, we will be subject to suspicion and unfair treatment.”

Shahid Malik, United Kingdom Minister for International Development, who also participated in the WCMP, said Muslims have been defined by the actions of a few extremists, but radical Islamists represent neither Muslims nor Islam.

Malik, who became the first British-born Muslim to serve in the British government, said Britain's having a Muslim minister means a lot, as does the country's tradition of championing civil rights and liberties, which makes it the best place in the world for Muslims.

“There are many people against the Iraq war,” Malik said. “We are where we are, and we should now have a stable government in Iraq.”

The killing of Muslims by other Muslims in the name of Islam should be stopped, since it does not represent Islam.

Muslims need middle class

A stable middle class should be established in Muslim countries in order to secure social peace and prosperity, Hamza Yusuf Hanson said.

Compared to other Muslim nations, Turkey's middle class is strong, serving as a firewall to a culture of corruption and bribery.

“I have seen the practice of bribery in some Muslim countries where the middle class is not strong and people are corrupt,” Hanson said.

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New Group Meets to Promote Muslim Charity Worldwide
http://philanthropy.com/news/updates/index.php?id=4203
By Ian Wilhelm

Istanbul

Muslims around the globe contribute billıons of dollars to humanıtarıan causes a year, but their efforts are often poorly organızed and not well-known to the world, said participants at the inaugural meetıng of a group of Islamic charities and philanthropists here.

The new organization, the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, was formed to help Islamıc donors and nonprofit groups to overcome these obstacles.

It estımates that Muslim foundations award at least $20-billion annually, while one speaker at the two-day conference said that total gıvıng by Muslims worldwide ıs probably 10 times that amount.

“If you look at the Muslim world and the generosity of the 1.3 bıllıon Muslims, I am absolutely certain they give over $200-billion a year to charity collectively,” said Hamza Yusuf, founder of the Zaytuna Institute, an Islamic think tank in Berkeley, Calif.

But “much of that charıty goes unnoted because we do not have the infrastructure to regulate it and to show that charıty gıven on the books,” he told the 200 or so partıcıpants, who came from Libya, Malaysia, Qatar, and 27 other countries.

Part of the challenge to calculating Islamıc philanthropy is the Koran itself.

Islam’s version of tithing, known as zakat, is one of the faith’s five maın holy prıncıples and requires Muslims to purify theır wealth by providing 2.5 percent of theır assets a year to mosques and needy people.

But the Koran says such gifts are more sacred when they are given quietly.

“Philanthropy is not visible among Muslims because we believe in the secrecy of it,” said Ebrahim Rasool, a Muslim South Afrıcan and premier of the country’s Western Cape province. “Muslims give, but they hide ıt.”

Mr. Rassol urged Muslims to promote theır giving and support causes they traditionally have not, such as protectıng the environment and preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

In the case of the disease, he said ıt is associated wıth sexual promıscuıty and the gay lıiestyle, which are “anathema to Islam,” but the needs of AIDS victims in sub-Saharan Afrıca are too great to ignore.

The World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists ıs the brainchild of Tariq H. Cheema, a Pakistani doctor who lives in İllinois. After years of nonprofit work, including assistıng vıctıms of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, Mr. Cheema said he saw the need to bring together the world’s Islamic donors.

“Muslims, who are almost one-fourth of thıs whole globe, had to be more proactive to finding solutions,” he told The Chronicle in an interview. “We share risks with everyone on this planet.”

He said he hopes the congress wıll organize annual events and create a network to research, coordinate, and discuss Muslim gıvıng. The group will most likely be based in America with a second office ın Turkey or other Muslim nation.

As part of its work, the congress plans to create a Web site, SecureGiving, to rank charities in Muslim countries based on an as-yet-undecided criteria of governance and management standards. Mr. Cheema said the effort will help donors make sure their money is not supportıng terrorists posing as Islamic charities, a concern that has grown since the September 11, 2001, attacks.

While Mr. Cheema said he dıd not start the World Congress of Muslim Phılanthropists to improve the image of Islam to the Western world, he and other participants said raising the profıle of Muslim humanitarians could indırectly change the negative perceptıon by some that the religion ıs a vıolent one.

By giving food, buildıng schools, and undertaking other charıtable work, said Mr. Rasool of South Afrıca, Muslims can show that theır religion ıs not a “backward, ıntolerant monolith.”

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Congressman Keith Ellison
“Do good works, engage politically, and get involved”
http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/2694/

Associate Editor Wajahat Ali sits down for a rare interview with US Congressman Keith Ellison, who speaks about the challenges and opportunities of being the first Muslim elected to Congress.


By Wajahat Ali, March 24, 2008



"I urge all Muslims to engage"

Keith Ellison, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, is the first African American ever elected to the House from Minnesota. Oh, he’s also the first Muslim Congressman in US history [the second Muslim American, Andre Carson, was recently elected to Congress on March 11]. By virtue of his racial and religious identity - a minority within a minority - Ellison bears the unenviable burden of representing one of the most misunderstood, feared and mistrusted identities du jour: Muslims. Ever since his election, notoriety chases Ellison often and unsubtly, most memorably after his 2006 appearance on Conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s CNN show, where the host asked Ellison point blank, “Prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.” With calm and patience, Ellison answered the question head on and reassured his constituents and the American public that his religious values do not compromise or lessen his patriotism.

Regardless, his critics, including those in Muslim and right-wing circles, continue to project their doubts about not only his political credibility, but also his loyalty to both Muslims and America, respectively. Despite the controversy, in the past two years Ellison has emerged an influential and popular figure winning over a vastly diverse constituency in Minnesota and even gaining supporters and silencing initial skeptics across the nation.

We sat down for a rare and exclusive conversation with the Congressman, where he bluntly addresses a gamut of issues including the charges of his critics, Obama’s candidacy, racism in America, Muslims entering politics, the fear of Islam, the smear campaigns, and how his faith helps him become a better American and Congressman.

We’re all hearing and seeing the speech by Obama’s pastor, Rev. Wright, and the response by Senator Obama. Some say Obama’s “race” speech is historic, others say he is ducking the race issue. What do you think Obama’s response, as well as the fierce criticism of Wright’s speech, says about the state of racism in America today?

ELLISON: I think Obama’s speech was a transcendent speech. It actually moved us forward in the dialogue for national reconciliation. The fact is that Rev. Wright is coming from a perspective of over 200 years of slavery and 100 hundred years of Jim Crow. Also, he’s been a witness to some of the awful devastation that has happened to the South side of Chicago where his church is located. He has seen the awful human toll and how it affects the African American community. That’s the perspective he’s coming from. That perspective is obviously going to be informed by frustration and anger, and obviously he is a leader in that community and his speeches and sermons are going to reflect that frustration and anger. But, as a Presidential candidate, I think Obama is bringing us all together: helping us transcend; helping us go further.

The truth is the racial dialogue in America does need some updating. It does need a new way forward. Because so often, we are locked in a cycle of blame and shame; we are locked in a cycle of, you know, just really not getting anywhere. But, the fact is this dialogue does get us somewhere. It is not informed by anger, it is not informed by past wrongs or anything like that. But, it is informed by facts as they exist and it is informed by a need to heal and pull us forward. So, I was really impressed by Obama’s speech. I think it will go down in history.

Let’s talk about Geraldine Ferraro and other individuals who commented that Obama’s meteoric rise is due to his campaign playing the “race card” for his benefit. What’s your thought on this "race card” being used to help Obama – is this simple, superficial political correctness?

Well, it’s been used against him. In fact, his Democratic opponent has been trying to narrow his reach and appeal based on racial grounds from the beginning in my opinion. But, it just doesn’t work because he is truly a candidate that reaches out to all segments of the community. It just doesn’t work, because he truly is somebody who has the best interests and common good of all in mind. He doesn’t play old-line politics. That’s why you see him able to reach out to literally thousands of people. When he was in Minneapolis he drew 22,000 people in the Timberwolves auditorium. And the Timberwolves would’ve loved to get the numbers Obama drew on that day! He is pulling people who are senior citizens, kids, college students, and people who are middle aged, working adults. He’s pulling on Blacks, Whites, Latinos, people from Asia, South Asian background: everybody. He truly is a transcendent candidate. Now, he’s not a perfect candidate. Obviously, no one is. But, Obama is one candidate who I’ve seen that is able to reach across those issues that divide us and pull everybody in. I just think he’s phenomenal.

The fact is – before he gave that speech – I didn’t know. I was wondering if he was going to be able to deal with this challenge. It did look like the folks who were beating up his pastor were gaining ground – you know, causing doubt. But, you know what, he rose to the occasion as he has many times before.

Let’s tackle a question that has dogged you and Obama: The Muslim question. Many people say the label “Muslim” is used as a smear tactic, a "scarlet letter" of the 21st century. Do you think the fact that many people look at Obama as a Muslim, and thus judge him detrimentally, is a reflection of “politicking” in America or is it really reflective of an overall prejudice towards Muslims in America?

Well, the fact is that the people who are attacking Obama because of their incorrect belief he was Muslim were assuming that the American population is religiously bigoted, and they were trying to get political gain by appealing to that religious bigotry. But, it so happens Americans come from a long tradition of religious pluralism. We elected a Catholic President in the 1960’s. Mitt Romney’s meteoric descent is not due to his religion; it is due to his failed candidacy. In the 109th Congress, which was the one before the one I was in, there were no Muslims ever, ever before. In the 110th Congress, you’ve got two. Two. [Andre Carson won the Democratic nomination for Indiana's 7th congressional district recently.] I’m not the only one anymore. So, the fact is that America is a very tolerant country, and if you make an argument for the common good then people will support it. The funny thing about this latest flack about his Christian Minister is that it makes it pretty clear that he isn’t Muslim. (Laughs.) If anything, it can dispel that ridiculous rumor.

One thing I will say for Obama is that there was a temptation for him to strenuously and vociferously disassociate himself from being a Muslim, and he didn’t do that. He just said nope, in fact I’m not a Muslim, but there is nothing wrong with being a Muslim. I actually liked the way he handled that. I think what they were trying to do was to falsely identify him as a Muslim which they thought would hurt him. Or, they were trying to get him to vehemently deny and therefore alienate millions of Muslims in America and put him in a “can’t win” situation, but I think he’s gotten out of that one pretty well.

Let’s talk about your own personal experiences. Some are very infamous like your moment with CNN’s Glenn Beck who had you on air and pretty much straight up questioned your patriotism and loyalty to America based on his assumption or fear regarding your Islam. So, how do you confront that daily reality where you, Keith Ellison an African American and Muslim, are seen as unpatriotic based purely due to your religious beliefs? This must get frustrating.

Well, the thing is you have to face these kinds of challenges with patience. Quite frankly, the barrage of taking hits everyday has made me a better Muslim. I find myself returning to my faith just to be able to deal with this kind of stuff on a regular basis. The Qur'an says, “The struggle is ordained.” Well, certainly it is. But, we have to deal with these challenges with patience, with confidence. We cannot let one person’s bitterness turn us bitter. We have to overcome evil with good, right? That’s how you do it. You can’t overcome evil with evil. You just get more evil. My thing is to try to urge people who are Muslim and not Muslim to understand America is a country that has deep roots of tolerance and religious inclusion. My message to the Muslim community is keep on doing good works like building clinics, building literacy sessions at the masjid, work with non-Muslim fellow Americans to try to improve things. And keep putting your best foot forward, because if we start going tit-for-tat with those putting out religious bigotry, then we end up just like them.

Lot of people are saying that Andre Carson’s election to Congress along with yours is a sign of the end of times: "The Muslims are taking over! The Muslims are taking over!"

(Laughs.) Two out of 435? I don’t think we’re taking over.

So, how do you respond to that fear that, look in two years, Muslims and immigrants are helping elect Muslim people, ethnic people, and soon enough Congress will be run by radicals?

(Laughs) You know, we are elected by the majority of the people. So, if we are seeing more people of Muslim background in Congress and more people from diverse backgrounds in Congress, and we of course have a woman speaker in the House. That just means that Congress is looking more and more like America. It’s looking more and more like the rest of the country. That’s what democracy is, isn’t it?

Why the Democratic Party? Suppose you’re talking to Muslims – and you know they voted for the first time in a block for Bush in 2000; Muslims are not too savvy but we are getting there. How do you convince the Muslims that the Democratic Party is for them and for America?

Well, the first thing I want to say is that civic engagement is something I urge all Muslims to engage in. One of my most effective fundraisers in the state of Michigan, a brother by the name of Asad Malik, is a Republican and a dear friend of mind. He and are I are tight and good friends. My brother is a Republican, my dad is a Republican. So, I don’t want to urge the Muslim community to get locked into a political party even if it is my party. What I’d urge them to do is do good works, promote fair dealing in business, help America overcome this tremendous number of people who are uninsured and don’t have any health care insurance. I think in this time, 2008 to well into possibly 2012 and 2016, the Democratic Party offers the best opportunity to express their commitment to civil and human rights for all people. To express their commitment for health care for all, to express their commitment to economic justice for everybody, and to express their commitment for peace around the world. Republicans will probably figure this out in 5 or 6 years that embracing bigotry and promoting fear is not a good thing. I think they’ll probably figure out they will need to change their positions to attract votes. And, they’ll be offering something worthwhile as well.

But, two points. I urge the Muslim community not to get locked into one political party. And two: do good works, engage politically, and get involved: can’t change anything sitting on the sidelines. The last thing is that, for now, the Democratic Party is the best vehicle to give out good values; values of peace, values of economic equity, values of family, values of civil rights. Today, the Democratic Party is the best vehicle for that.

Some of your critics in the Muslim community say that Ellison is a charismatic self-promoter. He’s a sell out. He promotes abortion rights and gay marriage. So, how can he also be Muslim and be liberal and promote a system that engages in a post 9-11 Iraq War and pro-Israeli polices?

My position for people who say that is if you don’t like my position, then you get involved and offer an alternative vision for the country. I believe it is shirk; it is religiously forbidden for one Muslim to tell another Muslim he is not Muslim. Because you don’t know my heart. You don’t know what Allah has inspired me to understand. Just because you disagree with my political position, I believe it is shirk for you to tell me I’m not Muslim because you disagree. Why don’t you just disagree? Offer your position. Convince the people that you are the one who’s right. Maybe convince me that you’re the one who is right? But, I do disagree with those Muslims who try to determine for themselves who is Muslim and who is not: that’s for Allah to decide. I’m a strong opponent of this takfir-ism [declaring another an unbeliever], you know, people who think it’s ok for them to decide who is Muslim and who is not: that’s only for Allah to decide.

On the other part, I am a person who believes in civil and human rights are for all people. I’ve never been ashamed to admit that I think America needs to have human and civil rights for all people, particularly unpopular groups. Unpopular groups like the Muslim community, unpopular groups like Latino immigrants. Unpopular groups like the gay community. How in the world can I argue that America has to have rights for Muslims, who are unpopular, but not gays? That is a hypocritical position! I’m not asking people to embrace homosexuality. I’m saying it’s wrong and immoral to kill them, beat them, or exclude them from working. You don’t have to like them. Leave ‘em alone. Let them live their lives and let God decide if He will judge them, as He will judge us all. That’s all I’m saying.

Also, I said in terms of abortion, of course I’m not in favor of abortion. But, the question is: do I want to have police arresting women who do? The answer to that is no. I think we all have to come together as a society to prevent abortion. We need to all promote sex education, we need to promote more knowledge about the human body, we need to promote pre-natal care so women don’t feel they need to get an abortion because they fear they won’t be able to feed their other children. This is what we need to do as a society to make abortion exceedingly rare, but also, we don’t want women using coat hangers and killing themselves to abort the pregnancy. We certainly don’t want to use our police force to make arrests on these women. The question is not whether abortion is bad: I think it is bad. And let me be clear: I think abortion is wrong. But, I will also tell you I’m not ready to criminalize it, because I think it is a personal decision that people should make for themselves, but we should promote a society in which people wouldn’t have to make that choice

It sounds like you’re very passionate, Congressman. There’s a saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his Companions recommending one to not try to seek leadership or positions of power. Usually, people running for Congress or the Presidency have to run on the ticket of convincing people to vote for them. So, what inspired you to run, to take this leap, to be a trailblazer knowing you’re a Black man and a Muslim running for Congress?

Well, you know, part of my involvement in politics is really rooted in my desire to try to promote unity among people, trying to promote unity with the Earth and creation, and trying to promote justice. That’s really the origin of my activism. We are also, as Muslims, urged to engage in shura, consultation, with what the community should do. So, I think my involvement is just to sort of try to help them do what’s best for the community and the world at large.

I do agree that ambitious pursuits of power acquisition are wrong. But, I’m not trying to accumulate power for my own sake. I’m not trying to accumulate power for my own sake. I’m trying to accumulate some power to improve the lot of all people and improve the common good. So, that’s the origin of my activism. You know, I have a family that was involved in the Civil Rights Movement. My grandfather was organizing Black voters in the 1950’s in rural Louisiana in a time that would seriously get you hung and it was dangerous to do it. My mother promoted that as well. It’s something I’ve always been associated with, and it’s a kind of thing I’ll continue to do and urge more people to do. So, that’s kind of where I’m coming from.

Can you talk about the spiritual and emotional transition of Keith Hakim [Ellison wrote columns in his law school paper as Keith Hakim in 1990] to modern day Keith Ellison?

The thing is the Muslim name my friends and community know me by is Keith Muhammad. And that name is still my name. It’s still what I go by; it’s still what my brothers call me. But, the thing is, from what’s on my personal birth certificate, what I’m admitted to Bar in because I’m a lawyer – the legal name is Ellison. So, I run by the name that is on my birth certificate. But, the truth is I do have a Muslim name, and I am known by my Muslim name by many of my fellow Muslims. So, there’s really no transition.

But, let me also say that it’s important to point out there are lot of people around the world who are Muslim who do not have names that are Arabic in nature. It’s not unusual at all. It’s nothing in the Quran, the Sunnah, or the hadith of Prophet Muhammad that says that if your name is a legitimate name, if it is not a bad name, if it isn’t a name promoting something wicked or evil that you have to change it. I think the essence of Islam is not about a name or a form, or anything. It’s about going beyond forms and going beyond names and getting to the essence of the fundamental and Divine unity that connects Allah with all of us – and that Allah “is.” So, it’s really not about a name. It’s really about what you do, how you behave, how you treat people, how you face adversity, and how you connect with the Divine.

You’ve traveled the world and you’ve been all over America. What’s the greatest misconception and question about Islam directed towards you? And, how do you respond in either defending your faith or affirming your faith?

The greatest misconception of Islam is that it is a religion of violence. That’s a very incorrect position, and I have to constantly help people understand that even though you have Muslims who may do things that are violent, it does not make Islam a violent religion. I have to tell people that Christianity and Judaism have many, many examples of people committing atrocious acts in the name of their religion but we should not judge the religion by those individuals. I have to point out on so many occasions Prophet Muhammad was attacked, abused, mistreated, and yet, he always responded with patience, often with non-violence. And when he did have to resort to warfare it was strictly defensive and designed to preserve and protect life. Whenever he could try to work it out, he always did. So, I don’t understand what some of our Muslim brothers today are thinking. Who did Muhammad ever bomb? What suicide mission did he ever order? There are no records of these things. So, that’s a misconception that I continually have to clear up.

Everyone is interested in the “conversion story.” What is it about Islam that inspired you to take that figurative and literal “leap” of faith?

It was really a lot about going to the masjid and seeing the Blacks, the Whites, the Latinos, the Asians, the Arabs all together – all one. The unity among the people connected in an effort to walk as one and be in harmony with God’s will. It was this unity I thought was so important. It was rational. It made sense to me. It has done a tremendous amount to help me negotiate life – quite frankly.

Do you think we’ll ever see a Muslim President of the United States of America?

Inshallah [God willing]

If a Muslim becomes President, do you think he or she can ever truly make peace with their Islamic values and the burden of the duties required by the position?

Let me just say this. Let me say this: there’s not one single Muslim on the planet today that has walked perfectly. All of us need to do better. So, if there is a Muslim president I’m sure that individual will be forced to make compromises but, hopefully God-willing, they will continue to return to their faith and do what the faith requires and do what is expected by Allah. Do I believe that somebody will face fundamental challenges? I mean, we’re talking about human beings here! Remember, Muslims aren’t perfect. There’s a big difference between Islam and Muslims.

Will you ever run for President?

I have no desire to be President. When people say, “Hey, Keith, you’re gonna’ be President!” I’m like, “Hey man! I thought you liked me? I thought we were friends?” (Laughs). I do not aspire for the Presidency. You know what I want to be? I want to be the best Congressman I can possibly be. I want to be effective. I want to encourage people to run for office. I want to get people to come together around a common humanity, and I want them to stop focusing on false divisions. That’s what I want to do.

Wajahat Ali is Pakistani Muslim American who is neither a terrorist nor a saint. He is a playwright, essayist, humorist, and recent J.D. whose work, "The Domestic Crusaders," is the first major play about Muslim Pakistani Americans living in a post 9-11 America. His blog is at goatmilk.wordpress.com. He can be reached at wajahatmali@gmail.com.

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