Islam is not a monolithic religion
and has allowed diversity from its very inception. Justice,
Liberty and freedom are its core values. God could have made us
desire-less and sinless angels, instead he chose to make us human,
giving guidance on one hand, temptations on the other –
then giving room to make mistakes, and room to correct ourselves
thru repentance. Forgiveness is a full cycle concept and not
merely utterance of words. Hence, Islam is a deed based religion.
I ask whether I should seek any god
besides God--when he is the Lord of all things. All people will
reap the harvest of their own deeds; no one will bear another’s
burden. Ultimately, all of you will return to your Lord, and he
will resolve your disputes.
-Qur'an, Al-An'am, Surah 6:163-164
Our silence has done a lot more
damage to us than the damage done by the extremists. We have a
forum now to speak up and present the majority view to the world.
If you would like to join the discussions on any topic, please
send your email request to:
WorldMuslimCongress-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com
World Muslim
Congress
GOOD FOR MUSLIMS – GOOD FOR THE WORLD
Dallas, Texas . Thursday, May 25th,
2006. All praise to God. We are pleased to announce the formation
of The World Muslim Congress, a non-profit organization with a
commitment to work towards forming a just world.
Our Mission is to create a better world for every
human being, through inclusiveness and participation, as members
of a diverse family. Our efforts will be directed towards justice
and equity to attain a sustainable peace and goodwill. We believe
communication is a two way street. We cannot have advantages at
the cost of others. Such benefits are temporary and deleterious to
lasting peace.
Our Prophet (pbuh) described a good deed as an act
which benefits others, such as planting trees that
serve generations of wayfarers with fruits and a shade. The world
is a better place today because of the good legacy bequeathed to
the humanity by people of all faiths that came before us. We owe
it to coming generations to leave the world little better than we
found, to usher an era of justice and peace.
Our goal is to inspire Muslims to be actively
involved in the larger global community and be productive citizens
as well as peace makers to the world.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) set the example of good
citizenship early on in his life. The people of Makkah,
non-Muslims at that time, called him Al-Amin - the truthful and
the trustworthy, because of his unwavering commitment to honesty
in word and deed. The goal of the World Muslim Congress is to
instill the humane values of Islam and to aspire to be Al-Amin to
all.
The World Muslim Congress aims to give voice to the
silent majority of Muslims, those who believe in leading a good
life by contributing their time, effort and
energy towards shaping a just society. A society where helping
families, building bridges between communities, and foster love,
justice and peace.
Through the revolution in travel and communication
the world has indeed become a global community. Every one is a
neighbor to every one else, we aspire to nurture the concept of
good neighborliness in the world. Our advisory board will be
represented by individuals from every faith. It is time for us to
be equal citizens of one world, our home. This is a paradigm shift
in how the religious organizations would be conducting their
business in the coming years and we hope it paves way for
co-existence.
Insha Allah, the organization will officially come
into full operation on Tuesday, July 4th, 2006.
Contact:
99%
of Muslims are moderates: they want to get along with all, they
want a hassle free life and they respect all that God has created,
humans as well as the environment. With the exception of 1%, all
our Imams are a representation of this moderate group.
You
may have encountered disbelief reading the first word of this
letter. Figure out
1%
of 1.3 Billion Muslims and check out the figures released by the
Department of State last year in May - all combined they had
figured 450,000 Muslims world wide who are possibly involved in
insurgent activities. Of that, a small percent is hard core
terrorists. Run the numbers, the insurgents make up 1/30th of 1%
of Muslim population and terrorist possibly 1/50th of 1% or less.
Statistically they are not representative of Muslims or Islam in
any fashion.
The responsibility for the terrorist goof up falls
squarely on Muslims as well as the media. Muslims, because they
acted like the silent majority of any group, minding their own
business and go on living a normal life. They have condemned them
bad boys, but not enough to shut them up. The media, on the
other hand feasts on terrorism, look at the TV anchors and the
neocons, they come alive on television. They instantly produce
terrorism experts every minute of the day. This encourages the
bullies as they get the flood light, it is wrong, dead wrong to
shine the light on those who are not representative of Muslims.
Then there is a flawed understanding of Muslims,
and it is propagated by people with short term goals or self
interests and certainly not in the interest of people or even
America. In the interest of promoting co-existence which would
leads to peace and security for the entire mankind, we need to
identify the evil and tackle without worsening it. We have to have
villains and we created evils like communism, Soviet Union etc..
when they are gone, we have started barking against Muslims, the
wrong tree.
Silent no more, the World Muslim Congress is
forming to represent the voice of the silent majority. we are
developing a board of advisors representing every faith. Every one
is a neighbor to every one else, we aspire to nurture the concept
of good neighborliness in the world. Our advisory board will be
represented by individuals from every faith. It is time for us to
be equal citizens of one world, our home.
This is a major paradigm shift in
how the religious organizations would conduct their business in
the coming years.
May be if all religious groups consider this alternative over
living in secretive worlds, we may open up avenues, we never knew
existed.
One
of the most beautiful aspects of Islam is the freedom.
Every one's opinion must be given a value.
Our prophet left the book to us to interpret, he trusted in our
intelligence, he trusted in our humanness to make mistakes and he
trusted in our abilities to come up with Ijtihad (Consultative
decisions) and get back on the track. He knew Qur’an was for all
times, and as such, he did not particularly assign any Keeper or
Protector for the holy book, because he did not want that
Protector to usurp the individual freedom enjoined to us. Only God
has the right to judge us to how we utilize our freedom. Even our
prophet, peace be upon him, chose to keep out of the equation: He
said something like - Here is the book, follow it, if you make
mistakes, repent and get back on track, Choose the right path, it
is liberation. He said the same thing to his dear daughter Fatima,
it is your deeds that matters to God.
The roots of democracy were firmly planted in Islam
at the time of the death of Prophet Muhammad. As the Prophet did
not assign the Holy book to a protector to interpret and guard, he
did not assign or designate a successor either. Had he done that,
there would have been dynasties and successors. Democracy was
born, a successor was discussed and elected, the one who was most
capable to lead, it was the first Caliph – Leader Abu Bakr
Siddique.
It reminds me of my capstone class, the final class
in my MBA program at the University of Dallas which was not
structured. There were 15 some clueless students turning leaders
with the Professor sitting in the back with a 6 pack, the program
evolved, leadership developed through consensus.
The prophet perhaps wanted people to consult and
find the right leader to run their affairs on their own.
Unfortunately nearly a third of Muslim population lives under such
dynasties today.
I ask whether I should seek any god besides
God--when he is the Lord of all things. All people will reap the
harvest of their own deeds; no one will bear another’s burden.
Ultimately, all of you will return to your Lord, and he will
resolve your disputes.
-Qur'an, Al-An'am, Surah 6:163-164
Islam is a deed based religion, salvation comes
thru good deeds. Good deed, our prophet suggested was service to
mankind, like planting a tree that benefits the future wayfarer
with shade and fruits
The Biggest mistake you see when you open the Holy
Qur'an:
We the Muslims are
embarrassed about our silence and about lack of will to repair the
wrongs. Silence no more. The fear you may have of Muslims has
stemmed from reading the translations of Qur’an and your
irresponsibility in clarifying the truth. One of my favorite verse
comes from the Holy Bhagvad Gita “Finding the truth is your own
responsibility” that corresponds with the quote above that it is
your deeds that determine your Nirvana.
5:51, says, "Do not take the Jews and Christians as friends (auliya)."
Beginning immediately with
Surah Fatiha 1:1
(the opening chapter of the Qur’an) we find a translation not to
be found anywhere else:
1:1-7Guide
us to the
Straight
Way. The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not
(the way) of those who have earned Your Anger (such as the Jews),
nor of those who went astray (such as the Christians)."
(HK translation 1:1-7)
And the
words Kafir and Infidel.
If you have
read the above translations, then you must have picked up the free
copy of the Qur'an with translations done by Hilali and Khan.
This translation is spread all over the world, especially in the
Indian sub-continent.
It is a
distortion to put in parenthesis the words “such as the Jews” and
“such as the Christians” So if you have a Qur'an at home with this
kind of translation – DO NOT READ IT IS INCORRECT. I recommend
translation by Muhammed Asad, “The Message of the Qur'an.”
I don’t blame your for how
you feel when you read the above. It is certainly confusing to you
and even Muslims. Thanks God, there are 14 available translations
now, and more are popping. So which one is the right one? This has
created a lot of misunderstanding among people who read the
Qur'an, Muslims as well as people of other faiths.
God willing we will fix
the problem. Our website will present all the translations, verse
by verse including the one that frightens you.
Indeed, the people
referred to in the above verse were specific individuals, i.e.,
the individuals who were in that conflict and not any one else. It
does not apply to –all Jews and Christian of today or even that
day when the verse was revealed. There are hundreds of verses that
were addressed to a specific situation and individuals.
One more
area where readers get mislead is 5:51, “Do not take the Jews and
Christians as your friends.” The Arabic word “auliya” is
incorrectly translated as “friends.” The correct word in the
context of the full meaning of that particular line should be,
“savior.”
Hence the
translation should be read as, “ Do not take the Jews and
Christians as your saviors with small ‘s’ not capital ‘s’.
Explanation should be given to explain, savior is one who is not
only your protector of the most vital interests but one who is
also religiously and spiritually well grounded to meet the needs
of the individual as well as the entire society. Some one who is
also a guide to living a righteous life as well as physically who
protects you.
This is to
clarify to our Christian believers that, the word savior is not in
any way related to Jesus. Using friends in place of auliya, in the
past was done by some scholars incorrectly because the Quran which
is interfaith friendly scripture allows inter-marriages among the
People of the Book and admonishes readers to be good to people of
the book.
Iftekhar Hai
of United Muslims of America. Interfaith Alliance.
Sister Sheila Musa aptly pointed out the difference in
interpretations and Waleed Kavalec about the availability of 14
translations, which would take away the servitude to one
translation over the other. She will address most of the words
and phrases that may have frightened or saddened you, from sheer
mis-translation, rather dis-translation.
This can
only give the impression to any non-Muslim or Muslim who either
does not have fluency in Arabic or access to individuals with
competency in Classical Qur'anic Arabic that the Qur’an denounces
all Jews and Christians. This is a great untruth. There are a
lot of verses like that.
Most Muslims do not pay
attention to the translation, as most all can read the Arabic (may
not understand) and go on with their lives. The ones who
understand Arabic know the words such as Jews and Christian in the
first chapter do not exist. Take your book to any one and have
them read it. But that 1% of fanatic Muslims who read the
translation and pay attention, developed the reckless mentality of
arrogance. Finally, the silent Majority of Muslims have discovered
where the problem is coming and we hope to remove all copies of
Qur’an that are mistranslated.
In God's wisdom Qur’an is
for all times, (as all other holy books are to the believer) it
unequivocally applies to our times, as it did in their time. I
would like to see more translations as it enhances our range of
understanding of the values, it is an inclusive approach. It frees
us from the bondage of singular interpretations, and it frees us
from divining up Yousuf Ali, Pickthall and all the great
translators. In Islam individuals are not divine, every one is on
par. They and us would stand shoulder to shoulder in prayers. It
builds self esteem within the community knowing that we can
respect all the great scholars but not demean ourselves. Prophet
Muhammad did not leave some one else to interpret the holy book
for us, he left the book to us, he trusted in our collective
wisdom, he trusted in our abilities and after all, individuals are
responsible for their own deeds.
The word Kafir / Infidel would fade away into oblivion in the next
two decades, instead of the current meaning to point non-Muslims.
it would come to mean only those who do not believe in divine
"intelligence" or some power behind creation. It would become
truly inclusive, as it was meant to be everyone between an Atheist
and Zoroastrian. As all of them believe in creation and a creator
(call it intelligence or God) and not randomness.
Here is: Qur'an, At-Taghabun, Surah 64:2-4
It was God who created you; yet some of you refuse to believe,
while others have faith. He is aware of all your actions. He
created the heavens and the earth to manifest the truth. He
fashioned each one of you--and each one of you is beautiful. To
God you will all
return. He knows all that the heavens and the earth contain. He
knows all that you hide and all that you reveal. He knows your
deepest thoughts. -Qur'an, At-Taghabun, Surah 64:2-4
By the way, there are over
50 Islamic websites run by mischievous people. We hope to identify
such websites and list them all on our website.
THERE IS
HOPE:
All religions are meant to bring a social order and make us better
humans, in the pursuit of that goal all religions have done their
best. It is not the religion; it is the individuals who are bad.
Without religion there would have been more chaos. You will always
find an individual behind all the mess, let’s blame them and nail
them not their religion.
