A Reasoned and Articulate View of Islam

Q-News ^ | Hamza Yusuf

[meia]

This article first appeared in Q-News, the Muslim magazine,
www.q-news.com.

On September 11th our lives changed forever. We witnessed an act of aggression that in many ways does not have a parallel in past or present times. There are several elements that make this act unique, from the use of civilian planes as weapons of mass destruction to the attack on the most widely recognised skyscrapers in the world. Nor have we ever witnessed the terrible indictment of Islam as having a part to play in such a heinous crime, writes Hamza Yusuf.

Muslims were seen rejoicing in some parts of the world in a display of what can only be called shamaatatul 'aadai', which is rejoicing at the calamities of ones’ enemies. This is something explicitly prohibited in Islam and was never practiced by the Prophet of Mercy, upon him be prayers and peace. We have seen images since of American flags burning to further arouse the wrath of a nation filled with grief, confusion and anger. Again, Islam prohibits the burning of flags according to the explicit verse, “Do not curse [the idols] of those who call on other than Allah, thus causing them to curse Allah out of animosity [toward you] and without knowledge.” This verse prohibits even the cursing of false gods because of the consequences.  We have also seen image after image of Muslims with beards and turbans, who by all outward means look religious and pious - but are they really?

Unfortunately, the West does not know what every Muslim scholar knows; that the worst enemies of Islam are from within. The worst of these are the khawaarij who delude others by the deeply dyed religious exterior that they project. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said about them, “When you see them pray you will consider your own prayers insignificant. They recite the Quran but it does not exceed the limits of their throat.”  In other words, they don’t understand the true meanings. The outward religious appearance and character of the khawaarij deluded thousands in the past, and continues to delude people today. The Muslims should be aware that despite the khawaarij adherence to certain aspects of Islam, they are extremists of the worst type. 

Our Prophet said, peace be upon him, “Beware of extremism in your religion.”  Islam is the middle way between excess and neglect. Zealots are a plague upon religion. These extremists come in two types. The first is a reactionary extremist who falls far right of a centre-point. Reactionary extremists do not want any pluralism; they view the world in melodramatic, black and white, good and evil terms. They are good and anyone who opposes them is evil. From among the Muslims these are people who ‘excommunicate’ any Muslim who fails to share their interpretations of the Quran. They use takfir and character assassination as a tool for marginalising any criticism directed at them. They are used often by the Western media in order to scare simple people and cause them to believe that Muslims are insane. Unfortunately, our communities provide them with much fuel to fire their incendiary flames. 

The second group are radical extremists, who while they are almost identical with the former group, differ in that they will use violence to further their cause. They are actually worse than the first. They believe like every nefarious secret society before them that ‘the end justifies the means.’ They see any act as acceptable if it will further their ‘cause.’ This is blatantly anti-Islamic for a number of reasons.

Firstly, Islam’s means must reflect its noble ends. Any means that does not embody the core truths and ethics of Islam is not from Islam and thus denounced as aberration. Secondly, Islam is not a secret society of conspirators who no one knows what they are planning. Islam declares openly its aims and objectives and these are recognised by good people everywhere as pure and congruent with their own wisdom and traditions. In the case of many of these extremists even the non-Muslims recognise that no religion of any weight could sanction the taking of innocent lives. The Quran says that the Torah and the Gospel have guidance and light and that the Quran came to fulfil these prior dispensations. Good Christians and Jews who believe in God and live ethically upright lives have no frame of reference for such acts, so how could these acts be from Islam, which confirms what has come before it? 

Thirdly, they are invariably people who have never taken a true spiritual path to God and nor have they studied the humanities. I can almost guarantee that you will not find a scholar of poetry among the whole vile lot of these people. They have no true knowledge of Arabian culture, which is centred in the idea of futuwwa; a word akin to the western word chivalry. The terrorists posing as journalists who killed Ahmad Shah Masuud were cowards of the worst type. Killing themselves was not bravery but stupidity, but killing one’s enemy in such a way is the worst form of treachery and the Arabs have many poems denouncing such type of people. 

Our real situation is this: we Muslims have lost theologically sound understanding of our teaching. Islam has been hijacked by a discourse of anger and the rhetoric of rage. We have allowed for too long our mimbars to become bully pulpits in which people with often recognisable psychopathology use anger - a very powerful emotion - to rile Muslims up, only to leave them feeling bitter and spiteful towards people who in the most part are completely unaware of the conditions in the Muslim world, or the oppressive assaults of some Western countries on Muslim peoples. We have lost our bearings because we have lost our theology. We have almost no theologians in the entire Muslim world. The study of kalaam, once the hallmark of our intellectual tradition, has been reduced to memorizing 144 lines of al-Jawhara and a good commentary to study it, at best.

The reality is we are an Umma that no longer realises that Allah is the power behind all power; that it is Allah who subjugates one people to another; that He gives dominion to whom He pleases and He takes it away from whom He pleases. Our understanding of tawhid has fallen into such disarray that we can no longer introspect when afflictions befall us and then wonder in amazement at why the Americans seem incapable of introspection. Indeed, I personally attended a memorial service in San Francisco with over 30,000 people and the Reverend Amos Brown said in no uncertain terms that America must ask herself what she has done either wittingly or unwittingly to incur the wrath and hate of people around the world. Muslims on the other hand, generally prefer to attack the West as the sole reason for their problems when the truth is we are bankrupt as a religious community and our spiritual bankruptcy has led to our inability to even deliver the message of Islam to Westerners in a time when they were giving us platforms to do so. 

It is ironic that the Western media while producing many vile programs on Islam has also produced and aired material of the highest quality with a high level of accuracy only to be vilified by Muslims because it was not good enough. Where is our media?  Where are our spokespeople?  Where are our scholars? Where are our literary figures?  The truth is we don’t have any - and so instead of looking inward and asking painful questions such as why we don’t have such things and such people, we take the simple way out by attacking people whom Allah tells us will do mean things, say bad things and plot against us. And always when we are warned we are told to be patient, to work for the good, to trust in Allah, to return to Allah, to implement our deen.

Conspiracy or not, we are to blame for the terrible backlash against Muslims. The simple reason is that when a crazy Christian does something terrible, everyone in the West knows it is the actions of a mad man because they have some knowledge of the core beliefs and ethics of Christianity. When a mad Muslim does something evil or foolish they assume it is from the religion of Islam, not because they hate us but because they have never been told by a Muslim what the teachings of Islam are all about.

[MarMema]

Adlouni, 38, has not been charged, but he is one of at least three Portland-area men the FBI has focused on in its investigation of suspected terror links to Oregon and the Northwest. He runs an online Muslim business directory in Southwest Portland.

Scroll back to post number 73 for all of this.

Help, friend. They are infltrating the Northwest and I think they are very successful.

[MarMema]

They didn't lie and kill in the name of Christianity

Not only that but I bet there were not sadistic videos sold at their churches and used to recruit new members.

[MarMema]

if i should happen to be close enough to witness an attempted terrorist attack on my nation, i will do my best to eradicate the source of same, by whatever means come to hand

And I right beside you, though I will need my trusty shotgun.
Hopefully, with enough of us around, it will be more like the plane where the one guy was overwhelmed and then sedated by the doctor on-board. LOL. Todd Beamer lives on in spirit.

[cake_crumb]

LOL....@ this article, by Shaykhe Abdal-Hakim Murad, ALSO found in "Q-News"

Nice, strong, impressive title: Recapturing Islam From the Terrorists.

Sounds like it's be all about how moderate Muslims must make a stand and police their own, or face annihilation from within.

Unfortunately, he opens with a whining paragraph about suicide bombings and mosques, and how the president's condemnation of the backlash against Muslims from September 11 is "pathetic" and accuses President Bush of bring "unable to rise above clichés".

"As New York turns its gap-toothed face to the sky, wondering if the worst is yet to come, In comparison with the pathetic near-silence that hovered around mosques and major organisations during the Rushdie and Gulf War debacles, the communities now seem alert to their cultural situation and its potential precariousness. Many of the condemnations have been more impressive than those of the American President, who seems unable to rise above clichés"

Not even a token comdemnation of 9/11 in the opening paragraph of an article ABOUT 9/11. Interesting. The whole PARAGRAPH is a cliché. It's about the Muslim cult of victimhood.

He goes on with (Select quotes)

1:) "It is not at all clear that this escalation will be terminated by further anti-terrorist legislation, further billions for the FBI, or retina scans at Terminal Three."

We didn't use legislation (despite the "it's an illegal war" whiners, retinal scans OR the FBI to utterly destroy the Taliban. WE CARPET BOMBED THE SOBs.

2:) "...the attacks may be of more historical significance as an announcement to the militant subculture that a Star-Wars superpower is utterly vulnerable to a handful of lightly-armed young men. There could well be more and worse to come."

If another attack comes, the next response will be a nuke. What part of "total annihilation" (--VP Dick Cheny, Pres Bush) does the shayke not understand? Are those two words too big?

"Why is there so much hatred of the United States, and so much yearning to poke it in the eye?"

We gave your countries way to much aid money and oil money, and you can't stand it.

I've had enough of whiny, Cult of Victimhood propaganda. Next time, try a more RELIABLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION.

[cake_crumb]

I don't care if they live their lives ruled by the qu Ran. I only care about whether or not they believe in murder, and whether or not they believe in freedon of self governance and peace. That is an individual thing, which could become a cultural thing, and NOT a religious thing.

[Teacher317]

The reality is we are an Umma that no longer realises that Allah is the power behind all power; that it is Allah who subjugates one people to another; that He gives dominion to whom He pleases and He takes it away from whom He pleases.

According to this "Reasoned and Articulate View of Islam", Allah promotes slavery.

... Reverend Amos Brown said in no uncertain terms that America must ask herself what she has done either wittingly or unwittingly to incur the wrath and hate of people around the world. Muslims on the other hand, generally prefer to attack the West as the sole reason for their problems when the truth is we are bankrupt as a religious community and our spiritual bankruptcy has led to our inability to even deliver the message of Islam to Westerners in a time when they were giving us platforms to do so.

Very telling passage.

It is ironic that the Western media while producing many vile programs on Islam

Name two.

has also produced and aired material of the highest quality with a high level of accuracy only to be vilified by Muslims because it was not good enough. Where is our media? Where are our spokespeople? Where are our literary figures? The truth is we don’t have any -

Is that why WE have to understand Islam, and Islam is unable policing its own? I don't think this is an acceptable excuse at all.

[crazykatz]

"So are you saying that this means all Muslims are just like this?"

"might be a good idea if the ones that aren't 'like this' wear a flag hat or somethin', least for the next year or two."

THAT WAS HILLARIOUS!!!

THAT MEIA NEEDS TO MOVE ON OUTTA HERE...HE IS IN OVER HIS TURBAN!!!

[kimosabe31]

meia...are you a muslim??

[meia]

meia...are you a muslim??

No.

[lavaroise]

Conspiracy or not, we are to blame for the terrible backlash against Muslims.

With stereotypes like these, who needs muslims indeed! LOL!

[MarMema]

Even the opener to *this* post is about the uniqueness of the attack on 9-11, because of the use of commercial airlines and the WTC being so well-known. Not a word about the people who died horrific deaths.

[Fighter@heart]

O.K. maybe there is a "pattern" here! Could it be coincidence!? I don't care, "I had a dream!" A large mushroom cloud rising up over mecca during the height of the pilgramige. Now thats a religion of piece(s)!!!

[crazykatz]

Have you ever noticed how these muslims always MAKE EXCUSES for their crimes....and their MEMBERS WHO COMMIT CRIMES!!

It is not so unique when you consider how they feel, according to the quer-ran, it is OK to kill, rob, rape, pillage, and commit any number of crimes AGAINST ANY NON-MUSLIMS!!!

Oh, maybe meia is a muslim .....or a paid propagandist.....or a simple-minded person considering conversion to the policital system called islam....or a very MISINFORMED, naive apologist!!

[Bobby777]

there are very few exceptions ... but what a list ..

Iran

Iraq

Libya

Sudan

Algeria

Burkina Faso

Togo

Yemen

"Palestine"

Syria

Syrian-occupied Lebanon (pity the Lebanese Christians)

Algeria

Saudi Arabia

Afghanistan

Indonesia

Uganda

the PLO, PFLP, Hamas, Hizbollah, Black September, Al-Qaeda, Al-Aska Brigade ... etc. etc. etc.

yeah, Islam is a religion of peace ... [/sarcasm]

Achille Lauro hijacking, World Trade Center, Pentagon attack, USS Cole attack, Khobar Towers attack, Disco bombing in Germany, hundreds of attacks on Israelis, the attack at the Rome airport, the 1993 World Trade Center attack, the planned operation against the Space Needle in Seattle in 1999, etc etc etc ...

the reason they have so many apologists is because they have so many criminals involved in criminal activity around the world ...

[tutstar]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/657944/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/641897/posts

[lavaroise]

Indeed, those who cause hatred of muslims in America were perhaps the divide to conquer strategy of Bin Laden. But that is not on their radar screen. They'd rather blame the confused American than the terrorist - you know if we are all such inferior rednecks after all why should we be the ones responsible indeed?

[MarMema]

I began posting about the fair in number 38 and added more posts later on.