BaKhabar, October 2013, Page-2 [DREAMING WITH EVERYBODY + Relationship of Muslims with others in the society

BaKhabar, Vol 6, Issue 9, September 2013

DREAMING WITH EVERYBODY

- By Shaan Khan, Freshman at Howard University

The sun began to set, slightly changing the color of the horizon and the shadows of the trees. Looking out the window, I saw countless cars pass by with passengers going to or coming from some place different. Some would move north towards New York and lose daylight. Others would chase the sun and extract a few extra minutes of its warmth. Yet others simply moved in one direction or the other but with no purpose.
As I sat on my long bus ride back to Washington D.C., I reflected upon my trip to Reverend Al Sharpton’s “Advancing the Dream: Live from the Apollo,” which was held on the evening of Friday, September 6th. The texts from my friends and family had stopped at this point, but I scrolled through and reminded myself of the excitement of being on live, national television. Before my trip, I was certainly fixated on that fact; representing Howard University with a small group of students so early as a freshman turned some heads and definitely made me popular at George Washington Carver Hall, my residence hall. But somewhere on the way back to my new home at Howard University, I came upon a more lasting reason for my visit to New York.

I realized that my trip was much more important than a few seconds of airtime. This is because ‘civil rights’ does not mean, 'African American Rights'. We do not enjoy civil rights as Muslims, Jews, Christians, or Hindus. We do not enjoy civil rights as Italians, Indians, Africans, or Asians. We enjoy civil rights not separately, but together, as Americans.
I liken the evolution of the Civil Rights movement to the development of penicillin, which was discovered by accident to be a panacea for several maladies most notably Influenza. The movement’s benefits are as varied as the rainbow and as far reaching as the sunshine.
The Civil Rights movement was no accident, but like penicillin, the impact of its discovery is universal. Although the Civil Rights movement was aimed towards improving the lives of African Americans, Dr. Martin Luther King’s revolution gentrified all of American society. Not only did it bolster the African American community and propel one of its members to the position of Secretary of State and ultimately to the White House, but it leveled the playing field directly or indirectly for numerous movements and groups to come; Women’s suffrage, the LGBT group, the Latino block, the minimum wage earners, the farm workers. The colored revolution shattered the glass ceiling and made thousands of holes for every common American and created screaming testimonies of aspirations and ambitions. Now, every immigrant family exhorts its offspring to aspire to be the next Barrack Obama. To paraphrase Cornel West, we are destined to feel the fire of the African American community’s soul so our “intellectual blues” can set others on fire. The bellowing smoke coming out of the chimney of the African American community warms up every American’s house. Even on the world stage, the American Civil Rights movement affected numerous revolutions. The downfall of Apartheid can trace its trajectory in the US Civil Rights movement as can the Arab Spring.

I wondered all day why I was representing Howard University given that I am an Asian American student at an HBCU (historically black colleges and universities), but it turned out to be nothing about my ethnicity and all about the common bonds I share with all my brothers and sisters in this country.

1963 has passed, but the struggle has not. With the culmination of recent events, one could argue that the struggle has only just begun. But hardship is no reason to accept defeat. As the inheritors of this country, we must perceive the acute need, endure the growing pains, and evaluate the solutions. Only then can we become beacons of knowledge and peace and expect our country to be the same on the global spectrum.

The sun will never set for those who set out to make its light their own.

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Shaan Khan
Freshman
Biology major, Chemistry minor
Howard University
Shaan.mobin.khan@gmail.com
630-901-8729
Carver Hall
211 Elm St NW, Washington, DC 20001

Relationship of Muslims with others in the society

- By Shakeel Ashraf

This is a complimentary note on Dr. Asrarul Haque Sb’s article in Bakhabar’s August 2013 issue: Extremism has two ends
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Mohtaram Asrarul Haque Saheb Assalamoalaikum Wa Rahmatullahe Wa Barkatahu.
I hope and pray that things are going well with you by grace of Allah. It was beginning of this month when I got the opportunity to read “conversation by mail on important issue” in BAKHABAR. Since then I have been thinking to write a complementary note to you. Now the month is going to end but I could not find strength in me to do so. Fearing that the urge would get buried under new readings in next issue of BAKHABAR, I have gathered a little bit of courage to present my scattered thought. And the source of my courage lies in one of your emails to me with a wonderful disclosure – “I never take anything in negative way”.
MashaAllah, you have served appropriate answers to undue questions which were answered unwisely rather wrongly by someone else or falsely attributed to him. The question and its alleged answer, probably, reflects the psychosis of a resentful and deprived community of ours. Your response supported by Quranic verses and prophetic sayings is a laudable work on one facet of multifaceted model of Islam. This work deserves its due place with regard to the original audience. However its value diminishes when presented to a different set of audience. Here I am not referring to the shameful view of ‘killing infidels’, I am talking about ‘the love for peace’. As a general principle excessive focus on any one feature may cause ignorance on other aspects. Sometime the ignored aspects may be so vital that the real comprehensive approach would miss.

For basic qualities of mankind such as truthfulness, honesty, respect of human life etc, Allah has kept a sense in every individual irrespective of his religious belief. “….. and by the human self and Him Who balanced it, then inspired it with its wickedness and its piety….. Quran 91:7-8”. One need not to study a religious scripture to identify these qualities. Even an atheist is aware of them. Lack of such awareness is nothing but a shameful perversion of humanity. Islam doesn’t deserve to be put on sale with a tag of peace. Islam is cognition and recognition of the sovereignty of Allah in human life. “I have not created the jinn and the men except for this that they should worship Me. [Quran 51:56]

Relationship of Muslims with others in the society is an important subject and like many other issues this too is victim of adverse conditions. The adverse condition is the product of insincerity of Muslims towards core values of Islam and the major share of insincerity must go to ‘ululalbab’, the so called intellectual class.

When someone answers a question on any social issue the response depends not only on the question but on the situation of the responder – whether he enjoys the freedom to speak his true conscience or not. And for a believer the freedom is acquired by true faith in Allah the almighty who is the source of all power. A true believer feels free even when he is alone in the sea of hostility. Serving the quotations from Divine scripture to support one’s opinion is different from studying the scripture for guidance and adopting it in practice for the ultimate success.

The ideology of peaceful coexistence is liked and promoted by a vast number of people from all communities including ours. “Man is either your brother in religion or your brother in humanity” is quoted by many as saying of Ali RaziAllaho Anho. Citing false interpretation of “for you is your religion and for me is mine” is quite common.

Extremism has two ends whereas moderation is endless. I don’t know why our intellectual brethren are unable to realize the other end of extremism - unconditional peace. This is so because we don’t want to sacrifice our beloved peace for an unseen eternal peace waiting ahead.

“A friend in need is a friend indeed” fits well when I think of Rajesh who always stands by me for all kind of help I need. But I am aware that the friendship rests on the silent misuse of the Quranic verse “for you is your religion and for me is mine”. I don’t dare to convey his CREATOR’S message, “you will burn in hellfire if you don’t embrace Islam” to him. I had introduced Rajesh to you when I visited you in Gurgaon last time.

Let us recall, when prophet (SAW) climbed on Safa Mountain speaking out “ya sabaha” calling people of Mekka, first he (SAW) asked, “do you believe in my truthfulness”, they unanimously said, yes, you are ‘alsadiq, alameen’. When he (SAW) called on them to Allah, they cursed him (SAW) and turned away. Calling to Allah was the only reason which destroyed the peace between messenger of Allah and the audience. Prior to the assignment of prophet-hood he (SAW) had a very peaceful life with the people in his (SAW) society.

Before proceeding further I would disclose my confession that I am not the right soul to state all this which is nothing more than a lip service from me. Having said that here is summary of my understanding on desired relationship of Muslims with others in the society.
1.    Duty of a Muslim as an individual towards a non-Muslim is to invite him to Islam. Before speaking anything his (Muslim’s) clean and clear character should make him a real model of silent preacher.
2.    A Muslim society should be under a most deserving (in righteousness and wisdom) leadership.
3.    A society where Muslims are in good number and strength should be governed by Islam. In principle, believers are right and disbelievers are wrong. It is duty of Muslims to strive so that right prevails over wrong. Right and wrong shall always coexist but if the coexistence is peaceful which is desired by peace loving majority today then there is something wrong from a true Islamic perspective. There has to be a perpetual struggle between right and wrong. There can’t be peaceful coexistence. Loss of peace is rewardable if it is for the cause of Allah.
"…It may happen that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and it may be that you love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows, while you know not." Qur'an [Surah Baqara 2:216]. There is no compulsion on any individual to adopt Islam as his religion but un-Islamic system can’t be allowed to grow in society governed by Islam.
4.    The desired Islamic system of governance is through khilafat. Muslims of the entire world are one nation and should be under one leadership.
5.    Quran says, “O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you”. According to this verse59 of surah Nisa, a Muslim’s unconditional allegiance is to Allah and His messenger. In addition to that he has to obey the rightful instructions of his ‘ulul-amr’ from among his community of Islam. Today Muslim world is divided in nationalities be they in majority or minority. Indeed, Muslims who live as a minority constitute about a quarter of the total number of Muslims. And there is no DarulIslam on the earth today where Muslims can lead a peaceful life. During my study I remember once I read the juristic view that Muslims are not supposed to have permanent settlement in Darulkufr. They can visit there on rightful mission like dawah, diplomacy, trade etc.

The situation is so complex that to a common man, there appears to be no feasible way to comply with Islam in totality except that he can limit himself to namaz, roza, haj, zakat, sadqat etc. I do possess urge to elaborate more here but at the moment I would defer the rest till next.

I am well aware that all what I have written above is nothing but a perfect example of the proverb, “Chhota Munh Badi Baat”. That’s the reason that I can’t dare to circulate this message in a group.

With profound regards

Shakeel Ashraf