When I tell people about the activism work I do, many people wonder if I'm a Muslim, and when I tell them I'm not, they're either confused or intrigued. Sometimes both. They wonder what it is that makes me want to be an advocate for Muslims even though I don't practice Islam. My work seeks to educate Americans about Islam and I'm affiliated with several American Muslim organizations. My activism involves film-based dialogues, training, speaking, blogging and managing a number of national programs that seek to shatter prejudices and myths about Muslims and Islam, and restore a greater sense of civility in the otherwise controversial and polarized topic of Islam in America.
This work is immensely satisfying on a personal level as I encounter people all the time that want to learn, to open their mind and to engage on this issue. When I'm able to share an insight, or a resource to help them see things in a different way, or in a different perspective, I feel grateful for being called into this line of work.
While I wouldn't define my work as "Muslim activism," it is often interpreted by Muslims that I work with along these lines. The umbrella of Muslim activism is broad. Some see it as education, others see it as service, or social justice, and many see Muslim activism as a form of da'wah (a calling to Islam).
Da'wah is one of those concepts that is so broad that its meaning is highly subjective for most Muslims. It's not a part of the five pillars, and is defined, practiced and understood in any infinite number of ways. Even though da'wah is most commonly translated as making an invitation to Islam, most Muslims that I know see da'wah simply as the example that a Muslim should set in public, at the workplace, and in the larger society. Da'wah is, in short, being the best Muslim that you can be for others. It is well established that Muslims do not see any compulsion in religion, and most Muslims do not see or enact da'wah as proselytizing at all times.
It's less well known that in the first 300 years of Islam, there were no forced conversions. Muslims have always been very certain not to make their conversionary activity overt or forced. This is especially true for the Sahaba, the close companions of the Prophet Muhammad. Despite this history of a tolerant and pluralist relation with people of the book (Jews and Christians) and even jahiliyya Arabs (pre-Islamic tribes and polytheists), many Muslims in today's world have developed a very narrow conception of da'wah, and many Islamist movements have sought to focus da'wah on overt proselytizing.
The United States is a country founded on religious freedom, and out-and-out proselytizing happens on a daily basis. We've all experienced the Mormon missionary, or the Seventh-day Adventist at the front door handing out their pamphlets. Da'wah, as a calling of people to Islam is a vital part of any mosque in America, and it is rarely, if ever, done in these sorts of overt manners. Most da'wah in American mosques consists of outreach projects that include interfaith dialogue and relations, community service and other social service initiatives. The vast majority of American Muslim communities do not adopt any supremacist ideology that supports non-relations with kufr (those that reject Islam, or nonbelievers).
On the contrary, the challenge of defining or expanding ones sense of da'wah is more ambiguous than this, and it goes beyond what any theological modifications might do. What is at the heart of any effort to overtly convert someone to your religion is a desire to gain a sense of recognition from the other. The recognition goes to satisfy and fill over a perceived sense of inadequacy of one's own identity. Many Muslims in America today face a sense of inadequacy from the larger culture, a phenomenon that goes along with the struggle of being an "out-group" in America.
If the other converts to Islam, it not only goes to fill over this lack, it also validates something about the person's identity deep down and reaffirms a wounded self. American Muslims under this mindset face a sort of double consciousness, what W.E.B. Du Bois referred to as a form of consciousness that embodies absolute self-certainty and no certainty simultaneously. Interestingly, Du Bois used the metaphor of the veil when describing the manifestations of double consciousness. For Du Bois, and the entire generation of blacks of his time, "life behind the veil" led to a feeling that, "God had made him an outcast and a stranger in his own house." Many American Muslims work through identity challenges that come with inhabiting a hybrid identity, which is made acute because it is in the context of the persisting myth that any coexistence between "Muslim" and "American" identities are somehow impossible, and that the two identities remain dissonant, or difficult to fit together at best.
In the afterward to the "Souls of Black Folk," Du Bois argues that we must lift the veil of double consciousness by imagining a new America, where the black can come to see themselves as a "better and truer self" and white Americans might one day see blacks as if they were looking into a mirror. This inability to actually see the other in their full humanity was the root of the cause of double consciousness for Du Bois. For Du Bois, to change this system, what he called the color line, we must assimilate the differences to render the particular identities respectable to one another. Is this not what our relations should be right now between Muslims and the larger society?
When we work on activism that seeks to repair the image of Islam for the betterment of the world, we must broaden the terms of inclusion. We must also be very careful to separate any overt or covert attempts to proselytize and leave that at the door. To truly cultivate better understanding between Muslims and others in America today, we have to be exceedingly humble and very careful. Noble efforts backfire quite frequently. Interjecting into this fragile process of learning a proselytizing form of activism is not only counter productive, it is offensive and will do more harm than good. There are any number of ways to develop a validation for one's identity, and as someone who is not a Muslim, but works for the cause of improving Islam's image and educating people about Islam, I can assure you that I am proof of this.
One of the unintended results of my activism is that it has made me feel more rooted and adjusted to my own religion of Christianity. Perhaps it has something to do with being around my Muslim friends and colleagues who are rooted in tradition and practice and who bring a spiritual routine that has made me long for bringing back this sense of religiosity to my own life?
Whatever it is, working with Muslims has grounded me more in my own faith tradition. This alone, I would hope, is proof that we can indeed expand our understanding both of what "Muslim activism" is and perhaps even what da'wah is.
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Brad Hirschfield: My Neighbor's Faith: The Rabbi And The Christian Cab Driver
"With the blessings of Allah (swt) Hizb ut-Tahrir America will inshaAllah be hosting a Khilafah Conference, entitled ‘Revolution: Liberation by Revelation - Muslims Marching Toward Victory’ on Sunday, June 17th 2012. Below are details of the event. [...]
Venue:
The Meadows Club
2950 W. Golf Rd.
Rolling Meadows, IL 60008
http://hizb-america.org/khilafah-conference-2012
How many American Muslims will attend?
"Iyad Hilal began HTA activities in California, in the early 1990s.[3] Despite HTA presence in the country for over two decades, the group’s membership size is unknown,[4] however, it is believed that HTA membership has reached several thousand throughout the U.S. and is growing."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizb_ut-tahrir_America
This:
"Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabic: Øزب التØرير‎ Ḥizb at-TaḥrÄ«r; English: Party of Liberation) is an international Sunni[1][2][3] pan-Islamic political organisation. They are commonly associated with the goal of all Muslim countries unifying as an Islamic state or caliphate ruled by Islamic law and with a caliph head of state elected by Muslims.[4]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizb_ut-Tahrir
“You must realize that the United States is an enemy state that works round the clock to subvert the interests of the Islamic Ummah. America is an enemy to the Muslims whether you are in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan or Bangladesh.
America is making plans against you as Muslims whether you are part of a political party or not…So raise your voice against the American enemy and the government’s subservience to her. Otherwise your silence only gives strength to America enabling her to execute her plans. […]
You must resist America before it is too late. Before she consolidates her foothold in the country like she has done in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. And stand with Hizb ut Tahrir and give your support to the party in re-establishing the Khilafah which will rule by the Qur’an and Sunnah, build a strong military and eliminate US and Britain-India’s control over the Muslim Ummah.[17]
http://www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org/EN/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizb_ut-tahrir_America#cite_ref-16
Then follows the clear instruction that as a Muslim you should dissociate yourself completely from the practices of unbelievers and refuse to be influenced by them, both in worldly and religious matters. This is the finest anchor of belief which make material the meaning of "AL-WALA" and "AL-BARA". To love what Allah loves and hate what Allah hates?
The problem we face Allah hates all non believers who he intends to torture and burn in hell, so that is the light the non Muslim are seen by the faithful, and I believe the source of much conflict now and to come?
If i have this wrong please advise.
May Allah bless all the peacemakers and bring peace to all creation.
1) Bukhari (53:392) - "While we were in the Mosque, the Prophet came out and said, "Let us go to the Jews" We went out till we reached Bait-ul-Midras. He said to them, "If you embrace Islam, you will be safe. You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I want to expel you from this land. So, if anyone amongst you owns some property, he is permitted to sell it, otherwise you should know that the Earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle."
2) Bukhari (60:80) - "The Verse:--'You (true Muslims) are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind.' means, the best of peoples for the people, as you bring them with chains on their necks till they embrace Islam."
3) Ibn Kathir (Commenting on Quran 2:256, which says "let there be no compulsion in religion") - "Therefore all people of the world should be called to Islam. If anyone of them refuses to do so, or refuses to pay the jizya, they should be fought till they are killed."
4) Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 959 - Then the apostle sent Khalid bin Walid… to the Banu al-Harith and ordered him to invite them to Islam three days before he attacked them. If they accepted then he was to accept it from them, and if they declined he was to fight them.
All based on highest of authority's of islam
So being compelled to pay jizya and showing oneself to be subdued is not a form of coercion? What purpose, then, is served by the graphic descriptions of God's tortures of disbelievers? Surely not coercion?
Matthew 13:24.
And you didn't answer my question.
Malik said, “The past sunna is that there is no jizya due from women or children of People of the Book, and that jizya is only taken from men who have reached puberty. The people of dhimma and the Magians do not have to pay any zakat on their palms or their vines or their crops or their livestock. This is because zakat is imposed on the Muslims to purify them and to be given back to their poor, whereas jizya is imposed on the People of the Book to humble them. As long as they are in the country they have agreed to live in, they do not have to pay anything on their property except the jizya. If, however, they trade in Muslim countries, coming and going in them, a tenth is taken from what they invest in such trade. This is because jizya is only imposed on them according to conditions which they have agreed on, namely that they will remain in their own countries, and that war will be waged for them on any enemy of theirs…
peace be with you and all creation...
The real question is why anyone should be treated differently. Can it be just to treat any one group better or worse than another? Such divisions only create arrogance in the privileged and hatred in the subdued.
don't try the translation/context/culture/"but look at the bible!" nonsense. this is islam. there is no concept of human rights in islam. human rights is a modern concept born out of the enlightenment, and islam is a theocratic political ideology based 7th century arab culture. the two are in direct opposition, they are incompatible.
I hope people will click on the links you provided. The dawah of the liberal Muslim community is soft spoken and respectful. People often don't realize we're here and that we are living proof that Islam is indeed compatible with western values, democracy and human rights.
Peace be with you and with all creation.
And that is the Gospel truth. So there!
JEF
JEF
But some care is needed - abolishing interest or prohibiting alcohol are two ideas that may well be good ideas but are too controversial to espouse. Other Islamic ideas that may seem correct to a Muslim but are probably bad ideas (yes - there a few in Islam) should be soft-pedalled. I have in mind the Islamic rules of inheritance.
But the bottom line is emphasize the positive.
Emphasizing the positive while downplaying the negative is a particularly insidious form of deception. If you want to sell the whole package, it is disingenuous not to put the whole package on the table.
If Muslims want to be accepted, they might consider actually abandoning some of the negative aspects of Islam - such as its political ambitions, the inequality of women, disbelievers and homosexuals, its barbaric punishments etc. If the 7th century norms contained in the Quran could be left in the 7th century, Islam would lose some of its threatening character.
Unfortunately, many Muslims insist on the complete 7th century package. That will not go over well in the west - and rightly so.