Has anyone ever thought about what differentiates us from animals? Like really thought about it? They eat, we eat. They sleep, we sleep. They have relationships, so do we. Is it that we think? That we have complex societies? But so do they. So what makes us different? We worship Allah but so do they (better than us).

What makes us different is our choices. We have the choice of going against our Nafs (self). Instead of following our lower instincts, emotions and base needs, we can choose not to follow them. We can rise above and try to emulate more ‘divine’ qualities. This is what makes us superior to other creatures.

When someone hurts us or does wrong to us, our first instinct is to hate or for revenge. But to rise above it, turn against those instincts and choose to forgive or show mercy truly takes struggle and exertion. It takes our true humanity coming through. Can you see a lion standing over a baby gazelle saying, “Awww poor thing I guess I won’t eat it!”? Never happens. But humans, what makes us different is our ability to go against ourselves and show this compassion and mercy.

A Hadith says “Show mercy so that you may be shown mercy, forgive and Allah will forgive you.” The Quran asks us “Do you not love that Allah should forgive you?” [Quran 24:22]

The reason I say all this is that I’ve witnessed people not showing compassion and mercy in certain circumstances. And Yes they may have the right NOT to, having gone through a great injustice, but I can’t describe how absolutely cold and ugly it is. It is animalistic and base. It is not human. Not being able to show mercy just puts us back on par with animals.

And when is the time to show mercy? When things are all great and we are rich and we deign to drop a penny in a bum’s cup on our way into Macy’s? No, it’s in those greatest times and trials where we are tested the most. When we don’t WANT to forgive. When our rights have been trampled upon. When we have been hurt the most. When our instinct is to hurt and hate back and punish. We stand over the gazelle with the knife in our hand, hatred in our eyes, but then we stop. We breathe, we look away, we drop the knife and walk away. We even force ourselves to make sure the gazelle is ok. We realize that it is we who were wrong. That we are human beings created in the best of moulds. That we must strive towards compassion and mercy if we are to expect any ourselves.

It is hard, yes. So is giving Zakat in hard times, so is fasting when we’re hungry. What was all that about? Allah trying to teach us to give up our earthly desires and strive for something better. To train us to be above our Nafs, to become more than animals, to become the best of creation.

I leave you to think about this the next time such a circumstances comes your way when you really don’t want to forgive or show mercy.

"Show Mercy So That You May Be Shown Mercy"

We even had the luxury of making a few jokes at Fox News’s expense. Later the next evening my Mom came home and was like “You know what they’re saying! It was a Pakistani-Muslim guy!”. I was like “NUH-UH! I just checked CNN and they still don’t know who did it. How do you know?”  “That’s what they’re saying at the Pakistani store”, she nodded sagely, “Yes and I bought some mangos, $1 each so expensive!” What the heck… I thought, and not about the mangos. Later the next day is when the story broke.  Aunties at the local Paki-Mart: 1  CNN: 0

I think the major feeling I and most Muslims have right now is ANGER. Just plain anger. How could this idiot go and actually try to do something like this.  Go against ALL the teachings of Islam and make life worse for Muslims everywhere. It just doesn’t make sense to me in this day and age of CSI, all-seeing CCTV, GPS tracking on everything and government access to everything, that anyone thinks they can pull off the perfect crime, especially a crime of this magnitude with this much man-power and technology on hand to track it. What a complete idiot.

And what did he gain?? Ruined his life, his wife’s life, his two kids, his extended family. Pakistan again under questions. Muslims in the US again under question. Damaged the name of Islam. Tried to kill innocent people walking around Times Square??!!! For what?!! What an idiot. Honestly I would like to punch him in the face and I’m not even kidding. And I’m a very petite non-violent person but I’d like to, even for just his wife and children.

Ugh.

So now the Islamophobes are out in force once again. Writing their anti-Islam blog tirades with glee, racist Republicans are shaking their fists over more racial profiling and changing immigration laws, the usual ex-Muslims are probably typing(howling) into the night trying to get their latest new coffee table hate-Islam book out to their publishers.

And of course there are the feature news stories with the neighbors coming out as usual to say he “was a quiet guy” but “they always had a funny feeling about him” and that he used to “jog at night wearing all black” and that he once said “he didn’t like Bush or his foreign policy.”  AND, AND most suspicious of all, they once had a “tag sale selling their stuff”. Very ominous indeed. And then there are the pictures. The main picture spread all over the media of him is actually him cropped out of a picture holding his baby. Obviously not good media to show a picture of a man holding a newborn baby with headlines screaming terrorist. Then there are pictures of him with his snazzy bluetooth driving, with a camera and his arms around his wife in front a famous NYC tourist landmark. Pictures of the 300k house he took a mortgage out on and lost, interior and exterior. (One articled labeled the earthtone decorating scheme “unfortunate”.)

And they say he confessed everything and “cooperated”. AFTER 8 hours of interrogation, they THEN read him his rights and he cooperated some more and admitted to everything. Hmm.

I just don’t get it. He may have lost his house with the mortgage (which he shouldn’t have had in the first place as a Muslim. This is why mortgages are Haram because you are buying on complete speculative credit which can easily backfire on you and if it doesn’t you still end up paying through the nose) and now he was bankrupt. But come on why throw your whole life away? “He did not seem radicalized or particularly religious”, they said. No one in the American Muslim community has ever heard of him. He had no ties to even local Mosques. Ok.

He had an MBA! I can’t understand it. America seems stumped too, there’s headlines like “From fatherly family man to Taliban bomber”.  But then the media comes to their senses and realizes he was MUSLIM and that should be enough. So he must have been an Al-Qaida agent or Taliban. Nope no ties there either. Taliban said they don’t know him but give him a pat on the head. Huh?!  He must hate our freedoms… even though… he lived all of them… big house, 2 kids, wife, job in the city…wait… still kinda confused.

The latest is that his wife graduated from a college in Colorado. This is breaking news because didn’t some other wack terrorist like live somewhere in Denver once too? There must be a connection! All these Mozlims must be in on it together! Tune in to Fox-News………

Anyways, just another sad sad day being an American Muslim.

Read my related “Dear ‘Muslim’ terrorist” post.

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Ruined Lives…

I think I’ll cry if I look at that baby one more time.

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Tour of Inside the House by CNN

Pictures from media outlets, myspace or Orkut (where ppl are posting horrible things on her profile). Why don’t they just delete her profile there?

Many Muslims in the world consistently blame the “West” for all their problems. No doubt, many of the problems in the Muslim world stem from decisions made in the West. i.e… the arbitrary creation of Israel, the blind unconditional support of Israel in its occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people, sanctions as political punishment regardless of innocent victims, aid as political reward regardless of ethics, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent Muslims throughout the world, the absolute hypocrisy of foreign policy and at times domestic policy… I mean this list is just endless

BUT sometimes we forget that the Muslim world is just as much to blame for the condition of Muslims all over the world as anyone else, if not more so. Unless we fix our own problems we will never be able to step forward and try to change our condition. Leaving these problems out there is also our weakness and they enable others to take advantage of and in the end, oppress us.

So, having lived in the Muslim world for a period of time and a lifetime in the West, these are some things that I see as the major problems or hurdles we need to change in the Muslim world first, before we blame others. I think we really need to look at ourselves objectively and realize the wrongs that go on among us, just as much as we like to analyze ‘the other’.

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#1. Doing the world’s dirty work - Sending innocent people to Muslim countries TO GET TORTURED. Why should the world care that Muslims are being tortured in Guantanamo and Bagram when Muslim countries practice torture as a regular interrogation method? When America sends innocent Muslims TO Muslim countries to be tortured! It’s really quite disgusting. Torture is completely antithetical to the principles of Islam. There are just no words. (And still we like to blame the West for everything.)

#2. Racial inequalities - Let’s talk about the status of workers in Muslim countries, such as maids in Saudi or construction workers in the Emirates. These workers are abused freely, by individuals and by society. Underpaid, overworked, they live in hovels, are paid a pittance, have no rights or recourse if abused. They are never allowed to be citizens, they don’t have the same rights as their boss or the citizen down the street. They can’t even send their kids to the same school or go to the same hospital. I mean call America the devil all you want but at least they theoretically have some type of equality and rights for people who live and work in their country. We read stories after stories of abuse and first hand accounts, with very little reform or accountability. Yes, I know these people are poor and need to go to Muslim countries to work. But if the oppressed accept their oppression due to circumstance and we take advantage of it, what does that make us? (And ours is a Deen that always was the first to defend and help the oppressed and emphasized the equality of all peoples.)

#3. Corruption/Bribes - Corruption in Muslim countries is so rife. Why is a Muslim country always #1 or #2 on the list of most corrupt countries, I always have to ask? Corruption is so common that regular bribe amounts are listed in tourist guides. Want to get telephone services? Want to get out of an airport? Want to do anything? This isn’t like a tax or a tip, this is plain corruption. Want to cover up a crime? Want to commit a crime? It seems like Islam has become only form to people. Pray, fast, maybe go to Hajj and that’s it. But what about your character, your morals, your ethics. Cheating other people. Rampant nepotism. Covering up of inequalities and wrongful actions?

#4. Bureaucracy - This is tied to the one before. Have you ever tried to go to a Muslim country and get a visa? Before I left someone sent me a step by step list of how to establish an Iqama (residency visa) in a particular country. It was 6 handwritten pages and no joke, it listed how to go from this office to that office to that building and get this stamp from this person and so on and so on. It was all description because there are no addresses or official ways of doing anything! We are in such a hurry to modernize and be just like the West, why don’t we copy some good organization and efficiency skills eh. This probably goes back to another big problem in the Muslim world:  The rote learning and non-encouragement of any questioning, creativity or innovation in the Muslim world. Also related, where is the work ethic in Muslim countries? Besides “Inshaallah Bokra Mumkin”. Now I know for Muslims we have a different focus on life and it’s not to go to work everyday, make money and consume more Dunya. But somehow I just see this slowly being lost in Muslim countries. Where’s our pride and responsibility in working hard, building, inventing, improving, creating.

#5. Emotional Islam - We Muslims always get upset when we see something wrong or offensive to our religion. Such as… the Danish cartoons or the Salman Rushdie book (or a teddy bear named Muhammad?!) or whatever else. There’s a lot of evil in the world and there are a lot of people that hate Islam. But us becoming emotional or upset about such things does nothing. Nothing constructive or progressive comes from it. Imagine if every Muslim that was offended by the Danish cartoons went out and held one positive event about Islam in their town. Imagine if every Muslim that burned (or like me returned the book to the library thinking it was the dumbest book I ever read) a hateful book on Islam, instead talked to one person about the life of Prophet Muhammad (s). It’s so easy for us to hold protests, hold up signs and yell slogans, even easier to turn to violence. But why aren’t we doing the real work? Working on real Dawah, real programs, on our youth… in so many needed areas?

#6. Opression of women – No Islam does not oppress Muslim women, but Muslims sure do. Or should I say they let others do. How can honor killings be common in certain areas of the Muslim world? Killing innocent girls. Something so vile, that the Quran even asks why a person would do it. And tried and convicted they receive 2 years. Really? A 10 year old sold by her father and forced to marry an 80 year old. Really, that’s acceptable to us? Throwing acid on little girls going to school. Domestic violence against women. I mean there are no words.  We will never even take a step forward if we don’t eradicate these evils.

#7. Copying everything western – The Muslim world loves copying and imitating everything western. They love western clothes, western movies, western architecture, western music, western pop stars. What happened to our values? What happened to our own appreciation of our own beautiful things. Our beautiful clothes, music, people, architecture, rich cultural heritage. Chai, Rumi and Ghazals seem to be more appreciated in the West than anywhere else these days. Why can’t we have pride in and develop our own culture which is more in tune with our values? [And one thing that really bothers me...Why do rich Muslims frequent Parisian fashion houses when it is a crime to dress as a Muslim in France?] (Sigh, and again it’s the West that’s oppressing us.)

#8. Lack of superior media and propaganda – Yes please. We need some. The Muslim world really needs some good PR people. Not to mention journalists, authors, pundits, politically savvy leaders and so on. Why (,when we have right on our side you ask)? Because the Islam haters are much better at this than we are. They are able to turn an innocent victim into a terrorist in a heartbeat. They are able to justify things like racial profiling, torture and extraordinary rendition. They somehow make extreme Islam-haters into “experts on Islam and the Muslim world” on Fox News. Definitely a huge problem.

#9. No viable economic system - Islamic economics is beautiful. It’s fair. It’s sustainable. It has ethics and morals and has a built in system of checks and balances. It protects people from being exploited and it prevents people from doing the exploiting. And yet we aren’t using it. We are using a system of interest and usury that makes the poor poorer and the rich richer. A whole other subject is also how much money is being wasted on extreme luxuries instead of development in Muslim countries. The wealth of certain Muslims is phenomenal… how about spending a little to help other Muslims instead of that new car/clothes/billion dollar mansion. (Did you know that the only buyers of Parisian fashion houses are 1. the nouveau riche of Russia and 2. wealthy Arabs from the Gulf.)

#10. Nationalism and disunity – Can I just say… Algeria vs Egypt :p or let me say Egypt’s refusal to allow Gazans sanctuary. Everyone has pride in their country and background, but it is our faith that unites us all. Divided we are easily picked out by enemies. Divided we will always fall. History shows again and again that the way to attack Muslims is to cause division and disunity. We are then easily defeated.

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Yes, it’s painful to look at ourselves this way. How far we have come from practicing our Deen. If we could just practice the noble principles of Islam in all aspects of our life, socially, politically, economically, in character, in relations with others, how different we would be! And how different our world would be.

Have we forgotten the words of the Quran that say “Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in their hearts.” What’s in our hearts these days? Is it “hatred of the West”? Is it “love of the Dunya” or is it “love of Islam and our fellow Muslims”? Do we want for them what we want for ourselves?

In conclusion, I contend that if Muslims were to fix these problems and go back to practicing Islam in all realms, inner and outer, form and character, there is no power on earth that could defeat them in any aspect.

Thanks for reading.

The End.

Outtakes: lack of lines!, no dark chocolate, pizza made of ketchup?!, guys who yell ‘u beetiful’

Sr. Aminah Assilmi died today in a sudden car accident. Inna lillah wa inna ilaihi rajeoon. She was 65 and had been ill a few years ago but had been doing much better recently. She died instantly I read. SubhanAllah, indeed it is true we do not know when or how any of us will be called back Home. I heard the news this evening and my mind immediately flashed back to all my memories of her.

I was a teenager in a MYNA camp when I first heard her speak. She walked up mature and elegant, wearing a long skirt outfit and fully wrapped Hijab. A convert to Islam she always told us funny anecdotes and stories about being Muslim. She would then pause while we laughed and go on to give us the teaching point. When I was in MSA we invited her a few times to the Northeast to speak. Usually the topic was something like ‘Behind the Veil’ or ‘Myths of Women in Islam’. She always spoke well and was very equal to answering any obnoxious questions or debating any ‘feminists’ in the audience who felt they knew better. I never knew her to turn anyone away from speaking to her. She had the same quality of the Prophet (saw) where if she was speaking to you, you felt like you were her most prized best friend in the world. She always took the time out to talk to ‘us girls’ and remembered us whenever we met.

In years since MSA, I would see her less and less often at ISNAs and ICNAs and other events. She had been ill for a long time I believe and I’d seen her in a wheelchair for a number of years. About two years ago I received an email that asked for help for Sister Aminah. She had lost her home and income and needed help. She’d been living on campgrounds because she had nowhere else to go. I remember even posting this to others, and I really thought I had sent her some money to help. But I’ve since checked and in the hurry of everyday life I did not.

This past 4th of July ISNA I met Sister Aminah again and we reminsced a little and she talked about organizing a retreat for Muslim women. I told her a little about our retreat in upstate New York and she gave me her card. I asked if we could take a picture together and she happily smiled and put her arms around me wearing the biggest, pinkest sunhat I’d ever seen.

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In the 90s we were a generation that was raised in Islamic camps, conferences and university lecture halls. Our parents were Imam Siraj Wahaj, Sh. Hamza Yusuf, Imam Zaid Shakir, Jamal Badawi, Abdullah Idris, Ahmad Sakr, Sheema Khan, Haroon Sellars, Saffet Catovic, Abdullah Adhami, Aminah Assilimi… so many well known names that we heard from over and over again. Teaching us, inspiring us, motivating us. Trying so hard to give us an identity. Today, I can’t even remember all the long-forgotten names. But they made us the strong Muslims we are today. In fact, I can’t even imagine where we would be without them.

Yet when their time of need came and comes, we are not there for them. How many people received the email forward asking for help for Sister Aminah and did nothing (myself included). How many people have received the calls for help for Imam Siraj’s cancer treatment and have donated anything to help. We would be lost and astray without them, yet we are not willing to give back.

I’m reminded of another great man who died on the steps of a nursing home; alone and penniless. Abdullah Yusuf Ali, from whom millions of English speaking Muslims have benefited. Yet he too died alone with no help from the Muslim Community.

I was unable to help Sister Aminah in life, but I am determined to help her in death and also promise to help my ‘other parents’ when they are in need inshaAllah.

May Allah have mercy on sister Aminah, give Shifaa to her son and patience to her family. May Allah reward her for all her Dawah work for the benefit of the Ummah (she was truly a da’iah for Allah) and enter her into Jannah.

Ameen.

]]> http://jannah.org/blog/2010/03/05/in-remembrance-of-sr-aminah-assilmi/feed/ 10 http://jannah.org/blog/2010/01/08/dear-muslim-terrorist/ http://jannah.org/blog/2010/01/08/dear-muslim-terrorist/#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:07:40 +0000 jannah http://jannah.org/blog/?p=1636 Dear ‘Muslim’ Terrorist,

A letter to a would-be terrorist.

What exactly did you think you’d be gaining? Like for real, did you think your name would be up in lights? Did you think people would think you’re the savior of the Muslim world or something? Did you think you were correcting all the injustices against Muslims in the world or even avenging them?

No you’re rather pathetic. First of all you did not think at all when you ‘concocted’ your stupid plan. Did you even bother to read about what Islam said about the issue? Yeah, don’t bother reading some lone crazy Fatwa someone like you with wack ideas and has no backing came up with. But did you even bother to ask a single real scholar of Islam? Like the hundreds and thousands of mainstream Islamic scholars out there. –Guess what they say– That killing innocent people is Haram. Wow didn’t get that bulletin did you. What’s that you say, the whole world is against Islam, so it’s ok to kill indiscriminately. Yeah so why don’t you just kill yourself then (somewhere alone). You know why. Yes, it’s because killing yourself is also Haram in Islam!! Life is sacred in Islam and belongs to God, not people! Yet you still dare to go against that and do it to others?!

Anyways I just don’t get it. These young “Muslim” guys had so much going for them. They could have done so much to change society and the world around them. To spread the real message of Islam and justice. Justice does not come from violence. It doesn’t. Justice comes from change. Change in thought and ideas. And you cannot get this change by violence. Especially stupid plans like blowing up planes and killing innocent people.

Really, what did those five boys from Virginia get for traveling to Pakistan to supposedly join up with some ‘Jihad camp’.  Did they save the Muslim world? They destroyed five families and an entire community. What did the Ft. Hood shooter get? Nothing except probable torture and execution. Did he make a point? Besides that Muslims can’t be trusted anywhere. No he did not. The 7th July English bombers? The Mumbai bombers? Zip except a whole lot more problems for the Muslims in their countries. What did the ‘underwear’ bomber get. Nothing except a humiliating nickname and the same as above. Even if he had been successful what would he get? Nothing except a lot of hate. From every Muslim in the United States and every non-Muslim. Thanks a lot buddy. Every amount of progress we had made since Obama came into office just went down the toilet. What point were you trying to make again? No one has heard it because we now have to stand in line two hours more for every flight undergoing invasive full body scans at every airport thanks to you! Now every innocent person from 13 Muslim countries will endure more hardship because of you. Now every single person in Yemen (an entire country! and not even your country!) will suffer because of you.

This kind of “Jihad” just does not work. It does not help our brothers and sisters dying every day in Iraq and Afghanistan and Palestine and everywhere else. It just doesn’t. A terrorist might think they are bringing the oppression over there to the forefront of people’s minds here. But it’s actually just making them feel more justified. The “threat’ is what made them go over there in the first place and you are just adding more proof to their argument. Did the “vengeance” you caused make them sit down and chat about making things better for Muslims? Or did it allow them to cause more oppression?

How did the 9/11 terrorists help Muslims? By killing 3,000 innocent lives (which BTW included some Muslims) and then by causing the killing of hundreds of thousands of lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and Gaza. Yes, all justified by 9/11. Who is to blame if your action causes great tragedy and injustice. They might carry it out but it is YOU who caused it by your stupid wrong actions. You must understand, this is not a level playing field. It may be unfair, but Muslim blood is cheap. And others’ suffering causes them to seek vengeance upon us tenfold. Terrorism as a strategy does not work. It will never bring about the justice we are looking for.

See it’s like that movie Umar Mukhtar… the colonizers were there all raping/killing and the Muslim army captures two as prisoners and one of the Muslim soldiers wants to just kill them. He raises his gun and Umar Mukhtar puts his hands over the rifle and pushes it down. “We do not kill prisoners” (an Islamic principle), he says. Well “*They* do it to *us*!” is the answer. Umar Mukhtar says, “They” are not our *teachers*!

Do you see? They are not our teachers. See we EXPECT retartedness from them. We expect wrong and evil and oppression. This is expected in the world. A lot of people do not like justice or fairness or the way of life that is Islam. That is how it is. But how can we become them? How can we compromise our Deen taught to us by our beloved Prophet (s) and our Holy Quran. Can you imagine if you said to Muhammad (s):  Yeah they’re killing us so I’m just going to go over there and blow up a mall/plane/business full of innocent people… men, women, children, xtian, muslim or jew… doesn’t matter… it probably won’t even help our cause and just makes things worse…but who cares… i might be doing it out of revenge or because i’m depressed or messed up psychologically but hey…_I’m doing it for you._  Does that make any sense to you? Can you imagine what he (s) would say.

That you’re an idiot. Yes. Even worse… you are a person that does not think. And Islam, above many things, is especially a religion for those who think. We are taught to think about our actions and reactions and responses. That’s what it’s all about isn’t it? Actions = hereafter. Doing sins has a response, we’re accountable for it. The grave and dust is not the end of all things. “All this” means something. And one day we will see the truth of everything. So why didn’t you think? Why didn’t you think of the consequences? About whether or not you were actually helping Muslims? Why didn’t you think of better ways that can bring about change in this world? To show people what Islam is really about? To work on yourself first and become a better Muslim? To help the community around you and the larger Muslim community that is suffering… instead of making it suffer more? I mean can we not THINK as Muslims and come up with rational, real effective ways of helping Muslims overseas. Why can’t you do that instead of coming up with stupid irrational vigilante justice scenarios?

Some people sympathize with you because they think you had good intentions. ‘At least you are doing something to help the Muslim world.’ Wrong. Let’s talk about acceptability of an action in Islam. You need intention AND form. If your intention is good but your means are wrong then the action is invalid, not accepted and not rewardable. And if your means are wrong and cause more harm then that will reap only punishment. A terrorist who thinks he’s a martyr, is in the end just a terrorist.

I don’t even want to talk about what’s going on overseas. Killing Muslims left and right, blowing up Mosques, marketplaces, opposition leaders, a McDonalds in Karachi?? Really? Families eating at a McDonalds? I mean really? This is what you think will get you to Heaven? If a Muslim kills a Muslim one of them is not one. Who do you think God is going to choose: you or an old man who was praying in the Mosque? you or a little girl playing in the marketplace? Think!

Ok I’m done now. My anger is spent. It’s not even for myself. I expect this life not to be easy for a Muslim. We will have hardships and challenges and we will have to live through them and gain our resolve and fight for justice in *thinking* ways. And in the end we may have to wait for our justice in the Hereafter. But it just upsets me that you would damage the name of our beautiful Deen and the image of Muslims. Another crime in so many crimes, and yet you still think you’re in the right?

Sincerely, your friend and fellow Muslim (as long as you don’t turn into a terrorist),

Jannah

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P.S. – This is an excellent lecture from a scholar for you to watch called ‘Peace with the Environment’. Especially the question answered on terrorism at the end, watch from 4min.37s here and continue in the next part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AslHoWEPrlg#t=4m37s