March 12, 2007
Islam the “Peaceful Religion”
Section: WRITINGS | 754 reads
Muslims of the Qur’an: A Thinking, Reasoning, Smart Kind of People
I wish Muslims were a smart, reasoning, intelligent and thinking kind of people – the kind of people the Qur’an talks about. Not the kind of dull, senseless, clueless automatons most of us have ended up becoming.
How I wish Muslims were really the smart, thinking kind. How I wish they were the kind of Muslims the Qur’an so methodically and meticulously describes.
Then they would be able to see who they really are. What their real mission on earth is. And how they should go about accomplishing that mission.
They will then understand what their Deen – their way of life and their culture – really is, and how they should live it in practice.
They would then know who their Rabb or master really is, and what he wants from them.
Then they would also know and understand who their Rasul, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, really was. And what his life – what his Sunnat – was really all about.
They would then know what that book – Dhaalikal kitaab – the Qur’an, is really all about. The book that he brought from God as a guide and blessing for all of humanity.
And they would know and understand what their own role in this world really is. In this place on earth where God Almighty sent them – with the rest of humanity – as his own personal representatives and managers, with a clearly stated mission.
Muslim Mission on Earth
A mission that specified in the most clear terms that the job of the Muslims – and their responsibility – on earth was:
- To encourage, foster, facilitate and promote all that is good, nice, decent, kind, compassionate, caring and noble.
- To discourage and curb all that may be bad, evil, inhuman, cruel, dangerous, unjust, unfair, unkind, abusive, exploitative and harmful.
- To work ceaselessly and tirelessly to end all forms of tyranny, as Thomas Jefferson once put it, over the mind and body of all men, women and children.
- To treat everyone, without any distinction of race, color, gender or nationality, with respect, justice, equality and fairness.
- To protect the earth and all that it contains from all harm and waste.
- To serve all of God’s creation in all forms and shapes in every possible way.
- To spread the message of love, kindness, compassion, niceness, equality, justice, fairness and decency everywhere.
- To guarantee the most basic and fundamental rights to everyone, especially the weak, the oppressed, the powerless, the disadvantaged, the dispossessed and the voiceless.
- To be compassionate, caring, generous and charitable toward all, regardless of color, caste, status, race, religion, gender, language, nationality or some other marker of difference.
- To place God Almighty, their maker and master, and the maker and master of everyone and everything else in this world, first, second and last in their life – and invite everyone else in this world to do so.
- And to be, at all times, devoted to and mindful of God Almighty more than to and of anyone or anything else in this world – and to preach that message to everyone else in this world.
Islam Is About Tomorrow
So, in reality, some of what I said earlier is some of what or who the Muslims are supposed to be. The kind the Qur’an talks about. That is their true profile – in the Qur’an.
That is their true identity and their true mission in life.
That is why I wish Muslims of today were Muslims of the Qur’an.
Not necessarily Muslims of yesterday, because that they can never be. For Islam is not about yesterday, but rather about today and tomorrow.
No one does or can live yesterday. We can only live today and tomorrow.
So, whether it is for Muslims or for the rest of the world, there is no such thing as returning to life the way it was yesterday. That can never happen. That is contrary to the law of Allah.
Life on earth does not run backwards. It runs forwards. It runs from God in the beginning to God in the end, if you can figure that one out.
A Future that Is a Throwback to the Past
All we can do, and all we must try to do as Muslims, is to build a most glorious tomorrow for ourselves, and for the rest of the world, keeping before our eyes the immortal teachings of the Qur’an and the everlasting example of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.
That is why I wish Muslims of today were Muslims of the Qur’an. For, they are the ones who can build a bright new future for themselves, and for all of humanity, that is as perfect a replication of the past as it is possible for any future to be.
No, it is not a contradiction in terms. It is a miracle. A divine miracle, directly from God Almighty.
For, the more truly successful and glorious the future that human beings build for themselves, the more that future is going to be a throwback in its most central parameters to the life, times and example of the Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam – 1400 years ago.
For, that was the very pinnacle of human glory and achievement on earth. It was as close to being the prime of perfection for human life on earth as this earth is ever capable of producing or witnessing.
Muslims of the Qur’an: Muslims of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
And that is what will make the Muslims of today also the Muslims of tomorrow – contemporary in every age and comfortable in every place, because they will be the Muslims of the Qur’an.
As someone once said: Har mulk mulk-i-maast, ki mulk-i-khudaa-i-maast!
Paraphrase: We are at home everywhere, for all land is our land, as it is our God’s land.
Thus, Muslims of the Qur’an are above space and beyond time. They are the Muslims of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Muslims of the Qur’an: True Globalists
And they are Muslims that straddle the globe. They are truly Global Muslims. I mean the Muslims of the Qur’an.
They are people who would have conquered both space and time and freed themselves from the twin tyrannies of history and geography. Neither of the East nor of the West, nor of the South nor of the North, Muslims of the Qur’an are truly the Citizens of the Universe in its full range and glory.
Every inch of the Universe is their home. Every occupant of the Universe their neighbor, relative and colleague.
Muslims of the Qur’an are, thus, the true inventors and exemplars of the concept of Globalization – in the noblest, most humane, most civilized, most inclusive and most benign and charitable meaning of that expression – before some people in the world started to use it as a euphemism and a tool to justify, rationalize and solidify the advantages and gains of the rich and the powerful over the poor and the powerless.
That is why I wish Muslims of today were the Muslims of the Qur’an. And they were the kind of Muslims, Rasul, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, built.
For, he built them one by one, and left them behind in this world to carry out his mission of love and mercy to the world.
And he left the world of Allah in their care and custody.
A world in which, starting from scratch, he had ushered in a New World Order of love, charity, compassion, justice, equality, freedom and human rights, freedoms and dignity for the whole world, for all human beings and for all times to come.
END
© 2007 Syed Husain Pasha
Dr. Pasha is an educator and scholar of exceptional
talent, training and experience. He can be reached at DrSyedPasha [at]
AOL [dot] com or www.IslamicSolutions.com.
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