Continue reading »]]> International Student Chooses Rutgers-Camden for Graduate Studies in Chemistry

Received prestigious scholarship from Turkey’s Ministry of National Education

by Ed Moorhouse

December 13, 2011

CAMDEN — When the time came to choose a university to pursue his master’s degree in chemistry, Muslum Demir says his decision was an easy one.

“Rutgers–Camden was always my top choice,” Demir says with a smile while working in a chemistry lab on the Rutgers–Camden campus. “Even while still living in Turkey, I knew very well that Rutgers is one of the best universities in the U.S.”

Demir, from the city of Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey, was awarded a scholarship last year from the Republic of Turkey’s Ministry of National Education. The prestigious scholarship allows Turkish undergraduates to pursue a master’s degree and doctorate at a university of his or her choosing anywhere in the world.

“I have friends from Turkey studying at Rutgers–New Brunswick, so I’d heard about Rutgers through them while I was still a student in Turkey,” says Demir, who completed his undergraduate degree in chemistry at Cukurova University in Turkey. “Rutgers was always a place I wanted to be.”

With Rutgers on his mind, Demir reached out to Alexander Samokhvalov, an assistant professor of chemistry at Rutgers–Camden.

“After I had a conversation with Professor Samokhvalov, I knew Rutgers–Camden would be a good fit,” says Demir, who began taking classes at Rutgers–Camden this semester.

Demir is working on a research project that seeks to remove harmful aromatic sulfur compounds present in petroleum and liquid fuel.

“If we can remove those unwanted compounds selectively and in non-destructive fashion, using advanced materials called Metal Organic Frameworks, MOFs, it will be beneficial both to our health and environment,” Demir says.

He is quick to point out that studying with Samokhvalov has taught him a lot about research.

“He’s taught me a lot about the uses and the assembly of different instruments required in my experiments,” Demir says.

Samokhvalov says he has been impressed with Demir’s work ethic and accomplishments.

“It’s not easy to adjust to a new environment, especially when taking graduate courses in a new country,” Samokhvalov says. “Muslum has been outstanding. He’s very motivated and hardworking, which is the reputation of all students at Rutgers–Camden, its chemistry department, and the graduate chemistry program.”

Samokhvalov says, “I’m making every effort to contribute to the growing strength and international recognition of Rutgers–Camden through my research, teaching and outreach, and by attracting outstanding international students like Muslum to campus.”

Demir is pursuing a career in academia and when he completes his master’s degree and doctorate, he wants to return to Turkey to teach undergraduate chemistry students there.

“I like chemistry so much and after coming here, I realize how important it is to complete your master’s degree and doctorate,” Demir says. “I’ve only been at Rutgers–Camden for a few months, but already I’ve learned so much about performing research and improving my knowledge of chemistry. That’s something I’d like to share with other students.”

He continues, “I would love to serve as a model and encourage other international students to come to Rutgers–Camden to study.”

source: http://news.rutgers.edu/medrel/news-releases/2011/12/international-studen-20111213

Continue reading »]]> by Donald Reeves – THE GUARDIAN
5 August 2011

Following the events of 22 July in Norway – when Anders Behring Breivik, driven by a hatred of Islam, killed 77 people – there have been ample expressions of outrage, analysis and commentary, but little indication as to what must to be done to prevent Islamophobia spreading.

Before 22 July, the Soul of Europe, together with the Soest Forum of Religions and Cultures (a German Muslim archive institute), had begun planning how to interrupt, undermine and dismantle Islamophobia. Beginning in France, Germany, UK and Scandinavia, we are establishing a coalition across Europe of institutions and organisations which are already engaged with Muslim communities. Our aim is to deepen, broaden and strengthen the foundations of those bridges between Muslim and non-Muslims, particularly among the younger generations – above all in practical ways.

One way is to develop patterns of solidarity. For instance: when a religious building is vandalised, whether a mosque or a church or a synagogue, communities will come together to condemn these actions. For condemnation to be effective, more than words are needed. Much depends on the slow, patient building of relationships.

Another way is for local communities to speak up on behalf of others, not least when Muslim communities complain of intimidation and harassment by police. These interventions emerge from relationships that have been established over time. Local politicians and religious leaders – vicars, imams and rabbis – will have to watch their backs. These actions will be seen as divisive among their own constituencies and congregations.

As Marwan Muhammad, director of the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, told the Soul of Europe: “We are scapegoats and are blamed for all of Europe’s problems.” Muslim communities need to be invited in from the cold. There should be no “them” and “us”. We are all “us”. Umar Mirza set up the Dutch website We’re Here to Stay as “an attempt to create an alternative space … a way of providing a stage upon which the voices of young Muslims can be heard”. Dutch Muslims are not going anywhere. The Netherlands is their country, their home.

for the full text: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/aug/05/grassroots-movement-to-tackle-islamophobia

Continue reading »]]> by JOOST LAGENDIJK – TODAY’S ZAMAN
J.lagendijk@todayszaman.com
26 July 2011

After the Norway massacre in which a homegrown extreme-right Islamophobe killed dozens of people, a profound debate started in the United States and Europe on how this could happen.

One of the most sensitive elements in that discussion is the relationship between, on the one hand, violent actions by individual extremists and, on the other, the rising popularity of far-right populist parties in Europe and the growing influence of anti-Muslim ideologues in the US.

In other words: Should we blame extremist politicians and columnists for having prepared the ground for the kind of horrific actions that we saw in Norway? Or should we not make that link and, in the end, blame each and every individual for the acts that he commits?

Let me start with the reactions of the American anti-Muslim bloggers to the Norwegian drama. When it turned out that it was a blonde Norwegian who planted the bomb and killed dozens of children in cold blood, the Islam critics tried to downplay the right-wing anti-Muslim ideology driving the shooter. Anders Behring Breivik was a lonely lunatic who had acted on his own.

In a blog on the website of The Washington Post, someone compared the reactions of two of the most well-known professional Islamophobes, Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, to the terrorist attack in Oslo with their usual habits of tarring all Muslims with responsibility for acts of Islamist terrorism. Geller is an outspoken critic of Islam who runs the blog “Atlas Shrugs.” She wrote that any assertion that she or other anti-jihad writers bore any responsibility for Mr. Breivik’s actions was “ridiculous.” Spencer, who operates the “Jihad Watch” website and published several books unveiling Islam as a totalitarian ideology, angrily denied that what had happened in Norway “has anything remotely to do with anything we have ever advocated.”

As The Washington Post blogger put it: “Geller and Spencer are now pleading for the world not to do what they’ve spent their careers doing — assigning collective blame for an act of terror through guilt-by-association. … They are now begging for the kind of tolerance and understanding they cheerfully refuse to grant to American Muslims.”

By the way, after this blog was published, it became known that Mr. Breivik had written a 1,500-page manifesto in which he explains his motives. That document contains dozens of quotations from Geller, Spencer and many other American bloggers and writers who have warned for years about the threat of Islam. According to some well-informed American specialists, we should not underestimate the influence of these American Islamophobes. According to Max Blumenthal, a writing fellow for the Nation Institute, “the Islamophobic crusade has gone beyond the right-wing pro-Israel activists, cyber-bigots and ambitious hucksters who conceived it. It now belongs to leading Republican presidential candidates, top-rated cable news hosts and crowds of Tea Party activists.”

In that same manifesto, Mr. Breivik also refers many times to European politicians he admires, like the Dutch populist Geert Wilders. Confronted with appreciation by a mass murderer, these politicians’ reactions were copies of the American ones. Wilders said the killer was a “violent and sick character” and that he “did not share any of the views of Breivik.” Marine Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigrant National Front in France, claimed her party has “nothing to do with the Norwegian slaughter, which is the work of a lone lunatic who must be ruthlessly punished.”

Back to The Washington Post blog. After having bashed the American anti-Muslim ideologues for their hypocrisy and double standards, the writer concludes by saying that all of us should take this lesson to heart: “Terrorist acts are committed by individuals, and it is those individuals who should be held responsible.”

After reading this conclusion, I was left with very ambiguous feelings. Should we deny any link between Mr. Breivik and the poisonous wells he drank from? Are people like Spencer or Wilders in no way responsible for the acts of an individual who has clearly stated that he was inspired by their ideas and success?

The answer is indeed a straightforward “No” if we look at the majority of reactions by European liberals. They abhor what happened in Norway and they totally disagree with Islamophobic politicians and writers. But they draw a clear line between the violent acts of Mr. Breivik, for which only he can be held accountable, and the aggressive words of his ideological enablers who should be free to express their despicable views. If we would hold Mr. Wilders and others in any way responsible for Mr. Breivik’s cruelties, we would be making the same mistake as they do by blaming all Muslims for the terrorist acts of Osama bin Laden. Guilt-by-association is always wrong.

To be honest, I find it difficult to accept this rigid division of responsibilities. Mr. Breivik is definitively not a lunatic who got out of control. He is an ideological extremist who carefully planned his terrorist acts and who has a clear vision of the world and what he considers to be the threats to the open society he favors. His ideas are part of a much wider, growing right-wing movement in Europe and the US that, according to me, should not be able to get off the hook so easily by blaming all wrongs on a so-called crazy individual.

In order to understand what is happening in Europe and the US, we should not make the mistake to claim, as is often done in Turkey, that the new cultural conservatism that both Mr. Breivik and Mr. Wilders are championing is a copy of the fascist ideology of the 1930s.

There are clear differences and they are important in explaining the success of the current right-wing movement. The new populists distance themselves openly from the racism and authoritarianism of the past. They defend the Jewish state of Israel and gay rights, two positions that the “old” fascists would never support. Their focus is on anti-multiculturalism, anti-Islamization and the immediate threat to Western civilization as they define it.

On both issues, there is an overlap with the classic conservatives and even part of the social-democrats that enables them to reach out to parts of the electorate that the small post-war extreme right could never dream of. It also makes it much more difficult to isolate or marginalize this new movement. They are no longer harmless on the sidelines. Their ideas are the talk-of-the-town and, especially in northwestern Europe, their influence has reached government levels.

To pretend that this growing presence and popularity has absolutely no influence on some of their extreme supporters would, in my view, be dangerously naive. On the website of the American magazine Foreign Policy, I think two researchers strike the right balance in their assessment of the Norway tragedy. “No one really knows the exact relationship between extreme right-wing movements and political violence. Indeed, academics are still arguing, without resolution, about whether peaceful but extreme Islamist organizations are ‘gateways’ into Islamist terrorism. Yet all terrorists believe they are defending a wider constituency, fighting for ideas that others agree with but are too ignorant or afraid to take action. … Like al-Qaeda, far-right terrorists often see themselves as vanguards — striking a blow that will awaken the masses. There is no question that someone like Anders Behring Breivik is more likely to find that environment in Europe now than a decade ago. And though he may have acted alone, there are certainly more like him who share his concerns, his ideology and his belief that without immediate and drastic action Western civilization will be lost. The world can no longer afford to ignore this growing threat,” they say.

for the full text: http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-251714-words-do-matter.html

Continue reading »]]> 27 July 2011

Moscow, Interfax –

The recent terror attacks in Norway evidence the need to strengthen international cooperation in resisting racial hatred and xenophobia, Moscow believes.

“Firstly, I would want to join the sincere condolences expressed to the Norwegian people,” Russian Foreign Ministry Envoy for Human Rights, Democracy and the Supremacy of Law Konstantin Dolgov has told Interfax.

Asked how Moscow regards the tragedy from the viewpoint of human rights, he said that the current investigation has shown that “in addition to political extremism, this atrocity had such motives as racial hatred, xenophobia and Islamophobia.”

“If all this is proved, and Breivik is not leaving any doubts about being guided by these very motives, we believe that international cooperation must be intensified to neutralize these extremely dangerous challenges, which the international community and many European countries, in particular, are facing,” Dolgov said.

Oslo and Utoya island near the Norwegian capital were shaken by a double terror attack last Friday in which 76 people died. Anders Breivik, 32, suspected of both crimes, says he acted to save Norway and Europe from immigrants, primarily Muslims.

source: http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8621

Continue reading »]]> dalailama.com[Tuesday, July 19, 2011 11:23]

Chicago, Illinois, 18 July 2011: On his last day of this two-city current tour of the United States, on July 18, 2011 morning, His Holiness participated in a dialogue with interfaith leaders in a session entitled, Building Bridges: Religious Leaders In Conversation With The Dalai Lama. Hosted by the Theosophical Society and held at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Chicago, it was attended by a sold-out crowd of 1500 people.

Theosophical Society President Tim Boyd introduced His Holiness to the audience. He recalled the visit of His Holiness to the headquarters of the Theosophical Society in America, located in Wheaton, Illinois, in 1981. He said His Holiness had given a talk at a local school then but not many students knew who he was. Since then things have changed greatly, Mr. Boyd said adding that His Holiness has now become one of the most recognized and the most respected persons in the world. Mr. Boyd said that His Holiness’s continued call for adherence to the universal qualities to bring change to human hearts and minds have made him one of the greatest teachers in the world.

Thereafter, Mr. Eboo Patel, the founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based international nonprofit that aims to promote interfaith cooperation, moderated a brief session with His Holiness alone before inviting the other panelists. Mr. Patel called His Holiness as probably being the world’s leading example of religious tolerance.

A short documentary on the artwork created by religious organizations about their perception of other religions was screened.

Mr. Patel then said that he would be asking His Holiness some questions, which have been compiled through different channels from different individuals. In his first question, Mr. Patel asked His Holiness the reasons that led to him adopting religious harmony as one of his commitments, in addition to the promotion of human values and resolving the Tibetan problem.

His Holiness responded that if we use common sense then it would be clear why he was stressing on the need for religious harmony. He said every day we hear news about violence, some of which are related to different religions. Having a feeling of sadness for a short moment in such situations was not the right approach. He said that while praying for the wellbeing of all sentient beings may be seen as unrealistic there was the need for considering the wellbeing of the nearly seven billion human beings on this planet. He added that there was the possibility of all people co-existing in harmony.

His Holiness referred to the harmony among different religious practitioners in India as an example. He talked about how Muslims in Bodh Gaya have friendly relationship with the Buddhists there despite the historical fact that they are descendants of people who may have been involved in the destruction of Buddhist institutions in the past. He made the case for the need of the existence of the different religious traditions to fit the different mental dispositions of the people. He talked about the projection of the entire Islamic community negatively in the wake of the September 11 incident and how he had come to defend Islam.

His Holiness stressed on the need for religious communities to be more involved with society. He praised the Christian community for their involvement in the health and education sectors. He also said that Buddhist monks in Thailand and Burma were active in ecological preservation.

In response to a question on how the young interfaith leaders, who are humanists, should play their role, His Holiness talked about his commitment to promote basic human values through secular moral ethics. He said we could all work to cultivate warm-heartedness, which builds trusts, which in turn builds friendship. Saying that his concept of promotion of moral ethics was not based on religion, he said this makes it possible to easily introduce it in the education system. If moral ethics is to be based on religious faith, His Holiness said that it couldn’t become universal.

Thereafter, Mr. Patel invited the other panelists to the stage. They were Rabbi Michael Lerner, founding editor of the progressive Jewish interfaith magazine Tikkun, which is dedicated to building bridges between religious and secular organizations; Dr. Ingrid Mattson, Hartford Seminary Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations; and Rev. Peg Chemberlin, executive director of the Minnesota Council of Churches.

for the full article: http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?article=His+Holiness+highlights+role+of+interfaith+leaders+in+promoting+religious+harmony&id=29780

Continue reading »]]> by Karen Peake
July 6, 2011

A new Ipsos MORI poll has found that religion still matters to most people in the world.

The global survey looked at the views of over 18,000 people across 24 countries, including the UK and US.

Seven in 10 of those surveyed said they had a religion but there was a marked difference between Christians and Muslims when it came to the importance they placed on their faith.

In Muslim-majority countries, 94% of those with a religion agreed that their faith was important in their lives, compared to 66% in Christian-majority countries.

Muslims were far more likely to believe that their religion was the only true path to salvation, liberation or paradise – 61% compared to 19% in Christian-majority countries.

They were also more likely to say that their faith or religion was a key motivator in giving time and money to people in need – 61% compared to 24% in primarily Christian societies.

Overall, 30% said that their religion motivated them to give their time or money to people in need, while more than half (52%) said that their religion made no difference to their giving because they saw it as important in any case.

Globally, faith was found to be important to young people. Almost three-quarters (73%) of under-35s said their religion or faith was important in their life.

A third of all respondents across the 24 countries said they had no or almost no friends or acquaintances from any religion other than their own.

Chief executive of Ipsos MORI, Ben Page said: “The survey is a good reminder to many in western Europe of how much religion matters – and is a force for good – in much of the world.

“Our analysis shows people would rather keep politics separate from religion, but that in a globalising world, it still matters more than many in old Europe think.”

The results were also welcomed by Tony Blair, a practising Catholic and patron of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.

“This survey shows how much religion matters and that no analysis of the contemporary world, political or social, is complete without understanding the relationship between faith and globalisation,” he said.

“The evidence is that, though people fear the prospect of religious strife, even here in Britain, there is much to encourage the view that people can learn to respect those of another faith and live with them peacefully.

“Inter-faith dialogue and action today is not just an interesting but peripheral minor subject, it is the essence, central to creating greater social cohesion and harmony.”

sourcE: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/religion.still.matters.global.survey.finds/28257.htm

Continue reading »]]> by Sadia Dehlvi
Jul 06, 2011

In recent times, Sufi poetry has gained immense popularity all over the world. Eight hundred years after his death, Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi reigns as the most popular Sufi poet in the West. However, most published translations of Mevlana’s poetry are devoid of his religious discourse — the love that he writes about is often misunderstood as worldly love, and he is presented as a mystic without Mohammad, without Islam.

In expunging the Islamic element from popular Muslim mystic poets, the West loses out on the opportunity to engage in dialogue with Islam.
Rumi’s verses express his deep love for Prophet Mohammad while explaining the mysteries of Divine love. Jami (1414 – 92 AD), the Persian mystic poet, called Mevlana Rumi’s Mathnawi “the Quran in Persian”. Rumi’s monumental works weave numerous prophetic traditions in poetic verse.
The Mevlavi Sufi Order crystallised in Turkey around Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi who died in 1273 AD. Universally recognised as one of the greatest spiritual figures of all times, the Mevlana was born in the Afghan province of Balkh where his father, Bahauddin Walad, was a renowned Islamic scholar.
The Mongol oppression of Central Asia led the family to migrate to Konya, which was then governed by the Seljuks of Rum. The mystic poet learnt Islamic theology from his father, who headed a seminary in Konya. After his father’s death, the Mevlana took over as the head of the religious seminary.
At the age of 37, Rumi met his spiritual master, Shams Tabrez, who transported the scholar from the sober legalistic understanding of religion to discovering the Sufi path. Tabrez did not negate the disciple’s knowledge of Islamic theology but inspired him to travel beyond the laws to discover new spiritual horizons.
Rumi’s Mathnawi, which contains around 26,000 verses, is an acknowledged masterpiece on Sufi philosophy. Rumi dwells on the theme of love, explaining that realisation of the self is a reflection of the Lord. Reputed for their devotion to music and whirling movements during meditation, followers of the order are called “the whirling dervishes”.
Kabir Helminski, a reputed contemporary scholar and shaykh of the Mevlevi Order, describes the state of the one who whirls: “There are many dimensions to this experience. Firstly, one has to be able to turn, and to do that one has to become empty inside. Empty, free from all internal dialogues, but fully aware. A state of balance is required to turn on an axis, so centred in one’s own being”.
Whirling is not a trance, but an exercise in mindful presence where the dervish is conscious of several things at once. The whirling dervish’s thought is uncluttered and he is in harmony with the other participating dervishes. He establishes a connection with the shaykh who leads the ceremony and takes the conscious step of opening his heart to the Divine.
While whirling, the right foot is lifted up to the knee while the left foot becomes the axis on which the whole body revolves, anti-clockwise. With each revolution “Allah” is pronounced inwardly. The arms are extended, the right palm turned upwards to receive Divine Grace and the left palm turned downwards, bestowing on
the earth the Divine energy that passes through the heart. The dance is divided into four sessions of whirling, each around 10 minutes long, called salaams. The last salaam represents union with the Divine, which is when the shaykh steps forward and recites a prayer, silently.
Sufi whirling presents an example of a spiritual tradition where music and movement are the basis of a deeply contemplative practice. It is designed to maximise Divine remembrance which in Islam is the highest of all human activities. The dervishes who meditate in the tradition of their Sufi master Rumi begin their dance with a naat, poetry in honour of Allah’s Messenger:
Ya habib Allah Rasul Allah ki akta tui!
(O God’s beloved, O Messenger of God — unique are you!
You chosen by the Lord of Majesty — so pure are you!)

— The author is a Delhi-based writer and author of Sufism: The Heart of Islam.
She can be contacted at sadiafeedback@gmail.com

source: http://www.asianage.com/mystic-mantra/whirling-god-s-grace-423

Continue reading »]]> By SAMAR FATANY | ARAB NEWS

Conflict between different faiths today is caused by deviant viewpoints and misinterpretations of the divine scriptures

To move Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations forward we need to resolve the ideological crisis that has long allowed extremely radical views to permeate our societies. The perpetuation of outmoded customs and traditions entwined with Islamic principles need to be untangled to separate the medieval societal customs from the true principles of Islam.

Saudi Arabia has taken major steps to spread the culture of moderation and confront extremism and radicalism that have been permitted to masquerade as the message of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and sullied what should be the reputation of faithful Muslims around the world.

In December 2005 a special Islamic summit was held in Makkah to reaffirm the consensus of all Muslim countries to renounce violence, extremism and terrorism, and to promote values of dialogue, tolerance and mutual respect among religions and cultures.

In May 2008 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah met with Muslim scholars of different sects in Makkah to promote the genuine message of Islamic tolerance during the International Islamic Conference for Dialogue.

The Ministry for Islamic Affairs also does its part across the country to advance a proper interpretation of Islam and allow us to move forward. The Prince Khaled Al-Faisal Chair was inaugurated in 2009 with the objective to empower the community to reject the culture of extremism and fanaticism and promote moderation.

Meanwhile, academics and researchers continue to address the challenges of extremism. During a forum on the concepts of moderation, terrorism and intellectual security, King Abdulaziz University professor Abdul Rahman Al-Wahabi said: “Discussions about concepts of moderation in contemporary Saudi culture has emerged on a large scale due to the perception of the danger posed by extremist concepts and the prevalence of extremist ideology, particularly in religious thought.”

He also noted “activating the process of moderation does not come simply by making wishes but rather through intensive educational agendas that are followed by application in real life in an organized manner via a series of social activities.”

“Moderate thought is the acknowledgment of others, accepting them and co-existing with them,” said Islamic researcher Zaki Al-Milad. “Moderation should be the attribute that permeates all our ideas and actions, far from radicalism and extremism and far from reclusion and isolationism.”

Young people today are confused over what is modern and what is Western, what is hard-line and what is required of a good Muslim. They are struggling to find direction that can help them advance and modernize. There are summer camps and cultural activities offering guidance and mentoring to promote better citizenship, so young people can contribute to humanity and serve the Muslim nation worldwide.

The whole country is on a mission to empower an educated and more-tolerant generation that can command respect for its spirituality and academic excellence. Academic institutions encourage progressive thinking and allow students to embrace innovative ideas without compromising their Islamic values and principles.

Our brothers and sisters who are living in the West or in other Muslim countries need to be aware that Saudi religious scholars and the Saudi people promote moderation and reject extremism under the leadership of King Abdullah.

Every Muslim today should make it his or her duty to promote the religion of peace and repudiate the misconceptions about Islam that have started with Samuel Huntington’s theory of a clash of civilizations and later fueled by suspicious allegations by right-wing outlets and extremists. These extremists are unfortunately aided by biased authors, like Daniel Pipes, and many others. There are those in the West, whose growing hostility toward Islam leads to discrimination and sometimes even hate crimes and who use extremist tactics to drive a wedge between Islam and the West.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 compounded the suspicions and fears against Muslims and created extreme prejudice against them. The principle of collective guilt was applied to all Muslims, and a decade after 9/11, a vicious campaign continues to label Islam as monolithic and incapable of adapting to new realities, that it is a religion inferior to those of the West and that it does not share common values with the other major faiths.

There are many global Muslim organizations confronting this unjust attack; however, despite all their efforts Islamophobia is on the rise, and Muslims are still stereotyped as inferior, violent and recalcitrant. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Muslim World League and other groups continue to address the rise of Islamophobia that openly targets innocent Muslims around the globe.

The conflict between different faiths today is caused by deviant viewpoints and misinterpretations of the divine scriptures. Extremists on both sides undermine the noble efforts of the peace loving people of the world. It pains me to hear Muslim extremists attacking the moderates when they speak out for understanding. It also saddens me to listen to the bigotry and hatred against Muslims in the West fomented by extremist Christian preachers.

The time has now come for all the peace-loving people to unite and stand against radicals who continue to undermine global efforts to promote peace and coexistence. Domestically, we hope to see the carefully crafted plans of our leaders begin to bring the much needed positive changes for progress and development. Globally, we hope to see the beginning of a new era in which each human being — man and woman — can be assured of the respect and freedom that only a just and peaceful world can provide.

— Samar Fatany is a Jeddah-based broadcaster and author.

source: http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article465651.ece?comments=all

Continue reading »]]> By Liz Monteiro
Fri Jun 10 2011

KITCHENER — If you see a Muslim woman with her head covered, do you assume she is oppressed?
Many do, and a group of local Muslim women want to set the record straight.
They are not abused by their husbands, they are not second-class citizens within their families, and they are not victims. They have a voice and they want you to hear it.
“We don’t want to be defined by being covered or not covered. We want to go beyond the hijab (head covering). We have passions, personalities and purposes in life,’’ said Fauzia Mazhar, co-ordinator of the Coalition of Muslim Women, Kitchener-Waterloo.
“People don’t know about Muslim women. They have misconceptions and stereotypes,’’ said Mazhar, a health worker at the Kitchener Downtown Community Health Centre.
On Saturday, the women’s group will hold a Day of Dialogue with Muslim Women at Kitchener City Hall.
A panel presentation will address five topics: education and leadership; rights and responsibilities; religious duties; Islamic dress and the hijab; and marriage and divorce.
Following a question-and-answer period, participants will be able to have one-on-one conversations with Muslim women in what the group calls the “human library.”
Nazneen Zaidi of Kitchener said many people assume her husband controls her because she covers her head.
“Men and women are equal under the eyes of God and the law of Islam,’’ said the mother of three. “Roles are different but the responsibilities to the family are the same. There is not leadership.’’
Zaidi, who was born in Montreal and has a master’s degree in educational technology from Concordia University, started covering her head by wearing the hijab — a covering over the head — as a graduate student.
“I loved it. It was respect and real freedom,’’ she said. “You get to know me from what’s up here (pointing to her head).’’
Mazhar said the decision to cover one’s head or not is an individual decision made by every Muslim woman. Some decide to cover their heads as children, others as teens and some wear hijabs and then take them off later in life.
Nevine El Gendy said it’s imperative for women to seek knowledge about their Muslim faith in order to make the decision that is best for them. Women can also work or choose to raise their children at home, she said.
The Islamic holy book, the Qur’an, requires modesty of women and men in their dress, but it’s when cultural practices are interpreted as religious responsibilities that there is confusion, the women say. For instance, in Saudi Arabia, women must cover their heads, they don’t have a choice.
Uzma Bhutto, who came to Canada from Pakistan in 2005, doesn’t cover her head.
“I’m not courageous at the moment,’’ said Bhutto, who is related to former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated in 2007. They were second cousins.
“I have huge respect for those who do (cover their heads),’’ said Bhutto, who works at the downtown health centre and is a master’s student at the University of Waterloo. She was a medical doctor in Pakistan.
Minna Ella of Waterloo started wearing the niqab — a covering over the head and face, showing only the eyes — when she was 17. She was eight when she covered her head.
“My father didn’t force it upon me and my husband didn’t force it upon me,’’ said Ella, who was born in London, Ont. and then lived in the United States, Egypt and Germany before moving in Waterloo in 2007.
“This is a sign of faith, of Muslim identity,’’ said Ella, a mother of three.
Ella said she often asks people what they think of her when all they can see of her face is her eyes.
“I get the same answer, oppression. It’s out there,’’ she said.
For more information on Saturday’s event, go to the group’s website at www.cmw-kw.org
lmonteiro@therecord.com

source: http://www.therecord.com/living/article/545720–muslim-women-seek-to-dispel-misconceptions

Continue reading »]]> by Ronen Paldi
05/25/11
Owner and President, Ya’lla Tours USA

Turkey is one of the most beautiful and exotic locations on earth. However, many people don’t know just how amazing this land is, or they just have misconceptions about it. What many people do not realize is that Turkey is unlike any other country in the region. Here are 10 things about the country of Turkey that you might not have known.

10. Turkey has some of the earliest advanced civilizations known to man. At least two cities have been uncovered that date back to the Neolithic Age, which most scientists agree happened between 9,000-5,000 B.C. The settlements of Hacilar and Catalhoyuk show that inhabitants had well-built homes, farmed and maintained domesticated farm animals such as goats and sheep and are some of the earliest examples of advanced humanity. The cities date to between 7,000-6,000 B.C.

9. Turkey has had equality for women going back many millennia. One of the most powerful of the early groups to rule Turkey were the Hittites, who were in control from about 1750-1190 B.C. They were an advanced culture and their historical documents show that they did not practice capital or corporal punishment to nearly the extent as some other cultures at that time, and they also had institutional equality among the sexes. That continues to this day, as Turkey has a constitution that mandates equality for women. In fact, Turkey gave women the right to vote before most European countries and the United States.

8. The legendary city of Troy is located there. If you are a fan of ancient history, or just of Hollywood, then you might be interested in learning that the fabled city of Troy is believed to have existed, in real life, in Turkey. In fact, it looks as if Troy was built, destroyed and rebuilt many times. The Troy from the tales of Homer involving the giant walls and the Trojan Horse may have been sometime around what archeologists call Troy V or Troy VI. There are even remnants of the fabled walls that surrounded the city in existence today and that you can visit.

7. Turkey was once the center of the Roman Empire. When Rome began to fall, the Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the empire to Turkey. For a very long time the city was also named after him and known as Constantinople before it became modern day Istanbul. Constantine was famous for converting to Christianity and Turkey, to this day, is a major center for Orthodox Christians.

6. Turkey is important for Eastern Orthodox Christians. Centuries ago a divide among Christians resulted in the Great Schism and the Roman Catholics moved to Rome. In the East, however, they remained in what was then known as Constantinople. Also, Turkey is the country where the Apostle Paul was born and did his missionary work. This makes Turkey of vital importance to Christians of all denominations from around the world.

5. Turkey spans two continents. One segment extends into Europe and the other segment is in Asia. The part that is in Europe is known as Thrace. The part that extends into Asia is known as Anatolia, and sometimes referred to as Asia Minor.

4. Turkey is a democracy. Ever since Turkey became the Republic of Turkey after World War One, the country has been a parliamentary democracy. There is a president of the republic, but he is largely a figurehead and symbolic in nature. True executive power lies within the prime minister who is elected when his party holds the majority in Parliament, much like Great Britain. Voting rights begin for both sexes at the age of 18, and every citizen is free to vote.

3. If you’ve heard the term “Whirling Dervishes,” then you were talking about Turkey. Whirling dervishes are dancers who originated there. These dancers spin in a dance known as Sema, which represents man’s spiritual ascent. Turning on an axis, the dervish will raise the right hand toward heaven to receive God’s grace, which then passes through the heart and down into the earth itself from the down-turned left hand.

2. Turkey uses a Latin-based alphabet and not an Arabic one. This means that the signs, menus and other printed materials will contain letters that you would be familiar with. For those of you who assumed that traveling to a Muslim country meant that the language would look completely foreign and strange, this is not the case.

1. Turkey has a national program of peace. The country actively seeks to find peace with other nations, a lesson learned after the Ottoman Empire sided against the Allied powers in World War One. Turkey maintained a neutral stance during World War Two, siding with the Allies as a symbolic gesture near the end of the conflict. From that point forward, the country has actively sought to be a peace-keeping force in the region. Thanks to this, Turkey has one of the most stable governments and societies in all of the Mediterranean.

For all of these reasons, Turkey is one of the most beautiful, exotic, historic and holy places on the planet. Whether you are a vacationer looking to relax on a beach, one searching out ancient cultures or a religious pilgrim, Turkey has something to see.

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronen-paldi/10-surprising-facts-about-turkey_b_863035.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Continue reading »]]> LONDON, May 22 (APP)- President Asif Ali Zardari has said that Islam is a religion of peace and tranquillity and totally opposed to friction and terrorism. President Zardari, in his message to the International Imam Council, organisers of Syeda Fatima (S.A.) Interfaith Conference at the House of Lords here last evening, noted that such conferences highlight the real image of Islam being a peaceful religion and clear the confusion that Islam, in any way, favours terrorism. The President said: “It gives me immense pleasure that Imam Hussain Council arranged an Interfaith Conference in recognition of Hazrat Fatima Tu-Zahra ( S.A.) , the daughter of our Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is a distinguished personality of the Muslim world.
“She is a shining moral example for all the women across the globe. Her life, her teachings, her mannerisms and even her authority over her father, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is a precedent for us to follow even today.”
The President congratulated the International Imam Hussain Council for bringing all religions and sects together on one platform and becoming a significant instrument of harmony, love, tranquillity and brotherhood amongst all people.
The International Imam Hussain Council arranged the innovative seminar at the senior chamber of the British Parliament, to encourage interfaith dialogue for the enhancement of mutual understanding and sectarian harmony.
The seminar was attended by a number of parliamentarians, interfaith leaders and people from different walks of life.
Rich tributes were paid to women from Abrahamic traditions such as Lady Mary from Christianity and Bithia from Jewish traditions. In celebrating the lives of these glorious women they also focussed on important topics of forced marriages, importance of female education and women with rights.
Originally founded in Pakistan , the International Imam Hussain Council strives to promote unity through creating innovative platforms for heads of state, scholars and members of the public to come together and find creative solutions to the complex problems and threats facing our world. The diverse audience was made up of attendees from all of the major Ibrahamic faiths, as well as representation from Hindu and Seek communities.
The main speaker, Lord Alderdice, Chair of Liberal Democrats, said that women in following the footsteps of Hazrat Fatima (S.A.) can build bridges not only between the Abrahamic religions but also between communities with no particular belief systems. He said there is a tremendous power to motherhood, children and family which perhaps gets lost in more complex cultures.
Lord Nazir Ahmed said Syedna Fatima is a role model for women and a symbol of unity for the Muslims. He said he raised the issue of mosques which have been demolished in Bahrain and will call on the Bahraini Government to stop destroying places of worship.
Rubab Mehdi Rizvi, Chairperson of International Imam Hussain Council, in her welcome address said the gender based nepotism in history means that achievements from females are conveniently forgotten.
“It is imperative in our struggle for gender parity that such personalities are given their rightful place theologically and socially as they are an authentic source of law and ethics.”
She said role of woman in society today has reached the level of stagnation. Hazrat Fatima (S.A.) is a name capable of waking women into dawn away from the painful burdens of some man-made shackles. She sacrificed all she had for justice and was a sister to the poor.
Bishop Nick Holtam of Salisbury shared a story of two extraordinary women who visited St Martin’s from Israel Palestine. He said both these women had lost their sons but following the footsteps of Lady Mary, Miriam and Syeda Fatima (peace be upon them) embarked on a joint reconciliation women while the conflict is still alive. He says these are mothers such as these who can promote the cessation of acts of hostility and the achievement of a political agreement.
Senior Rabbi Mark Winer said, “Although I am not a Muslim, I am a dedicated student of the Quran, the Hadith, and the entirety of Islam. Although I am a Rabbi and dedicated to teaching Torah, I am also an Islamophile, a lover of Islam and Muslims.”
Julian Bond of the Christian Muslim Forum said: “Reflecting on Fatima and Mary, they both had important messages, they challenged men’s words, actions and outlooks and had close family relationships with our founders – the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Jesus Christ”.
The conference was chaired by Yousaf Al Khoei, Director of Al-Khoei Foundation.

source: http://ftpapp.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=139922&Itemid=1

Continue reading »]]> Since the Arab Spring dawned,Turkey’s potential value as an inspiration for and facilitator of reform in the Middle East and North Africa has been a heated topic of discussion. Critics have been concerned that this debate would both work against Turkey’s EU integration by distracting intellectual and political attention and complicate domestic political dynamics through overemphasis on Turkey’s Muslim identity — in essence making Turkey more Middle Eastern rather than spreading reform and open society.

Though Turkey’s intensified engagement in the MENA region is inevitable, the shape of Turkey’s influence is not predetermined. The concentration of the debate should already be on how to make Turkey’s influence a positive one, while mitigating potential risks.
Recalling the significant role that interaction between Turkish and European civil society played in driving Turkey’s positive change raises the question of whether Turkey’s civil society development and related institutional transition experiences are transposable to the EU’s southern neighborhood. Looking more closely at the concrete example of Turkey’s experiences in adapting European approaches to women’s rights can shed light on the feasibility of this notion.
Given vested interests and strategic limitations, Turkey’s official approach to democratization in the region is expected to involve contradictions and may on occasion strain relations with the Western alliance as well as with counterparts in the neighborhood. Ankara’s diplomatic efforts to counsel democratic reform in the region (with an initiative ongoing in Syria currently) have so far yielded little or no results. In contrast, Turkish civil society may be able to play a more consistent and active role in assisting neighbors who venture on the longterm endeavor of building a culture of democracy. For this to materialize, there is a need for synergy between Turkish and European counterparts, as well as an informed demand from Turkey’s respective neighbors. The continuation of Turkey’s Europeanization journey will also be important for Turkey’s far-reaching contribution to positive change among its neighbors.
Turkey’s Not-so-Unique Formula
The freedoms and opportunities enjoyed in Turkey that set it apart in Europe’s neighborhood have largely been a function of Turkey’s Europeanization. Over recent decades, Western literature and interaction with European counterparts played an important role in building awareness among Turkish journalists, activists, and intellectuals. Benchmarking of European standards by NGOs and EU leverage — particularly after candidacy was achieved in 1999 — played a central role. This was distinctly the case in bringing about revolutionary legal reform progressive state policies towards gender equality. Though these European influences have taken on a life of their own in Turkey, some of the most challenging steps lie ahead.
Turkey and the Muslim Middle East share traditions and structural economic challenges that obstruct women’s equal standing in public life and trap women in controlling social networks. Social services and public administration fall short of compensating for these socioeconomic realities. These problems do not mean Turkey is regressing. In fact, many of today’s challenges can be characterized as transition pains. Breaking through the current plateau in women’s empowerment requires holistic policy design, political will, and continued socioeconomic change
Just as the problems are not Muslim, neither are the solutions. The wheel needs neither to be re-invented, nor adapted to a Muslim context. Spain, also traditionally patriarchal, lagged behind Europe in gender equality and violence until recently. It has, over the past two decades, not only caught up, but surpassed most other European countries in terms of gender parity — with relevant legislation, strengthening of law enforcement institutions, and allocation of resources to this end. To the extent that Turkey takes Spain as a model, so can a country like Egypt take Turkey as one. In short, for more effective regional democracy inspiration and assistance, Turkey needs to deepen and consolidate its Europeanization journey, not stall mid-stream.
Dissecting Soft Power — The Place of Islam
Turkey’s potential influence in the Arab world is a function, among other things, of shared religion and the related cultural affinity. The Turkish Prime Minister’s high-profile defiance of Israel, and his defending various controversial Muslim leaders on Western platforms arguably compounded Turkey’s popularity on the Arab street. In fact, Turkey’s secularism and good relations with the West are seen as obstacles to Turkey serving as a model in the Middle East by a sizeable proportion of Arab societies. Should we conclude that it is mutually exclusive for Turkey to intensify its Eastern and Western engagement? Not necessarily.
The kind of engagement that empowering intellectuals in the Arab world calls for is not the same kind of populistic engagement that arousing the Arab street involves. Turkey’s having a seat at Euro-Atlantic tables and raising its democratic and development levels are important pillars of its traction in the neighborhood.
Informed choices by opinion leaders and politicians of the respective recipient neighboring countries will determine which aspects of the Turkish experience are utilized. Ultimately, the liberal young political activists of Tunisia who are cautious about alienating conservative voters can, for example, point to the legal framework in Turkey while advocating that equal rights for women does not mean a split from Islamic conviction. In their long struggle lobbying conservative parliamentarians for progressive reform, Turkish women’s movement activists have in the past also justified their demands by drawing on examples from other Muslim countries. Developing the relatively weak ties between Turkish human rights advocates, journalists, dissidents, youth movements, women’s civil society organizations, and civil society organizations in the common neighborhood of Turkey and the EU is important.
Turkey’s experiment with using faith to promote progressive change may also be relevant for some Muslim reform advocates. For example, in order to promote girls’ education, besides infrastructure development, monetary incentives, and penalties for families that withhold their daughters from school, Turkish Imams have been tasked with delivering supportive messages in Friday prayers across the country. Another case in point is the ongoing scholarly review of hadiths (sayings and traditions attributed to Prophet Muhammad), with a view to weed out the suggestions of women’s secondary status. Promoting progressive interpretation of religion can arguably empower women’s struggle against discrimination in conservative environments. However, such initiatives can not replace, but only supplement, law, effective enforcement, protection mechanisms, civic mobilization, and political will. Over-rating the role of Islam in solutions to basic problems that require strong institutions, civic participation, and economic development would be a mistake. Along the same lines, while Turkey’s Muslim culture can reinforce its inspirational strength, substantiating this influence will require more concrete engagement with the needs of the people.
Seeking Synergy
There is no clean-cut model for the winds of change in the neighborhood stretching from North Africa to Central Eurasia. Not only is each society in the region very different from the other, but they are also presented with a wide range of competing examples. Given how polarized Turkey is domestically, it should come as no surprise that different groups from Turkey itself attempt to export disperate so-called Turkey-models to prospective recipients. One need only look at Azerbaijan, to which ethnic nationalist networks and Muslim brotherhood networks from Turkey have been advocating contrasting visions for two decades. From that example, one can conclude that if there is a risk, it is that the West-oriented liberal democrats in Turkey — who have played the biggest role in Turkey’s own transformation — risk falling behind in the race to influence neighbors. Neighbors motivated by the liberalization phase of Turkey’s complex evolution need to play a proactive role to engage these segments of Turkish society.
While Turkish women’s NGOs have experience working in social settings defined by tribal structures in Eastern Turkey, European women’s NGOs have valuable experience gained by East European EU accession. On issues such as utilizing social media, the transmission may very well be reversed; Turkish social movements have much to learn from some of their neighbors’ more active use of such Internet resources. The United States may be most influential in spreading values and activism through education, while Georgia has the most recent example of radical reform of police force.
Rather than assuming Turkey possesses an upper hand on the basis of popularity among neighboring masses, more modesty is called for to find synergy. To get plugged into the causes of reformists in the region and to play a more active role in their affairs, Turkish civil society and media is already benefitting from the language skills, sources, experiences, and funding of their Western counterparts.
Until recently, those in Turkey with a Western-oriented outlook largely neglected Eurasia and the Middle East; vice versa, Turkish groups with networks and advocacy among Eastern neighbors were not plugged in to the Western policy community. This is slowly changing but to find synergy between Turkish and European civil society in a more substantial and lasting way, adaptation of visions, resources, and structures will be important.
Conclusion
The argument that Turkey does not need Europe because it possesses stand-alone regional power is misplaced, but it has been seeping into the Turkish mainstream. Turkey’s EU vocation is still critical not only for strategic reasons but also for more effective use of soft power and to be a stronger role model. Turkey is yet to prove that it can sustainably overcome some of the major problems it shares with its Eastern neighbors. How Turkey deals with the challenges ahead will also be critical in determining whether Turkey can continue to inspire its neighbors — Muslim or otherwise.
Though Turkey’s transformation itself is a work in progress, it is precisely because similar problems with its neighbors still exist that Turkey’s example is perceived to be “within reach.” That being said, Turkey needs to be moving forward on the challenging fronts in order for this element of inspiration to be sustained. Even though Turkey’s progress can be seen as a sign that a Muslim country can overcome these hurdles, the flipside is that a stalling or regression on the part of Turkey can perpetuate perceived civilizational divides.

source: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-242987-europes-neighborhood-can-turkey-inspire.html

Continue reading »]]> A Turkish charity that owned a ship raided by Israeli commandoes last year said on Friday that a new flotilla to deliver aid to Gaza is set to set sail next month with more than 1,500 activists in 15 ships.

Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH) President Bülent Yıldırım called a press conference on Friday at the charity’s office in İstanbul and said they plan to set sail with participants from more than 100 countries “for humanity.”
An international convoy of ships, the Freedom Flotilla 2, is expected to sail to Gaza next month, one year after a deadly Israeli raid on a similar flotilla on May 31 of last year. Eight Turks and one Turkish American were killed on a Turkish ship in the flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, during the raid. The flotilla was trying to break an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Turkey, a former Muslim ally of the Jewish state, has scaled back ties since then, demanding Israel apologize and pay damages for the deadly raid, which caused an international outcry.
Noting that everyone with a conscience expects the new flotilla to set sail, Yıldırım underlined that the new flotilla is part of an international move and that İHH is just a small part of it. “This is an activity organized by 22 organizations,” he added.
The İHH president also called on Israel to let the flotilla enter Gaza and to not repeat the same mistake. Yıldırım said they are planning to set sail in the last week of June. Israel recently asked Turkey to prevent activists planning to join the aid convoy to the Palestinian enclave next month. Turkey warned the Turkish activists of the risks of trying to break an Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, but these groups are outside the government’s control, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said in response.

source: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-244549-new-gaza-flotilla-to-set-sail-with-1500-activists-in-15-ships-says-ihh.html

Continue reading »]]> April 16, 2008
by Nicholas Birch

As a child, Klaus Schmidt used to grub around in caves in his native Germany in the hope of finding prehistoric paintings. Thirty years later, representing the German Archaeological Institute, he found something infinitely more important — a temple complex almost twice as old as anything comparable on the planet.
“This place is a supernova”, says Schmidt, standing under a lone tree on a windswept hilltop 35 miles north of Turkey’s border with Syria. “Within a minute of first seeing it I knew I had two choices: go away and tell nobody, or spend the rest of my life working here.”
Behind him are the first folds of the Anatolian plateau. Ahead, the Mesopotamian plain, like a dust-colored sea, stretches south hundreds of miles to Baghdad and beyond. The stone circles of Gobekli Tepe are just in front, hidden under the brow of the hill.
Compared to Stonehenge, Britain’s most famous prehistoric site, they are humble affairs. None of the circles excavated (four out of an estimated 20) are more than 30 meters across. What makes the discovery remarkable are the carvings of boars, foxes, lions, birds, snakes and scorpions, and their age. Dated at around 9,500 BC, these stones are 5,500 years older than the first cities of Mesopotamia, and 7,000 years older than Stonehenge.
Never mind circular patterns or the stone-etchings, the people who erected this site did not even have pottery or cultivate wheat. They lived in villages. But they were hunters, not farmers.
“Everybody used to think only complex, hierarchical civilizations could build such monumental sites, and that they only came about with the invention of agriculture”, says Ian Hodder, a Stanford University Professor of Anthropology, who, since 1993, has directed digs at Catalhoyuk, Turkey’s most famous Neolithic site. “Gobekli changes everything. It’s elaborate, it’s complex and it is pre-agricultural. That fact alone makes the site one of the most important archaeological finds in a very long time.”
With only a fraction of the site opened up after a decade of excavations, Gobekli Tepe’s significance to the people who built it remains unclear. Some think the site was the center of a fertility rite, with the two tall stones at the center of each circle representing a man and woman.
It’s a theory the tourist board in the nearby city of Urfa has taken up with alacrity. Visit the Garden of Eden, its brochures trumpet, see Adam and Eve.
Schmidt is skeptical about the fertility theory. He agrees Gobekli Tepe may well be “the last flowering of a semi-nomadic world that farming was just about to destroy,” and points out that if it is in near perfect condition today, it is because those who built it buried it soon after under tons of soil, as though its wild animal-rich world had lost all meaning.
But the site is devoid of the fertility symbols that have been found at other Neolithic sites, and the T-shaped columns, while clearly semi-human, are sexless. “I think here we are face to face with the earliest representation of gods”, says Schmidt, patting one of the biggest stones. “They have no eyes, no mouths, no faces. But they have arms and they have hands. They are makers.”
“In my opinion, the people who carved them were asking themselves the biggest questions of all,” Schmidt continued. “What is this universe? Why are we here?”
With no evidence of houses or graves near the stones, Schmidt believes the hill top was a site of pilgrimage for communities within a radius of roughly a hundred miles. He notes how the tallest stones all face southeast, as if scanning plains that are scattered with archeological sites in many ways no less remarkable than Gobekli Tepe.
Last year, for instance, French archaeologists working at Djade al-Mughara in northern Syria uncovered the oldest mural ever found. “Two square meters of geometric shapes, in red, black and white – a bit like a Paul Klee painting,” explains Eric Coqueugniot, the University of Lyon archaeologist who is leading the excavation.
Coqueugniot describes Schmidt’s hypothesis that Gobekli Tepe was meeting point for feasts, rituals and sharing ideas as “tempting,” given the site’s spectacular position. But he emphasizes that surveys of the region are still in their infancy. “Tomorrow, somebody might find somewhere even more dramatic.”
Director of a dig at Korpiktepe, on the Tigris River about 120 miles east of Urfa, Vecihi Ozkaya doubts the thousands of stone pots he has found since 2001 in hundreds of 11,500 year-old graves quite qualify as that. But his excitement fills his austere office at Dicle University in Diyarbakir.

“Look at this”, he says, pointing at a photo of an exquisitely carved sculpture showing an animal, half-human, half-lion. “It’s a sphinx, thousands of years before Egypt. Southeastern Turkey, northern Syria – this region saw the wedding night of our civilization.”

source:http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav041708a.shtml

Continue reading »]]> By SUSANNE GÜSTEN
May 4, 2011

ALASEHIR, TURKEY — Knapsacks shouldered and bibles in hand, a group of Christian pilgrims from Indonesia, China and the United States trooped into the remains of a fourth-century church in ancient Philadelphia last month. Gazing up at the columns that tower over what is today the Turkish market town of Alasehir, the pilgrims listened as their Australian guide read from the Apostle John’s letter to the early Christians of this city, one of the biblical Seven Churches of Revelation.

“It makes you see the Bible in 3-D and color,” the guide, Dan Fennell, said of his tour of historical Christian sites around western Turkey.
Mr. Fennell, who is based in Jakarta, has been leading pilgrimages to Anatolia for close to a decade. But these visits have become richer and more rewarding, he said, because Turkey has been cultivating the historical sites of Christianity.
“In Laodicea, for example, where we are headed next, you can now see things you could not see five years ago,” Mr. Fennell said of the ruins of the seventh city addressed by the Apostle John.
A Muslim nation long ill at ease with its pre-Ottoman history, Turkey has discovered Anatolia’s Christian heritage as a way of drawing visitors and of cultivating an image as a meeting-point and arbiter of civilizations.
“We have recognized this as a special field of tourism and as a special cultural wealth,” the Turkish culture minister, Ertugrul Gunay, said in an interview in Ankara. By next year, his ministry aims to increase the number of religious tourists to Turkey to more than three million, from 1.3 million last year.
“Until now, our concept of faith tourism was limited” to Muslim shrines “like the Mevlana tomb in Konya or the Halil-Ur Rahman mosque in Urfa,” Mr. Gunay said, “even though Anatolia is the home of important shrines of Christianity and Judaism as well.”
“Now,” he added, “we are working to care for all of these sites, Muslim, Christian and Jewish, without discrimination, to restore them and maintain them and to open them up to the public to visit.”
A case in point is the ancient metropolis of Laodicea, in southwestern Turkey, where Turkish archaeologists unearthed a spectacular church dating to the early fourth century.
“This is one of the oldest churches in the world to survive in its original state,” said Celal Simsek, the archaeologist who is leading the excavation team that has worked through the winter to reveal the huge church that was first spotted underground last year on a radar scan. “When the 10 most important archaeological discoveries of the 21st century are totted up one day, this church will definitely be on the list.”
Mr. Simsek dates the construction of the church to between 313 and 320 A.D., immediately after the Edict of Milan, by which Emperor Constantine I of Rome legalized Christianity in the year 313.
Scrambling around the church, which has 10 towering pillars on a floor area of 2,000 square meters, or 21,500 square feet, flawlessly preserved mosaic floors and a walk-in baptismal fountain for mass christenings, Mr. Simsek said he was hoping to invite the pope to the official unveiling of the restored church, tentatively planned for next year.
“I expect an onslaught of visitors in the coming years,” Mr. Simsek said.
Pilgrims have already begun pouring in, on the last leg of a tour through the sites of the seven biblical churches, all of which are in western Turkey. Tourism to the site increased tenfold in the first months of this year, to 1,000 visitors a day, Mr. Simsek said, adding that “90 percent of visitors are pilgrims.”
Mindful of the revenue that tourists provide, the nearby town of Denizli, in a first for Turkey, is now supporting the Laodicea digs financially, adding a million dollars year to financing from the local university and the Culture Ministry.

It is a vein of tourism that other towns in heritage-rich Anatolia have begun to invest in as well. The small northwestern town of Iznik, which has long marketed itself on the fine tiles produced there in Ottoman times, now evokes its former incarnation as Nicaea, site of two of the seven Ecumenical Councils that shaped the basic tenets of the Christian faith.
All seven councils were held on what is now Turkish soil — the two in Nicaea, three in Constantinople, now Istanbul, one in Ephesus in western Turkey and one in Chalcedon, the modern-day Kadikoy district of Istanbul on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus. Last year, Iznik invited historians from the Vatican to join a search for the exact location of the first Council of Nicaea, at which bishops from all over the Roman Empire gathered in 325 to draft the creed that is recited by Christians around the world to this day.
The Nicaean church in which the seventh Council dispatched iconoclasm in the year 787 has been roofed and restored, and plans to build new hotels in the town are under way.
The local authorities are also working on a project to pair Iznik with the Spanish city of Córdoba, historical seat of the Islamic caliphate that ruled Iberia and northern Africa in the 10th century, in a “bridge of civilizations” that is to emphasize the shared historical heritages of Christians and Muslims and to promote intercultural exchange.
The partnership is to be sponsored by the Alliance of Civilizations, a United Nations initiative that is co-sponsored by the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Spanish counterpart, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and aims to fight extremism by fostering understanding and cooperation across cultures and religions.
“As the venue of two Ecumenical Councils, Iznik really has the potential to draw a lot of interest from all over the world,” said Mr. Gunay, the culture minister. “So we are trying to promote Iznik and to restore it.”
He said the government had also granted permission for annual religious services to be held in several historical churches that are otherwise classified as museums, which makes it illegal to worship there. One is the Church of Saint Nicholas in Demre, ancient Myra, which is visited by 400,000 tourists a year.
Another is the Orthodox monastery of Sumela, which is near Trabzon on the Black Sea, had been closed since 1923 and was re-opened last summer for its first religious service in 88 years, drawing thousands of Orthodox pilgrims.

for the full text: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/world/middleeast/05iht-M05-TURKEY-CHRISTIANS.html?ref=world

Continue reading »]]> By: James H. Hutson
4/6/2011

Library of Congress Papers Show Tolerance and acceptance for Muslim Faith

With more than 55 million items, the Library’s Manuscript Division contains the papers of 23 presidents, from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge. In this article, Manuscript Division Chief James Hutson draws upon the papers of Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other primary documents to discuss the relationship of Islam to the new nation.

MANY MUSLIMS feel unwelcome in the United States in the aftermath of September 11, according to newspaper reports. Anecdotal evidence suggests that substantial numbers of Americans view their Muslim neighbors as an alien presence outside the limits of American life and history. While other minorities-African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans-were living within the boundaries of the present United States from the earliest days of the nation, Muslims are perceived to have had no part in the American experience.

Readers may be surprised to learn that there may have been hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Muslims in the United States in 1776-imported as slaves from areas of Africa where Islam flourished. Although there is no evidence that the Founders were aware of the religious convictions of their bondsmen, it is clear that the Founding Fathers thought about the relationship of Islam to the new nation and were prepared to make a place for it in the republic.

In his seminal Letter on Toleration (1689), John Locke insisted that Muslims and all others who believed in God be tolerated in England. Campaigning for religious freedom in Virginia, Jefferson followed Locke, his idol, in demanding recognition of the religious rights of the “Mahamdan,” the Jew and the “pagan.” Supporting Jefferson was his old ally, Richard Henry Lee, who had made a motion in Congress on June 7, 1776, that the American colonies declare independence. “True freedom,” Lee asserted, “embraces the Mahomitan and the Gentoo (Hindu) as well as the Christian religion.”

In his autobiography, Jefferson recounted with satisfaction that in the struggle to pass his landmark Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1786), the Virginia legislature “rejected by a great majority” an effort to limit the bill’s scope “in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan.” George Washington suggested a way for Muslims to “obtain proper relief” from a proposed Virginia bill, laying taxes to support Christian worship. On another occasion, the first president declared that he would welcome “Mohometans” to Mount Vernon if they were “good workmen” (see page 96). Officials in Massachusetts were equally insistent that their influential Constitution of 1780 afforded “the most ample liberty of conscience É to Deists, Mahometans, Jews and Christians,” a point that Chief Justice Theophilus Parsons resoundingly affirmed in 1810.

Toward Islam itself the Founding generation held differing views. An evangelical Baptist spokesman denounced “Mahomet” as a “hateful” figure who, unlike the meek and gentle Jesus, spread his religion at the point of a sword. A Presbyterian preacher in rural South Carolina dusted off Grotius’ 17th century reproach that the “religion of Mahomet originated in arms, breathes nothing but arms, is propagated by arms.” Other, more influential observers had a different view of Muslims. In 1783, the president of Yale College, Ezra Stiles, cited a study showing that “Mohammadan” morals were “far superior to the Christian.” Another New Englander believed that the “moral principles that were inculcated by their teachers had a happy tendency to render them good members of society.” The reference here, as other commentators made clear, was to Islam’s belief, which it shared with Christianity, in a “future state of rewards and punishments,” a system of celestial carrots and sticks which the Founding generation considered necessary to guarantee good social conduct.

“A Mahometan,” wrote a Boston newspaper columnist, “is excited to the practice of good morals in hopes that after the resurrection he shall enjoy the beautiful girls of paradise to all eternity; he is afraid to commit murder, adultery and theft, lest he should be cast into hell, where he must drink scalding water and the scum of the damned.” Benjamin Rush, the Pennsylvania signer of the Declaration of Independence and friend of Adams and Jefferson, applauded this feature of Islam, asserting that he had “rather see the opinions of Confucius or Mohammed inculcated upon our youth than see them grow up wholly devoid of a system of religious principles.”

That ordinary citizens shared these positive views is demonstrated by a petition of a group of citizens of Chesterfield County, Va., to the state assembly, Nov. 14, 1785: “Let Jews, Mehometans and Christians of every denomination enjoy religious libertyÉthrust them not out now by establishing the Christian religion lest thereby we become our own enemys and weaken this infant state. It is mens labour in our Manufactories, their services by sea and land that aggrandize our Country and not their creeds. Chain your citizens to the state by their Interest. Let Jews, Mehometans, and Christians of every denomination find their advantage in living under your laws.”

The Founders of this nation explicitly included Islam in their vision of the future of the republic. Freedom of religion, as they conceived it, encompassed it. Adherents of the faith were, with some exceptions, regarded as men and women who would make law-abiding, productive citizens. Far from fearing Islam, the Founders would have incorporated it into the fabric of American life.

James H. Hutson is chief of the Manuscript Division and the author of many books, including “Religion and the Founding of the American Republic,” 1998

The Library of Congress – Information Bulletin – May 2002

source: http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=IC1103-4605

Continue reading »]]> by Hesham A. Hassaballa
December 8, 2010
During my days as an undergraduate at Marquette University, I always enjoyed the 8th day of December. That’s because it would be day off from school for a holiday of which heretofore I had never known: the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. I had always thought that this day was to commemorate the conception of Jesus Christ, and was surprised to learn, however, that this day actually celebrates the conception of the Virgin Mary.
Although I do not officially celebrate this day, it still brings a warm feeling to my heart, for it reminds me of the Virgin Mary, who has a very exalted place in Muslim belief. The very story of the birth of Mary, which the feast day commemorates, is found in the Quran:

“A woman of (the House of Imran) prayed: ‘O my sustainer! Behold, unto Thee do I vow (the child) that is in my womb to be devoted to Thy service. Accept it, then, from me: verily, Thou alone art all-hearing, all-knowing!’ But when she had given birth to the child, she said: ‘O my sustainer! Behold, I have given birth to a female’ – the while God had been fully aware of what she would give birth to – ‘and the male is not like the female. And I have named her Mary, and verily, I seek Thy protection for her and her offspring against Satan, the accursed.’” (3:35-36)
The Holy Virgin is the only woman mentioned by name in the Quran, and the entire 19th Chapter of the Quran is named specifically after her. The Quran details how she took a special secluded place in the Temple where she worshiped God devoutly:
“And mention Mary in the Book: when she withdrew from her people to a place in the East and secluded herself from them…” (19:16-17). It was there that the Angel Gabriel appeared to her to give her the good news of the birth of her son, Jesus:
“…We sent her Our spirit, which appeared to her just like a man. She said, ‘I take refuge from you with the Benevolent One, if you are conscientious.’ He said, ‘I am only a messenger from your Lord, to give you a sinless son.’” (16:17-19)
Moreover, God singles out the Virgin Mary as the ideal example of the believer:
“And God cites as an example of those who believed…Mary, the daughter of Imran. She maintained her chastity, then we blew into her from Our spirit. She believed in the words of her Lord and His scriptures; she was obedient.” (66:11-12)
This has been the case for over fourteen centuries, and it should come as no surprise that such a prominent figure in Christianity should have such an exalted place in Islam. No devout Muslim would ever fathom attacking the character of the Virgin Mary. The deep and intense love I have for the Virgin (and her son) moved me to pen a poem in her honor on my blog, just as that same type of love moved me to write my book, Noble Brother.
And thus, it makes me sad that all Muslims – who universally love and honor all of the Prophets of God – are lumped together with the tiny number of criminals who commit crimes in Islam’s name. In any number of the mosques that dot the American landscape, on any given day, the verses of the Quran that extol the virtues and honor of the Virgin Mary are being read out in ritual prayer. Thus, it is neither right nor proper that they be attacked – such as the mosque in Oregon – whenever a Muslim happens to be arrested for committing a crime anywhere in the world.
If more people would know such things as how much Islam honors and reveres the Virgin Mary and her holy son; if more people knew that Islam condemns all acts of violence against innocent people; if more people knew that we Muslims are not like the criminals who act in the name of our faith, it would go a long way to bring harmony and peace among all the faith communities in our great nation.

source: http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/eboo_patel/2010/12/love_for_the_virgin_mary_runs.html

Continue reading »]]> by Kari Ansari
12/22/2010

When I became a Muslim thirteen years ago this month, I left behind the Christmas traditions my family celebrated every year of my childhood. My mother was able to transform our Southern California home into a Winter Wonderland as soon as we walked in the door; it may have been 75 degrees and sunny outside, but inside we felt we were in a Currier and Ives world of red velvet beribboned pine boughs, twinkling lights and beautiful music. I loved it. The Christmas season and our small traditions remained the same no matter how many years passed. My mother worked extremely hard to build warm, and loving holiday memories, and I sincerely cherish them.

Like many American homes, there wasn’t much Christ in my family’s Christmas. There would always be some discussion surrounding the reason for our celebration, but we didn’t attend church services or talk too much about what my parents believed. The beautiful nativity on the mantle, hand-painted by my grandmother, was flanked by tasteful, secular decorations. This led to a kind of vague confusion between the miraculous birth of Jesus, and the magical feat of Santa Claus zipping around the world in one night.

Nostalgia not withstanding, thinking about Christmas is now far more meaningful to me on a spiritual level than it was when I was young. The fact that Muslims accept and believe in the virgin birth of Jesus has been a golden thread that links my childhood Christmas memories to my very fulfilling adult life as a Muslim.

The world’s more than 1.5 billion Muslims would like their Christian neighbors to know that we believe in the Annunciation; in the Quran we read that God sent the angels to Mary:

“When the angels said: O Mary, surely God gives you good news with a Word from Him of one whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, worthy of regard in this world and the hereafter and of those who are made near to God. And he shall speak to the people when in the cradle and when of old age, and he shall be one of the good ones.” Quran 3:45-46

The Quran has only one chapter named after a woman; Chapter 19 is titled “Mary”, or as it is translated in Arabic — Maryam. The Quran tells us that the infant Jesus, (or Isa as it is translated in Arabic), spoke from Mary’s arms:

“…He said: Surely I am a servant of God; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet; And He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined on me prayer and charity so long as I live; And dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed; And peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life.’” Quran 19:30-33*

While Muslims don’t celebrate Christmas, we believe in the awesome and miraculous birth of Jesus, in the miracles he performed by God’s Grace, and in the message of love and peace Jesus brought to the world.

I hope my family knows that I am more attached to the account of Jesus and Mary than I ever was as a child, now that I am a practicing Muslim. It is a vital part of my faith; a faith that I share with over a billion and a half people around the world.

This is my Christmas card to my family, and all my Christian friends and neighbors: Peace on earth and goodwill toward men.

*Muslims understand this verse in reference to the to death of Jesus after the second coming and resurrection on the Day of Judgment. See Quran, 4:157

Kari Ansari is a writer, editor, marketing consultant, co-creator of the popular AmericaÕs Muslim Family Magazine and Muslim Family Bookshelf blog, and one of the founders of the Muslim Family Life Foundation.

source: http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=HF1012-4398

Continue reading »]]> By Adri Wanto
December 20 2010

INDONESIAN MUSLIMS live in the largest Muslim country in the world and are well-known for their moderation. They embody the key ideas of democracy, tolerance, freedom, respect for human rights and equality. Instead of establishing an Islamic state, a majority of Muslims are actively involved in promoting democratic institutions. Many questions have been raised as to the factors that facilitate Muslim moderation in Indonesia, and specifically how democratic is Indonesian Islam?

To answer these questions, I argue that the local culture and the Islamic texts used in traditional Islamic boarding schools are the two most dominant factors in moulding inclusive and tolerant Muslims in Indonesia.

Islamic Law and Local culture

Snouck Hurgronje, the Dutch colonial scholar, had written about the Indonesian community in Mecca in the 1880s. Hurgronje pointed out that the relationship between Muslims in Indonesia and in the Middle East was very unique. On the one hand, the Indonesian people sought knowledge and inspiration from Muslims in the Middle East, but they then adapted this knowledge to their local culture which was different from the source. Hurgronje considered it as adaptive and intelligent of the Indonesian people to blend Islamic teaching with their local culture to create a very rich religious synthesis.

In Islam, culture is usually referred to as ‘urf or ‘Adah. The 21st century Islamic scholar Muhammad Yusuf Qardhawi explained that ‘urf is the habits and behaviour of people in everyday life which become hereditary customs. Because the ‘urf is an inseparable part of a person, it is used in formulating the fiqh (Islamic law).

Muslims in Indonesia recognised that there were many cultures that existed in the pre-Islamic era, some of which were Islamised and adopted by the prophet Muhammad. This indicates that Islam was not born in order to eliminate the entire culture that developed in pre-Islamic Arab society. Prophet Muhammad created many rules of customary law that legalised Arab society, to make space for the practice of customary law in the Islamic legal system as long as the law was not against Islamic principles.

For instance, the Haj was practised in Arab societies long before Islam arrived. Pre-Islamic Arab societies also conducted worship at the Kaabah, although they were idolators. After the arrival of Islam, the practices continued with some changes. For example idol worship was terminated. The tawaf — one of the rites of the haj involving walking around the Kaabah at the beginning and the conclusion of the pilgrimage — was previously performed naked by pre-Islamic Arab society. The Prophet banned this and instead carry out this worship fully dressed till today.

The laws established by Prophet Muhammad and his successors (Sahabat) always took into account the evolving culture of the community. In the establishment of fiqh we can see the influence of different cultures in the laws that were created. Abu Hanifa, one of Islam’s four great imams, took advantage of customs and social habits of a diverse range of communities as a secondary source to the law as long as they did not contradict the Quran. Similarly, Imam Malik was influenced by the indigenous communities in Medina when developing fiqh theory.

Fiqh and Flexibility

One important history which explains social influence in the cultural constructs of Islamic fiqh is related to the phenomenon of Imam Shafi’i, another great imam of Islam after the Prophet. Social conditions and circumstances affected most of his thoughts on fiqh law. The clearest example of this is the emergence of the so-called qaul qadim (the old statement) and qaul Jadid (new statement) in the spectrum of thought of Imam Shafi’i. Originally, Imam Shafi’i made a statement for fiqh. However, later this statement became Qaul qadim (old statement) because he came across a new situation which led him to create a new statement or qaul Jadid. This indicates the flexibility of fiqh.

Many of Islamic book references (kitab kuning) used in the traditional Islamic boarding school (Pesantren) in Indonesia highlight the need for Muslims to apply awareness and wisdom when making historical reflections or interpreting Islamic fiqh thought in the early Islamic period. This perspective of Islamic law teaches that new approaches must be in accordance with the legal consciousness of society, namely law which was formed by environmental awareness, or with the local culture and traditions.

It is necessary to consider the traditions of the indigenous people when formulating local forms of Islamic law in Indonesia. This concept is based on Islam’s egalitarian characteristics, so that all cultural elements in Indonesian society can be a source of Islamic law. This argument denies the idea that only Arab culture can be the basis for the formulation of Islamic law.

Religious Harmony and Social Stability

Not all ‘urf or culture conflicts with Islamic teachings and therefore, they can be used as the source of Islamic law. The late president Abdurrahman Wahid, when he was leader of the Islamic organisation Nahdahtul Ulama (NU), conceptualised local Islamic teachings. According to him, localised Islamic teaching is interpreted as an attempt to hold on to the cultural roots of Indonesia, while still trying to create a religious community. In his thinking, Abdurrahman Wahid tried to place Islam and other cultures in a position of dialogue. From this basis, he refused to accept any movement adopting a hegemonic position whether privileging “Islamisation”, “Arabisation” or “the formalisation of Islamic teachings in the cultural sphere”.

In the context of Indonesia, the Indonesian formulation of Islamic law is very important. This idea can develop two important paradigms in localising Islamic law. The first is contextual: Islamic law is understood as a doctrine associated with the dimensions of the time and place. Changing the time and place must influence the interpretation or Ijtihad (individual interpretation) in Islamic law. Since Islamic law is adaptive it can be applied to every era and place (fi kulli zamanin wa fi kuli makanin). Secondly, Islamic law respects local traditions as long as these traditions are not in conflict or can be reconciled with Islamic principles.

Therefore Islamic law should consider local tradition and should not view local tradition as an object that must be defeated. As Indonesia’s case highlights, religious harmony and socio-stability prevail when Islamic law is positioned in synthesis with local tradition.

Adri Wanto is a Research Analyst with the Indonesia Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. He studied at a Pesantren in West Sumatra (Nurul Yaqin, Padang Pariaman), Indonesia.

source: http://www.eurasiareview.com/analysis/indonesian-islam-what-went-right-20122010/

Continue reading »]]> 20 December 2010

Moscow, December 20, Interfax – Talgat Tajuddin, the chairman of the Central Religious Muslim Board, categorically disagrees with remarks by Ravil Gainutdin, the head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, that Islam is being suppressed in Russia.

“It is stupid and blasphemous to talk about suppression of Islam in Russia. What Gainutdin has said is just untrue,” Tajuddin told journalists.

“I have chaired the Central Religious Muslim Board for more than 30 years and can say how everything has changed in the past years. We, the Muslims of Russia, had only 94 mosques, and there were about 300 mosques in the entire USSR. Now there are more than 7,500 mosques here. This means more than seventy-fold growth. There used to be 16 mosques and there are 1,016 of them now in Bashkortostan alone. There were 15 mosques in Tatarstan and there are 1,300 now. What can you talk about here?” Tajuddin told journalists.

There are seven Islamic universities and dozens of madrasahs in Russia. Each mosque has a Sunday school teaching traditional Islam. With support from the presidential secretariat, the Fund in Support for Islamic Culture, Science, and Education has been set up, which provides enormous assistance to Muslims, Tajuddin said.

“By the way, the leader of one of them is [Alexey] Grishin mentioned by Gainutdin. He has been called an Islamophobe. I wish there were more such Islamophobes,” he said. “Gainutdin has never had a monopoly to speak on behalf of all Muslims in Russia. He often travels abroad and tries to speak on behalf of all of our Muslims, although he heads only a small amount of communities,” he said.

“Russia currently needs peace so much as never before. It is unacceptable to rock the boat in which the Most High has gathered us all. This is a sin and a crime in line with the law and the Sharia rule,” he added.

All religious leaders bear huge responsibility for peace and order between peoples and adherents to this country’s traditional religions, Tajuddin said. “These internal problems can be solved at home through dialogue and communication. The global community, especially the Muslim community, has enough of its own problems. Therefore, it is shallow and indecent to appeal to the global and Islamic community to resolve our internal problems,” he said.

It was reported earlier that Gainutdin accused the state of thwarting the unification of Muslims and attempts to “suppress Islam in Russia,” and called the members of a recently formed the All-Russian Muslim Board “puppets” and “sleazy people.”

“In 2009, during the Kurban-Bairam (Eid al-Adha) mufti Talgat Tajuddin suggested a merger of three centralized Muslim organizations. After this proposal was studied, head of the Caucasus Muslims Berdiyev and I held a meeting with Talgat Tajuddin. We set up a working group and started the work of unification. However, the state did not like this decision. It was made known that the opinion of Tagat Tajuddin’s proposal was not consistent with the state policy,” Gainutdin said in an interview with the Tatar edition of Radio Liberty.

Ravil Gainutdin’s criticisms against the state were also prompted by the recent formation of the fourth All-Russian Muslim Board – the Russian Association of Islamic Accord, aimed in particular to oppose the unification process.

“The newly made ‘pocket’ muftis, opposing the growth of Islam will become strident “puppets.” These puppets who are working in the government, such as Islamophobe Grishin [Russian Presidential Administration Advisor in charge of liaisons with Islamic organizations], for instance, will no doubt try to suppress Islam in Russia, particularly being aware that currently Islam in Russia is a big factor, and focusing specifically on this will attempt to stop the growth of Islam. This has already started to materialize,” Gainutdin said.

Commenting on the recent riots in Moscow motivated by ethnic animosity, Gainutdin said that a very strong pressure is being felt in the capital where more than 2 million Muslims live.

“”Due to the lack of mosques Muslims have to perform festive prayers on the street, on tram rails, even at church courtyards. Thus, the humiliation of Muslims, the discriminating policy against civil rights continues. All Muslims, the whole Islamic world can see that,” the Mufti said.

“The unrest in St. Petersburg, Moscow was prompted by attitudes towards Islam. One might say that the disaster as a result of which so many people ended up in hospitals, and the violent clashes were the result of efforts to belittle the role of Muslims in Russia,” Gainutdin said.

source: http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8032

Continue reading »]]> Osman Nuri Topbaş
2009 – Jan/Feb, Issue: 015, Page: 004 Wisdom Magazine
Mawlana said: “Uthman was a man with a great love for Allah; he would sit where the sermon was to be recited and he would remain silent until the call for asr prayer. All the time that this great Caliph was sitting there nobody could talk or leave the mosque. Solemnity would surround everyone, from the learned to the Bedouins and the ignorant ones; the interior and the dome of the mosque were filled with the light of Allah. The wise ones could see the Divine light of Allah, but the unaware just felt the heat of the blazing sun.”

The reason for this vision and its effect was the outstanding behavior and spiritual status of Caliph Uthman; he had a manner that resembled that of Prophet Muhammad. His actions and morality were like those of Prophet Muhammad and this was because Uthman felt so much love and affection towards the Prophet.

PERFORMING TAWAF WITH THE PROPHET

Prophet Muhammad left with the Companions to perform the umrah (lesser pilgrimage) while the Quraysh were still in Mecca. The Quraysh would not let Prophet Muhammad and the Companions complete their pilgrimage, so the Prophet sent Uthman on ahead to Mecca with the hope that he might be able to change their minds. Prophet Muhammad waited in Hudaibia with the Companions.

When Hazrat Uthman reached Mecca he informed the Quraysh of the Muslims’ intention to perform the lesser pilgrimage; however permission was not given to them to enter the city and they kept Uthman waiting there. They told him: “You can perform tawaf around the Kaaba if you wish!”

But due to his loyalty and affection for Prophet Muhammad, Uthman refused this offer; he told them: “I cannot do this before the Messenger of Allah has had the chance to perform tawaf (around the Kaaba).” (Ahmad)

As for his absence from the Ar-Ridwan pledge of allegiance, had there been any person in Mecca more respectable than ‘Uthman (to be sent as a representative). Allah’s Apostle would have sent him instead of him. No doubt, Allah’s Apostle had sent him, and the incident of the Ar-Ridwan pledge of Allegiance happened after ‘Uthman had gone to Mecca. Allah’s Apostle held out his right hand saying, ‘This is ‘Uthman’s hand.’ He stroke his (other) hand with it saying, ‘This (pledge of allegiance) is on the behalf of ‘Uthman. (Bukhari,57/48)

A BLESSING FROM HIS STATE OF GLORY

Like the other Companions, Uthman was a reflection of Prophet Muhammad’s lofty morals; he was a reflection full of light and sincere affection. It was because of this that during his caliphate the energy, prosperity and spirituality gained from the silences in his sermons weremuch more meaningful and powerful than any words could ever be.

The mystery of the great morality of Sayyidina Abu Bakr, Sayyidina Umar and Sayyidina Ali along with the other Companions was due to the essence of love and devotion they felt from submitting themselves to the morality of Prophet Muhammad; this is the greatest character trait a person can ever attain. The attainment of such prosperity is something we can never comprehend; with their devoted actions and spiritual thoughts they became the light of faith.

Thus the main objective in our lives should be to obtain blessings from the way of life and the actions of Prophet Muhammad so that we can be guided in faith; the only way to achieve the sincerity and beauty of faith with morality and guidance is with this great blessing. Those who gain the blessing of Prophet Muhammad’s morality will be a ray of his eternal light and will truly understand the revelations of divinity, while the heedless ones will remain blind and perish in the turbulence of foolishness.

The doors of faith, knowledge, wisdom and true understanding of Allah Almighty will only open when a person gains the blessing of Prophet Muhammad’s morality and life.

The souls and minds of those who are unaware of his divine light will remain deprived and those who reject Prophet Muhammad, who have not obtained the blessing of his morality in their souls, are among the pitiful ones. Even though Abu Jahil said to him “You are Muhammad, the truthful one”, he never accepted the faith, because he had been deprived of the affection, morality and blessings of the Prophet.

As Mawlana beautifully explains:

“The holy wisdom of Ahmad was of no mystery to anyone; everybody knew that this holy person of piety had great wisdom and knowledge, but the spirituality of his divine revelations and advice was not understood by all. His spiritual inspiration and knowledge were so outstanding, so great, that it was not possible for any mind to comprehend completely. This superior essence of truth was beyond the universe of meaning, unreachable by mere intelligence or logic.

“Some people even saw these actions of divine spirituality as madness and were sometimes astonished or surprised; to be able to understand these great truths a person’s spiritual knowledge and thought have to be of equal status. In short, spirituality of the mind is necessary.

“Even Moses, who received the word of Allah, faced difficulties accepting the manifestations of the truth delivered by Al-Khidr. So those who supposedly have great intelligence and opinions, tell me, what use is this intelligence that is equal to that of a mouse?

“Never forget that if a grain tried to lift a mountain, the mountain would crush it.”

This is reason why the only way to the true path of intelligence and understanding is submission to Allah Almighty and behaving in the manner of his Prophet; the soul of whoever submits with the love of the light of all lights will become the crescent moon of eternity.

SUBMITTING WITH AFFECTION

Submission to Allah with affection for Prophet Muhammad, while embracing his morality and his light of guidance, should be our way of life. Submitting with true affection means including the spirituality of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his way of living into every aspect of our lives.

This is the only way we can resemble him in our ways and actions, so we must follow his guidance and question ourselves with every action and move that is made throughout our lives.

ARE OUR PROMISES LIKE HIS?

Allah the Merciful revealed:“Fulfil (every) engagement, for (every) engagement will be

enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning).” (Isra, 17/34)

“Those who faithfully observe their trusts and their covenants.” (Mu’minun, 23/8)

“Whenever ye speak, speak justly, even if a near relative is concerned; and fulfill the Covenant of Allah.” (An’am, 6/152)

Even if a person takes great care to comply with just fulfilling a trust, they will find that their actions, on the whole, will change and develop, as complying with the promise given to Allah Almighty means adhering to the path of the righteous in this life.

This is why the Messenger of Allah said that faith and deceit could not exist side by side, and why he put such great importance on keeping words or promises. There are clear accounts that Prophet Muhammad behaved in such a way even before he was blessed with prophethood. Abdullah bin Ebil Hamsa reported: “Before he was blessed with prophethood I traded with the Messenger. I owed him some money and promised that if he waited I would bring him the money. I forgot my promise; when I remembered three days later I went to where I had spoken to Prophet Muhammad and found him waiting in exactly the same place. Although he had waited for such a long time he did not reproach me, all he said was: ‘You have caused me some trouble, young man. I have been waiting for you for three days.’” (Abu Dawud)

Due to his loyalty and faithfulness in keeping promises Prophet Muhammad was called ‘Muhammad the Trustworthy’; even his worst enemies and those who did not accept his prophethood called him trustworthy and honest.

Abu Jahil said: “You never lie! We know you to be trustworthy and truthful, but we don’t want what you preach.”

This is how the monstrosity of egoism destroys a person’s character. Even the enemy, those who had drowned in the ocean of their egos, agreed that Prophet Muhammad was a person of truth and one they trusted. They had no choice but to acknowledge the great character of the Prophet. This is a character that we are all in need of. We must always ask ourselves if our lives are worthy of Prophet Muhammad’s? Or do we have a soul that is worthy of the praise of the enemies?

There are many ways of achieving such a character, but the first which comes to mind is prayer…I wonder…

DO WE PRAY LIKE HIM?

The prayer of Prophet Muhammad was a prayer devoid of all evil and bad actions. As described in a verse of the Qur’an, this is a prayer that refrains from ‘evil’ and ‘shame’, a prayer that exalts and gains a person eternal unity, a worship that is full of abundance and submission. Prophet Muhammad gave great importance to the performance of prayers. Sayyidina Ali obtained all his knowledge and guidance for prayer from Prophet Muhammad. When he stood before his Creator for prayer he would turn pale and become so involved in his worship that he was unaware of everything that went on around him, even the pain of his own body. An arrow pierced Ali’s foot in battle, but he was in so much pain that the Companions could not remove it. Ali told them: “Take it out while I am praying!” They did as he asked; they waited and while he was praying the Companions removed the arrow with such ease that after finishing the prayer Ali asked them: “What did you do?” They replied: “We removed the arrow!” Ali had been so transported when praying that he had not realized what his friends were doing. This is the true spiritual power of prayer, being so deep in contemplation that one does not feel even the greatest pain. This is the prayer that Prophet Muhammad taught to his followers…

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) would perform the supererogatory prayers whenever he could; these included the prayer in the middle of the night, the prayer in the early morning, the prayer in the middle of the morning, the prayer of repentance and the prayer of praise. Prophet Muhammad prayed some of these on a regular daily basis.

Those who give charity out of true kindness and gain affection in the heart must give with the generosity of their souls; the hearts of the generous ones who give for the sake of Allah become milder and more complaisant, they become more inclined to give charity regularly for the sake of the provider, Allah the Merciful. We can only reach this state of submission if our charity is like the charity of Prophet Muhammad.

IS OUR CHARITY LIKE THAT OF PROPHET

MUHAMMAD?

Sometimes the Prophet would have nothing to give; sometimes he would receive his share from the battle spoils. Keeping the minimum for himself, he would give the rest away to charity even before he reached home. He had compassion that had never been seen in anyone before and an unimaginable kindness; even if he had nothing to give, he gave the charity of a smile.

for the full article: http://www.sufiwisdom.net/index2.php#sayfa=yazarlar&yazar_no=1146&MakaleNo=d015s004m1&AdBasHarf=O&limit=0-15

Continue reading »]]> by Osman Nuri Topbaş
2008 – Jan/Feb, Issue: 009, Page: 004 Wisdom Magazine

Allah Almighty made the attribute of oneness exclusively for Himself, and created the rest of creation in pairs. He placed the law of attraction between the opposite sexes in order to unite them in marriage, through which they attain both material and spiritual perfection. It is also interesting that Allah made profane love between man and woman a stepping-stone towards divine love. Therefore, Allah Almighty commanded marriage for humanity in order to preserve the perfection they were endowed with and to preserve human offspring from all sorts of corruption.

Through marriage, humanity is able to protect their most beautiful characteristics which make them truly human. Marriage is the social and spiritual sanctuary for the spiritual and development of humanity. The continuation of the verse: “Surely we created man of the best stature” (Qur’an:95/4) is related to healthy marriages.

Through the proper fulfillment of the institution of marriage, the human soul can attain peace and contentment, the human body finds its balance and order, human morality is perfected and developed and the welfare and safety of society can be realized. In the absence of marriage, this delicate order can be broken. Marriage also enables couples to develop their latent abilities.

A woman, through showing affection and concern for her children, perfects her love and mercy and over countless hours of work masters how to be a good mother, educator and arbitrator. A man learns how to be more responsible through family leadership and he acquires maturity. The family unit is the smallest social unit, but it is the most significant one for any nation. Therefore, all the prophets, except Prophet Jesus, who was raised to Heaven, were married.

After the gift of taqwa (piety) the most significant favor of Allah upon a servant is to possess a good spouse. A good spouse is the most essential part of human happiness. The strength of nations depends on the strength of family ties. The Holy Qur’an indicates that the institution of marriage is a sign of Allah: “And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your hearts: verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.” (Qur’an:30/21)

This verse directs us to reflect on the fact that the primary purpose in marriage is to achieve a state of love and mercy for the sake of Allah. Therefore, the Prophet (pbuh) always advised those who were thinking of marriage to choose good believers who have mercy and piety in their hearts.

In the following hadith the Prophet gives advice to a man who wanted to marry: “There are four things for which one marries a woman, i.e., her wealth, her family status, her beauty or her religion. So you should marry the religious woman (otherwise) you will be a loser” (Bukhari, Nikah)

The institution of marriage plays the greatest role in preserving high morality in society; without morality society could easily become corrupt and dissolve through indulgence and selfishness. Hence, the family and society should enable the young to marry when they reach the proper age and the basic necessities for marriage should be made as easy to acquire as possible.

Therefore, the Prophet (pbuh) describes the best marriage as the one that is carried out without excessive spending. If the material requirements of marriage increase drastically young people may put off marriage due to an inability to handle such a huge financial burden. Then, their natural desires can only be satisfied through immoral or illegal sexual relations, thus frustrating the goal of establishing a stable family life. This will be suicide for society. The only solution that can prevent such a negative development is to give full support for those who want to marry, both spiritually and financially.

Ibn Arabi advised rich Muslims to help couples to marry, stating that the best continuous charity (sadaqa jariyah) is to help a marriage happen. Those who help bring about a marriage will be rewarded, as they too will have a share in the good acts of the offspring of the married couple.

In order to make marriage easier, the first step is to cut the cost of getting married to the basic minimum by preventing all sorts of unnecessary waste. In particular, in some marriage ceremonies, alcoholic drinks are served to cater to the desires of the guests. If the first step in the marriage is made with haram (forbidden) acts, how can we expect future happiness for this family? Allah blesses wedding ceremonies that are performed within the boundaries of Islam through the acceptance of prayers and supplications that are made on these occasions.

If the couples do not appreciate the significance of the marriage and only consider it a formal act for being together, it will usually result in dissolution. In Islam, of all permitted things by Allah, divorce is the most displeasing act. In the following hadith, the Prophet (pbuh) states:

“Get marry and do not divorce! The Throne of Allah is shaken by divorce.” (Muhtar al-Ahadith al-Nabawiyya,228)

In particular, this is true when one of the spouses leaves or violates the sanctity of the marriage just for the sake of seeking pleasure when there is no real problem in the relationship. This is a sin that is not forgiven by Allah, since such this spouse has heedlessly destroyed the rights and trust of the other spouse.

THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF COUPLES
In Islam, the head of the family is the husband, as can be understood from the following verse: “Men are in charge of women, because Allah has given the one a merit (grace) over the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women)” (Qur’an:4/34)

According to Islam, the man is responsible for all the financial costs of married life; therefore, he has been given leadership in the family. However, this leadership does not mean that he has power over or the right to oppress women. This leadership is only to put an order to family affairs, since he represents the family in external affairs. On the other hand, women are in charge of the internal order and organization of the family.

The man has the responsibility of earning a living and providing for the costs of maintenance and financing the family home. He has the physical strength to protect his family. The man has also the duty to lead in prayer. He therefore has been given the responsibility of leadership.

This priority of the man is also manifested in the order of creation; first Adam was created, then Eve was created. Adam and Eve were created from the same soil, thus explaining the reality of the attraction between men and women. In a divinely inspired hadith, the Prophet (pbuh) informs us on behalf of Allah: “I was a hidden treasure and loved to be known, hence I created the creation.”

As this hadith explains, the cause of creation is divine love. Profane love is a step toward this divine love, and this characteristic is engraved in the nature of all creation. However, this love should be channeled by divine guidance, that is, through marriage. Therefore, Islam bases family life on the roots of love, high morality, virtue, piety, good interaction, mercy, loyalty and patience, as well as other similar characteristics.

Family life, which was started first in Paradise by Adam and Eve, was continued by their offspring in the world and eternalized by Islam. The laws that Islam introduced make married life a paradise, a continuous spring of mercy. In order to attain this happiness, we should manifest the beauties manifested by our ancestors, Adam and Eve; spouses should love each other spiritually and cooperate in piety. In short, they should be a single soul in two different bodies.

For a happy family life, the rights of the women should be protected and developed. Throughout history, when the rights of women have been respected, societies have lived a life of paradise on earth. However, on the other hand, when they have not been respected, societies have tasted a hellish life. The Prophet (pbuh) commanded his ummah (community) in the Farewell Speech concerning the rights of women:

“O men! Respect the rights of women. Treat them with mercy and love. Fear Allah concerning their rights. You have married them as Allah’s trust; they became your legal wives since you have promised Allah to promise protect their honor and chastity.”

Women should take part in family life in those areas to which they are most suited, such as raising children with lofty characters, organizing the home life and other relevant fields. If they are employed in occupations that go against their nature, the family structure of society will be harmed. A good family life can only be provided when the wife and husband respectively use their innate powers properly, as described by Islam. It should also be emphasized that in the modern age an artificial competition of equality between men and women is leading them to points which are contrary to their natures. In particular, this competition is destroying the feminine qualities of women and their pride in motherhood.

THE BEST EXAMPLE FOR US ALL…
The Prophet (pbuh) gave the best example of a happy family life. He not only practiced the rules of happiness in his life, but also trained his Companions and his own children. When his beloved daughter Fatimah married Imam Ali, the Prophet commanded his daughter to organize the internal matters of the family and charged Imam Ali to organize the external matters. In this way, he established the distribution of responsibilities on the basis of justice and the nature of the spouses.

His daughter, Fatimah, was very dear to him. Whenever she would come to him, he would stand up out of overflowing love and would seat her in his place. Such a beloved daughter came to her father arid opened her heart to him. She talked of all the chores of the house: the grinding of the grain and the need to go herself and bring water to the house with great difficulty. Then she requested that she be provided with a servant to help her with the execution of these chores. The Prophet responded that no arrangements had yet been made for the Ashab Suffah (residents of the mosque). Until they were taken care of, he could not pay attention to any other matter. (Abu Dawud, Vol. ll, p. 343).

In another collection of the Prophet’s sayings it is also stated that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “The orphans of Badar have priority over you.” (Abu Dawud, Vol. 11, p.343). At last, he gave this advice to his daughter. “Before going to sleep, you should recite 33 times SubhanAllah, 33 times Alhamdulillah and 34 times Allahu-Akbar. Having a servant or slave cannot compare to this remembrance of Allah.” He said: “For you this remembrance of Allah shall be much better than a servant” (Abu Dawud, Vol. ll, p. 340).

THE ROLE OF THE MOTHER
The mother should play the role of uniting the family members with her affection and leadership in the affairs of the home. She must train and educate the children; therefore, Allah Almighty endowed women with many noble qualities, such as great sensitivity, mercy, politeness and the instinct to look after children for the continuation of the family.

for the full article: http://www.sufiwisdom.net/index2.php#sayfa=yazarlar&yazar_no=1146&MakaleNo=d009s004m1&AdBasHarf=O&limit=0-15

Continue reading »]]> by Yasmine Hafiz and Imran Hafiz
October 27, 2010

We are a brother and sister of Pakistani descent who grew up in Arizona and are now enrolled at two of America’s finest universities. We are passionately interested in Jewish-Muslim dialogue because we believe the only way to decrease religious tensions is through engagement on a personal level. At college, we’ve found a lot of opportunity for such engagement — and a few challenges, as well.

In Imran’s first week of college, he immediately had someone to hate. Or at least his dorm neighbor thought so. “Wait, Imran, why are you going to Shabbat this Friday?” he asked. “I thought Muslims hated Jews.”

As Imran quickly, sadly discovered, confusion about his involvement with the Freeman Center for Jewish Life at Duke University abounds — because he is an American Muslim. This reaction was just the latest example of how 9/11 drastically changed the experience of living as a Muslim in America for us, siblings raised by banker parents in suburban Phoenix.

Bullying, ignorant remarks from both teachers and students, nasty emails and an almost constant flow of negative media coverage on Islam shaped our development as adolescents.

We had hoped that college would bring a change. Ideally, college is a place for all students to challenge their conceptions of self and others. Yet once again we were encountering the damaging assumption that Muslims and Jews are inherently incompatible. While it is true that for many years, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has generated tension and mistrust between Muslims and Jews, we must remember that historically, these peoples have also supported each other, celebrating similarities such as an Abrahamic heritage and a focus on education and close family ties.

The larger problem is that we make generalizations about other people based on their religion, and while it is not appropriate for our friends to assume that we are anti-Semitic due to our religion, it is sadly understandable. Forward-thinking Jews and Muslims have not given the American public much to consider about how we feel about each other. It is time for that to change.

How do we take advantage of the unique opportunity that college provides to build a respectful dialogue of acceptance? Interfaith work needs to be more than feel-good rituals in order to effect the lasting social change necessary to build real understanding. At many college campuses, “solidarity” between different faith groups is encouraged and facilitated; for instance, in volunteer programs, young Muslims and Jews package food for the homeless or clean up parks together.

As worthy as these group efforts are, they can never be as successful as person-to-person engagement. Rather than letting others speak for us, even well-intended intermediaries, we should interact directly with each other.

At Yale University, flyers for Jewish lecturers are posted side-by-side with posters about Muslim speakers. Yasmine has happily lived with a Conservative Jewish roommate for the past two years, even attending the occasional Shabbat dinner. Her inbox is filled with emails from groups and clubs, including a weekly newsletter from JAM — Jews and Muslims at Yale. Discussions about religion abound on campus, and even issues such as Palestine/Israel are presented in an academic manner, as people usually attempt to avoid becoming mired in emotion, an approach which leads to a higher level of meaningful discourse.

Speaking up against injustice is crucial, regardless of what group is being maligned. J Street U, a national network of student activists committed to peace in the Middle East (associated with the larger J Street organization), started a petition in response to the Park51 controversy. Called “Stand Strong Against Islamophobia,” it states: “American Jews in particular are acutely aware of their own history of persecution as a religious minority, and our legacy commands us to fight for the rights of other religious minorities as resolutely and passionately as we fight for our own.”

We as Muslims should follow this brave demonstration of pluralism and find our united voice to stand shoulder to shoulder with other students of all faiths. We should not be afraid to open our hearts to the struggles of those who have preceded us.

September 11 was a painful, tragic, horrifying day. However, it made us realize that tragedies should unite us, not divide us. In order to protect our nation as a pluralist society, minorities in particular must reach out to each other, especially at university. How else can we hope to step out of our college gates into a more understanding world?

Imran and Yasmine Hafiz are the co-authors, with their mother Dilara, of “The Muslim American Teenager’s Handbook” (Atheneum, 2009).

source: http://forward.com/articles/132597/

Continue reading »]]> by ALI ASLAN KILIÇ
November 01 2010

China is trying to establish open dialogue with the Muslim world with the hope of promoting a better understanding of the Muslim communities that are part of Chinese society, a senior Turkish official from a government agency dealing with Islamic affairs has said.

Religious Affairs Directorate Deputy President Mehmet Görmez told Today’s Zaman that he had witnessed a sincere effort on the Chinese side to discuss and find solutions to problems the Muslim communities living in China face during a visit by an official delegation two weeks ago.

A committee composed of delegates from 10 countries visited China to convey the demands and expectations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to Chinese authorities regarding Muslim minorities in the country. Görmez represented Turkey on the committee, which included high-ranking officials from Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Görmez explained that this visit, which was held to observe the living conditions and social realities of the Muslim community in China, yielded positive results and would continue to do so. “The talks with Chinese authorities were held in a positive atmosphere. We observed that the Chinese are willing to fraternize with the Islamic world, and we acquired the chance to obtain a glimpse of Chinese understandings and perceptions of the Islamic world by analyzing the information on the Islamic world from Chinese sources,” he explained.

Görmez underlined that they visited regions inhabited predominantly by Muslims and talked with leaders and representatives from Muslim communities in order to be better informed about living conditions there. Deputy President Görmez drew attention to the vitality of currently developing relations with China and stressed that the current relationship between the two should be viewed from a historical and strategic point of view. He also added that the visit strengthened the relationship between the two sides.

Görmez also noted that they obtained valuable information about the education system in the areas they visited by going to schools and institutions that offer religious education, and that they had the chance to observe the needs and demands of Muslim communities. “We conveyed our intention to visit China as a committee that represents the voice of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in 2007. Our request to visit China was not denied. However, we had to postpone our visit to 2010 due to the Beijing Olympic Games held in 2008 and the Urumqi riots in 2009. Our talks and meetings with Chinese authorities were fruitful. Both sides made immense progress by showing a mutual desire to improve their dialogue, which, in my opinion, should have taken place earlier,” he said.

He added: “Moreover, this visit paved the way for increasing the prospect of organizing meetings between higher authorities. Chinese authorities reported that 44,000 mosques are available for use in China and that religious freedom is constantly being promoted in the country. Representatives of the Muslim community informed the delegation about the problems that hinder religious education. They stressed that authorities are expanding freedoms for religions; however, a lack of financial resources make it difficult to train religious officials as they need to be supported during their training. There is shortage of religious officials in schools and institutions offering religious education due to financial difficulties. They said there are even cases where 20 children must share a single Quran during a hafiz session.” “Therefore, it is vital that this community begins to strengthen its bonds with Islamic countries in order to receive economic support that will serve to settle these financial problems,” Görmez advised.

Report will be released soon
Görmez noted that the Islamic Institute of China in the capital city of Gansu province established by OIC played a significant role in meeting the educational needs of Hui Muslims, and he confirmed that Turkey has undertaken the task of addressing the shortcomings of religious education in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region by sending Qurans and by taking other necessary steps.

Görmez also stated that the impressions and thoughts of committee members would soon be compiled and published as a report by the OIC.

source: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-225967-102-china-seeks-to-improve-dialogue-with-muslim-world.html

Continue reading »]]>

 A calabash has been found recently in Mugla, Turkey by a Turkish farmer. This is not a normal cabalash!! Miracoulusly the name of Allah in the Arabic has been written on it which amazes the witnesses from all around Turkey. The farmer, Selahattin Sözer has said “This is a clear miracle. People should take their lessons and believe in Allah.” The mufti (Imam) also stated that the name of Allah is pefrectly appears on the calabash.

Sözer told how he found the calabash:” on 30th of April I wrapped the plants around the trees in my garden. Around 20th of Septemper I saw the Quranic verses on one of them. Then I looked for another ones but did not find any. So, I took it to home and preserved. Then, I again tried to find another in the garden.” He continues “After for years God has bestowed blessings on us by his names. I am going to display it for showing God’s miracle to people. If I can dry it up I will keep it in my home. Everybody who want to see are welcomed to my home. People should take lessons from the miracles and believe in Allah. There are some who say that this is a natural event. However, this calabash is a clear miracle of Allah.” 

source: http://www.bugun.com.tr/haber-detay/124933-gorenleri-hayrete-dusurdu-haberi.aspx

Continue reading »]]> The message the Prophet delivered then encompassed some of the most core values and principles taught by Islam — such as racial and gender equality, the prohibition of usury and advice to resist the evil temptations of Satan. The message continues to reverberate with Muslim audiences today, centuries later. Known as the Final Sermon, or the Farewell Sermon, this talk was delivered in A.D. 632 near Mount Arafat in Mecca:

“O People lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today.

“O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city [Mecca] as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds. God has forbidden you to take usury, therefore all interest obligations shall henceforth be waived. Your capital, however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity. God has Judged that there shall be no interest and that all the interest due to Abbas ibn `Abd al-Muttalib [the Prophet’s uncle] shall henceforth be waived. “Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things. “O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under God’s trust and with His permission. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them, for they are your partners and committed helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste. “O People, listen to me in earnest, worship God, say your five daily prayers, fast during the month of Ramadan and give your wealth in zakat. Perform Hajj if you can afford to.
As his death drew near, the Prophet Muhammad delivered one final, powerful sermon to the young Muslim community, advising them on how to conduct their affairs after his physical leadership drew to a close.

“All mankind is from Adam and Eve; an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor has a non-Arab any superiority over an Arab; also, a white has no superiority over a black person, nor has a black person any superiority over a white one — except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves. “Remember, one day you will appear before God and answer your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.

“O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the sunnah [the deeds and sayings of the Prophet] — and if you follow these you will never go astray. “All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness, O God, that I have conveyed your message to your people.”

source: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-221009-154-prophets-last-sermon-guiding-muslims-centuries-later.html

Continue reading »]]> by Andrew G. Bostom
August 30, 2010

Count me among those daring to rationalize — and echo — the sentiments of 70% of my fellow Americans, who oppose the Ground Zero mosque/Islamic center edifice for ecumenism. But simply expressing legitimate, widespread concerns about this project has unleashed a torrent of obloquies emanating from distressingly ill-informed political and media cultural relativists, decrying “bigotry” and “intolerance.” Contrast this outpouring of self-righteous indignation by these elites about the purported “Islamophobia” of Americans opposing the mosque with their own egregious ignorance of, and/or silence about, the extensive writings, pronouncements, and living, hateful legacy of the late Muslim Pope, Sheik Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi.

For over a thousand years, since its founding in 792 A.D., Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, has served as the academic shrine — much as Mecca is the religious shrine — of the global Muslim community. Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi was Sunni Islam’s ” moderate” papal equivalent, Grand Imam of this Muslim Vatican, Al-Azhar, from 1996 until his recent death on March 10, 2010.

Tantawi was born in 1928 in Selim Al-Sharqiya, Egypt. He graduated from Al-Azhar University’s Faculty of Religious Studies in 1958 and received his Ph.D. in 1966. Tantawi’s Ph.D. thesis, Banu Israil fi al-Quran wa-al-Sunnah (Jews in the Koran and the Traditions), was published in 1968-69 and republished in 1986. Two years after earning his Ph.D., Sheikh Tantawi began teaching at Al-Azhar. In 1980, he became the head of the Tafsir (Koranic Commentary) Department of the University of Medina, Saudi Arabia — a position he held until 1984. Sheikh Tantawi became Grand Mufti of Egypt in 1986, a position he was to hold for a decade before taking on his final post, first assumed in 1996 and serving for fourteen years, as the Grand Imam.

Lengthy extracts translated into English from Tantawi’s 700-page magnum opus Banu Israil fi al-Quran wa-al-Sunnah,are provided in my compendium, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism. This brief excerpt summarizes, in Tantawi’s own words, the salient features of the Koran’s normative Muslim Jew-hatred:

[The] Koran describes the Jews with their own particular degenerate characteristics, i.e., killing the prophets of Allah [Koran 2:61 / 3:112], corrupting His words by putting them in the wrong places, consuming the people’s wealth frivolously, refusal to distance themselves from the evil they do, and other ugly characteristics caused by their deep-rooted lasciviousness…only a minority of the Jews keep their word [Koranic citation, here] … [A]ll Jews are not the same. The good ones become Muslims [Koran 3:113], the bad ones do not.

Tantawi was apparently rewarded for this scholarly effort by being named Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University in 1996. These were the expressed “carefully researched” views on Jews held by the Muslim Pope — the former head of the most prestigious center of Muslim learning in Sunni Islam for fourteen years, which represents some 90% of the world’s Muslims. And Sheikh Tantawi never mollified such hatemongering beliefs while serving as the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar as his statements on “dialogue ” (January 1998) with Jews, the Jews as “enemies of Allah, descendants of apes and pigs” (April 2002), and the legitimacy of homicide bombing of Jews (April 2002) made clear.

The statements on dialogue Tantawi issued shortly after he met with the Israel’s Chief Rabbi, Israel Meir Lau, in Cairo on December 15, 1997, provided the late Grand Imam another opportunity to reaffirm his commitment to the views expressed about Jews in his Ph.D. thesis:

… anyone who avoids meeting with the enemies in order to counter their dubious claims and stick fingers into their eyes, is a coward. My stance stems from Allah’s book [the Koran], more than one-third of which deals with the Jews…[I] wrote a dissertation dealing with them [the Jews], all their false claims and their punishment by Allah. I still believe in everything written in that dissertation [i.e., Jews in the Koran and the Traditions, cited above].

Unfortunately, Tantawi’s antisemitic formulations are well-grounded in classical, mainstream Islamic theology. The Koranic depiction of the Jews — their traits as thus characterized being deemed both infallible and timeless — highlights, in verse 2:61 (repeated in verse 3:112), the centrality of the Jews “abasement and humiliation” and being “laden with God’s anger,” as elaborated in the corpus of classical Muslim exegetic literature on Koran 2:61, including the hadith and Koranic commentaries. The terrifying rage decreed upon the Jews forever is connected in the hadith and exegeses to Koran 1:7, where Muslims ask Allah to guide them rightly, not in the path of those who provoke and must bear His wrath. This verse is in turn linked to Koranic verses 5:60 and 5:78, which describe the Jews’ transformation into apes and swine (5:60), or apes alone (2:65 / 7:166), having been “… cursed by the tongue of David, and Jesus, Mary’s son” (5:78). Moreover, forcing Jews, in particular, to pay the Koranic poll tax “tribute” (as per verse 9:29) “readily,” while “being brought low,” is consistent with their overall humiliation and abasement in accord with Koran 2:61 and its directly related verses.

An additional, much larger array of anti-Jewish Koranic motifs build to a denouement (as if part of a theological indictment, conviction, and sentencing process), concluding with an elaboration of the “ultimate sin” committed by the Jews (they are among the devil’s minions [Koran 4:60], accursed by God [Koran 4:47]), and their appropriate punishment: If they do not accept the true faith (i.e., Islam), on the day of judgment, they will burn in the hellfire (Koran 4:55). As per, Koran 98:6, “The unbelievers among the People of the Book and the pagans shall burn forever in the fire of Hell. They are the vilest of all creatures.”

However, understanding and acknowledging the Koranic origins of Islamic antisemitism is not a justification for Tantawi’s unreformed, unrepentant modern validation of these hateful motifs — with predictably murderous consequences. Within days of the Netanya homicide bombing massacre on a Passover Seder night, March 27, 2002, for example, Sheikh Tantawi issued an abhorrent endorsement (April 4, 2002) of so-called “martyrdom operations,” even when directed at Israeli civilians.

And during November 2002 (“Tantawi: No Antisemitism,” Associated Press, 11/19/2002), consistent with his triumphant denial, Sheikh Tantawi made the following statement in response to criticism over the virulently antisemitic Egyptian television series (“Horseman Without a Horse”) based on the Czarist Russia forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion:

Suppose that the series has some criticism or shows some of the Jews’ traits, this doesn’t necessitate an uproar … The accusation of antisemitism was invented by the Jews as a means to pressure Arabs and Muslims to implement their schemes in the Arab and Muslim countries, so don’t pay attention to them.

On January 22, 2008, it was reported that Tantawi cancelled what would have been an historic visit to the Rome synagogue by Ala Eldin Mohammed Ismail al-Ghobash, the imam of Rome’s mosque. The putative excuse for this cancellation was Israel’s self-defensive stance — a blockade — in response to acts of jihad terrorism (rocket barrages, attempted armed incursions) emanating from Gaza. The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, commenting aptly about these events, observed that the cancellation proved that “… even so called Muslim moderates share the ideology of hate, violence and death towards the Jewish state.” Al Azhar, Corriere della Sera further argued, which in the absence of a central Muslim authority constituted a “Vatican of Sunni Islam,” had in effect issued “a kind of fatwah.” The paper concluded by noting that “[w]hat the Cairo statement really means is that Muslim dialogue with Jews in Italy is only possible once Israel has been eliminated.”

This is the overall context in which to view Tantawi’s better-known — if meaningless — bland condemnation of generic terrorism as “un-Islamic.” Tantawi’s case illustrates the prevalence and depth of sacralized, “normative” Jew-hatred in the contemporary Muslim world. Arguably Islam’s leading mainstream cleric, the late Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, Sheikh Muhammad Tantawi, epitomized how the living legacy of Muslim anti-Jewish hatred and violence remains firmly rooted in mainstream, orthodox Islamic teachings, not some aberrant vision of “radical Islam.”

It is axiomatic that our elites will declare this whole discussion “Islamophobic” — despite the contents being based almost entirely on Islam’s sacred texts and Tantawi’s own expressed words and actions. Fortunately, tens of millions of Americans are not playing our elites’ endless, self-destructive game of Wonderland croquet, and they understand the stark difference between Islamophobia and Islamo-reality — some 16,000 jihad terror attacks after 9/11.

source: http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/islamophobia_and_islamoreality.html

Continue reading »]]> by SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN
Sept. 10 2010

Sometime in 1999, a construction electrician received a new work assignment from his union. The man, Sinclair Hejazi Abdus-Salaam, was told to report to 2 World Trade Center, the southern of the twin towers.
In the union locker room on the 51st floor, Mr. Abdus-Salaam went through a construction worker’s version of due diligence. In the case of an emergency in the building, he asked his foreman and crew, where was he supposed to reassemble? The answer was the corner of Broadway and Vesey.

Over the next few days, noticing some fellow Muslims on the job, Mr. Abdus-Salaam voiced an equally essential question: “So where do you pray at?” And so he learned about the Muslim prayer room on the 17th floor of the south tower.

He went there regularly in the months to come, first doing the ablution known as wudu in a washroom fitted for cleansing hands, face and feet, and then facing toward Mecca to intone the salat prayer.

On any given day, Mr. Abdus-Salaam’s companions in the prayer room might include financial analysts, carpenters, receptionists, secretaries and ironworkers.
There were American natives, immigrants who had earned citizenship, visitors conducting international business — the whole Muslim spectrum of nationality and race.

Leaping down the stairs on Sept. 11, 2001, when he had been installing ceiling speakers for a reinsurance company on the 49th floor, Mr. Abdus-Salaam had a brief, panicked thought. He didn’t see any of the Muslims he recognized from the prayer room. Where were they? Had they managed to evacuate?

He staggered out to the gathering place at Broadway and Vesey. From that corner, he watched the south tower collapse, to be followed soon by the north one. Somewhere in the smoking, burning mountain of rubble lay whatever remained of the prayer room, and also of some of the Muslims who had used it.

Given the vitriolic opposition now to the proposal to build a Muslim community center two blocks from ground zero, one might say something else has been destroyed: the realization that Muslim people and the Muslim religion were part of the life of the World Trade Center.

Opponents of the Park51 project say the presence of a Muslim center dishonors the victims of the Islamic extremists who flew two jets into the towers. Yet not only were Muslims peacefully worshiping in the twin towers long before the attacks, but even after the 1993 bombing of one tower by a Muslim radical, Ramzi Yousef, their religious observance generated no opposition

“We weren’t aliens,” Mr. Abdus-Salaam, 60, said in a telephone interview from Florida, where he moved in retirement. “We had a foothold there. You’d walk into the elevator in the morning and say, ‘Salaam aleikum,’ to one construction worker and five more guys in suits would answer, ‘Aleikum salaam.’ ”
One of those men in suits could have been Zafar Sareshwala, a financial executive for the Parsoli Corporation, who went to the prayer room while on business trips from his London office. He was introduced to it, he recently recalled, by a Manhattan investment banker who happened to be Jewish.

“It was so freeing and so calm,” Mr. Sareshwala, 47, said in a phone conversation from Mumbai, where he is now based. “It had the feel of a real mosque. And the best part is that you are in the epicenter of capitalism — New York City, the World Trade Center — and you had this island of spiritualism. I don’t think you could have that combination anywhere in the world.”

How, when and by whom the prayer room was begun remains unclear. Interviews this week with historians and building executives of the trade center came up empty. Many of the Port Authority’s leasing records were destroyed in the towers’ collapse. The imams of several Manhattan mosques whose members sometimes went to the prayer room knew nothing of its origins.

Yet the room’s existence is etched in the memories of participants like Mr. Abdus-Salaam and Mr. Sareshwala. Prof. John L. Esposito of Georgetown University, an expert in Islamic studies, briefly mentions the prayer room in his recent book “The Future of Islam.”
Moreover, the prayer room was not the only example of Muslim religious practice in or near the trade center. About three dozen Muslim staff members of Windows on the World, the restaurant atop the north tower, used a stairwell between the 106th and 107th floors for their daily prayers.
Without enough time to walk to the closest mosque — Masjid Manhattan on Warren Street, about four blocks away — the waiters, chefs, banquet managers and others would lay a tablecloth atop the concrete landing in the stairwell and flatten cardboard boxes from food deliveries to serve as prayer mats.

During Ramadan, the Muslim employees brought their favorite foods from home, and at the end of the daylight fast shared their iftar meal in the restaurant’s employee cafeteria.

“Iftar was my best memory,” said Sekou Siby, 45, a chef originally from the Ivory Coast. “It was really special.”

Such memories have been overtaken, though, by others. Mr. Siby’s cousin and roommate, a chef named Abdoul-Karim Traoré, died at Windows on the World on Sept. 11, as did at least one other Muslim staff member, a banquet server named Shabir Ahmed from Bangladesh.

Fekkak Mamdouh, an immigrant from Morocco who was head waiter, attended a worship service just weeks after the attacks that honored the estimated 60 Muslims who died. Far from being viewed as objectionable, the service was conducted with formal support from city, state and federal authorities, who arranged for buses to transport imams and mourners to Warren Street.

There, within sight of the ruins, they chanted salat al-Ghaib, the funeral prayer when there is not an intact corpse.
“It is a shame, shame, shame,” Mr. Mamdouh, 49, said of the Park51 dispute. “Sometimes I wake up and think, this is not what I came to America for. I came here to build this country together. People are using this issue for their own agenda. It’s designed to keep the hate going.”

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/nyregion/11religion.html?pagewanted=2&bl

Continue reading »]]> by Kenan Cetinkaya

kchetinkaya@hotmail.com

September 4, 2010

Similar to the example of a King or Queen who chooses certain days in a year to show his/her generosity and love toward his/her folk, God uses the holy times as a reasons to spread his mercy and blessings, much more than the common days and times, to his servants, Children of Adam. I believe that Holy months such as Ramadan and nights such as the night of the Qadir, has such a implication in Islamic faith. If we analyze the Holy Scriptures, mainly Quran and Bible, we can come cross the conclusion that all mankind is from a single person named Adam (pbuh). After him many people came and passed away and children Adam divided into very complex groups and nationalities. This division somehow made them forgets that they eventually came from the single father. I believe that the Holy nights remind us that we are all from the single parents and they were from the earth. Even though we as keeping specific

qualities different from each other, at last, can come together around the same table as the children of the same father in order to share celebration of the fasting.  Ramadan in this aspect, by keeping the self away from any kind of eating, drinking and sexual relationship, teaches Muslims that they must be humble in their action and be away from any kinds of arrogance. When a person abstains himself from these daily attitudes, he become weaker physically which help him to control the carnal desires. It is always easier to take in control the weaker person than strong and full person. Regarding to keeping the self and the society in control, Ramadan teaches Muslims that;

- They are not the real owner of their life and the possessions. God is the one who gives mankind whatever they have including their life. That is why Muslims generally pays their alms-giving (Zakat) in the Ramadan by acknowledging the reality that they all come from the real owner of the universe.
- Because Muslims feel weaker in strength they understand that in reality people are so weak. In every second they have everlasting demands and request from God. Because they exactly feel what the poor and the sick people feel, during their fasting they are commanded to pay fitr sadaqa (small amount of food given for the poor)
- By obeying God’s rules during the day and taking control the carnal self, they confess the reality that real owner of the universe asks from people to love God and serve him accordingly. In Islamic terms serving for humanity is serving for God also. That is why instead of staying away from the community and keeping themselves in seclusion, Muslims are encouraged to integrate into the community and strength their relationship with the others, which reaches to its peak during the Ramadan. Therefore, in Muslim societies it is not weird to see families host families, neighbors and relatives in Ramadan much more than other days. In the public squares of the towns Ramadan tents are set in order to entertain and teach Muslims about the wisdoms of Ramadan and being good citizen for their community and good servant for God. At the end of Ramadan this kinds of activities reaches their peak with the celebrations of Ramadan as the community.

Continue reading »]]> by MEVLÜT KARABULUT
04 September 2010

Ankara has set a record for the most people breaking their fast together at one time — 10 platforms and nearly 100 civil society organizations banded together in an attempt to break the record with a 50,000-person iftar, and attendance far exceeded expectations.

Nearly 75,000 Ankarites showed up for the iftar (fast-breaking dinner), which was held at the Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM) with a setup that included table space and chairs for 50,000 people. On the menu was lentil soup, rice pilaf, stir-fried meat, ayran, dates, olives, honey, butter and other traditional iftar appetizers, salad and baklava for dessert.

Three separate catering companies prepared food for the event, cooking eight tons of meat, five tons of rice and two tons of garbanzo beans, in addition to 60,000 servings of pide bread, 60,000 units of ayran and 120,000 bottles of water.

The chairs of course were not enough, and so plates of food were distributed to people who then went and sat in nearby bleachers and on the grass to eat. People had been shuttled to the AKM by municipal buses from neighboring districts, while some minibuses and public buses were set aside to serve the iftar area for free. Some attendees were unable to get any food at all; those who participated in the iftar were given tickets free of charge to the Lunapark amusement park.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other ministers also participated in the event.

The iftar had an undeniable political edge to it as well — the food packaging had writing printed on it supporting “yes” votes in the upcoming constitutional amendment referendum slated for Sept. 12.

Large projection screens were set up at different locations throughout the AKM, on which images from the iftar were displayed live. Some attendees wore campaign gear supporting “yes” votes in the referendum, such as a group wearing “Drivers and Chauffeurs Also Vote Yes.”

A large round table was reserved for the prime minister, other ministers and bureaucrats and members of the organizing platforms. Speaking at the iftar, Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek also addressed the topic of the referendum in his comments. “We are undergoing an important and difficult test for the future of Turkey and our children and for democracy,” he said. Gökçek also criticized political parties that are running campaigns in favor of “no” votes in the referendum.

source: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-220917-record-breaking-iftar-serves-over-50000-in-capital.html

Continue reading »]]> by Hena Zuberi
August 31st, 2010

This year Ramadan coincides with the first day of school for many families. Realizing that many of our Muslim brothers and sisters do choose the public school system for their kids’ education, this is a resource to help make the best out of Ramadan in public school. This blessed month is such a vital part of being Muslim that enjoying it and sharing it with others, instead of hiding it, goes a long way in maintaining Muslim children’s Islamic identity while attending public school. After the will of Allah, it begins with parental involvement in the lives of their children. You owe it to them.

Elementary School

Send in a letter or email to the school principal and the classroom teacher introducing your family and informing them about Ramadan. This sample letter to your child’s principal includes an offer to come into class and do a presentation on Ramadan. You can correlate it to the phases of the moon in science especially for first and third graders as it is a part of the curriculum. One year, we did the phases of the moon craft and asked the kids to watch out for the waxing and waning of the moon throughout the month.

To preempt any misunderstanding, meet with the teacher and/or principal and show her your material. For example, the Adam’s World Ramadan DVD is a great resource, so I asked the classroom teacher to preview it beacuse she is more familiar with the school disctrict’s rules; she chose to show the second stanza onwards of the nasheed “We scanned the sky” by Dawud Wharnsby Ali – it was such a hit!! The kids kept asking her to replay it over and over again.

There are several great books on the subject that are perfect for sharing during story-time.

My First Ramadan by Karen Katz – this little book is perfect for preschoolers – 2nd graders and makes a great gift for the class library. You can mix in a nasheed. It was amazing watching my daughter’s preschool class holding hands in a circle singing along to the chorus of ‘These are the days of Eid.”

Hamza’s First Fast by Asna Chaudhry – I read this book to my daughter’s third grade class, which led to a great discussion where kids of all different faiths talked about how their parents fast too. “Oooh, my mom fasts too, on Lent! Mine fasts to lose weight! We do it too on Yom Kippur” The kids gushed after I finished my presentation. My daughter loved being the center of attention and the discussion was alive for days…

for the full article see: http://muslimmatters.org/2010/08/31/back-to-school-ramadan-in-public-school/

Continue reading »]]> by Terry Mathis
Thursday, 22 November 2007

Sacred Scriptures and Interfaith Dialogue

Abstract

M. Fethullah Gülen encourages Muslims to be tolerant and accepting of people in other religions and to enter in to interfaith dialogue with them. He succeeds in doing this because the Qur’an sets the ground for this interfaith stance. Christians and Jews are often not aware that their Scriptures also promote interfaith dialogue. The paper shows that Jewish and Christian Scriptures, somewhat in keeping with the Qur’an, allow for interfaith relationships that are respectful and peaceful. To this end, the paper briefly examines some of the Old Testament and New Testament passages that promote interfaith dialogue. In the OT, the story of the Prophet Jonah is first examined to set the stage for an interfaith understanding of the story of Abraham and Melchizedek, the life of Ruth, her great grandson, King David, and finally, the Jewish restoration after the dispersion in Babylon and Persia. In addition to these OT themes, which Christians take as their own, the paper gathers similar interfaith themes in the NT. Christ is seen to encourage interfaith dialogue, as does James, the early Church leader. The paper finds that the Apostle Paul (the author of most of the NT) develops the implications of an interfaith theology in his letter to the Romans. The paper will conclude with some consideration of why the adherents of Christian and Jewish traditions seldom take their Scriptures to advocate interfaith dialogue and how the work of Mr. Gülen suggests a way forward to create more such understanding and dialogue.

The Sacred Scriptures of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity each allow for interfaith dialogue. We will consider some of the ways in which the Scriptures of these religions provide for such dialogue, and the work of M. Fethullah Gülen will illuminate the issues. He has for many years promoted interfaith dialogue between Muslims and adherents of other religions. We will find that he has provided keen practical insight that may encourage others outside of Islam to engage in interfaith dialogue.

Mr. Gülen’s use of various passages of the Qur’an will inform the Muslim position. Jewish and Christian positions will be informed by my own use of the respective texts, and in any of these cases, I am aware that my use of the various texts may be offensive to some readers. Although I hope not to be offensive, various approaches or uses of Sacred Scripture are often personal, and different from mine. While it is my intention to revere the way in which other people use Scripture, there are at least two groups who may nevertheless find my approach inappropriate and even disrespectful to their own standard use of the texts. Conservative Christians will tend to reject my assumption that revelation occurs outside of the Bible. The other group is secular. This group will find my use of texts naive in light of their materialist worldview.

Mr. Gülen addresses both of these groups. One of the hallmarks of the thought of Fethullah Gülen is his vision for a relationship of tolerance and dialogue between Muslims and people of other faiths, but he also sees the influence of materialism as a threat to the possibility of interfaith dialogue.[269] In a pivotal essay entitled “The Necessity of Interfaith Dialogue,” Mr. Gülen laments that the influence of religion in contemporary social life is often shunted by the western materialist world view. Materialism keeps people from reconciling the material and spiritual realms, which reconciliation is crucial. We must first be at peace with God if we are to have personal integrity and thus experience peace and justice in the world. From a viable relationship with God come reconciliation between the material and the spiritual, and thus the realization of the desired contemporary social life in which society can flourish. [270] In contrast, to the detriment of society, when experience of God is called into question by the assumptions of secular scientific materialism, the social conditions that flow from living in the presence of the divine are interrupted. People become less able to engage in dialogue of any kind, including interfaith or intercultural dialogue. In response to the influence of the secular scientific world view of the West, an optimist, Mr. Gülen all the more calls for Muslim dialogue with others. Intrinsic to the nature of true religion is positive influence. The faith of the Muslim in dialogue with Christians and Jews and others will provide a corrective influence to a destructive materialistic world view.

The role of the sacred text is central to Muslim faith. Mr. Gülen’s views thus naturally have there origin in the Qur’an, which refers to the various persons of faith in the different world religions as “People of the Book.” Jews and Christians, when persons of faith, are People of the Book. Muslims have some advantage over other People of the Book with respect to interfaith dialogue because Islam is open to dialogue. As an example of this openness, along with the Prophet Mohammed, Mr. Gülen, as a Muslim, says of himself and other Muslims, ” I accept all Prophets and Books sent to different peoples throughout history, and regard belief in them as an essential principle of being Muslim. A Muslim is a true follower of Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, and all other Prophets.”[271] The advantage the Muslim has for engaging in interfaith dialogue, Mr. Gülen continues, is thus that they ” acknowledge the oneness and basic unity of religion, which is a symphony of God’s blessing and mercy, embracing all races and beliefs, a road bringing everyone together in brotherhood.”[272] Like Christians, moreover, Muslims believe that Jesus will return when the end of the world is near, though perhaps not physically, but as the underlying conditions of a Godly society. Near the end of world history, from society will emerge values such as peace, love, forgiveness, and mercy. As these values are also central in the Hebrew Prophets, there will be cause for cooperation between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.[273] Muslims have already engaged in this activity with Jews, who were welcomed into the Ottoman Empire when expelled from Spain.

Despite these various factors that predispose Islam to interfaith dialogue, Islam is not well understood and this misunderstanding contributes to difficulties.

Christendom’s historical portrayal of Islam has weakened Muslim’s courage with respect to interfaith dialog. For centuries, Christians were told that Islam was a crude and distorted version of Judaism and Christianity, and so the Prophet was considered an imposter, a common or ingenious trickster, the Antichrist, or even an idol worshipped by Muslims. Even recent books have presented him as someone with strange ideas who believed he had to succeed at any cost, and who resorted to any means to achieve success. [274]

In the extreme, misunderstanding of Islam has often erupted into violence. When wrongly understood as a political system, rather than a religion, Islam is sometimes seen as an ideology promoting social instability and conflict that must be eliminated. So misunderstood, Islam has been under siege, more Muslims killed in the last century than throughout history. Accordingly, when non-Muslims call for dialogue, Muslims may meet this call with suspicion.

Again the optimist, Mr. Gülen insists that Muslims engage in dialogue for the reasons that religious leaders such as Massignon, Pope Paul VI, and Pope John Paul II have recognized. Muslim faith in God is not a political ideology aimed at self interest, but a life changing spiritual experience that results in compassionate and cooperative representatives of universal peace.[275 ] The fountainhead of this virtuous disposition of true Muslims is the teaching of the Prophet Mohammad, who through the revelation of the Qur’an lays essential ground work for interfaith dialogue.

In referring to people of faith outside of Islam as the “People of the Book,” the Qur’an issues one of the greatest calls to interfaith dialogue that can be found.

“O People of the Book! Come to common terms as between us and you: that we worship none but God; that we associate no partners with Him; that we take not, from among ourselves lords and patrons other than God.” If then they turn back, say you: “Bear witness that we are Muslims (surrendered to God’s Will).” (3:64)

If this call to dialogue is rejected, Muslims are to continue on their path and allow the other person to continue on their path as well. But those who respond to the call find their path opens to salvation that is available for all who respond to this call. A person experiences salvation, roughly, in the event God graciously allows this person to enjoy both this life and the next.[276] The dialogue following this openness that leads to salvation should avoid argumentative unproductive debate and rather revolve around caring relationships. The Qur’an states;

God forbids you not, with regard to those who fight you not for (your) Faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them: for God loves those who are just. (60:8)

Further describing the degree to which God may provide a measure of salvation through revelatory interaction with non-Muslims, the Qur’an states of itself:

This is the Book; wherein there is no doubt; a guidance to the pious ones. (2:2)

The pious ones later described as those

Who believe in the Unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them; and who believe in what is sent to you and what was sent before you, and (in their hearts) have the reassurance of the Hereafter. (2:3-4)

The Qur’an here proclaims the beneficial providence of God at work in the lives of some non-Muslims. We thus find that Mr. Gülen’s vision for interfaith dialogue has influenced many people, in part, because of the way in which his views naturally have there origin in the Qur’an. The admonition toward dialogue that Mr. Gülen promotes flows naturally from the Qur’an, and the authority of the Holy Book provides him with authority. He directs Muslims to engage with others because the Prophet Mohammad first conveyed this message in what was revealed to him.

We will find that this divine message of encouragement toward universal tolerance and acceptance of others (the call to interfaith dialogue), is less explicit in other religions, but we will limit our discussion to a Christian and Jewish understanding of interfaith dialogue as found in the Bible. We begin with the Old Testament, which is not only a fundamental source of Jewish outlook on interfaith dialogue, but also foundational for many Christians. As will also be the case later on when we look at the New Testament, it is beyond the scope of this paper to utilize contemporary critical studies of the OT, which studies are extremely valuable when on occasion they can be used in such a way that they do not rule out the implications of the Sacred texts this paper attempts to gather.

A most interesting interfaith OT story is that of the Prophet Jonah. Some time in the eighth century BCE, God told Jonah that he must carry a message of God’s forgiveness to the people of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, an enemy of Israel. Nineveh seems to have been representative of Assyria. Jonah’s task was to instruct the Assyrians to repent from their destructive ways or God would destroy them. God’s forgiveness was thus conditional, and there was surely a chance they might not meet these conditions.

Jonah was understandably reluctant to obey God. Assyrian warfare was vicious. After victory in battles with Israel, Assyrians sometimes deported Jewish prisoners to languish and die in exile in Assyrian territories. To these hated adversaries Jonah was asked to bring a message of salvation.

His initial response was to flee from the task. He boarded a ship headed for Tarshish (probably southwest Spain) traveling in the opposite direction of Nineveh. But God caused a storm that threatened the ship. At Jonah’s own request, the mariners threw him overboard. The sea immediately calmed and God then ” appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah.” (1:17) After three days and nights in the stomach of the fish, the fish vomited Jonah onto dry land, and God asked Jonah a second time to go to Nineveh. This time Jonah obeyed. After hearing God’s message the Assyrians repented. They asked God to help them turn from their wicked ways (3:8), and then God relented from the calamity that would have been brought upon Assyria. God’s mercy toward Assyrians made Jonah so angry he wanted to die, and “he prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Please Lord, was this not what I said [would happen] when I was still in my own country? Therefore, in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I know that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness’ ” (4:2).

God then tries to show Jonah that saving the Assyrians was the right thing to do. God causes a plant to grow up to shade Jonah, and then the plant dies, illustrating that as the plant is worthwhile to Jonah, God finds the Assyrians worth saving. The interfaith contrast is such that despite Jonah’s Judaism, including his special knowledge of God as a Prophet of God, he also needs to repent. He needs to be saved from his destructive ways as much as the Assyrians do.

The story of Jonah suggest that non-Jewish religion is not the immediate issue for God, or at least that the Assyrian view of God was not the issue, but rather the problem was the destructive violent way in which the Assyrians were living. The Assyrians were not asked to become Jews to experience God’s favor. They were asked to look to God to change there way of living life. They did so and were saved.

Something like interfaith dialogue occurs on a practical scale, orchestrated by God. The Assyrians are confronted by a weak (perhaps despised) person about God’s concerns. Jonah and the readers of his text are in turn confronted by God about their attitude toward the Assyrians, their powerful enemy. The Assyrians are not required to become Jews, and the Jews are asked to accept and even care for the enemy, the Assyrian non-Jew or anti-Jew. There is a kind of dialogue between two different religious groups, and the result is a more peaceful co-existence, or at least the potential for a more comfortable co-existence between Jews and Assyrians.

These interfaith implications of the Book of Jonah were not new to the Jews. Abraham, the great patriarch of various religions, including Islam, Judaism and Christianity, is the main character of most of the book of Genesis and a central figure in the Qur’an and the New Testament. Abraham, through his wives Hagar and Sarah, was called to make great nations. He is an iconic example of God’s covenant purpose for humankind. But well after God’s covenant relationship with Abraham had been established (Gen 13:14-18), he meets with a mysterious character, ” Melchizedek king of Salem priest of God Most High (Gen 14:18). Melchizedek blessed Abraham who paid tithes to Melchizedek. Abraham on his covenant pilgrimage is helped and strengthened on his way by someone outside of God’s newly formed covenant with Abraham. Both figures benefit from each other and respect the divine connection each has, even though different kinds of relationships with God are evident. Abraham believed God and was accordingly called to be the father of many nations; Melchizedek was the king of Salem and a priest. Both individuals were God’s people and though different, one could bless the other, and the other paid worshipful respect with a tithe in response.

Another non-Jewish minister to Jews is Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. While Jethro was not a Hebrew, as a Midianite and perhaps a descendent of Ishmael (Gen 37:28), Jethro helped design an effective structure for Moses’ governance of the Hebrew people, and though not a Hebrew, led Aaron (often thought to be the father of the Jewish priesthood) and the other elders in worship before God (Ex 18:12-24).

Another interfaith life changing interaction comes from the life of Ruth in the Book of Ruth. This brief OT history tells of Elimelech and his wife Naomi who sojourned in the land of Moab while there was a famine in their home town of Bethlehem in Judah. Ruth was one of two Moabite women who met and married Naomi’s two sons while they were in Moab. Elimelech and Naomi’s two sons died, and Ruth followed Naomi back to Judah when the famine had passed. This Moabite woman aggressively secures food for herself and Ruth and succeeds in acquiring Naomi’s relative, Boaz, as her husband and the women’s redeemer. Ruth has a son, Obed, the father of Jesse, the Father of David. Naomi, as a surrogate mother, has the joy of helping raise Obed.

While Naomi adheres to Jewish tradition, she does not appear to require Ruth to do the same. Also, when Naomi’s other daughter-in-law, Orpah, had started on the journey back to Judah with Naomi, Orpah decides to return to Moab. Naomi says to Ruth at this juncture, ” your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods, return after your sister-in-law.” (1:15) Ruth, as we have noted, decides to stay with Naomi, but Naomi is not possessive of Orpah and Ruth, concerned to keep them with her so that they might become Jews. Naomi is comfortable with the non-Jewish Moabite religion of her daughter-in-laws. While Ruth eventually embraces Naomi’s religion there is no requirement that she do so.

Some years later, this comfort level seems to also exist in her great grand child, David. Before he was king, when hiding from King Saul who wanted to kill him, David often goes to Moab. After David and his band of follows leave their hiding place in the cave of Adullam, ” David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my Father and Mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do with me.” (1 Sam 22:3)

David, the author of many of the Psalms, a person of unique spiritual insight, does not presume to inform the Moabite king about the nature of God, but assumes that the king can track with his frustrating experience of exile brought on by the attempts of king Saul to murder David.

Even as the king of Moab helped David and his family and seemed open to David’s sense of providence, some time later, one of the kings of Persia, Cyrus, seems to have had a similar outlook of acceptance for people in other religions, though this was not true of his predecessors.

To secure the lands they conquered, the Persian kings deported populations in mass resettlements to places where control of these people would be easier. When Persia conquered Babylon, some of the Jews already in captivity in Babylon were moved to Persia. When Cyrus eventually became king of Persia, many Jews were not only allowed to return to their homeland, Cyrus sometimes financed their trip and gave them back their religious artifacts and places of worship. Cyrus, unlike many of his predecessors, seems to have believed that God wanted the restoration of the religions of conquered people. Cyrus thus helped with the restoration of the Hebrew religion. In recognition, the Prophet Isaiah says of this restoration that it was the work of God. “It is I who say of Cyrus, he is My shepherd. And he will perform all My desire. And he declares of Jerusalem, she will be built, and of the temple, your foundation will be laid.” (Is 44:28)

The Hebrew Prophet Isaiah thus extols the pleasure of God for Cyrus’ interfaith activity. As one of many of Cyrus’ restoration projects, many Jews did return to Jerusalem from captivity in Persia and the Temple was rebuilt, and Isaiah says that God enabled Cyrus to carry on this restoration, which clearly reflects some kind of ancient interfaith initiative on a massive scale.

These OT examples supporting interfaith activity should be as significant for Christians as for Jews. For many Christians, the meaning of the relationship of the Old Testament and New Testament is literally a relationship between Old Covenant and New Covenant. Christians often think that the books of the New Testament depict a New Covenant or agreement with God that is at least a more complete account of God’s grace and mercy than the Old Covenant found in the OT. If so, the previous OT examples of interfaith activity in the OT should provide a bias toward an understanding of interfaith material in the NT, or even more than mere bias. Some people find the grace and goodness of God in the OT just as profound and wonderful as that which is found in the Qur’an and the NT. A further complication is that, unlike the Qur’an, not everyone agrees about what should be included in the NT and the OT. Many Christians, such as Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox, include deuterocanonical and apocrypha books into the cannon of Scripture. In any event, the scope of this paper must be limited by the assumption that the OT is usually taken to be foundational for the NT, and with this assumption in hand, we turn now to focus on NT Scripture.

Were we to ask Christians the question, “What should be the relationship between Christianity and other religions?” the answer appears differently at different times in the history of Christianity. Something similar also occurs in Islam and Judaism, although we shall only consider Christianity in this regard.

The Christian movement in the first century was often taken by Jews to be heretical perversion of Judaism. The man eventually known as the Apostle Paul, for example, first known as a conservative Jew named Saul, tried to destroy the early Christian movement. In his zeal to preserve Judaism, Saul sometimes authorized the killing of innocent people, as we learn from the story of Stephen in Acts chapter eight. The people of the early Christian movement, on the other hand, often took themselves to be open to other religions, God being the Father of all viable religion. The early movement often worshiped in Synagogues with Jews, though they were first called Christians through their involvement with gentiles outside the Jewish tradition in Antioch (Acts 11:26). Centuries later, after Christianity had become institutionalized, the tables were turned. As an institution, Christianity has often taken a hostile stance toward any other religion that might question or even merely differ from the standards of orthodoxy that happen to be in place at a given time, these standards generally reflecting the history of philosophy.

The early church, due to the able influence of Augustine, incorporated Plato. Latter Thomistic tradition created a larger paradigm in which Neo-Platonism was integrated with Aristotle, in no small part because the crusades brought Moslem theology with its link to Aristotle back to Europe. The likes of Galileo, Descartes, Locke and Hume later set the stage for a secular materialist world view. Kant and the philosophical theology of thinkers Kant influenced, such as Friedrich Schleiermacher and John Hick, lead us into the modern era and the current post modern developments. Given these philosophical theological trends that shape the outlook of any given historical Christian institution or movement, Christians have generally exhibited a brittle defensive reaction to religions that have not held a corresponding acceptance of these trends.

Utilizing a focus similar to that of Mr. Gülen, who looks to the Qur’an, we will for the moment leave aside the history of Christianity, and in what follows we will briefly consider the position of the early Christian movement as found in the New Testament. We will again do this in a non-critical way, that is, we will not utilize extra-biblical textual criticism, which is nearly always a part of the study of the gospels. We begin with the gospels.

The story of the Christ Child in the Gospel of Matthew (2:1-12) often leaves people puzzled about the identity of the wise men from the East who came to Jerusalem looking for the king of the Jews. Were they priests, philosophers, or perhaps astrologers? They followed a star to the baby Jesus, and when they found him they fell down and worshipped him and presented him with precious gifts. Though they are not Jews, they are sensitive to God and seem to have had revelation from God that was so significant that they left their homes in the East, traveled a considerable distance, engaged in an act of worship, and gave costly gifts. Since these wise men were not identified as Jews, their activities would not have been possible unless God’s favor and revelation extends outside the religious context of the Jews of the first century.

Another NT account will help shape our thinking. There was an incident in the life of Christ that we find in both Mark and Luke. One of the disciples saw someone casting out demons in Christ’s name, though this person was not a part of the band of disciples, so the disciples tried to stop him and came to Christ for help. Christ responds, “Do not hinder him, For he who is not against us is for us.” (Mk 9:39-40, Lk 9:49) Is Christ simply telling them to be tolerant? Or is Christ assuming that God is at work in the lives of people who are not involved in Christ’s ministry? It seems that there are people who are appropriately religious though outside the group of disciples, and Christ is at least asking his followers to have an attitude toward others that could easily lead to interfaith dialogue.

Much more to the point in a different passage, consider the words of Christ as the “Good Shepherd” in the Gospel of John, chapter ten. We find a metaphor. There are sheep and there is a shepherd. The disciples are obviously the sheep, and Jesus represents himself as the “good Shepherd,” who will protect and care for the sheep even to the point of laying down his life for them. He says,

I am the good shepherd; and I know my own, and my own know me, even as the Father knows me and I know my Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd. (Jn 10:14-16)

Who are the “other sheep” who are not apparently among the immediate band of Christ’s disciples? These “other sheep” shall hear his voice, shall become one flock, and shall have one shepherd. The assumptions that often prevent Christians from seeing Muslims and Jews, respectively, as such flocks with their own shepherds have largely been the cultural and philosophical trends mentioned above. But aside from these trends, why not understand that the various world religions are the flocks in question, Islam being one in particular, with the shepherd of Islam being Mohammad and the faithful imams following the Prophet

In keeping with Christ’s indication that the other sheep would hear his voice and would have one shepherd, might we suppose that the Prophet Mohammad somehow mysteriously, from Christ’s perspective, stands in the place of Christ?

Many Christians would be troubled by the suggestion that we might see Christ in Mohammad, but that this may be possible is suggested by the way in which the Apostle Paul sometimes viewed Christ. In writing his first letter to the Corinthians, many of them gentiles, he interestingly refers to the Jews wandering in the wilderness, immigrating from Egypt to Canaan, as the fathers of the Corinthians, saying, more importantly for the point here, that when they drank from the rock at Horeb, that rock was Christ. (I Cor. 10:4) The OT story tells us that the Israelites were thirsty and complained bitterly to Moses, who then struck a rock with his staff, and water came out of the rock. (Ex 17:6) The source of this satisfying refreshment, says Paul, was Christ. The rock was Christ. But if that rock was Christ, similarly, Mohammad might be seen by some as a form of Christ.

Christians might recoil that Christ and Mohammad are entirely different. The problem for many Christians is that they elevate the status of Christ to deity and hold everyone else to the status of mere humans, who are accordingly not thought to have the capacity for divine activity of Christ except through the use of spiritual gifts, a kind of supernatural ability to do God’s work (Rom. 12; Eph. 4; 1 Cor. 12-14) and through prayer. To the contrary, a statement suggesting the possibility of greater human capacity is found in Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Paul says, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.” (Col. 1:24) Paul seems to be saying that Christ’s suffering is not sufficient for the needs of the church, so that Paul must also contribute his sufferings. If so, why not assume that Mohammad’s contributions also have measure in God’s economy as did Paul’s and Christ’s contributions.

Another NT example that suggests a commonality between Christianity and other religions comes from James, often thought to be the brother of Christ. As a good Jew and a leader of the early Christian movement, in his NT epistle James encourages relationship with God in a way that is typical of many other religions. He says that if we cleanse ourselves and draw near to God, God will draw near to us (4:8-10). In writing this, James does not create a religion superior to other religions, but rather, after identifying himself as “a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,” (1:1) he does not then tie true religion to Christ, but says that ” pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father [is] to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”(1:27) In this early Christian account of religion, James appears to intend to define religion across the boundaries of the various world religions. As the leader of the early Christian movement, he is known for reconciling different groups within the early church (Acts 15:13). Similarly, in keeping with his calling as the shepherd of the early church, his account of religion, selects the core elements that many religions have in common that have to do with a quality of life that seeks the well-being of others. Keeping oneself from the destructive processes of the world, the truly religious person has the resources to care for those who are in need, some who are even weak and helpless, such as widows and orphans. James’ enduring account of religion seems to be altogether compatible with Islam and Judaism, and given the likelihood that James has given us the religion of Christ, it is significant that the religions of Mohammad and Moses are compatible with James’ account.

Might we even say that, to some degree in light of the Epistle of James, the religion of Mohammad is the religion of Christ, and thus, that from an interfaith perspective, Mohammad reflects the spirit of Christ, even as Muslims may feel that Christ reflects the spirit of Mohammad. James has allowed for this kind of reciprocal exchange.

Many Christians can easily see Abraham and Moses and David as God’s people. So can some Muslims, who also revere Christ. But Christians and Jews do not readily reciprocate with Muslims. Christians and Jews can often not see Mohammad as a prophet. But this short sightedness is out of keeping with the Apostle Paul’s account of a prophet.

A prophet, says Paul, is one who speaks to people ” for edification and exhortation and consolation.” (1 Cor.14:3, 25) In Paul’s view, the prophet engenders qualities of life that help people overcome grief and anger with success. The prophet is supposed to give insight that leads to Godliness. Although Paul is addressing a Christian audience, there is reason to think he saw a larger context that would, on his own account of the prophetic, include Mohammad as a prophet.

Consider Paul’s Epistle to the Romans for its interfaith implications. This letter is a bit more general and comprehensive than most of his correspondence and it develops an inter-religious understanding of God’s dealings with humankind. Although known as a Jew, Paul identifies himself as the apostle to the gentiles in the first chapter, thus qualifying himself to deal with non-Jewish religion through his appointment by God to do so (Rm 1:5). In chapters two through four there is a basic contrast between Jews and people of non-Jewish religion (gentiles), and it is here that Paul implies that God’s hope for all people is that they be in a personal relationship with God, despite whether they are Jews or gentiles. God’s relationship with a person preferably develops in response to a person’s faith. Though Paul did not have Muslims specifically in mind, had he lived later in history, he no doubt would have seen practicing Muslims as people of faith, people who may transcend the category of Jew or gentile (Rm 3:28-30). Then turning to the transforming effect of faith, more or less, in chapters five through eight Paul explores why transformation may or may not occur. An outgrowth of the earlier discussion, chapters nine through eleven wrestle with questions about the relationship between an all-powerful God and responsible free agents. The remainder of the letter, chapters twelve through sixteen, deal mainly with the way in which faith affects a community of people of faith. Paul considers the relationship between the well-being of an individual and the well-being of the group in which this person may live, a group that includes vast differences (Rm 15:7-13), and he concludes with personal notes and greetings to individuals mainly in Rome. While the terminology of the letter addresses and presupposes a Hellenistic world, a mix of Jewish, Greek, and Roman culture and philosophy, its monotheistic overtone is nevertheless compatible with that of the Qur’an.

This letter to people living in Rome was meant to convey what Paul had hoped to say in person (Rm 1:9-15). Given that he was unable to visit Rome (as least prior to the writing of this letter), Paul felt compelled to write to these people to give them his account of God’s way of dealing with people. Presumable this letter contains Paul’s basic message to all the groups he encountered and attempted to influence, and if so, its significance is heightened.

Touching on some of the points that are obviously related to interfaith dialogue, we find in Romans chapter two that gentiles, who do not have the benefit of the Jewish law, can nevertheless find favor with God, even if they are not circumcised Rm (2:14-16). The practice of circumcision is used to illustrate that faith in God runs deeper than the act of circumcision (Rm 2:28-29). A gentile, who has faith in God, though not circumcised, may thus experience God’s favor. Paul argues, for example, that Abraham experienced God’s favor prior to circumcision, and then when later circumcised, this circumcision is merely a sign of the faith that he had while uncircumcised. So it is faith in the grace and mercy of God that ultimately makes the person acceptable to God, and as Abraham exemplifies this life of faith, Abraham is an archetype or spiritual father of all who have faith. The kind of religion in which the faith is expressed is not at issue for Paul (Rm 4:9-16). If faith in such instances is like Islamic submission, we again find parallels between Islam and the early Christian movement.

But perhaps most significant for the discussion of interfaith implications in Paul’s letter to Rome is found in what has become chapter four (the original manuscript had no chapters or verse numbers). Here Paul uses two individuals to illustrate salvation by faith. Paul obviously has the work of God in Christ in view. He has just explained the role of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection in God’s plan for salvation in chapter three. Who should he use as examples of people who found favor with God through Christ? Did Paul develop an illustration through the life of Peter, the well known disciple and early church leader, or James, who was possibly the brother of Christ, or John, the disciple Christ seemed to love more than the others (Jn 13:23)? We find that the two people Paul used to illustrate a relationship with God were Abraham and David. Despite the various examples available, Paul hails these two non-Christian individuals as examples of Christian faith (Rm 3:21-4:25). For our purpose we should emphasize that neither of these persons knew Christ personally, nor did they know the culture and theology that are usually required for orthodox Christianity. More succinctly, while Paul had developed the role of Christ in God’s salvation in chapter three, to illustrate this, that is, to exemplify the person of faith who has been saved through Christ, Paul did not use Christians, but rather two well known Jews, David and Abraham. Abraham is importantly seen as having faith before he was circumcised, because this precondition of faith further shows that it is by faith (or submission to God), and not merely by following a religious tradition, that God’s eternal favor is received. Knowledge of Christ is not necessary. The obvious intent of Paul’s argument is to show that God deals with people from all religions (gentiles as well as Jews) under the same conditions. [277] Accordingly, we must surmise that all people who are in fact God’s children are faithful and submissive to God as were Abraham and David. By implication, as Paul intended, we should suppose that such people can be found in a Mosque, a Synagogue, a Temple, a Monastery, or in ordinary everyday circumstances located in Asia, Berlin, South Africa, Antarctica, or Detroit. Christians may come to see that Mohammad is like Christ, and some Christians may see that Mohammad was a Prophet through whom God’s word was revealed as the Qur’an.

One controversial NT passage should be mentioned because it is used to argue that Christianity is exclusively God’s only one true religion. In the Gospel of John Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one come to the Father, but through me.” (Jn 14:6) This passage is used to argue that only explicit knowledge of Christ can result in salvation. For example, contemporary conservative Christians usually maintain that for a person to experience salvation, this person must realize (must somehow explicitly know) that Jesus provides substitutionary atonement for their sins, although the language describing atonement may vary. It is often held that the person must pray a prayer to bring Christ into this person’s life. But consider a different interpretation of this text.

Another standard alternative interpretation of this verse (though seldom known or accepted by conservative Christians) is that “through Christ” means to live in a way that is the same as the way

Christ lived.[278] A closer examination of the larger context of the Gospel of John does suggest (perhaps in addition to mysterious metaphysical conditions somehow only realized through Christ) that the meaning of this text in John has to do with living the kind of life that Christ lived. The background of the verse includes the disciple’s realization that Christ will soon die. They are disappointed, fearful and concerned. They had believed that he would overthrow Roman rule and restore world control to the Jews. As they understand his insistence that he must die, and his reassurance that despite his death, they will one day be with him again in heaven, Thomas (doubting Thomas) confesses, in essence, that he does not know how to get to heaven. Christ responds, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one come to the Father, but through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” (Jn 14:6-7) The issue for Thomas is whether or not he knows the Father, who is God. Implied in Christ’s response to Thomas, if Thomas really knew Jesus, he also knew God. So while salvation, as some Christians understand salvation, is only through Christ, this passage in John does not actually require a person to endorse a certain kind of twentieth century theology. We have found this to be the case in the examples of salvation used by Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. David and Abraham did not know Jesus, even though Paul indicates that they were saved through Christ.

What is entailed in knowing another person is beyond the scope of this paper, but the simple message may be that to know a person like Jesus is to know God. Perhaps David came to know God through his grandmother Ruth, if she was still alive when David was a boy. Ruth may have provided mothering for David even as Naomi was a surrogate mother for Obed. In knowing his Moabite grandmother, David would have come to know God. Likewise, people who knew David knew God, people who knew Abraham knew God, and people who knew Moses knew God. So why should Christians and Jews and others not take the matter a step further and say that people who knew Mohammad knew God, and that people continue to get to know Mohammad through the Qur’an. And thus through the Qur’an, people continue to grow in their knowledge and relationship with God.

In conclusion, the broad strokes used to pull together the various religious traditions represented herein indicate that the Sacred Scriptures of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity each encourage intercultural tolerance and acceptance. While the Qur’an gives implicit instruction for Muslims to interact with the followers of other religions peacefully under most conditions (Mr Gülen embodying this instruction), the Scriptures of other religions are not so explicitly instructive, though we have found that Jewish and Christian Scriptures can be read to support and advocate interfaith dialogue. The stories of the lives of Jonah, Ruth, Abraham, and David are telling. Similarly, Christian Scripture on the whole includes an understanding of deity that embraces all of humankind, and as Christianity depends upon the OT, we see this embrace of humanity occurring through the religion indigenous to the region in which a person lives. Whether a person is an Assyrian, Moabite, Roman, or Jew, in each case the implications if not the directives (somewhat tacitly) toward interfaith dialogue are for the larger purpose of promoting peace and well-being among all peoples of the world.

This interfaith outlook in Scripture is often not apparent when, as the insight of Mr Gülen would have it, religion is used for self proclaimed personal ends apart from God, especially political ends. [279 ]When religion is used to inflict torment and suffering and to gain political control, the Scriptures in this case are not being used in accord with their purpose as divine revelation. The influence of materialism may provide impetus for such abuse of Scripture in that unbelief and skepticism in the lives of religious leaders may distort their use of Scripture, so that they perhaps foster indifference or scorn for people outside their own cultural norms.

Cutting through the effects of materialism in the life of faith, Mr Gülen finds that the powerful effect of a loving relationship with a person of faith provides a cure. He therefore encourages Muslims to reach out in friendship to non-Muslims so as to counter the effects of the secular world. The cure for the ill is love. He finds that religion

commands love, compassion, tolerance, and forgiving . Love is the most essential element in every being, a most radiant light, a great power that can resist and overcome every force. It elevates every soul that absorbs it, and prepares it for the journey to eternity. Those who make contact with eternity through love work to implant in all other souls what they receive from eternity. They dedicate their lives to this sacred duty, and endure any hardship for its sake. Just as they say “love” with their last breaths, they also breath “love” while being raised on the day of Judgment.[280]

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus, like Mr Gülen, similarly encouraged people to love one another despite their differences and problems. An instance of this is found in John’s account of the Last Supper.[281] Prior to the meal, Jesus got up from the table and took a towel and a basin of water and washed his disciple’s feet (13:1-30). According to John, this feet washing was an act of love (13:1), which was in part to show the disciples (and all disciples to follow) how they should lovingly treat one another (13:14). Jesus enacted a metaphor to depict a deep caring relationship that would sooth and overcome the affects of brokenness and pathology in the lives of people of faith (it seems that even saints have dirty feet from time to time).[282]

A bit later, when the meal begins, Jesus again reaches out in love to Judas, by seating Judas at the place of honor at the head of the table where they could talk to each other. When they were finally seated, Jesus confronted Judas (13:26), but rather than entering into dialogue with Jesus about his dissatisfaction with Jesus’ views, such as, we can imagine, the theology of the story of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:30-37), or their various excursions into non-Jewish Samaritan territory to help non Jewish people (Mt 15:21-28), or caring for tax collectors (Lk 19:1-10) and women of the night (Lk 7:36-39), Judas mounted a passive aggressive attack and managed in short order to kill Jesus.

It appears that Jesus was committed to something like intercultural dialogue which Judas rejected. Judas may have been some sort of Jewish exclusivist who could not tolerate the openness to people that Jesus expected. Jesus was apparently aware of Judas’ rejection and hence gave Judas the place of honor at the table (an act of love no less than feet washing) no doubt so that Judas and Jesus could iron things out.

While few Christians emulate Jesus by loving their enemies, it appears that Mr Gülen is willing to place himself in this risky position. He has taken the place of Christ, not as a Christian, but as a Muslim, offering peaceful dialogue to Christians and Jews and people of all religions. Mr Gülen’s insistence that love is the essential element that will solve the problems related to interfaith dialogue places him squarely in the non-violent peaceful tradition of the Jew named Jesus that Christians claim to follow. Christians and Jews and people of the various world religions would do well to emulate Mr. Gülen.

[269] Modern secular materialism includes metaphysical and epistemological assumptions that impact the use of language to talk about God, and these various linguistic restrictions may tend to cause the different world religions to become competitive. The way the materialist notion of “truth” and “certainty” are construed, it is difficult if not impossible to talk meaningfully about God, and more important for interfaith dialogue, given this notion of truth, the secular model often requires that only one religion be representative of the truth. The materialist account of language often does not allow the possibility of the truth of conflicting statements from different religions. Accordingly, a conceptual framework for dealing with religion has grown up in the universities of the West to cope with the metaphysical assumptions of materialism and its account of the use of language. At one extreme there is thought to be exclusivism, while at the other extreme is pluralism, inclusivism perhaps in the middle. Most religions are thought to include a core of exclusivist stance, most fundamentalists maintaining that their religion is the only true religion, and thus they are generally completely under the influence of modern epistemological assumptions of Western culture, although they are typically without awareness of this influence. Inclusivists, perhaps the least affected by modern secular assumptions, often suppose that God can somehow accommodate the various different religions. Although inclusivists may suppose that God can accommodate most religions, one’s own religion is usually thought to be the best. Pluralism is generally the dominant position in most religion departments in Western universities. Pluralism tends to mesh with the assumptions of materialism thus elevating the factual capacity of scientific language while still allowing religion to have significant meaning but of a different value than that of science. In pluralism, typically, the various different religions are all equally interesting and valuable (we should promote world peace) but religious language is often thought not to be factually reflective of material reality. Some recent thinkers are attempting to create different models for understanding religion in the West. See, for example, Knitter, P (2002) Theologies of Theologies (New York, Orbis Books). Knitter’s attempt to create new labels for the issues seems to weight in favor of pluralist assumptions, and he seems to conflate a number of the issues. For a critique of secular assumptions with respect to theology see Diamond, M “The Challenge of Contemporary Empiricism” in Diamond, M (1975) The Logic of God / Theology and Verification (Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill Company). We shall not be concerned with these issues except to note that Mr. Gülen is attempting to cut through the detrimental effects of materialism.

[270] Gülen, F (2006) Essays – Perspectives – Opinions (New Jersey, The Light, Inc.), 34

[271] Ibid.

[272] Ibid., 34-35

[273] Ibid.

[274] Ibid., 37-38

[275] Ibid.

[276] For the purpose of this paper, I shall assume that this brief understanding of salvation will suffice for each of the religions represented here. Buddhism and other religions are obviously of a different elk.

[277] For a scholarly commentary that supports my reading of Romans see Ziegler, J (1989) Paul’s Letter to Rome (London, JLM Press).

[278] For an exhaustive account of the various views of atonement, especially the one I have sketched here see Moberly, R. C. (1904) Atonement and Personality (London, John Murray).

[279] Gülen, Essays, 37.

[280] Ibid., 48-49

[281] Many scholars do not think this passage is an account of the Last Supper because the first verse (13:1) specifies it was before the Passover Feast, and moreover, John’s account is different than the other gospel accounts. However, these scholars seem to fail to see the entire context. The text says ” before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that his time had come ” referring back to Jesus’ awareness, when the Greeks wanted to talk to him sometime earlier (12:20), that the time of his death had come (12:23). The passage seems simply to be saying that this occasion in John’s gospel is the Passover Feast, but before the feast began, Jesus already knew he was about to die.

[282] The meaning of Jesus’ metaphor is somewhat obvious when he says of Judas, after having washed Judas’ feet, ” not all of you are clean…,” (Jn 13:10) for Judas must have been clean. Judas was the disciple who was perhaps the most respectful of Jewish tradition. He would have bathed before the Passover meal, yet wearing sandals, his feet would have become soiled by walking through the city streets to the place of the Passover meal. When under normal circumstances the servant at the door would have washed his feet, he would have become clean all over again (in accord with ritual requirements). Only in this instance, Jesus took the place of the servant and in an act of love, washed Judas’ feet, but then strangely said that Judas was not clean. (Jn 13:10-11) John reiterates that this condition of Judas (not being clean) is an indication of the betrayal that is about to take place (Jn 13:10).

source: http://en.fgulen.com/conference-papers/peaceful-coexistence/2486-sacred-scriptures-and-interfaith-dialogue

Continue reading »]]> by Meryem Weld

Women’s liberation is a much discussed subject, can you compare the attitudes of materialist Western civilization and Qur’anic civilization towards women and demonstrate where true freedom for women lies?
It may clear from the descriptions in the first and second sections above that the aim of materialist Western civilization is not to fulfil the needs of human nature, but rather to exploit that nature in whatever ways it can in order to perpetuate itself despite its rotten foundations. The position of women in the West is truly grievous. Their true nature and role in the family and home are being systematically destroyed. They are the main sacrificial victims to the voracious idol of the consumer society.
The system demands that their bodies are exploited for advertising purposes. And besides exciting the greed and lust of others, they themselves are under constant presssure to spend and acquire ever more in the way of possessions and luxuries for the home. The inducement of fashion is utilized to astonishing degrees in the West, so that women are encouraged not only to buy more and more in the way of clothes and to follow fashions in make-up and the like, but also to change all the furnishings in their homes, down to even their bathrooms, every year or two. Of course, all this means that they have to abandon their homes and families and go out to work.
These developments are portrayed as progress and liberation for women, as the gaining of equal opportunities with men in the field of work and the professions. The false concept of equality is taken as the aim. Totally contrary to human nature, women are encouraged to seek equality with men in every field, from work to the home. But in fact this unachievable aim is cynically put forward to deceive unfortunate women and to cloak the ugly reality of the situation.
While feminists in the West have reacted strongly against the exploitation of women in maintaining the capitalist system, in fact, they support many of these developments since they encourage the ‘liberation’ of women from the ‘slavery’ of their role in the home and family. ‘Sex roles’ being an artificial device engineered to perpetuate that ‘slavery’. However, they themselves are calling women not to freedom but to even greater slavery. For what they are calling them to is the rejection of their own natures for the sake of some ill-defined ‘rights’ that consist of absolute freedom to follow their own whims and what they imagine to be their own interests unrestricted by the rights of others. How can women stripping themselves of their womanhood be seen as freedom? They are making a very bad bargain, their compassionate natures and exalted position in the scheme of things in return for total enslavement to their own individual whims and desires.
How different is the attitude of Qur’anic civilization towards women! The mercy that is Islam recognizes the manner in which they have been created and ensures through Islamic dress and other requirements that they are able to carry out their duties with their children and in the home protected and in perfect dignity.
Islamic dress and the ‘position of women’ generally in Islam are much misunderstood in the West, but as the many thousands of women brought up in Western society testify, Islamic dress is in complete accord with their natures and gives them the protection and ease of mind that that nature requires. And they find that indeed ‘the woman’s place is in the home,’ that it is not a prison-sentence but on the contrary is a most gratifying duty and service of the greatest responsibility since it entails the bringing-up of thesucceeding generation. Islamic dress is a safeguard for this vitally important role, indicating to its importance and protecting women from any kind of indignity and exploitation.
The contradictory position of feminists is very apparent here, for they vigorously oppose the exploitation of the female body for advertising and other purposes while at the same time seeking ‘freedom’ or to get rid of any sort of restriction on women’s dress and behaviour. However, what becomes apparent to the many ‘new’ Muslim women is that to expose their bodies at all to men outside their families is to both exploit themselves and to be exploited. To act as a means of exciting the lust, desire, and greed of strangers is to be exploited and for women to take pleasure in thus doing is to exploit and to degrade themselves. It is not freedom but once again to enslave themselves to their own individual desires and the desires of others.
What is freedom for women, then? Freedom for women lies in recognizing their true nature, in recognizing what teaches them what that nature is and then _ protects and safeguards it. God

Almighty’s final revealed religion of Islam does this in the most perfect form. And what does that mean? It in fact means abandoning their own desires and recognizing that they are not beings with ‘rights’, but creatures with duties, like all the beings in the universe, and that happiness and freedom are only to be found in the performance of those duties.
And if they are creatures with duties, then that happiness and freedom will increase in proportion to their learning to know the Giver of those important and pleasurable duties, the Single All-Wise and Compassionate Creator. For the more they learn about the Giver of the duties, the more they will learn what the duties truly consist of. The more they can abandon their own wishes and desires the more they may draw closer to conforming to the will and wisdom of the One Who plans and runs the whole universe, which are so apparent from its order, balance and harmony. This is where true freedom lies. In belief and in submission to a Single All-Wise and Compassionate God Who thus orders and administers the whole universe as a unified whole and employs all the creatures in it according to His absolute wisdom. Freedom lies in Islam, therefore, which is that belief and which protects and safeguards those who recognize and adhere to it.

At the same time it is essential to point out here that this duty of women should not restrict the development of their intellectual and other abilities. Rather, the one should complement the other. If women are truly to carry out their duties in bringing up their children, they have to continuously study and develop their belief. In other words, as human beings their primary duty is to develop their belief in God, as women their duties are in the home. These complementary duties are essential to each other, one should never be an obstacle to or prevent the other.

source: http://www.risaleinur.us/read/?art=2988&t=Women+in+the+West+and+in+Qur’anic+civilization

Continue reading »]]> by Meryem Weld

The composition and history of Western civili zation is exceedingly complex and it is not an easy task to outline the importance of Christianity within it without over-simplifying and obscuring the question altogether. Christianity is itself a complex and multiform phenomenon that has undergone many transformations and divisions through the ages and the term should be defined carefully in whatever context it is being used. Having said that, we shall offer one or two points in the hope that it may point towards a way that true Christianity may take in order to draw closer to Islam.
From the very earliest days, sects and groups of the most diverse nature flourished in the Christian movement, each holding opposing views on the most fundamental tenets of Christian belief. The ‘orthodox’ views prevailed on the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in the early 4th century A.D. and from that event the course of future Christianity was set. Although they would later be developed into a complicated theology, the basic ideas on the nature of God as a trinity and the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ (Upon whom be peace) were accepted as fundamental and necessary beliefs. Also the nature of authority was established at that time and took the form of the Emperor as the head of the Church supported by a hierarchy of bishops, priests and deacons on the one hand, with the laity or ordinary believers on the other.
Subsequent centuries saw many developments and splits within what had then become accepted to be Christianity. In 1054 A.D. the Eastern Orthodox Churches rejected the claims of the papacy and broke away from the Western Catholic Church, but despite this their beliefs and the internal structures of their Churches remained broadly similar to the Roman Church. It was not until the Reformation that split the Western Church in the 16th century that not only was the authority of the papacy and the domination of the Church and its hierarchy challenged, but also there were serious attempts to return to the Bible and purify the Christian faith itself. Nevertheless, with a very few exceptions, the majority of the Protestant sects and Churches that emerged, with the exception of denying papal supremacy, cannot really be seen to have developed into anything radically different to the Catholic Church.
We may therefore make the two following points. Firstly, the institution of the Church came to be the representative of Christianity, although it had taken as its basis beliefs contrary to the pure monotheism taught by Jesus (UWP) and had superimposed these on the already existing Roman social and political system. And secondly, the internal structure of the Church, with its hier archy on the one hand, and ordinary Christians on the other was a rigid and oppressive institution that did not allow for the free exercise of reason and the development of knowledge. We may say, therefore, that a truly Christian civilization never developed, but that the Western civilization that did develop and that is known as Christian civili zation is in fact a development of classical Graeco-Roman civilization.
Nevertheless, as we.said to start with, it is an exceedingly complex question and while Western civilization is and always had as its base philoso phy rather than Revelation, it has also been one might say, leavened, tempered, or even softened by true Christianity, that is, those of Christ’s teachings that have been preserved in the New
Testament and the authentic parts of the Old Tes tament. The influence of this true Christianity on Western civilization has been stronger in some periods of history than in others. That it has been present is undeniable but to isolate and describe pure manifestations of it is difficult. Perhaps it can be said that at an individual level people have received and continue to receive genuine inspira tion and guidance through Jesus (UWP)’s teach ings and that this has been reflected in the society and civilization at large.
By the Early Middle Ages the Church had gained a stranglehold over all forms of cultural life. As mentioned above, the hierarchical struture itself of the church and power that the hierarchy enjoyed in relation to the laity prevented the growth of a spirit of enquiry. Education was lim ited to the clergy, so that the body of ordinary Christians merely followed them blindly in their ignorance. And among the clergy, the absolute power enjoyed by the papacy disallowed any advance in knowledge. Any new thought that threw into question the accepted dogmas of the Church, as all advances in knowledge could not fail to do, was branded as heresy and suppressed. These reasons, among others, therefore, meant that the society and civilization could only pro gress in so far as they could shake off this oppre-sive domination of the Church. As the strangle hold of the Church slackened, there was a great upsurge in scientific discovery and in progress inall fields of knowledge. However, it must be stated that it shared the same foundations as the Church and civilization that had preceeded it. In fact, what could it be other than the continuation of the Renaissance, that reaffirmation of the clas sical Graeco-Roman inspiration of Western civili zation?
In the Thirtieth Word, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi explains human history in terms of two cur rents or lines of thought, the line of prophethood and religion and that of philosophy and science, and he relates these to the human ego and describes the results they have yielded. The line of prophethood, which represents Divine revela tion, corresponds to man’s heart, and the line of philosophy, to his intellect or reason. The aim is for these two lines to be united, that is, for the line of philosophy to be obedient to and of service to the line of prophethood and religion. Whenever this has occurred, mankind has experienced true harmony and happiness, but when they have become separated, goodness and light have been drawn to the latter, and evil and misguidance to the former.
Thus, when man does not accept Divine revela tion he will rely on his own reason and will take his desires and impulses as his criteria. Since he imagines that he owns himself, he will be com pelled to imagine that everything else owns itself. This is the basis of the materialist philosophy which developed in the West. Instead of all causes, from the vastest galaxies to the minutest particles, being attributed directly their Creator, power is given to each of them. Each cause is imagined to have an actual effect, it is given the power to create. Such a man will attribute power and creativity to a false concept like Nature, or the laws of Nature, or the forces of Nature. Since he does not accept the key, the plan, the guide to understanding the universe that has been sent by its True Owner, he will not know how to approach it. Relying only on his own intellect and criteria he will run into immediate difficulties and contradictions. He will project these conflicts and contradictions that he experiences within himself as a result of acting contrary to the manner in which he has ben created on to the world outside himself. He will interpret what he sees in that world as struggle and competition and he will come up with such irrational claims as ‘life is a conflict,’ ‘might is right,’ ‘the survival of the fit test,’ ‘in power there is right,’ and so on. It is not difficult to see how accurately this describes Western thought.
Furthermore, such a man will see only the apparent face of the universe, he will not under stand its meaning. It will remain meaningless and purposeless for him. And this ownership and power that he claims will not bring him any real happiness, on the contrary, his endless desires will make him a slave to every cause he seeks to sat isfy them with. Since he denies his Creator and True Object of Worship, he will worship idols and false gods to the number of causes to which he gives power. He will fall from being the aim and fruit of creation to being abased and abject, groveling to every cause that will bring him per­sonal benefits,’ seeking to satisfy his greed and pride.
Thus, if we set aside for a moment the ele ments of true Christianity in Western civilization and their effects, we can see the results of the negative and rotten foundations of the line of science and philosophy. To quote Bediuzzaman, “Its aim and purpose are benefit and self-interest, after which everyone jostles and pushes without restraint. Its principle in life is conflict, which manifests itself in contention and discord. The tie between different groups is racialism and negative nationalism, which thrives on devouring others and which manifests itself in ghastly clashes. Its alluring service is encouraging the passions of the soul, satisfying its desires, and facilitating the attainment of its wishes.”
Since it does not spring from truth and reality and since its aim is not truth and reality, Western civilization has to resort to subterfuge and lies in order to perpetuate itself. Conflict, aggression, self-interest, discord, racialism and lust are indeed repugnant to man’s nature, therefore it both cloaks these ugly facts and deliberately perverts and dulls man’s nature. In order to maintain some sort of equilibrium among all those anarchic for ces, it pitilessly exploits the young and plays off group against group in the society. It excites aggression, animality and racialism through films, pornography, pop music, television and the media, and then seeks to control the release of those forces through seemingly innocent football and sport, pop concerts and festivals, political demonstrations, and minor though sustained con flict between different racial and social groups.
The major requirement in the perpetuation of this system is to stop people thinking, to deaden their perception, to smother their innate urge to find the truth. The whole edifice of Western art and culture is directed towards this aim. In partic ular it addresses the educated classes, satisfying their senses, flattering their conceit, and deceiving them into thinking that they are concerned with reality. The economic system, which is based on waste and consumption, aims to produce, at least for some sections of the society, a false, material paradise in which unfortunate Western man may drown in unthinking comfort and pleasure.
But what a hell they create, Man is not an ani mal. While his body wallows in glamour and affluence, his spirit, conscience, mind, and heart suffer the torments of hell.
The line of prophethood and religion, on the other hand, has as its base Divine revelation. A man who accepts this acknowledges that of him self he is nothing, he is a slave of God, his duty is to use his intellect and other faculties in learning to know God so that he may learn how to please Him with service and worship. He will learn from the revealed books not only what he is himself and his duty, but also the true nature of the uni verse and its duty. He will not get bogged down in its mere functioning, its apparent face of cau sality, beautiful, intricate and absorbing though it is; rather, his eyes will be directed through that wonderful functioning to the meaning behind it. He will see that each being from the minutest par­ticles to the vastest galaxies is performing endless duties in perfect submission and obedience, that beings are rushing to the assistance of the other beings in accordance with a law of co-operation that prevails over the cosmos, that singly and alto gether these beings are proclaiming the glory, beauty, and perfections of their single Compas sionate and Merciful Creator.
The firm and positive foundations of the line of prophethood result in a civilization the bases of which are as follows. Again to quote Bediuzza-man: “Its point of support is truth instead of force, which is manifest as justice and equity. Instead of benefit and self-interest its aims are vir tue and God’s pleasure, which are manifest as love and friendly competition. In place of racial ism and nationalism its means of unity are the bonds of religion, country, and class, which are manifest as sincere brotherhood and concord, and co-operation in only defending against outside aggression. The principle in life is that of mutual assistance and co-operation instead of conflict, which is manifest as unity and mutual support. In place of lust is guidance, which is manifest as progress for humanity and being perfected spiritu ally.”
Before concluding this section we shall analyse in more detail these principles quoted from Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and see how they actu ally manifest themselves both on the level of the individual and of society, concentrating firstly on Western civilization and society.
We saw above that if man does not acknow ledge the Creator and True Owner of the universe, he will claim ownership himself and be forced to attribute ownership or power to causes, that is, beings, outside himself; for example, to the sun, or the so-called forces and laws of Nature, such as gravity or nuclear forces. Therefore, since such a person does not believe that every single aspect of all the activity apparent in the universe is directly controlled, planned and created by One Ail-Powerful, Knowing, Wise, Compassionate, Merciful, and Just Creator, he will not only attrib ute its wonderful functioning to a manifestly absurd concept like chance or coincidence, but he will also see himself as justified in dominating and exploiting for his own benefits as much of the universe over which he can extend his power.
Power or force, therefore, becomes a fundamental principle of materialist philosophy, and man’s benefits the primary purpose or aim.
What does this mean in practice? We saw that Western civilization came to be fundamentally materialist. While it is undeniable that the Churches exert some influence over individuals and society, true Christianity, or pure monothe ism, failed to influence Western philosophy. Its aim, therefore, since it is not God’s pleasure and worship and service of Him through adhering to His law and commands, is man’s pleasure and man’s benefits. The ultimate purpose of the uni verse, in so far as it can be seen to have one, is to serve man’s interests. Man’s attitude towards the universe, then, becomes aggresssive and exploita tive; the universe, and all beings, are there for his use and benefit to whatever degree he can increase his power and thus his domination over them. This manifests itself plainly on all levels: political, national, international, societal. What is the real aim of much modern science and technol ogy? What is ‘Stars Wars’ and the race for space? And while ecologists and governments wring their hands over its effects ecologically and economi cally, let them consider the real causes.
This attitude necessarily expresses itself at the personal level as it does at the universal, for it is the manifestation of a basic belief. Although it is abhorrent to man’s true nature, and also although it may not immediately appear to be thus, a person who is not acting purely for God’s sake will seek to serve his own interests and follow his own benefits on the personal level, too, at the expense of others, whether they be his children, parents, spouse, friends or whatever. The results of this are plain for all to see in the West. Ever-increasing numbers of broken homes, divorce, and neglect of children, especially with regard to then-training and real education if not materially, just for a start.
Furthermore, the contradictions and conflicts that arise from adhering to such a view of the world result in a psychological imbalance that in turn all too often gives rise to both real mental ill ness and to the inhuman and distressing behaviour and crime that has become only too familiar to us in the news media. The reasons for the prisons and mental hospitals being crammed with increas ing numbers of inmates should be sought here and not in such matters as unemployment and social conditions, which, though real problems, can in no way be seen to be a fundamental cause.
Although the majority of people may not be driven to such extremes, their state is basically the same. Man is not designed to bear the burden of unbelief. He is impotent and at the same time sub ject to endless desires and needs. He therefore is in need of an All-Powerful, Wise, and Compas sionate Sustainer Who is able to answer all those desires and needs, that in fact reach to eternity. If he denies that Sustainer, he takes on himself not only all his own needs and problems, which he cannot secure, but also, since he is connected to the rest of the universe, he will be weighed down by all the problems and injustices in the world, which he is certainly powerless to solve. And then there is death, that inescapable reality that stands implacably at the end of the passage of life. What real hope or joy can death leave to someone who subscribes to materialist philosophy?
These great burdens of unbelief lead to a men tality of escapism. Western civilization compels people to entirely wrap themselves up in veils of oblivion in order to escape from the pain and despair that it inflicts on them. It is quite clear once one starts to notice it. Fiction, science-fiction, sport, music, television, video, films, ‘cul ture’; they are all universally used as’ means of escaping. Many people openly admit that they indulge in such pastimes and hobbies in order to escape from the realities of life. Walk down any street or even comb the universities or seek out the intellectuals and see how many will be pre pared to sit down and have a serious discussion of the meaning of life and death. They will avoid it at all costs. For if they do not recognize that Sin gle All-Compassionate Sustainer, the reality is just too painful and terrifying.
This escapism is strenunously encouraged in the West as the major means of perpetuating the system, but the true nature of Western civilization is now becoming inescapably clear. For four and a half centuries the West was engaged in a vigor ous expansion, and the aggressive forces men tioned above were directed outside itself and towards that expansion. But with its contraction an equilibrium cannot be maintained. The West ern materialist system necessitates the excitement and release of those aggressive forces, but in the restricted sphere they turn inwards, as it were, resulting in conflict and violence that can no longer be controlled. This conflict and violence, too, has become familiar to us in the form of foot ball hooliganism, racial violence, political Vio lence, violent crime. In many areas, it is no longer safe even to walk in the streets; there is an atmo sphere of anarchy, aggressiveness, and fear.
The society and civilization that revealed relig ion gives rise to presents a completely different picture. The need for force and aggression does not arise since all power and ownership is attrib uted directly to the True Owner of the universe. A believer recognizes that while being the aim and fruit of creation to whom the universe is in trust, the requirement of his exalted position is to use all the faculties and abilities he has been given in the service of that Ail-Powerful and Generous Owner. By conforming to the law and commands that He has revealed, he too will manifest the jus tice, balancé and equilibrium that is so apparent in the universe. Since he-recognizes God, the All-Wise and Compassionate Possessor of Absolute Power and Absolute Knowledge, and knows himself to be powerless and utterly needy, he understands that all benefits, bounty and good are given directly by God, so, while striving his utmost to receive God’s bounty and pleasure, he will gratefully receive what is given and will shrink from exploiting in any manner his fellow creatures. For to act in self-interest and to seek benefits for oneself is to caim ownership of one self and to attempt to extend that ownership over other creatures; it necessarily entails aggression in some form against them, as well as being a viola tion of the balance and order in the universe.
Since society is formed of individuals, a truly Islamic society and civilization can only come into being as a result of people understanding, believing and acting on these principles. Only when the True Owner of the universe is recog nized with all His functioning Names and attrib utes can believers act with true justice and mani fest love and sincere brotherhood and co operation in society. Only then can they rise above petty self-interest and that most damaging modern sickness, nationalism, which, together with racialism, is again the false claiming of own ership and constitutes an aggresssion against fel low creatures, let alone the damage that it does to the Muslim community. In fact, as the principle of jihad shows us, in no circumstances can there be aggression, only defence against outside aggression.
Furthermore, since a truly Islamic society reflects how each believer sees the universe and since the believer sees the universe not in terms of conflict, ‘the survival of the fittest,’ and such like, but as a vast system of mutual assistance and co-operation, he extends this principle to every aspect of his personal and social life. He attempts to conform to the wisdom, balance and order in the universe, to the Law and commands sent by its True Owner, to the practices of His Most Noble Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace), whom He sent as a mercy to all the worlds.
As we stated at the beginning, our aim in ana lysing Western civilization is not merely to deni grate it, but rather in discovering its foundations and true face to be able to learn something of the relationship of Christianity to that civilization, and thus to find ways in which true Christianity might draw closer to the complete religion of Islam, the religion of God Almighty’s final revealed book, the Qur’an, and His final prophet, the Prophet Muhammad (Upon whom be bless ings and peace), in the hope that together we. might fight our common enemies of atheism and irreligion. We therefore draw the following con clusions.
Firstly, that the churches as institutions do not represent true Christianity. Nevertheless, contem porary movements within them suggest a tendency towards it. For example, in the Catholic Church, the movement of ‘aggiornamento’

(bringing up to date) that was instigated by Pope John XXm in the late 1950′s and was then largely ratified by Vatican Countil II. It tackled some of the problems mentioned above and there was a devolvement of power and responsibility away from the clergy to the laity. The stress was on the greater involvement of ordinary Christians. As a result of this movement, a freer and more intellectually active theology began to emerge. And thoughout Christianity there is an uncoordinated questioning and seeking for a truer form of the religion that takes different forms in differ ent places. This general atmosphere of question ing and searching leads us to hope that sincere Christians will be able to draw closer to Islam.
This brings us to our second conclusion, that the easiest method of finding one’s way through the maze of Western civilization, Christianity, and their histories and relationship and arrive at the truth is through the analysis outlined above.
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi presented us with a model of how we should look at history, our- selves, and the universe. That was in terms of Divine revelation and religion on the one hand, and reason, science and philosophy on the other.
The latter must be subservient and of service to the former, and not vice versa, which is what happened in the Christian world. This analysis shows clearly the basis and nature of Western civilization and also points to the path that should be , taken by those Christians who wish to extricate
themselves from the bog of materialism and enter the complete and wholesome world of God Almighty’s revealed religion.

source: http://www.risaleinur.us/read/?art=2986&t=Western+civilization,+Christianity,+and+Islam

Continue reading »]]> Peaceful Muslim–Non-Muslim Co-existence in a Secular Context

by Farhod Alimuhamedov
23 November 2007

Abstract

This paper is about the conditions of inter-ethnic, inter-religious and inter-class relations in Gülen schools and looks into their operation in non-Turkish and non-Muslim settings. It aims to examine the relations among young people coming from different groups. The initial and main steps of the integration processes among different ethnic and religious entities are well observed at school – we hupothesize that it is much easier to transfer knowledge and values to young people with the same or closely similar identities. The field of research is in Russia because Russian society offers an interesting context for the observation of inter-ethnic and interreligious relations. There we observe the strong ethnic identity arising after the collapse of the Soviet Union with concomitant rise in social rivalry among different groups. The students at Gülen schools are initially selected on academic merit, and the results then obtained by the schools make their reputation. That reputation increases the attractiveness of the schools and the best young people from different ethinic groups try to get places in them. However, the major focus of my research is to check the level of social integration rather than of academic success and to observe how Muslim-based schools can transmit values in non-Muslim context. The example of these schools could be useful for ethnically changing societies like the French one. French society should be reassured by the ‘republican school’ model, and should question the academic and social effectiveness of its methods and approaches rather than the ethnic or religious belifs of the young French students who attend such schools.

1. Introduction

The reason of my interest in Gülen schools lies on my educational background. I studied at the Uzbek Turkish school in Tashkent which was opened in 1992 just after the first anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan. (1st September 1991). I spent 4 years at that school instead of 3 (we have to study at preparatory class first) in order to get the secondary level permitting to apply to the university. Nevertheless, I do not regret much about it, even if at that time one extra year seemed to be very important.

During these 4 years I had not learnt anything about Fethullah Gülen. Even after graduating the school I never questioned about him. The first information about Gülen I found was in Russian analytical paper named “Compass” in 1999 (in the same year all schools were closed in Uzbekistan) which described him as the leader of the “Nurcular” movement, Islamic oriented powerful stream with a strong financial and political support coming mainly from private funds in Turkey. Although that 10-page-article could not change my opinion about my 4-year-experience at school, it created a sort of suspicion towards the schools because that paper was and remained the only information about Fethullah Gülen and “his” schools for a long time.

2. Gülen and “His Schools”

I was informed lately that Gülen possesses no school by his own. He is not a businessman and he did not inherit enough to open hundreds of schools. The difference is clear between Gülen and other famous philanthropist like Soros, Ford or Gates who finance directly schools and education programmes by their own. He was a preacher in Edirne (Turkey) where he received the degree and later in Izmir city from 1966 to 1981 years. The functions of imam being not limited to preaching, but especially educating and writing (he has written about 60 books) he describes himself as an educator[1]. Modern education was not included at his early stages of activities, since at that time he played an important role in educating religion of Islam in Turkey. Therefore the name “Hocaefendi”, which comes for the role of religious title is often used to replace his name. The sector of contemporary (modern) education is one of the domains of his group activities behind the others. That field was actively taken into consideration after 1980[2] by the opening of private schools and became by the time the most discussed and publicly known sphere of activities. The schools which are associated with his name follow his line and vision of modern education which is based on both “mind and heart[3]». He thinks that modern education is job oriented and lacks the spirituality whereas madrasas[4] (Qur’ranic schools of Ottoman Empire) did not follow modern evaluation. However, he finds that Turkish secularism eliminates the religion from the public sphere and encourages the development of violent religious movements. Therefore he proposes the schools both compatible with and critical of modernity and Muslim traditions. Gülen does not see modernity and Islam as opposing entities, but in contrary suggest the participation of Islam in modern Secular State. Even if his points of view are taken from Turkish experience, he tries not to establish one model to all schools over the world.

There are some 250 Gülen schools in Turkey and even more abroad. They are located in different countries, but mainly in developing ones. In the countries closer to Turkey they are densely implanted. For example, they exist in different forms in the majority of the post communist countries bordering and closely located to Turkey. In some countries like Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan there are even universities which are linked to the Gülen movement. The schools, however, cover a large geographical area starting from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Northern America and even in Europe.

Gülen’s role is not so much a planning one, but rather visionary one, since in new regions locally operating groups are better acquainted with needs and realities on the ground[5]. Therefore the forms of the schools are multiple. There are schools recognized as “lyceums” or “gymnasium” which are attached to the local schools. They share the building and interfere for the elder pupil. There are also Language and Computer centres that are in developing countries where the need for the subject is vital, but also in developed countries where difficulties to open the schools (mainly Europe) exist. Beside Gülen “has” several International Schools which is open to local pupil and for the children of diplomatic corpus residing at that country. However the main form is so called “Turkish” schools which undergo through intergovernmental agreements.

These schools obtained certain recognition in many countries. Famous political leaders, even presidents have claimed about them in public. For example, recently Afghan president Karzai demanded Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Gul in their meeting to multiply the numbers of Afghan Turkish schools[6]. The director of Crimean-Turkish School in Ukraine Mehmet Sevketoglu has received a medallion for his work by country president Youshenko. The students of Turkish school Horizon Japan International School) were received by Prime Minister Koizumi Junishiro, whereas the mother of Georgian president Saakashvili, Dr. Giuli Alasania Saakashvili works at one of the Turkish schools.[7]

3. The Missions of “Missionary Schools”

The success of Gülen schools is achieved almost everywhere they open. However, the question rises about the main aim of these schools from Turkish side, as well as from hosting country side. Several schools have been closed in Russia, and all schools in Uzbekistan. It is difficult to make parallel between these accidents, but in both cases the problems come from political and not from educational drive. In order to avoid all suspicion the schools keep a very strong control over the look of their students. The common characteristics of students are being well-bred, well-dressed and not having an ostentatious look. Traditional clothes are banned; students are obliged to have the uniform. The uniform is composed of jacket, trousers for young men and skirt for girls. In spite of “modern” image, the presence of these schools abroad was discussed in Turkey for several times as they were considered to be the drive for pro Islamic, missionary education. Gülen stated the purposes of these schools as follows: “Our schools are missionary like other missionary schools of Europeans and Americans. Our purpose is to carry out missionary activities to prepare the suitable conditions for creating Turkish lobby and to train bureaucrats”.[8]

In fact, making parallel between missionary schools and Gülen schools is somehow interesting. The presence of Christian missionary schools in Muslim countries is a fact, why it would be difficult to accept the vice versa? From other hand, it remains very difficult to understand the notion of “islamization” of Muslim societies. Central Asian societies have been Muslim societies for the centuries; even Turkey itself is composed of more than 90% of the population of Muslims. How it is possible “islamize” already Muslims? There is, undoubtedly rising ethnic and religious identity formation which is replacing more and more left/right or communist/capitalist identities. Therefore there is a need for schools giving religious education after the “revival” of the religion in post communist countries. There is a need for sharing the history of Turkic nations those were in the same geopolitical area before being annexed by Russia. Schools are by their composition and acts may be considered as the promoters of the modern and needed education. They offer in fact, what lacks to that society in academic and moral terms. Michel says that given the lack of integration between scientific knowledge and spiritual values, Gülen and his companions introduced a new style of education which reconciles the two.

I think, by his comparison Gülen does not want to oppose his schools to missionary schools. On contrary, he takes them partly for example which has a role to play in contemporary political and social conflicting situation among the religions. Islam is considered as an “enemy” for some especially after that theory was officially promoted by Huntington. Therefore he favours inter religious dialogue in order to avoid the clash, whether than discussing sticky points among the religions. Gülen advocates acceptance and dialogue with the non-Muslim community. To advocate this notion of tolerance, Gülen met important Christian and Jewish religious leaders including the Pope, Chief Rabbi of Israel and the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church to promote inter-religious dialogue. If his role was to “islamize” or “re-islamize” he would better limit to Muslim societies, if his role was the revival of Panturkism he would better fix only on Central Asian countries. Therefore he favours opening the schools in non Muslim countries like Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Brazil, Mexico, etc. which establishes another image of Muslims as educators and not as the “bombers” in a very crucial period called “post September 11th”. That lets non Muslims and non Turks get known abroad by the best image as he told above.

If there are similarities in the methods of education between Gülen schools and missionary schools, in the purpose they remain different. In fact, there is a “cliché” of missionary schools applied to Gülen schools. In methodology Gülen schools accent on family-like study which strengthen ties among the students. The schools are prevailing general level, in spite of individual which make an almost equal level of all the students. They have a strong discipline, strict control and very good information over each pupil. The parents are permanently enrolled in education processes and pupil stay at the dormitory during the week. By the functioning they may resemble to Christian “missionary” schools acting nowadays.

The purpose of “missionary” Gülen School is far from converting to Islam. In fact, it is impossible to convert somebody to Islam (we see the use of the terms to other context again) as according to Islam everybody is a Muslim by the birth. The parents make Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists from them, that means if somebody decides to be Muslim, he would have “come back” to Islam. From that, we can say that, being different from Christianity where the “conversion” is the purpose, in missionary schools, it would be incorrect from religious point of view to suppose Gülen schools “convert” pupil to Islam. Briefly, we can’t use terms “islamization” or “conversion” as the purpose of these schools.Another divergence is based on the notion of Land. The missionary schools come from so called “Christian Land” to another “non Christian Land” that is located in between “10/40″ window (which points on territorial aspect). In contrary, Gülen points on society and schools act within the society and not on territorial basis. They knowledge should serve for the people and for the necessity of the nation, therefore one can find several schools in one small territory, and no school in large territories in spite of religious or ethnic proximity. The purpose of the missionary schools is to use the pupil in Christian drive once they obtain important leadership career, whereas Gülen School believes that the pupil would work for the sake of his/her society and be the good person whilst having an important role in the government. Gülen considers that the majority should obtain the knowledge and thinks that danger comes when only minority possess it. Therefore “his” schools do not have a “target group” and open to everybody, whereas Christian missionary schools are active among the vulnerable groups like orphans, minorities, etc.

The purpose, aim is more important than the method, because it effects to a long term result, whereas, the method effects to a short term result. Hereby, I would like to look through the activities of Gülen schools in Russian Federation.

4. Case study: Schools in contemporary Russia

The secondary education remains one of the high priorities of Russian education system. The country achieved almost 100 per cent of alphabetisation even before 1990s. Therefore, basic and general level of education was high in the country.

At the beginning of the 1990s many specialists spoke about the decline in educational sphere in almost all countries of former Soviet Union. It was linked to the decline of the salaries of all employees depending from the state budget. In fact, it would be true talking about the “transformation of the education” in general, with new priorities and new approaches. New education sector would shape a new face of the Russian society. In terms of society, Russia was no more cosmopolitan, but extremely nationalistic in its internal policy at the first stages of its independence. In terms of economy, country accepted market economy to state regulation which affected to all budget sectors. In terms of politics, the leaders established power based on multi class society, rather than on workers or agricultures as it was in Soviet time. The division into the classes was very quick after a long single class society. In sum, the country transformed its system from egalitarian to market oriented education even in primary levels and increasing in higher steps. Initially, authorities could not provide necessary basis to accomplish such education therefore they were open to accept foreign specialist who proposed their study systems.

Gülen schools entered Russia as to other ex communist countries from a very beginning of the independence as an actor partly linked to Turkey and less to Turkish education system. In fact, they were aware of that, Turkish education system did not achieve much success until the recent years. The country is still placed among the highest among OECD countries having attained only primary education level (64,2%). The part of those who continue in tertiary and advanced research programmes is lower than in Russian Federation (9,1% to 20,8%). Only in this year (2007) the best Turkish universities entered among 500 leading universities list. In terms of yearly expenditure for each student in secondary level both Russian Federation and Turkey have the same expenses. Briefly, Turkey itself cannot represent a better model of secondary or higher level education and lesser “export” it to other countries. Therefore, schools had to prove much in Russia.

In fact, Gülen’s schools represent elitist schools even in Turkey. The students are selected under the selective basis. They compose the best students and increase eventually better reputation of the school. As mentioned above, the schools have a relatively short experience even in Turkey. The possibility of acting abroad represents a double challenge for them. The results would have affected not only to Turkeys representation abroad, but also strengthening role of the schools inside the Turkey. Their ambassadorial role functioned with the best, young specialists who went to exercise teacher’s functions abroad, with a small experience in pedagogy, in general.

Russia has given a green light to promote “lyceums” or “gymnasiums” or other types of schools that distinguished by better level from other “ordinary” schools. The interest for learning foreign languages, especially English and Computer Sciences became important points of attractiveness. The country aimed to have not only national, but more and more internationally oriented youth accepting the importance of English which have a lesser use in Soviet political zone.

The change from equal level to stratified level of secondary education is very important in the Russian system where the entrance to higher education is done through the examinations. The competition on the secondary education based in two areas. If the first is national and partly international Olympiads, the second and most important is university entrance results.

Gülen schools have a different methodology in teaching at secondary level. They should adapt to each national education system which varies from one another even at post communist countries. In general, they try to keep the control over the teaching of natural sciences in English and leave social sciences teaching to local teachers. School programme is based on obligatory study (between 35-38 academic hours) and working hours (about 10-12 hours) controlled by educators in the evening time.

5. Academic results

These schools have spoken of them very quickly in Russia. Of course, their importance was not as strong as in Central Asia where they possessed unequal reputation based on domination in all sorts of competitions. However, with the small number of establishment, the schools achieved academic success in different fields, even though the education programme was not the same with the general secondary programme. For example, in 2007, Ms Katya Bikova, pupil of International Moscow Lyceum 56, obtained the second place in Russian national Ecology Olympiad. M Vasili Raska who studies at the same school obtained the first place with his project on the bio indicators. In sum, 8 pupil from that school participated successfully in 29th Lomonosov Olympiad organized by Moscow State University. The list of success is long and it is permanent each year. For example, only Tatar Turkish Girls School obtained 52 winning places within 10 years, which makes that each year they obtain more than 5 winning places in Olympiads.

University entrance statistics of Schools are also high. More than 90% of pupil enter the university from the first tentative, the data that is extremely high in comparison to national level.

6. Human Relationship

The force of the schools resides not only in academic, but especially humanistic aspects. In fact, it is still difficult for Russian families to release the education of their children to foreigners. Especially, when this foreigners come from developing country which was considered for the centuries as an enemy. The image of Turkey as the centre of education remains unwilling because for the Russians it represented during Soviet Union Islam and Pan Turkism vis-à-vis the conquered Central Asia.

Surprisingly, the relations between teachers and students remain in the very good basis. Although, the age scale which is admitted to schools remains the most difficult (12-17), and the fact that the difference of age is considered to be low between educators and students (5-15) the authority of the teacher is very strong. The respect of the teacher is gained very quickly, in spite of cultural, religious differences. The assimilation with the local people, studying the local languages and traditions let the young teachers get rapidly the respect and trust of the parents and authorities. Even though the fact the cadres are very young (between 20 and 30) and composed of majority from the male (in Russia school teachers are composed of mainly women).

M Kuznetsov[9] says that the teachers are selected ones in Turkey. He notes that the relations between teachers and parents are in excellent stage which is the result of active relationships of teachers with parents. Things go even much farer by the example of the marriages of teachers with local women. For example, M Mustafa Boder (teacher of Turkish at Tuva Turkish College) married the daughter of president of Tuva M Serigo-ool Oorjak – Anyeta[10].

Teacher selection for Gülen schools is not based only in academic criteria. Yet, before being teacher, young people try to understand the teachings of Gülen and the aim of educating. Gülen writes that “those who want to reform the world should reform themselves before “[11] Therefore, teachers are firstly well educated and thereafter competent ones. That puts into the first plan the character of the school staff which is neglected actually in contemporary education system, based only on competences[12]. The school offer not only academic success, but also transfer good moral education. The schools give a parallel education and apprehension which is not offered by any other school in the region[13]. Ali Bayramoglu notes that, schools do not rely on religious (Islam) teaching, but to make moral education for the youth.[14]

In his article “Changing values: Russian youth in transition”, Mikhail F.Chernys, speaks about the rapid changing of post-soviet Russian youth. He indicates that so called rise of consumption needs among the younger people. They start to drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes, etc. much younger than previous generation[15]. He notes that, a sharp change within the several years create a great antagonism between two generations living together. Many parents in Russia noted that the choice of sending their children to Turkish schools was linked to the moral education. Some parents openly say that they prefer these school for their English and non smoking education. Hulusi Turgut[16] notes that, many pupils stopped drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes after commencing studying.

Another aspect of the schools lay under the resolving multi ethnic or multicultural problems within the society. Gülen schools are attractive by having several ethic groups. Kuznetsov noted that Moscow school has pupil from 12 different origins. In Tatarstan Muslim and non Muslim pupil continue studying together. In spite of rising ethnic view all over the Russia, the schools keep attracting diverse ethnic groups. The schools have almost the same prestige in the big cities or in the smaller ones and even in the central cities like Moscow or Saint Petersburg though the ethnic portrait is completely different. These cities are the centres of competing educational institutions; therefore it remains very difficult to get known. It is notably that ethnic Russians from these cities choose Gülen schools in spite of the large choice of different international schools.

7. Conclusion: The Movement in Europe

Gülen schools exist also in developed countries like Japan, England, USA, etc. The role of these schools is determinant in putting into practice a new system of teaching as they make prior the teacher’s education.

Gülen movement in Europe has other priorities actually. They concerned with moral education and academic support to local citizens of Turkish origin. Turkish Diaspora is one of the biggest in Europe, therefore they have much activities to do. I suppose that the movement is aiming to multiply the number of schools in Europe because there is an increasing need for them.

The need is coming from the gap left by the society in the formation of the individuals. The role of human upbringing has much changed and therefore the institutions which play role in it have different power actually. The society is getting lesser role in human upbringing. Its role is reduced by non recognition as an institution like school, university or kindergarten. Therefore its share is partly taken by primary and secondary schools which make an important role in human development in European context. Parents leave all the responsibility to school which should play today the double role. If the task of the modern school is centred on knowledge transmission, the educating aspects are becoming more and more important. The schools are facing this problem in many European countries and this is clearly seen especially in immigrant families who are coming from the different context where society is still have a word to say in human upbringing.

For example, the French education system is very known by being republican, egalitarian. The state controls majority of primary, secondary schools and higher education institutions. The “égalité” is written in French constitution which is guaranteed in France by the equal conditions of education. But French sociologist Bourdieu has already shown that “egalitarian machine” was not working well throughout the years. The sector of education is the main factor of social stratification in the country. Recent studies show that primary and especially secondary education results very much from one part of the city to another. The so called “creation of ghetto schools” within the “ghetto districts” resulted in a very low degree of the pupil studying there. The school is reflecting social problems which are based on class, ethnic and religious tensions.

Actually, many critics come towards the school and education institutions in general as they are giving no chance to change the social status. Besides, the school is becoming the area of the conflict based on religious or ethic means. These conflicts show the different perceptions of the role of the school by diverse groups and the incapacity of the “republican school” to satisfy the needs of the new generation.

In actual French education system, there is an increasing need for education oriented schools. Parents leaving their children to the sake of society do not easily perceive its absence. Children have “individually” organized study programmes which are based under the stronger parental academic control. When it comes to immigrants or parents with low degree studies who can’t transmit necessary knowledge and control, it becomes clear that children are going towards fiasco. Therefore, parents are surprised to see their kids having not being necessarily educated, nor academically fit in spite of studying for several years at school.

It is no more surprising when we find some Muslim parents sending their children to Catholic schools in the search of the better education and qualification. The purpose is to avoid the risks and giving their children good moral education. However, Catholic schools are also known well for their academic success that means parents prefer them not for being religious but effective. One can go to Christian University of Paris to search for Christianity, but he/she find that the majority of the students are there not for Christianity, but the quality of higher education. Parents trust these schools, whereas the trust to “republican school” is diminishing especially in certain districts.

Today’s France is a multicultural, multi ethnic and multi religious society. Although major political drive tries to keep ancient identity vision, they are aware of the need of reforms in very transforming society. The best reforms go through the education, as it is better and easier to educate the younger than the older one. France and Russia resemble much in their vision of society, central governance and actually more and more multi ethnic society. The experience of Gülen schools in Russia may be tempting for French educators in search of rapid reforms in nowadays.

[1] Thomas Michel, S.J. «Islamic Modernities: Fethullah Gülen and Contemporary Islam», p.1

[2] Agai, B «Discursive and Organizational Strategies of Gülen Movement» p.3

[3] Thomas Michel, S.J. «Islamic Modernities: Fethullah Gülen and Contemporary Islam», p.6

[4] In fact, the word «madrasa» which is the same as «medersa», «madrasah», «medrese» literally means “a place where learning/teaching is done”. However, by the time this word lost its original meaning and stands for ancient schools which existed before establishing republican regime in Turkey. Therefore, people refer directly to Qur’anic school once they use the word «madrasa».

[5] Hermansen.M, «Understanding of Community within the Gülen Movement», p.9

[6] Zaman, 28-02-2007

[7] Zaman, 22-09-2006

[8] Cennet Engin Demir, Ayse Balci, Fusun Akkok «The rôle of Turkish schools in the educational system and social transformations of Central Asian countries: the case of Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan», Central Asian Survey (2000), 19 (1), p.151

[9] Hurriyet 19.01.1998

[10] Zaman (08/01/2007)

[11] Fethullah Gülen «The Necessity of Interfaith dialogue : A Muslim Approach», p.30

[12] Nelson, C «Fethullah Gülen, A Vision of Transcendent Education», p. 4

[13] Ali Unal «Fethullah Gülen : Bir Portre Denemesi», p. 272

[14] ibid

[15] Values and Post-Soviet Youth. The Problems of Transition, p. 166

[16] Sabah, 22.01.1998

source: http://en.fgulen.com/conference-papers/peaceful-coexistence/2521-peaceful-muslimnon-muslim-co-existence-in-a-secular-context

Continue reading »]]> by Fethullah Gulen

The word “Islam” literally stems from the root “s-l-m” and the words “silm” and “salamah” which mean peace, and which indicate the “submission” or ‘surrender” of oneself to God Almighty, being obedient to His commands, embarking on a safe and secure path that leads to salvation, promising a sense of trust to everyone and everything, while also denoting the fact that the person surrendering will not inflict any harm on others, be it physical or verbal.

The basis of Islam is “iman” and “iz’an”, that is, faith, and conscious obedience. The fruits of Islam are “ihsan” (blessings) and “ihklas” (sincerity), that is acting or living as if seeing God, and doing everything only for the sake of God Almighty. The concept of Islam can be briefly summarized as the unconditional and doubtless belief of the “Tawhid”, the Unity of God, and His divine Existence, and the submission of the self to Him. Also included in this, are the performance of every act and the responsibility of acting as if one sees Him, and is observed by Him, and doing everything only for His sake. A person who acts according to these or to similar descriptions is called a “Muslim” (not an Islamist). Such a person is accepted as a candidate to eternal prosperity.

Based on the messages of God Almighty, and the teachings and practices of His prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, Islam is a Divine religion. A person who believes and practices Islam is called a “Mu’min” and a “Muslim” (one who has faith, and who has submitted). Scholars have described Islam as “the sum of all divine laws that urge people to do good deeds with their freewill and consciousness.” Hence, if such a dynamic system can be practiced in life, then its fruits will become obvious in this world and in the hereafter. On the contrary, when this system is expelled from life, then it is not easy to find anything positive to say about religion.

From the perspective of language, there is a fine distinction between “iman” and “Islam”, that is, faith and submission. However, it is a strongly believed that Islam without faith (iman), and faith (iman) without Islam (submission and/or actions) are incomprehensible. Faith is the interior, and Islam is the physical expression of this faith that constitutes the exterior. Their union makes the Divine Religion, which establishes all aspects of faith and practice in this life (iman and Islam). A person who practices and who accordingly represents this religion can only be called a Muslim. From this perspective, those who consider religion to be no more than a system of beliefs, and those who only practice it culturally without understanding the deeper meanings, are mistaken. It is obvious that both groups have been and will be left bereft of the fruits of this religion, fruits promised by the Lord, in this and in the next world.

Surprisingly, however, to consider the practice of Islam as being part of the faith would be another mistake. Although those who believe that the practice of the faith is compulsory, but still fail to fulfill their duties are sinners, they are still Mu’min (one who has faith). Such thought does not conflict with the Sunni understanding of Islam, because not worrying about committing sins is very different from saying “To punish or not to punish is God’s decision”. According to the Qur’an, faith is an essential part of the religion, lying in its very core, while Islam is the only way to make faith a part of human nature. Practice without faith is hypocrisy, faith without practice is sin (transgression). As hypocrisy is no more than hidden blasphemy, it will not be forgiven, but it is possible for sins to be forgiven through repentance. In this respect, even if someone does not practice Islam, we should have a good opinion of them and not see those people as non-believers, unless they undermine or express that they do not care about Islam. Yet, it is not possible to think in the same way for those who are faithless, and oppress and despise other believers for being Muslims. An additional point that needs to be addressed here is the importance of being steadfast in one’s religion, carrying out all the aspects of faith and its practice, this is what God seeks in believers.

To be a truthful Muslim, one should avoid all kinds of hypocrisy and acts of blasphemy; one should surrender to God with utmost sincerity, and practice Islam with a consciousness of being in His presence and being watched by Him. It is disrespectful to think of religion only as a matter of conscience and mysticism. Those who seemingly accept Islam – God is always aware of the truth of the situation – yet proclaim that the practice of religion is a form of extremism, are deceiving themselves with empty illusions and they are posing as devout Muslims. Subjective and immoral interpretations of Islam turn it into a man-made religion, not a divine religion. In fact, Islam was sent down to save people from their own selves, the self that follows only human desires, and to enlighten people with the knowledge of God. In other words, Islam is collection of divine rules and revelations that raises human beings above the level of the animals, and which prepares them for the journey to the comforting climate of the heart and the spirit. The spirit of this system is Iman (faith), its body is Islam (submission), its perception Ihsan (consciousness of His presence), and the name of this unique order is Din, Islam (submission).

Islam addresses those who are intellectually capable, urging them to do what is good for both this and the next life through their own freewill, promising eternal contentment to those who heed this call. The position of believers is not one of being oppressed by responsibilities and obligations. All blessings, prosperity and enduring joy are bound together with the free will of humanity by God’s Knowledge, Will and Choce. In the same way religion and the responsibilities entailed are a favor and a tribute given to human will by the Divine Will. From this aspect, Islam is totally different than other religious systems; the manners of Islam are divine, and the expression of this is servitude. Those to whom Islam is being addressed are intellectually capable, and they possess freewill, as already stated; they try to practice the religion of God, and also try to be representatives of it. It is also possible to think of religion as a gift from God to those who are capable; those who are mentally incapable and who are not free in their actions cannot be held responsible for religious obligations, and they are not privileged as others are as they cannot be encouraged to do good.

As this religion has been sent by the All-Knowing God, He Who best knows His creation, it always shows the way to the truth, to good deeds, and it encourages hearts with promises of paradise. On the other hand, it also urges people to be cautious and warns them of terrible consequences if they go astray. In this context, the commandments of the religion are everlasting, constant, and relevant to the date, because these edicts are eternal. Despite the fact that all systems are subject to becoming irrelevant and out-of-time, the commandments of Islam are always new, and attractive. Yet, there are some biased people who do not perceive this truth. This is not surprising, as all man-made decrees are subjective, and they all differ from country to country, and fall out of step with time, due to continuous amendment that is made on an ad hoc basis; such systems provide only a temporary relief to the problems of humanity, due to the limited perception of humanity of itself.

On the contrary, Islam has been revealed with messages that deal with all kinds of matters and that provide satisfaction for the eternal and never-ending needs of humanity. It has never asked or suggested anything that goes against human nature, and has never neglected any of our needs or desires. For those who are mindful and righteous, there are no issues that have been neglected, no doubts or desires that go unanswered, and there are no conflicts between the commandments of the religion and their practical meaning, nor are there any gaps or issues that have not been taken in hand. On the whole, Islam, with its eternal messages and glad tidings about how to please and see the Lord in the hereafter, has been uniquely and divinely planned to suit human nature, its capabilities, goals, and tendencies.

Living an Islamic life, one benefits from the lawful bounties of this world, spending all one’s years full of the joy of walking the corridors that lead to paradise and the eternal blessings of He Who Bestows. In addition to all of this, if a person can live his/her life totally concentrating on pleasing God, which is the essence of religion, then this person can be considered as being of the rank of the angels. The decrees made by humanity are limited, and are usually race and ethnicity oriented; these can never be an answer to the limitless and never-ending needs and desires of humanity. God is the Creator and the All-Knowing, and this religion is His decree given to mankind for this world. All other man-made systems are of limited vision and are short-sighted in their awareness, and their spirituality is always hazy.

Islam, the true religion, is a unique order that never misleads and a divine source that opens new earthly and heavenly prospects for human beings. This divine system is called “religion” from the perspective of belief, “shariah” from the perspective of actions, and “community” from the perspective of social functions. Primarily, all actions and activities occur according to the belief system, and social life is shaped according to this behavior, these actions and activities. For this reason, believers, who have solid faith and who make their faith a part of their character, continuously practicing it, are sources of truth, justice and fairness; such a person is trustworthy, a representative of high morality, a seeker of knowledge and wisdom, and is loyal to the sacred call of religion. Such a faithful believer would also actively participate in working toward the perfection of human society.

Faithful Muslims, who are conscious of their religion, whose practices are in line with the divine commandments, whose hearts are always connected to their Lord, and whose actions reflect this relation with the Divine, will never be deceived, nor will such people be in a position of servitude to any other human being. Such Muslims are always aware of their relationship with this exalted community, and thus are self-confident; they reflect this assurance, and are distinctive in their behavior. They love, show sympathy, and deep respect for all the created things because of the Creator. They prevent themselves from performing base and simplistic actions that are not compatible with the honor of being human; they are above the others in their faith, wisdom, and actions. While doing all of the above, believers are never proud or arrogant, they never push or force others to accept their philosophy or way of life. Aware of the fact that Islam never causes repugnance, they accept everyone as they are, and instead of trying to push their ideas on others, they are adorned with true faith, trying to represent their religion flawlessly, and being one of those who are admired by those around. Yet, they are not seeking the admiration of others; they do everything for the sake of their Exalted God, thinking only of His approval in their everyday speech, behavior, and thought; such people are never “ostentatious”, considering this as little better than a virus infecting and killing the heart and spirituality.

As a matter of fact, Islam did not come to oppress the minds or the will of humanity, but rather it was sent to prevent such oppression and tyranny on the part of human beings, hence urging people to use their minds and their intellects alongside their freewill to make new choices. This was exactly how things were at the time when Islam was being fully practiced; its majestic spiritual charm never needed any mind games or tricks, nor was hidden or explicit cruelty accepted. Deeds were the language that Islam used to reach the heart, words were used to explain the details. Words were used as a tool to address the conscience, words that encourage good and prohibit evil were the means; physical enforcement was not used. Islam does not approve of enforced faith (this is against the nature of the religion), nor does it accept any practice or deed which is not oriented around the pleasing of God. According to Islam, enforced faith is hypocrisy, and such deeds are no more than showing off. The Qur’an strictly forbids oppression in faith, as can clearly be seen in this verse “There is no compulsion in religion. True guidance is distinct from error (Al-Bakara 256).” Islam exists to prevent all kinds of hypocrisy and disbelief, and to hinder those who want to show-off. All of these facts in no way contradict the persistent behavior of a believer in the expression and establishment of the Truth.

As long as there is an opportunity, Islam will address the minds and souls of humanity, saving them from hypocrisy and leading them to the truth by the perfect example of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh), lighting the true faith and belief in their hearts, and equipping them with an awareness of God’s presence everywhere and eternally. This kind of behavior is nothing more than the result of the acceptance of the message of Muhammad (pbuh).

The message proclaimed by the last prophet (the Messenger) Muhammad (pbuh) is the final and complete divine message, and it is the most reliable, trustworthy path leading to God Almighty. If this religion cannot express itself very clearly nowadays, the fault lies in that it is not only being perceived incorrectly, but it is also not being depicted in the best possible manner by those who follow Islam. Nevertheless, we do not think that this situation will stay forever as it is. When the time is right, Islam will re-express itself in every stage of life and it will entrance mankind with its joyful colors and patterns once again.

When this community of Islam notices that once again they are renowned and their name has been given to them by God (according to a verse in the Qur’an, “God is the one who gave the name Muslim to you and to those before you”) they will be impressed, saying “How Exalted, how Beneficial our Lord is” and turn their faces towards Him; they will submit to His wisdom.

Islam is an invitation that expresses the religions that came before it. As materialist and naturalist philosophies have became too energetic, the containment of this divine message has also meant that all other religions are defeated by those dangerous and terrifying ideologies. Islam is the protector of the true faith. Since every other prophet in the past proclaimed the same messages, Islam is a point of support, and acts as evidence for the other heavenly religions. Thus, to revive Islam means revitalizing the other heavenly religions, correcting those points that are erroneous, maybe even partially revising some points that are in need of repair and providing new ideas for the believers of other religions. I personally believe that all of the above are possible and the fact that all heavenly religions come from the same source is a great advantage in this direction.

The Fountain, January-March 2004, Issue 45

source: http://en.mfethullahgulen.info/recent-articles/1718-a-brief-overview-of-islam.html

Continue reading »]]> by

Erkan Toguslu

22 November 2007

Reflections on European Multiculturalism, Islam and Peaceful Coexistence: Tariq Ramadan and Fethullah Gülen

Abstract

The Islamic scholars Fethullah Gülen and Tariq Ramadan are two major personalities whose ideas and views are admired and valued by the Muslim community, especially its younger generations, in Europe. These two thinkers are calling for a better understanding of civilizational and religious pluralism, a moderate way of practising Islam, and the coexistence of different ethnic and religious affiliations. Their ideas promote universal human rights, tolerance and forgiveness among European peoples in contexts marked by mistrust, intolerance and fear. The assassination of Theo van Gogh, the Pope’s lecture in Regensburg, the ‘cartoons affairs’, revealed the heightening of tensions and how much European multicultural societies are in need peaceful voices to reduce the misunderstandings that create fearful communities on the brink of open hostilities. Both these scholars affirm the role of democracy, and speak out against terrorism, racism, Islamophobia and prejudice, and in favour of cultural pluralism. This paper analyses the circulation of their ideas among the younger generation, their education and dialogue initiatives, and the cassettes of lectures that have opened up a space where ideas about human civic responsibility, democracy, citizenship, pluralism, dialogue and tolerance can take root.

1. Introduction

In recent years questions take on particular importance between Muslims and western societies that these issues not only lead Muslims to reformulate things but also the interaction between Islam and Europe in spaces, discursive parallel arenas as describes Frazer, [399] and The nature of Muslim’s presence in Europe is changing and we cannot identify Europeans Muslim temporary guest worker. Göle notes that the interpenetration and interaction make close West and East, Islam and Europe and give the new challenges. [400] As a result of this new phenomena, Islam cannot only still link to Arabs, Turks, Pakistanis, it becomes as a European phenomena. Muslims are now permanent part of Western civilization, however the history of relations between Europe and Islam is dated till 7th century, begun with conquest of Spain by Omayyad’s and from east the Turkish pressure, but this presence is obviously limited and did not touch the whole Europe. The phenomena of growing Muslim presence in Europe is a new phenomena, is looked with new visibility like as Muslim headscarf, Muslim schools, market, the everyday life practices. In major European capital cities, the Muslim population’s presence and visibility is clearly seen. The demographical aspect, the increase of later, the existence of different ethnics Muslims among European societies are dealing with coexistence, plurality, integration, terrorism, democracy, the ability of habits and manners in public life and nowadays Islam and Muslim actors through their visibility and demands shape European mind and history. They take part the symbolic role in definition of European identity by creating new debates and challenges that Europe faces today as the relation between state and religion, the place of sacred in the common public sphere, the collective European identity. The Muslim factor is not only considered a geographical and demographical terms, the new dimension in a multicultural Europe offer a range of opportunities containing new challenges for new Europe. Europe’s engagement with enlightenment is not achieved; this communal project is continued as a response inherited with intellectual, practical of Islamic-Muslim occurrence. Nevertheless, the new issues relating the place of religion, especially Islam in Europe, the western societies seem to pursue a closer Union. The debate issue Turkish membership candidate mention us this question; the political and religious tolerance, European identity, the relation between sacred and profane.

Multiple face of Islam, even ethnic diversity, cleavages due sociopolitical and generational differences, is at the core of the institution of Islam en Europe. Europe’s Muslims is divided in several groups and don’t form a monolithic group.[401] New young Muslim generation choose to identify themselves with their country in which they live and raise, prefer to speak in French, English or Dutch. The emergence of Islamic identities with national local loyalty is reinforced and enhanced by schooling, working.

Bayat remarks the shift from the discourse of politicization of Islam to personal pietism, ethics after 11 September terrorists attacks.[402] In this new period of accentuation on pietism and on ethic, the new Islamic faces in challenging with ancient discourses. Gülen’s and Ramadan’s views, their typology and portrait as new pioneer of Islam in secular context remain us the shifting of pioneers of Islamic thinkers and thinking. The emergence of new personalities is quiet different in terms of the evaluation of the West, nationalization, ijtihad, coexistence between non Muslims while the first generation like Mawdudi, Al-Banna emphasizes on anti imperialism and against westernization, the second group of Islamic intellectuals speak about the coexistence between East and West, the pluralism, the democracy and human rights.

2. Making of Muslim Youth and the New Islamic Intellectuals: Speaking for Western Muslims

After a traditional Islamic education in eastern medreses and mosque school, he continued his formation at secular school. This was fallowed the official preacher in Religious affairs. Gülen makes speak about him since the nineties when he was appeared in public secular sphere during the interfaith dinner organized by the journalist and writer foundation affiliated Gülen movement.[403 ]These dinners contribute gathering people from various religious, political and ideological identities. Since 1998, he lives a voluntary exile in the United States after laics pressure. His close relations with political leaders, his charisma, and his sermons eloquent make him surfer on the media. As a matter of fact, his sphere of activity should have increased over the past years. He shows a capacity to adopt his discourses and speeches in variable secular context, having a talent to fascinate his supporters, spreading among the young university students and businessman. Fascinating people by his tears during his sermons, his ability to contact and circulate his message reveals new Islamic intellectual character shaped Islamic discourse and emotional aspect that form his spiritual dimension. Raised in conservative pious family, received religious education and secular teaching, acquiring these two spheres, offer him the possibility to speak about different themes. After secular project and forced laicization and modernization by the new rulers of Turkish Republic which deligitimate and decline the ulama’s powers replaced by the new bureaucrates elites whose formation is culturally and socially differentiate. On this point, Özdalga notes:

“(Gülen) adopts a solid, conventional Hanafi/Sunni understanding of the religious traditions. So it does not seem to be the content of the religious interpretation as such, but the very existence of a new relatively strong group, filled with religious fervor and claiming a place in the public arena that annoys the establishment in Turkey radical margins who see this as a threat to their ideology.”[404]

His profile is closer to the alim-arif typology. Gaborieau indicates “oulema-soufi” type that is seen in the same character.[405] A heuristic glance at Gülen’s works and speeches enable us to define him as arif-alim who gather two poles which are called zahiri (exoteric) and batini (esoteric). Gülen plays the double role and figure: arif and alim, spiritual and rational, the sacred and the profane. This two figures intermingle in an extricable way as noting Watt that many soufis were retired from this world, at the same time a great astonishing number of Sufis were lawyer, Muslim scholars, scientist like Al-Qusahyri, on of the great personage soufi at his time, was a shafite lawyer. [406]

Gülen’s sermons are marked by a strong emotion, sacred tears which accompany pain and psychic state that encourages the cry of people who are present in his sermon. Through this emotional aspect relating with esoteric style of interpretation of Qur’an, in various subjects, Gülen refers a spiritual knowledge (marifa), is pointed out. He emphasizes this sufistic way of interpretation, while Ramadan’s discourse is outlined by an academic critical position and scholar’s approach, Gülen develops a language shaped sufistic idioms, narrations.

Ramadan was born in Geneva, a Swiss Muslim. His grandfather Hasan al-Banna was the founder of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and his father was also is a figure in that community and exiled to Switzerland. He studied philosophy, French literature, social scinces and Islamic studies. He is an advisor in many governments and teaching in many universities as a visiting professeur. His works emphasize on Islamic studies, theology and European Muslims and he endeavors the reinterpretation of Islam on many issues.

Ramadan’s use of fluent English and French is very influent on young Muslims. Ramadan wants to penetrate in European public sphere via political critics, his Islamic talent and capacity. He uses a political language which is not contradictory to the principles of democracy and the rule of law. This critical and reactionary language and discourse is different from the Gülen’s discourse which is not protest. While Gülen’s discourse outlines the moral values to the fulfillment of Muslim’s morality through the formation of ethical principles and he opposes to violence, thus the main aim is to develop the inner life of all Muslims, in Ramadan’s writings we see the critical approach which is result of his scholar background.

The controversial multifaced discourse of Gülen and Ramadan is hard to analyze and classify, so people call them ‘double faced’, ‘making takiyya’, ‘having a hidden agenda’, ‘hypocrite’.[407] One claims that they threaten the universal democratic values, human rights by hiding their real identity and strategy concerning islamization of people. To followers, they are man of dialogue and Islamic reformer who want to reformulate Islamic issues dealing with new questions in secular world. Both of them refused that they are called islamist. Their reflects about putting a distance vis-à-vis islamists and political Islam are lacking in their approach.

The Europe and Occident is major theme seens in his writings. He believed that the crusades, European colonialism had influenced Muslim community and Westernization have a deep impact on Muslim societies.

This appearance of a new charismatic leader testifies in modern society where secular orientation is dominant in cultural, political and scientific fields. They push their faith oriented views in hosted societies and Muslim’s daily life. Among the secular elites and intellectuals, the modern Islamic figures are raised and a new style of Muslim intellectual emerged. These new could be identified authentically Islamic and ” a continuation of the radical tajdid tradition in Islam. In practice, they built on the accomplishments of the early Islamic modernists and the new-style Muslim associations. but at the same time, went far beyond the traditionalism of the remaining conservative ulama establishment.”[408]

Thus Fethullah Gülen and Ramadan assume this role of old traditional ulema left by the secular politics and they represent an orthodox modern Islam. In turkey, at the end of Ottoman Empire, this new Islamic corps appears and starts from Tanzimad period marked by young ottomans who are identified as bureaucrats-ulemas. [409]
3. Ijtihad and Islamic Renaissance

Ijtihad is an important element of renewal in Islamic history and tradition through which the ulema play a crucial role to determine the needs in modern time. [410] They speak about Islamic renaissance in Muslim world that the Muslim generation need to develop consisting the rediscovery of human values and morals, knowledge, fine arts, religious thought in a new manner. Gülen says:

“We are in search of an awakening of reason, as well as of heart, spirit and mind. Yet, if it possible to assume a harvest fruits of efforts and works resulting from this.”[411]

Thus, Islamic renaissance in modern world give intellectual rebirth. Beside his positive approach to the reformulation and a new way to understand Islamic interpretation, he outlines some of the hindrances and the reasons why ijtihad have been forgotten and was lost: “political oppression, inner struggles, the misuse of the institution of ijtihad, an extreme trust in the present legal system, the denial of reform, the blindness caused by the dominant monotonous present system of the time.” He says also that the door of ijtihad has never been closed. After saying some reasons why the door of ijtihad was considered closed, Gülen expects a great revival of religion and religiosity in Islamic world.

The similar motivation is claimed and formulated in Ramadan’s writings. He described an open mind and tolerant Islam promotes enlightenment of Muslim world. Referring the European Muslim is understood as a way of Modern Islam. He notes a reflexive approach to interpret and reconstruct Islamic knowledge. “a new, positive and constructive posture which relies on a fine comprehension of Islam’s priorities, a clear vision of what is absolute definitively fixed and what is subject to change and adopting “[412]

We took the example of ijtihad and the question of dar al-harb and dar al-islam that are reformulated by Gülen and Ramadan to understand how they apply Islamic knowledge on modern not only theological, also social and cultural issues. In western societies, this traditional binary formulation does not respond Muslims demands.

On this issue, Gülen uses term of dar al-hizmet which is an “intention to serve Islam by presenting good example, then one or she has to obey the lex loci, to respect others’ rights and to be just, and has to disregard discussions of dar al-harb and dar al-Islam.”[413]
Before giving his reflection on ijtihad on this issue, Ramadan identifies the essential elements of Muslim personality and identity.[414] His treatment and analyze on Muslim personality serve us why he supports a renewal on this binary opposite conception. The first element is faith and spirituality which is manifested in several cases by practice that is the second element. Practices perform Muslim’s faith like praying, fasting. Thirdly, the protection of human being based on respect and toleration that provide the recognition of humankind. Freedom is also indicated as an important element. The fifth element is based on participation on social affairs which means, for Ramadan, to act in favor of his society and environment. The analysis of this five elements of muslim blooming identity goes alongside with rights and responsibility. The European arena appears a land and a space within which Muslims can profess their faith; participate in social affairs, in which Muslim take care the social and political responsibility. Ramadan emphasizes on Fiqh and Islamic tradition to find a way to preserve the Muslim’s spirituality and identity.

He does not refer to the notion of dar (abode) and this old binary geographical representation. In Ramadan’s formulation, Western societies have a crucial role and a specific space which leads Muslims to express their faith and Islamic message. Muslims enforce to create in this new space “to avoid reactive and overcautious attitudes and to develop a feeling of self-confidence, based on a deep sense of responsibility.”[415]

The treatise of complexity of sciences in contemporary context remains main hindrance, Ramadan argues that ijtihad is the most important instrument to reinterpretation et reconstruction of Islam. [416 ]Ramadan urges the necessity of ijtihad in specific situation, giving example Muslim Europeans, dealing with the participation of women in public life, the distinguish of geographical boundaries as dar al-Islam and dar al-harb, foods, mosques, cemeteries, hospitals, schools, headscarf which have occupied detailed points of European Muslim’s life.

The debate on definition Muslim land and non-muslim land based an old conception and thought which, in Ramadan’s views, is not sufficient to draw out the dilemma of binary vision of world. Applying this binary model is a methodological mistake that increase the complexity of problem.[417 ] Thus, Ramadan discusses old conceptions in new context examining their ability and utility in new political, economical and social issues.

Identified three observations, the westernization as a model and closed lies between Muslim and European countries, Muslim generation who live in western societies and the time of diversity and complexity which prevent a simplistic vision, force to find the required way and solution to act with accordance Muslim’s belief and with environment. The internalization of matter pushes to Muslim leaders and scholars to debate not only Islamic issues, but to intend coexistence among variable thoughts.

Contrary some ulama who accept that the old distinguish of dar al-islam and dar al-harb is still relevant and exist, like Hizb at-Tahrir movement or Tabligh movement in Europe who defend applying of this classification following literally, Gülen and Ramadan are in favor of reformulation, at least they are calling redebate on this concepts.

After discussed the traditional appellations, Ramadan suggest the concept of shada (testimony) which seems him more applicable in a global period, which permits Muslims to participate and involve in their society.

“This shahada is not only a matter of speech. A Muslim is the one who believes and acts consequently and consistently. “Those who attain to Faith and do good works”, as we read in the Qur’an, stresses the fact that the shahada has an inevitable impact on the actions of the Muslim whatever society he/she lives in. To observe the shahada signifies being involved in the society in all fields where need requires it: unemployment, marginalization, delinquency, etc. This also means being engaged in those processes which could lead to a positive reform of both the institutions and the legal, economic, social and political system in order to bring about more justice and a real popular participation at grassroots level.”[418]

In this sense, referring to term shada, Ramadan is overlapping the ancient forms of binary opposition to demonstrate a further overture for Muslims.

Analyzing and classifying on conditions and qualities required to become a mujtahid and to make an ijtihad, Ramadan’s position is rather opaque then Gülen’s, nevertheless Gülen does not claim that the gate of ijtihad is have been closed.

4. European Islam and Citizenship

Muslims who have grown up in Western Europe, themselves think about the implication of their faith and daily practice which continue to form theirs lives and it is evident that Muslims face with issues, thus they research new approach for their questions to exit increasingly deeply about their dilemma: between European and Muslim.[419] It is not only an identity and

So called faith based movement, Gülen movement seeks to escape the minority status and isolation of Muslim in Western societies. In last years, Gülen’s followers who inspired his ideas, establish non denominational educational and dialogue activities all around world. Creating private schools, foundations and organizing intercultural activities are serving to make connection between Muslims and non Muslim. Gülen encourages hi followers and sympathizers to achieve the exemplarity of god Muslim, being devote and ascetic in their daily life. The essential element of integration used by the movement is education. Although these schools do not give religious courses, the essential orientation is based on the teaching of ethics[420]. Gülen stresses on education inspired an “ethical vision rooted in Islam but not limited in its expression to sympathizers of the umma (community).”[421] The Gülen’s inspired schools’ education style aims to respond the question of how to generate an ethical human with common values. Teaching is considered a holy duty[422] to achieve the finality to demonstrate the right way of ethical dimension of life with daily conduct as many scholars indicate the methods applied in schools. [423] Many scholars, like Balci and Michel, note that the coexistence of pupils comes from different religious, ethnic origins.[424] The choice of secular education rather than religious Qur’anic school mainly is adopted in Gülen’s inspired schools to find common spaces with host society which provide an enormous impact to diminish Muslim’s profiles in western context. Ramadan says that his first aim is reconciliation between two sides, firstly Muslims can profess their faith and loyal to the secular principles and he wants to show the comptability of Islam and Muslim ethics in secular western societies.[425] Thus, Muslims become an actor in public space where people bring common to debate and formulate a common good. Muslim identity operates in publicly through their demands with construction of spaces, visibility.

5. Civility That Matters

Muslim actors participate in western social imaginary giving new debates. The presence of Islam is shaping secular modern life and practices through the visibility of body, discourse. Penetrating in public sphere, they create inconvenient asymmetric relations[426] and they are seeking to perform their manners and habits in Europeanization process. Muslims in Western Europe is confronted; firstly; they immersed deeply in a secularized societies. Paralell of the loose of structuring capacity of the religion, Islam take his part in this secularized situation and paradoxically religious feelings are recombined and manifested in terms of enthusiasm, emotion.[427] Secondly, the visibility of Muslim community in public sphere create the challenge which faced Muslims of western societies, or in Europe, the dominant religious and cultural figure is Christianity, even with his plurality in different forms.

In this sense, Gülen movement certainly contribute Muslim’s assertion with their own distinctiveness, it is not an assimilations and symmetric project of modernization. Inspired by the Sufistic terminology, the followers elaborate a language to strengthen their good conduct. One is an ascetic body, consciously or unconsciously, that affects one’s acts such as eating, drinking, going to bed and getting up, talking and keeping silent, remaining in solitude or with people. Fashioned and displayed, the ascetic adab rules govern everyday life of the believers. The pleasure in this world is considered ephemeral and the followers do not pursue the hedonism because they believe that they are sent to this world to enhance his devotion and seek God’s contentment. He has the idea that he will not stay for a long time here in this world for the reason that the essential duty is in the terrestrial world, therefore, it is necessary to move away from cheerfulness, joy, and temporary happiness to live the eternal life. The hedonism kills the idealism of the sympathizers. Against the hedonism, the sympathizers follow the value of altruism which Gülen regards as the criteria of life according to the ideal man which requires the effort of follower as developing the detachment from the pleasure and seductive needs, except that the intellectual and aesthetic dimension is allowed and accepted.428 Ramadan remarks profession of faith in secular modern world that makes matter.

“The public space has become non-religious, if not sometimes anti-religious, and growing numbers of Believers find it difficult to face this situation. the power of attraction of the public sphere, with its “sacred values” founded on individualism, money and entertainment is so powerful and efficient that it seems illusory to imagine that any kind of resistance might be possible.”[429]

Gülen’s and Ramadan views as a third way, via dialog, affect the problem between sacred and religious that is considered a secularization on Muslims practices and faith.

6. A Possible Peaceful Coexistence

The picture of Islam presented via events, the political situation, and manipulation raise the prejudices and meta-discourse about Islam, binary against western societies and Muslims.[430] To involve and prevent from this manipulation, Muslim should admit in loyal field to protect theirs rights and have a consistent dialogue with their neighbours, so Muslims can to modify the negative image of Islam. Gülen’s inspired dialogue and educational activities serve the recognition of Muslims in host society. [431]

Gülen encourages interfaith dialogue among different representants of religions. In his early publication of The Necessity of Interfaith Dialogue, he demonstrates his interest and commitment to interfaith dialogue. In Turkey and via dialogue foundations, he establishes a major force in dialogue. His writings and encouragement, concern set out the principles for his followers to participate in dialogue and social action. He is e mentor, nevertheless lacking a scholar approach to the study of comparative religions, his argument produce a practical aspect to a response for the difficulties of his engagement, provides the critics of nationalist and conservators. [432]

In terms of human responsibility which is seen to transcending theological and civilizational differences and a realization of studying on common good, his endeavour remarks the notion of civility logic.[433] He presumes that the people whatever his faith, race and nation, have much in common and forgot the ancient misunderstanding and conflicts. He invites to debate and find solution against poverty, environment questions, and undeniable human rights. This civic logic contains to involve in society, diminish the borders with others.

Ramadan also urges that it is becoming urgent that Muslims rediscover the power of unity not only between Muslims and it is not sufficient but he remarks the urgent of engagement in dialogue and collaboration with others. But at least, he emphasizes the intra community dialogue.[434]

endnotes: [399] Nancy Fraser,. “Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy” in Habermas and the Public Sphere, Craig Calhoun, (ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992, pp. 109-142.

[400] Nilüfer Göle, Interpénétrations. L’Islam et l’Europe, Paris, Galaade Editions, 2005

[401] Leïla BABES, L’islam positif. La religion des jeunes musulmans de France, Editions de l’Atelier, Paris, 1997.

[402] Asef Bayat, “Piety, Privilege and Egyptian Youths”, ISIM Newsletter 10, July 2002.

[403] For more information see www.gyv.org.tr

[404] Özdalga, “Redeemer or Outsider? The Gülen Community in the Civilizing Process”, in Islam in Contemporary Turkey: The Contributions of Fethullah Gülen, The Muslim World, V. 95, N. 3, 2005, p. 441

[405] Marc Gaborieau et Malika Zeghal, «Autorités religieuses en islam», Archives de sciences sociales des religions, 125 (2004) Autorité religieuses en islam, p. 7 and Ahmet Turan Alkan, “Entellektüel ile Arifin Kesisme Noktasi”, in Ufuk Turu, op.cit, p. 202-203

[406] W. Montgomery Watt, Muslim Intellectual, A study of al-Ghazali, Edinburg, Edinburg University Press, 1971, p. 128 www.muslimphilosophy.com/gz/articles/watt-p1.htm

[407] Lionel Favrot, Tariq Ramadan dévoilé, Lyon, Lyon Mag, 2004. Caroline Fourest, Frère Tariq : discours stratégie et méthode de Tariq Ramadan, Paris, Grasset, 2004. For Gülen see Faik Bulut, Kim Bu Fethullah Gülen : Dünü, Bugünü, Hedefi (Who is Fethullah Gülen? His Past, Today and Target), Istanbul, Ozan Yayincilik, 1998 and Hikmet Çetinkaya, Fethullah Gülen’in Kirk Yillik Serüveni (The 40 years adventure of Fethullah Gülen), Istanbul, Günizi Yayincilik, 2004.

[408] John L. Esposito and John O. Voll, Makers of contemporary Islam, New York, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 20

[409] Muhammad Qasim Zaman, The Ulama in Contemporary Islam: custodians of change, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2002

[410] John O. Voll, “Renewal and Reform in Islamic History: Taijdid and Islah”, in Voices of Resurgent Islam, John L. Esposito (edt), New York, Oxford University Press, pp. 32-47, 1983

[411] Gülen, in Muslim World, op. cit., p. 458

[412] Tariq Ramadan, To Be a European Muslim, Leicester, The Islamic Foundation, 1999, p. 101

[413] Ihsan Yilmaz, “Ijtihad and Tajdid by Conduct”, in Turkish Islam and Secular State, The Gülen Movement, M Hakan Yavuz, John L. Esposito (edts), New York, Syracuse University Press, 2003

[414] Ramadan, ibid, pp. 132-134

[415] Ramadan, p. 150

[416] Ramadan, p. 89

[417] Ramadan p. 127

[418] Ramadan, p. 147

[419] Robert J. Pauly, Islam in Europe: Integration or Marginalization? Burlington, VT Ashgate Publishing, 2004.

[420] Bekim Agai, «The Gülen Movement’s Islamic Ethic of Education», in Esposito and Yavuz, op.cit, p. 49

[421] Thomas Michel, “Fethullah Gülen as Educator”, in Esposito and Yavuz (edts), p. 82

[422] Agai, op. cit, p. 58 423 Özdalga, Elisabeth, “Worldly ascetism in islamic casting Fethullah Gülen’s inspired piety and activisms”, in.Critique:Journal for critical studies of the Middle East, n. 17, septembre 2000 and Balci, op.cit, p. 221

[424] Michel, op.cit.

[425] The Christian Science Monitor, 31 October 2006

[426] Göle, op. cit.

[427] Danièle HERVIEU-LEGER, Le pèlerin et le converti. La religion en mouvement, Flammarion, coll. ” Essais “, Paris, 1999 and also Peter L. Berger, The Desecularization of the World, Resurgent Religion in World Politics, Washington, Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1999

[428]Fethullah Gülen, Ikindi Yagmurlari, Istanbul, Gazeteciler ve Yazarlar Vakfi yayinlari, 2006, p. 187

[429] Ramadan, To Be , op. cit, p. 216

[430] Van P.S. Koningsveld and W. Shadid, “The Negative Image of Islam and Muslims in the West: Causes and Solution” in Shadid, W & P.S. van Koningsveld, P.S (eds).Religious Freedom and the Neutrality of the State: The Position of Islam in the European Union. Leuven, 2002, pp. 174-196.

[431] Anne-Sophie Lamine notes that in dialogue activities the main issues debated and the final target is mutual recognition of altérite which play a central role in definition of modern subject. Anne Sophie Lamine, La coexistence des Dieux, Pluralité religieuse et laïcité, Paris, Puf, 2004

[432] Anne-Sophie Lamine, op. cit

[433] Ibid

[434] Ramadan, To Be…, p. 220

source: http://en.fgulen.com/conference-papers/peaceful-coexistence/2503-reflections-on-european-multiculturalism-islam-and-peaceful-coexistence-tariq-ramadan-and-fethullah-gulen.html

Continue reading »]]> by Fethullah Gulen

At this time when we experience occasions of much sorrow and some contentment, we sense the promise in the advent of Ramadan, the month of mercy and forgiveness. In the climate of this month of light, we feel both spring and autumn at the same time in our inner worlds, seasons of lovely expectations and longing.

With their profound, spiritual breezes, every sound and breath of air in Ramadan announces in a most exalted and exhilarating style all the pleasures we would like to taste in life and the hopes of good we deeply cherish.

Coming like successive rays of light, the smiling days of Ramadan envelop us with the expectations, hopes and joys they carry from the worlds beyond, and preset to us samples from Paradise.

When Ramadan begins, our inner life, its thoughts and feelings, is renewed and strengthened. Breezes of mercy, coming in different wavelengths, unite with our hopes and expectations, and penetrate our hearts. In the enchanting days and illumined nights of Ramadan, we feel as if all the obstacles blocking our way to God are removed and the hills on that way are leveled. Like rain pouring on the earth, Ramadan comes with streams of meanings and emotions that water dried and thirsty hearts, making the inner worlds of people propitious for new meanings and conceptions. By means of the light of the days, hours and minutes of this blessed month, hearts attain such spiritual depth and become so purified that they never desire to leave its climate of peace.

As Ramadan approaches, we live the delight of anticipation and preparation for it. The food and drink that come into our kitchens in the days before it comes, put us in mind of it with a thrill of expectation. And then it comes at last, laden with mercy and forgiveness. As soon as it honours us, each of us finds himself in a spiral of light rising toward the Unknown, Existent One in a new spiritual mood in the night-time and in another, different spiritual mood in daytime. We open our eyes to each of its days with a different solemnity and self-possession, and reach every evening in an enchanting, delightful serenity.

The pleasant nights of Ramadan receive warmest welcome from all souls. Eyes look more deeply in them and people feel deeper love for each other. Everyone desires to do good to everyone and passions and ill-feeling are subjugated to a certain extent. In Ramadan everyone feels so much more attached to God and is so careful in his relations with others that it is impossible not to see this.

Believing souls taste the contentment of belief more deeply and experience the blessing of the good morals. Prescribed by Islam and the spiritual ease of doing good to others. Moreover, they try to expand, to share, this contentment, blessing and ease with others. Since these souls at rest are convinced that one day will come when this life will end in an eternal happiness and whatever they suffer and sacrifice here for God’s sake will be returned with very great reward, they struggle against their animal appetites in a mood of doing an act of worship. The meals they take at sunset to break the fast give them the pleasure of worship and are followed by early night prayer with the addition of the supererogatory service of worship particular to Ramadan. The meals they take before dawn to start fasting are united with supererogatory night prayer (tahajjud) and become a dimension of their nearness to God. Streets are filled with the people going to and returning from mosques, in which declarations of ‘God is the Greatest’ resound as in the Masjid al-Haram in Makka. You would think that the streets are each a mosque and each mosque is Ka’ba. The people shaped by Ramadan in this way, thought mortal in nature, gain a sort of eternity and each of their acts done in the consciousness of deliberate worship becomes a ceremony pertaining to the Hereafter.

Nights are experienced more deeply and in consideration of the afterlife, and days are spent as portions of time dominated by resolution and strong will-power. Those fasting for God’s sake feel a thrill of joy, and spend every and each day in the excitement of a new re-union. They reach every morning in an indescribable feeling as if they were called to a new testing. You can discern on their faces a sign of humility mixed with solemnity, a feeling of nothingness before God together with serenity and seriousness and melancholy combined with a feeling of security. Their every act reflects spiritual peace and exhilaration coming from adherence to God’s will and confidence in Him, and sincerity and kindness acquired by being cleansed in the cascades of the Qur’an. As if created from light and consisting in only their shadows, they are very careful to give no one any harm or trouble. Respect and courtesy are so much a part of their nature that, even after a day of thirst and hunger and resisting their carnal desires, they remain gentle and pure-hearted. They display a mood shaped by fear and reverence, discipline and contentment, solemnity and politeness. They are respectful and reverent toward the Almighty and well-mannered and sincere toward one another.

Their faces and eyes reflect different degrees and dimensions of depth of spiritual realms and are radiant with the lights of the unseen world. Though each individual may have been shaped by a different climate and different ideas, – all of them, including the intelligent and pure-hearted, those used to a disciplined, careful life and those a bit untidy and careless, the nervous and the calm, those very sensitive to problems of the age and those a little unfeeling, the rich and the poor, the happy and sorrowful, the healthy and the ill, the white and black – share almost the same feelings in Ramadan. They reach the night and morning together, listen to the call to prayers and perform the prayers together, take the meals before dawn and break their fasts together. They feel together one of the two instances of rejoicing promised for those who fast. [The Prophet said: There are two instances of rejoicing for one who fasts: one when he will receive the reward of fasting in the Hereafter.]

All Muslims, whatever their nationality or country of origin or temperament or social status or physical state, come together and breathe the same ‘air’ in the climate of Ramadan. In it, their souls are shaped in a way particular to that climate, and they share a sort of deeply-felt happiness which can be experienced only by spirit beings. Ramadan has a fascinating effect on Muslims that leaves its positive imprints on even the souls of the poorest and most oppressed people.

Ramadan envelops us with many beauties: the pleasure in the supererogatory prayers performed after the prescribed night service; consciousness of the blessings of Ramadan; the light that pours on us both from the heaven and from the lights that decorate the mosques; the nearness of the Creative Power and Its message of compassion and forgiveness whispered in our hearts. As if planned and commanded in order to kindle such feelings and thoughts in us, each element of the public rites in Ramadan causes the ‘strings’ of our heats to resonate: the calls made from minarets and the blessings called on the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, and the pronouncements of Divine Unity, Grandeur and Glory which resound in our ears, all prepare our souls for worship. They awake us to spiritual and celestial truths and enable even the crudest soul to perform its duties of worship in the way those duties are meant to be performed.

The voices rising from minarets meet with the voices of the inhabitants of the heavens and resound throughout the heavens and the earth. They penetrate our souls and take us through a climate of purest meanings and poetry, a realm of sweet imagination. In this pleasant atmosphere, we feel as if it is Ramadan which pours from the heavens, which is discerned o the faces of people and scents the air and is written in the lights of the mosques. Enchanted by this calm and peaceful atmosphere, we achieve a sort of infinitude and feel as if comprehending the whole of existence. Ramadan captivates particularly those open to eternity to such an extent that they experience nothing else than it.

I remember well that during my childhood when there was as yet no electricity in cities, people walked to mosques with kerosene lamps in the darkness of night. We imagined that Ramadan was walking around in the alleys in the lights of those lamps. Under the influence o poetry, meaning and deep spirituality which Ramadan poured into our souls, we desired that it should never come to an end. Nevertheless, despite our heartfelt desire, it flew away and the festive day followed it with all its pomp.

source: http://en.mfethullahgulen.info/recent-articles/1201-being-shaped-by-ramadan.html

Continue reading »]]> by Ibrahim Kalin

About a year after the Sept. 11 attacks in the US, the British Home Office published a study on the “fundamental tenets of British citizenship.” The report defined them as “[to] respect human rights and freedoms, uphold democratic values, observe laws faithfully and fulfill our duties and obligations.”

Another report, this time focusing on the “common elements of nationhood,” proposed the following principles: “[A] more visible support for anti-discrimination measures, support for women’s rights, a universal acceptance of the English language … and respect for both religious differences and secular views.” A similar attempt was made in Germany, where “German-ness” was defined along the same lines of liberal democratic values. When looking at this list of civic values, one sees national language as the main difference between being British and German.
This may seem too naïve a definition of national identity in 21st century Europe. What separates a German from a Frenchman or a Turk is more than just language. There is shared history, memory, joy and suffering, blood relations, common ancestry, the home country and so on. But where does this list take us? If we press it too hard in the direction of history and/or ethnicity, we end up with some version of ethnic nationalism, a nationalism that will be exclusive and discriminatory.

How about religion? Religion too plays a significant role in identity formation. We cannot discard Christianity as a fundamental tenet of Western civilization. Even though many secular Europeans would not identify themselves with any particular religious faith or denomination, the historical identity of Europe is shaped by the Greco-Roman tradition, on the one hand, and Christianity on the other. One may also raise the question of Judaism. Is it part of Western identity? For centuries, Jews were not accepted as part of Europe. They have always been present in the history of Europe, but they have hardly been welcomed into the religious and ethnic family of Europe.

But what happens when we push the religious basis of identity too far in a secular age where one’s national identity is defined not by religion or ethnicity but by upholding the basic principles of human rights, equal citizenship and constitutional democracy? Most modern democracies define their code of national citizenship outside and beyond any particular religious and/or ethnic community. Universal human rights and civil liberties do not define individuals and communities on the basis of their religious and ethnic identity.

How do these principles apply to religious minorities and Muslim communities in Europe? A major conference in the German city of Wuppertal near Dusseldorf last weekend was convened to seek answers to this question. The conference was organized by the Islamic Community Milli Görüş (ICMG), a pan-European Turkish-Islamic organization based in Germany. The history of this particular community goes back to the 1970s, when immigrant Turkish communities began to organize themselves as civil society organizations and create intra-Turkish networks in Germany and other European countries with sizeable Turkish communities. Like a dozen other Turkish communities in Europe, the ICMG’s history is also the history of Turks from guest workers to established and organized communities.

After 30-some years of struggle to survive as a community, Turkish Muslims in Germany have changed the old meanings of integration. Most Turks in Germany share the German public space like any other minority group. But the third and now fourth generation of Turks do not see themselves as foreigners, immigrants and certainly not “guest workers.” They are as German as any immigrant generation can be. They speak German better than Turkish. They know German history and culture better than that of their parents. Furthermore, they now live out European values just like any other European. The problem is that even this level of integration is not enough for some cultural purists in Europe.

Some complain that Turks have not integrated, but the reverse is true: As far as language and cultural competence are concerned, the third and fourth generation Turks are increasingly losing their native language and becoming more confident in German language and culture. The reason why their parents support Turkish religious and cultural centers is because they want to ensure that their children grow up as bilingual and multicultural citizens of Europe. Groups like the ICMG reflect this reality.

Is this not what multiculturalism promises?

source: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/columnists-209435-muslim-identities-and-europe.html

Continue reading »]]> Underlining the Obama administration’s respect for Islam’s diversity, Farah Pandith, the US State Department’s special representative to Muslim communities, refuses to use the expression “Muslim world,” stating that the United States is not endorsing a particular type of Islam in its efforts in building long-term dialogue and partnership with Muslim communities around the world.

The position occupied by Pandith, a Kashmiri-born Muslim, was created following US President Barack Obama’s Muslim outreach speech delivered in Cairo around one year ago and she is the first person to serve in this role. Her office is responsible for executing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s vision for engagement with Muslims around the world on a people-to-people and organizational level and she reports directly to the secretary of state.

“I don’t use the word ‘Muslim world.’ The president changed the lexicon when he spoke in Cairo and he talked about Muslim communities around the world and I think that is very important.

This president has changed the tone and the way in which he is talking with Muslims. He is not talking to them, he is talking with them. He is respecting the diversity of Islam and so we don’t look at Muslims as a monolithic; we understand the texture and we’re trying our best to work on developing more mechanisms to actually reach young and future generations,” Pandith said in an exclusive interview with Today’s Zaman.

“We are trying to get into the space of working on initiatives that make sense, not one-size-fits-all,” she said.

Diversity, dialogue and partnership, mutual respect and mutual interest, fostering understanding and diligence were the words which were used several times by Pandith during the interview, reflecting her full embrace of this new lexicon without any slip of the tongue.

Pandith was in Ankara and İstanbul earlier this week as part of a long regional tour after visiting Iraq, Egypt and Morocco. Since she took office, she has visited 23 countries, including India, Indonesia, Mali and Norway. Her contacts in countries she visited are part of the State Department’s efforts to engage extensively with civil society, including influential people, whether they are religious leaders, scholars, academics, teachers or businesspeople.

“I’m very interested in the young generation. It is very important that we think about those people under the age of 30. When you think about the fact that a country like Turkey has more than 60 percent of its population under the age of 30 and you also think about the fact that many communities that are Muslim around the world have very high percentages of those people, how do we develop long-term partnerships? We have to develop them over the long-term, which means as they get older. We do not want to only get to know someone at the end of their career. We want to begin to know them as they are beginning as young leaders, as they think about how to be active in their societies and find ways for broad dialogue and partnership,” Pandith said.

“Some things are happening to these people of the young generation. And we are really focusing on understanding what that is. I mean, this is the Facebook generation; it is the generation that doesn’t need to meet each other in person, but they are meeting each other online and they are having conversations. They are also asking really important questions that our generations did not ask about issues such as identity; such as, ‘How do you be modern and Muslim?’ and ‘What is the difference between culture and religion?’” she explained.

“I think that it is really very important that we are able to hear what these questions are to understand what is going on and I also know, certainly even my conversations here in Turkey, these are people who want to be heard. Who is listening to the young people as they define their future and as they think about the tools that they need to do more. Or how important it was that they had a chance to be young entrepreneurs and how wonderful it is that your country will be hosting the entrepreneurship summit? I’m actually really interested in social entrepreneurship,” Pandith elaborated, while referring to the 2011 Summit on Entrepreneurship to be hosted by Turkey.

While here, Pandith saw a presentation by the US Embassy’s two Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program (YIEP) winning teams. The purpose of the embassy-funded YIEP is to promote entrepreneurship, technology and innovation among high school students across Turkey and to connect Turkish student participants with their American counterparts.

Along with US Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey, she also met with Ali Bardakoğlu, the head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, and the main theme of the conversation she and Jeffrey had with Bardakoğlu was the importance of young people and the importance of really understanding what is happening with today’s young generation.

interview with Farah Pandith

By EMINE KART
source: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-214163-us-exploring-diversity-of-islam-by-reaching-out-to-youth.html

Continue reading »]]> by Osman Nuri Topbas

The lifestyle of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is the best example for each and every human being. He is the best example of a religious leader. He is the finest example of a state leader. He is the example to follow for those who enter the garden of divine love. He is the highest example of gratitude and humility for those who are showered with the gifts of God. He is the greatest example of patience and submission, in the most challenging times and places. He is the best example of generosity and of disinterest in collecting bounty. He is the finest example of mercy towards the weak, the lonely and the enslaved, and he is exemplary in pardoning the guilty.

If you are wealthy, contemplate the humility and generosity of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), who gained the hearts of the leaders who controlled all of Arabia.

If you’re weak, adopt the example of the prophet during the period he spent in Mecca under the rule of the oppressive and usurping polytheists.

If you’re a triumphant conqueror, take your example from the life of the courageous prophet who defeated his enemies in Badr and Hunayn.

If you lose a battle, may Allah protect you; remember the example of the prophet who walked with dignity, courage and reliance on Allah among martyred and wounded companions after the battle of Uhud.
If you are a teacher, contemplate the example of the prophet who taught God’s orders by conveying his soft and sensitive enlightenment to the people of Suffa in the school of his Mosque.

If you are a student, bring to mind all example of the prophet who sat on his knees before the Archangel, the Trustworthy Gabriel.

If you are preacher or a sincere spiritual guide for people, listen to the voice of the Prophet (peace be upon him), who spread wisdom to his companions.

If you aim to defend the truth, to convey it to others and lift it up, yet have to helper in this matter, then look at the life of the prophet, who proclaimed the truth in Mecca against the oppressors while inviting them to it. If you have defeated your, enemies, broken their resistance and triumphed over them, if you have destroyed the superstitions and declared the truth, then bring to your mind the example of the prophet pm the day he conquered Mecca. He entered this holy city as a triumphant commander, yet with great humility, sitting on his camel as if he were in the state of sajdah; that is prostration before God, as an expression of gratitude to Allah. If you’re a farmer take your example from the prophet, who, after conquering the lands of Bani Nadr, Khaybar and Fadak, chose skilled people to develop and manage those lands in the most productive way.

If you are lonely, with no relatives, bring to mind the example of the orphan of Abdullah and Aminah, their most beloved and only innocent son.

If you are an adolescent, pay attention to the life of the prophet who, as a young man and candidate for prophethood, served in Mecca as a shepherd, tending the sheep of his uncle Abu Talib.

If you are a businessman and travel for trade, think about the experiences of the most honored person, Muhammad while leading the caravan from Mecca to Busra in Syria.

If you are a judge or a referee, bring to mind his justice and foresight when he solved the conflict among the tribes of Mecca over who should have the prestige of putting back the Black Stone, as they were on the verge of killing each other.

Again, turn your eyes to history and consider the example of the prophet as he, in his masjid in Medina, treated equally the poor in distress and the wealthy, and as he judged between them with utmost fairness.
If you are a husband, look carefully at the pure life style, the compassion and the deep feelings of the prophet as an exemplary husband. If you are parent; earn about the example of the father of Fatimah al-Zahra, and study the manner of the grandfather of Hasan and Husayn.

Regardless of your qualities and the state in which you find yourself, day or night, you will find him as the most perfect role model, teacher and guide.

He is so perfect to teacher that by following his example you can correct all your mistakes, eliminate chaos from your life and bring order to your life. Through his light and guidance, you can overcome the difficulties of life and attain real happiness.

As a matter of fact, his life is a bouquet composed of the most rare and elegant flowers and roses with the finest of fragrances.

source: Muhammad The Prophet of Mercy: Scenes from His Life, by Osman Nuri Topbas, Istanbul 2009, Erkam Publishing. pages, 49-52

Continue reading »]]> The ties of kinship are very important in Islam, with emphasis given to the relationship between children and parents. Children are required to respect and obey their parents unless doing so involves a sin. Furthermore, adult children must continue to honor, respect and show gratitude to their elderly parents, and are expected to care for and support them.

“And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you be dutiful to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them but address them in terms of honor. And out of kindness lower to them the wing of humility and say: ‘My Lord! Bestow on them Thy Mercy even as they cherished me in childhood.’” (Qur’an 17:23)
High Status of Mother in Islam

In Islam, a mother has especially high status. She is to be given greater respect and honor than the father due to the difficulty of pregnancy, childbirth, nursing and child rearing. This is reinforced in a well-known hadith narrated by Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) :

“A man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, who among the people is most deserving of my good company?’ He said, ‘Your mother.’ He asked, ‘Then who?’ He said, ‘Your mother.’ He asked, ‘Then who?’ He said, ‘Your mother.’ He asked, ‘Then who?’ He said, ‘Then your father.’” (al-Bukhaari and Muslim).

In another famous hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is quoted as having said, “Paradise lies at the feet of the mothers.”

Read more at Suite101: Mother’s Day & Father’s Day – An Islamic View: Honoring Parents Is a Daily Obligation in Islam http://islamic-practices.suite101.com/article.cfm/mothers_day_fathers_day_an_islamic_view#ixzz0nB8d7PXW

Continue reading »]]> Muslim terrorist, Arab jihadist, Islamic militia. In recent years, these words have almost become synonymous with each other in the daily news. With the onslaught of news coverage of the Middle East, all the news about Islam and Muslims seems to be bad.

All Americans see on their televisions are visions of turban-clad men screaming “Allahu Akbar” and women covered in black veils from head to toe.

But what is this religion and who are these people? Does this religion really condone these awful things we see?

To answer these questions, we must first start with the simplest way of defining things: definitions.

Islam means “to submit to the will of God” in Arabic, with its counterpart Muslim meaning “one who submits to the will of God.” Therefore, Islam is the religion and Muslims are its followers.

Now that we have that cleared up, let’s move on to a definition that is a little more controversial: jihad. The word, as used in the Quran, refers to a struggle or the act of striving toward the will of Allah (God), not exactly the modern “holy war” definition. In this way, jihad includes the fight against one’s self and the fight against Satan.

So here comes the disclaimer.

Islam in no way calls for terrorism, the killing of innocent people or, as I have heard before, the annihilation of infidels. Most of the terrorist groups we see on the news are formed through hardship, ongoing war and ignorance of the religion. Muslims seek only to have peace and harmony through a constant submission to Allah. This includes five key principles or pillars: a monotheistic belief in God which includes a declaration of faith or shahadah; prayer, which is done five times a day at set times; charity; fasting in the holy month of Ramadan; and a hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, if funds and health allow it, once in a Muslim’s lifetime.

Although these principles define a Muslim’s life, most of the questions I am asked about Islam never contain these points. Most of the inquisitors ask about topics anywhere from race to “that scarf thingy.” So in the rest of this article, I will try to answer some of the more common questions posed to me as a Muslim.

First of all, let’s talk about the scarf. Whether it is seen as holy or infamous, these are the facts: The headscarf, or hijab, is worn by Muslim women who are past the age of puberty in the presence of marriageable men.

This is done as a form of modesty to protect a woman’s beauty from unclean thoughts. The most widely accepted form of hijab is the covering of the body from the ankles to wrist, with the scarf used to cover all of the head except for the face. Covering any more of the face is usually viewed as a personal preference. (However, these views change from place to place.)

The scarf should always be worn during prayer and out of respect for entering a mosque but not at home or around other women. So please, stop asking women with scarves on their heads if they have to “wear that in the shower.”

(Although the scarf is a staple in most Muslim women’s closets, some reject it as a relic of the past and many wait to put the scarf on until they have reached a certain time in their life, a decision which takes a lot of thought and prayer.)

Another common question I receive, especially in the Bible belt, is, “So you don’t believe Jesus is the son of God?” The answer is, well, no.

In Islam, Jesus is viewed as a great prophet much like Moses, Abraham, and Mohammed, all of whom are held so highly in Islam that Muslims are advised to say, “Peace be upon them,” after their names. It is Islamic belief that every set of peoples was sent a prophet that relayed God’s message to them.

We believe that Moses was sent the Torah and Jesus the Gospel but unfortunately, over the years, man corrupted these messages, this corruption including the making of Jesus’ divinity. Mohammad, a merchant living in Mecca during the Middle Ages, was revealed God’s message in the form of the Quran. Mohammad was also given the revelation that he would be the last prophet to all of God’s creation and the promise that the Quran would not be corrupted.

by Jessica King
see the whole article:
from: http://www.cw.ua.edu/2010/04/14/islam-about-peace-not-hatred/

Continue reading »]]> A man came to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, “Give me an information about Islam such that it should suffice me and I should not have to ask anyone else”. The Prophet concisely replied “say, I believe in one God and then be straight”. (Also see Qur’an, 51:30). The two halves of Islam, right belief and right action, are summarised in this statement. While the “believe in one God” part of the statement covers the monotheism of Islam, that is the oneness and uniqueness of God, “be straight” (istaqeem) denotes to being balanced, following the middle ground and having integrity in one’s self and action. At another level, the message of Islam rests on four oneness’s.

· Oneness of God

· Oneness of the message of God

· Oneness of the order of Prophets

· Oneness of humanity

Oneness of God refers to the existence and unity of God in that God is one and only; here is none comparable to God; He does not share his Lordship and Divinity with no other being and He alone has the attributes of perfection.

Oneness of the message of God message means that Islam is not a new religion, “We sent Noah to his people. He said: “O my people! Worship God, have no other god but Him…” (Qur’an 7:59) The same theme, ‘believing and worshipping one God’ appears in many places in the Qur’an with reference to all previous prophets. Muslims believe that Islam is the final reminder of the eternal message of God that seems to have been compromised by people in previous centuries. This primordial religion of God is in fact Islam, declares the Qur’an (holy book of Muslims), “And this was the legacy that Abraham left to his sons, and so did Jacob; ‘Oh my sons! God has chosen the faith for you; then die not except in the faith of Islam.” (2:132). Over time as humanity progressed and new needs emerged the same core message was packaged differently until the religion as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad was complete and perfected with a special guarantee that it will stay authentic until the Last Day. The Prophet Muhammad was to be the last prophet and Islam was to be the final complete and perfected form of God’s core religion, “…this day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion, Islam…” (Qur’an 5:3)

Oneness of the order of Prophets means that prophets did not come to compete with one another, rather they came to confirm one another and guide the people in their particular time and location. “We have sent revelations to you as We sent them to Noah and the Prophets after him: We also sent revelations to Abraham, Isma’il, Isaac, Jacob and his decendants, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon. We have revealed Psalms to David. Of some prophets We have already told you their story; of others We have not; and to Moses God spoke directly. Messengers who gave good news as well as warning, so that mankind, after (the coming) of the prophets, should have no excuse to plead against God. For God is Exalted in Power, Wise.” (Qur’an, 4:163-165). Thus, Islam accepts all true prophets appointed by God whether we know their name in the Qur’an or not. This universal approach leads Muslims to investigate other religions and treat its followers with tolerance rather than prejudice.

Oneness of humanity refers to the absolute equality of every human in that one’s race, colour, social status, wealth etc are not to be used as a criteria for human superiority. “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may know each other (not that you may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)” declared the Qur’an in 49:13, fourteen centuries ago.

Furthermore, Islam is both a religion and a way of life covering four essential and complementary aspects of human existence for one in every five people on earth.

1. Islam explains existence and relates human life to God and the universe in a manner that satisfies the mind and the heart alike.

2. It shows how natural the beliefs in angels, prophets, holy books, hereafter and Divine Will emanate from faith in One true God.

3. It describes the recognition and worship of God as the prime function of human existence.

4. And, Islam sets universal and timeless principles of human conduct (morality) to ensure continuos human development resulting in individual and communal happiness in this life and the next.

Collectively, these four aspects of Islam provide Muslims a very profound self-realisation and meaning, a firm conviction and a strong commitment to its practice.

Literally, the word ‘Islam’ means ‘submission’ and the word ‘Muslim’ means ‘the one who has submitted’. The word ‘Islam’ also comes from the root word ‘seleme’ in Arabic meaning ‘peace’. Therefore, in religious context, a Muslim is defined as a person who has surrendered himself or herself to God in deep faith and as a result found peace within himself or herself and with his or her social and natural environment. The Qur’an says, “Do (some people) seek a deen other than the deen of God? Is this what they do even though everything within Space and Earth surrenders willingly or unwillingly to Him? Certainly they will return to God?” (Qur’an, 3:85). In this verse, the word ‘deen’ refers to ‘religion’ or a ‘way of life’. The message of this verse and others like it invite humans to the belief and worship of one God using their reason and free will. Although God has created all creatures and people as servants to God without asking them first, He is inviting humanity to accept the honourable role of servanthood willingly. In doing so, the Qur’an points our attention to how the rest of the universe has surrendered to God in obedience. Consider how every entity follows certain laws in the universe. The earth always follows the same route set for it by God; how bees always make honey; and spiders always craft their webs. Hence, in their submission to God’s design (will), the whole creation is in fact Muslim. Anybody who has submitted himself or herself to God can be considered as a Muslim. Islam is, therefore, asking humanity to synchronise themselves to the natural world in their recognition and submission to God.

Islam is a divine system comprising of a set of clear, self-evident, timeless and universal truths that consider the human being as an integrated whole basing its propositions on natural human disposition and the universe.
http://www.houstonbluemosque.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49:q1-what-is-the-key-message-of-islam&catid=50:god-and-religion&Itemid=85

Continue reading »]]> by Muzammil H. Siddiqi

Intolerance is on the increase in the world today, causing death, genocide, violence, religious persecution as well as confrontations on different levels. Some times it is racial and ethnic, some times it is religious and ideological, other times it is political and social. In every situation it is evil and painful. How can we solve the problem of intolerance? How can we assert our own beliefs and positions without being intolerant to others? How can we bring tolerance into the world today?

I would like to discuss some of these issues from an Islamic point of view.

What is tolerance? Literally the word “tolerance” means “to bear.” As a concept it means “respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of the world’s cultures, forms of expression and ways of being human.” In Arabic it is called “Tasamuh”. There are also other words that give similar meanings, such as “Hilm” (forbearance) or “‘`Afu” (pardon, forgiveness) or “Safh” (overlooking, disregarding). In the Persian and Urdu languages, we use the word “rawadari” which comes from “rawa” meaning “acceptable or bearable” and “dashtan” meaning “to hold”. Thus it means to hold something acceptable or bearable.

Tolerance is a basic principle of Islam. It is a religious moral duty. It does not mean “concession, condescension or indulgence.” It does not mean lack of principles, or lack of seriousness about one’s principles.

Sometimes it is said, “people are tolerant of things that they do not care about.” But this is not the case in Islam. Tolerance according to Islam does not mean that we believe that all religions are the same. It does not mean that we do not believe in the supremacy of Islam over other faiths and ideologies. It does not mean that we do not convey the message of Islam to others and do not wish them to become Muslims.

The UNESCO principles on tolerance say:

“Consistent with respect for human rights, the practice of tolerance does not mean toleration of social injustice or the abandonment or weakening of one’s convictions. It means that one is free to adhere to one’s own convictions and accepts that others adhere to theirs. It means accepting the fact that human beings, naturally diverse in their appearance, situation, speech, behavior and values, have the right to live in peace and to be as they are. It also means that one’s views are not to be imposed on others.”

Tolerance comes from our recognition of:

1. the dignity of the human beings,

2. the basic equality of all human beings,

3. universal human rights, and

4. fundamental freedom of thought, conscience and belief.

The Qur’an speaks about the basic dignity of all human beings. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, spoke about the equality of all human beings, regardless of their race, color, language or ethnic background. Shari`ah recognizes the rights of all people to life, property, family, honor and conscience.

Islam emphasizes the establishment of equality and justice, both of these values cannot be established without some degree of tolerance. Islam recognized from the very beginning the principle of freedom of belief or freedom of religion. It said very clearly that it is not allowed to have any coercion in the matters of faith and belief. The Qur’an says, “There is no compulsion in religion.” (Al-Baqarah: 256)

If in the matters of religion, coercion is not permissible, then by implication one can say that in other matters of cultures and other worldly practices it is also not acceptable. In Surat Ash-Shura Allah says to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, “If then they turn away, We have not sent you as a guard over them. Your duty is but to convey (the Message)…” (Ash-Shura: 48) In another place Allah says, “Invite (all) to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious. Your Lord knows best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance.” (An-Nahl:125)

Further, Allah says to the Believers, “Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and beware (of evil): if you do turn back, know then that it is Our Messenger’s duty to proclaim (the Message) in the clearest manner.” (Al-Ma’idah: 92)

One can also cite Allah’s words: “Say: ‘Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger: but if you turn away, he is only responsible for the duty placed on him and you for that placed on you. If you obey him, you shall be on right guidance. The Messenger’s duty is only to preach the clear (Message).”(An-Nur:54)

All these verses give note that Muslims do not coerce people; they must present the message to them in the most cogent and clear way, invite them to the truth and do their best in presenting and conveying the message of God to humanity, but it is up to people to accept or not to accept. Allah says, “And say, ‘The truth is from your Lord, so whosoever wants let him believe and whosoever wants let him deny.” (An-Nahl: 29)

The question then comes: If Allah gave choice to believe or not to believe, then why did He punish the people of Prophet Nuh, the `Ad, the Thamud, the people of Prophet Lut, the people of Prophet Shu`aib and Pharaoh and his followers? The answer is in the Qur’an itself. Those people were not punished simply because of their disbelief. They were punished because they had become oppressors. They committed aggression against the righteous, and stopped others to come to the way of Allah. There were many in the world who denied Allah, but Allah did not punish every one. Ibn Taymiyah, the outstanding Muslim scholar, said, “The states may live long inspite of their people’s unbelief (kufr), but they cannot live long when their people become oppressors.”

Another question is raised about Jihad. Some people say, “Is it not the duty of Muslims to make Jihad?” But the purpose of Jihad is not to convert people to Islam. Allah says, “No compulsion in religion.”(Al-Baqarah: 256). The real purpose of Jihad is to remove injustice and aggression. Muslims are allowed to keep good relations with non-Muslims. Allah says, “Allah does not forbid you that you show kindness and deal justly with those who did not fight you in your religion and did not drive you out from your homes…” (Al-Mumtahinah: 8)

Islam teaches that fighting is only against those who fight. Allah says, “Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loves not transgressors.” (Al-Baqarah:190)

Islam may tolerate anything, but it teaches zero tolerance for injustice, oppression, and violation of the rights of other human beings. Allah says, “And why should you not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)? Men, women, and children, whose cry is: ‘Our Lord! Rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from Yourside one who will protect; and raise for us from Yourside one who will help!’”(An-Nisa’: 75)

Islam teaches tolerance on all levels: individual, groups and states. It should be a political and legal requirement. Tolerance is the mechanism that upholds human rights, pluralism (including cultural pluralism), and the rule of law. The Qur’an says very clearly: “To every People have We appointed rites and ceremonies which they must follow, let them not then dispute with you on the matter, but do invite (them) to your Lord: for you are assuredly on the Right Way. If they do wrangle with you, say, ‘God knows best what it is you are doing.’ ‘God will judge between you on the Day of Judgment concerning the matters in which you differ.’” (Al-Hajj: 76-69)

There are many levels of tolerance:

A. Between family members, between husband and wife, between parents and children, between siblings etc.

B. Tolerance between the members of the community: tolerance in views and opinions, tolerance between the Madhahib (Islamic Juristic Schools).

C. Tolerance between Muslims and the people of other faiths (interfaith relations, dialogue and cooperation).

Muslims have been generally very tolerant people. We must emphasize this virtue among us and in the world today. Tolerance is needed among our communities: We must foster tolerance through deliberate policies and efforts. Our centers should be multi-ethnic. We should teach our children respect of each other. We should not generalize about other races and cultures. We should have more exchange visits and meetings with each other. Even marriages should be encouraged among Muslims of different ethnic groups.

With non-Muslims we should have dialogue and good relations, but we cannot accept things that are contrary to our religion. We should inform them what is acceptable to us and what is not. With more information, I am sure the respect will develop and more cooperation will develop.

source: http://muslimvillage.com/story.php?id=811

Continue reading »]]> by Syed Shahabuddin

Phobia means fear, the fear of the other. Any phobia has a psychological basis, which is a combination of historical memories, blended with myths and legends, complicated by social separateness, generated by the consciousness of economic and political rivalry, not to speak of persistent religious hostility and indifference. In the case of Europe, it can be truly said that it has not yet gotten over its memories of the Muslim conquest which took Islam to the heartland of France, on one side, and to the gates of Vienna, on the other. It has been truly said that had the Muslim won the Battle of Poitiers or taken Vienna, Europe would have been Islamized and a majority of its people today would be Muslim.

Aspects of Islamophobia

Economic supremacy

The economic aspect is obvious from the fact that after having stopped and eventually forced the Muslims out of Spain, Europe tried and succeeded in finding an alternative route for trade with the Indies in order to bypass the Muslim world which separated it from its major sources of supply and markets. This economic competition has taken a new form in the 20th century with Europe’s realization of its dependence on Arab oil to run its industrial machine. Even the increasing use of nuclear power depends to a large extent on the Uranium ore deposits in Muslim West Africa. There is also an economic interest in recycling petro-dollars which Europe was forced to shell out but which has eventually provided additional market for surplus manufactures by the West including massive sale of arms and luxury goods. Apart from selling its goods to Arabs and the Muslim countries along with a whole spectrum of projects including, some totally misconceived and egoistic which would consume their current surplus in payment for design, technology, manpower and constabulary and thus prevent their translating into self-sustaining economic power.

Crusades

Centuries ago, the West tried to wage the Crusades to win the Holy Places and they failed. So it planted Israel over the last 100 years or so in the heart of the Islamic world when the Ottoman Empire becomes the sick man of Europe. Israel constitutes a permanent threat to the security of the Arab and the Muslim world, stimulating sale of arms by the West. With rising migration particularly from the Maghreb and Turkey, a continuous trickle of conversion to Islam without any perceptible reverse flow frightens Europe about its prospects in the ongoing battle between Christianity and Islam.

Europe no doubt is way ahead of the Muslim world in the field of science and technology which was dominated by the Muslim world for nearly 500 years. It is another expression of Islamophobia that by and large, with some exceptions Europe has totally forgotten the role of Muslims in the transfer of science and technology from China and India and in the restoration of the heritage of Greece and Rome, which cumulatively resulted in the scientific and technological leap by the West.

A deepening shadow on the relations between Europe and Islam manifests itself not only in state policies and government strategies but in the persistent bias in administration and public space. Not surprisingly, its mass media gives a negative twist to any development in the Muslim world and projects Muslims as later-day barbarians.

Let me add that phobia is not particular to the psychology of the majority but extends to minority groups who also entertain bias, distrust, hatred and hostility against the majority and sometimes even against each other, coming from different regions speaking different languages and living in their own cultural worlds.

Phobia operates not only at the collective plane but also among individuals. Individuals who are sometimes afraid of darkness or closed space or of some little insects or some passing shadows but they are socially unimportant. What affects relations of nations and peoples are the collective phobias like the Islamophobia which now dominates Europe to the extent that it readily confers a crown to anyone who vilifies Islam in print or in the electronic media or through films or cartoons, and projects writers like Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasreen, or Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who bear Muslim names. Indeed, in the West if you vilify your own religion you are regarded as liberal and secular.

What is important from our point of view is that the contemporary world is committed to a democratic way of life. Unfortunately, in a plural society which is multi-ethnic, democracy invariably takes the form of majoritarianism. Majoritarian phobias against the minority indeed have the potential to disturb social peace, erode rational thinking, and end up in conflicts of cultures and civilizations, even in physical hostilities. Such violent phobias can cause social breakdown because of economic deprivation, social marginalization and constitutional pressure on the minorities.

Phobias of a minority can be self-destructive but cannot affect overall social peace except in situations of active conflict.

Muslim invasions

Islamophobia also emanates in Europe, as in India, by the recollection of Muslim invasions and the fear of re-conquest!

It misinterprets the idea of the Caliphate and even of conversion to Islam. Such historical memories are always misinterpreted and exaggerated and passed on not only through books and literature but by word of mouth. Islamophobia also results from the fear of falling into dependence on the Muslim world for some essential supplies as oil is for Europe. It also aggravates a feeling of religious inferiority when it imagines the trickle turning into stream of conversion to Islam. On the other side of the coin, Western Islamophobes believe in their technological superiority and scientific advance and their own persistent propaganda that Islam is not compatible with democracy and that the Muslims peoples still live in the 7th century! This encourages constant vilification, a culture of mockery and taunt, abuse and castigation of the Holy Prophet and the Holy Quran and misrepresentation/ misinterpretation of Islamic history.

The current wave of Islamophobia in Europe must be seen in a global perspective. Sometimes, it takes the form of a free-for-all and sometimes of reciprocity, everyone is attacking the other and everyone lives in fear of attack. Naturally this fear mentally dominates the minorities who live in physical or cultural ghettos in non-Muslim majority countries.

In Muslim majority states, there are, apart from non-Muslims, groups which belong to minority sects, and who have their own culture. But there is a difference. In no Muslim states, is there any organized attempt to convert the other sects or the non-Muslims to Islam or to attack them physically. As a matter of fact at the height of the Palestinian crisis the Jews lived peacefully in the Arab world. If one goes back to history one finds that when the Jews were expelled from Spain along with the Muslims they took refuge in Muslim countries.

Today, nearly 40% of the world Muslim population lives in Muslims-minority states. The most important are India, Russia, China, Europe and USA. Islamophobia affects them directly. They have to be constantly on their guard to monitor and correct misinformation, misperceptions and misunderstandings. When they wish to live according to Islamic norms they are treated as unworthy of their host culture. They are expected to adopt its norms & get assimilated. The incidence of divorce and polygamy are exaggerated beyond limits and they are accused of avoiding secular education for their children.

Islamic terrorism

A new development of what has been called Islamic terrorism places them on defensive. The Muslim youth are particularly harassed & even detained & prosecuted in order to erode the civil rights of the Muslim community and to push them into ghettos when they live in a state of siege. The Muslim minorities, thus, bear the brunt of Islamophobia and are denied justice and equality and the benefits of modern education, even in states which believe in justice & equality.

What is the remedy? Constitutional mandates cannot penetrate horror psychology and erase bias and prejudice. Laws, judicial orders, even policy statements cannot reach out and protect the members of the community who face marginalization, deprivation and humiliation on a day-to-day basis. But there are other minorities in the world like the Jews who are well organized to monitor even a hint of criticism and counteract it through rebuttal, correction and protest. One wishes that Muslims had an organization like the Anti-Defamation League in the USA, which has ensured that not a word may be spoken against the Jews and acceptance of Zionism has become part of the liberal agenda.

How Muslim minorities can take on Islamophobia

History cannot be written. But the Muslims whether they are in a majority or a minority must accept that there is no right of conquest, no right of invasion, no right of terrorization or separatism or secessionism, the vices of which they are accused at every turn. Muslim minorities have every right to maintain their religious identity. But they have to be loyal to the state they live in, join the national mainstream and participate in national causes and movements. They cannot make themselves invisible or keep a low profile for fear that they lose their sense of identity. At the same time, they have to refrain from exhibition of orthodoxy or expression of fanaticism which provides the majority an excuse. A recent referendum in Switzerland was won by those who opposed construction of minarets in mosques. They should realize that a minaret or a dome is not an essential part of the Islamic architecture of a Masjid. Similarly, the Burqa is not universal or mandatory in Islam. They cannot gain in a face-to-face confrontation. They have to learn to be less contentious and reduce the level of cultural display. But sometimes a line needs to be drawn.

Apart from what the community may do, in terms of political initiatives, as citizen & permanent resident and human being, to respond to the western media and monitoring its bias, Muslim states along with the support of other members of the world community must promote a global standard of mutual acceptance and tolerance in terms of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Minorities, 1992, the International Covenants and the UN Convention against Religious Intolerance and Discrimination and the recent UN Declaration against Discrimination based on Faith. None shall eliminate but persistence may reduce the level of Islamophobia to a manageable extent over a period of time. These are the tools in the hands of religious minorities, national or global, which can change the tone of modernization but both sides have to avoid conceptual bottlenecks when it comes to defining the limits of freedom of religion and freedom of expression. Slowly it shall strike at the roots of the basic accusation which promote Islamophobia in Muslim-minority states, that Islam does not accept democracy, that Muslims reject national culture and are not loyal to the state they live in or the Constitution which provides their basic rights and that they are as a collectivity conspiring to take over the world and re-establish the Caliphate!

The world is changing and the pace of change is very fast. The cultural and even physical demarcation between peoples and states are getting dissolved in what is considered to be the climate of the age, Democracy and Secularism. Muslims in different parts of the world have to move with the time, accept that Islam lays down principles for living Islamically but does not identify Islamic culture or Islamic economy or Islamic political system. Islam can live comfortably with multiple political and economic structures and the Muslims should be prepared to accept any system & any culture which recognises their religion, guaranteed them identity and freedom and protects them from cultural absorption and assimilation.

(Syed Shahabuddin, ex-diplomat and MP, is president, All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat)

source: http://www.twocircles.net/2010mar01/islamophobia_how_muslim_minorities_can_combat_it.html

Continue reading »]]> December 6, 2025 – According to the latest statistics there are now more than 1.8 billion Muslims in the world. Islam is the religion that has had the largest growth rate during the last decades, and is the second biggest in the world after Christianity. Indonesia is still the largest Muslim country in the world, followed by Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

Islam has developed from the preaching and life of Muhammad, a citizen of the city of Mecca in Arabia in the seventh century of the Christian era. Muslims assert that the main written record of revelation to humankind is the Qur’an, which they believe to be flawless, immutable, and the final revelation of God.

source: http://www.newsoffuture.com/billion_muslims_in_the_world_future_society.html

Continue reading »]]> On Monday, 12th of Rabi-al-Awwal — 570 years after Jesus ascended into heaven to await his return before the end of the world — Lady Amina gave birth to her blessed son in the house of Abu Talib. Ash-Shaffa, the mother of Abd Al Rahman, attended his birth and as Lady Amina gave birth her blessed baby was delivered prostrating upon his tiny hands and knees, then sneezed and said, “Al Hamdulillah” — praise be to Allah — whereupon a voice from the heavens replied, “May Allah have mercy upon you.” As Ash-Shaffa looked out into the night sky the horizon became illuminated so that the very distant castles of Greece became clearly visible to her.

Incidentally, “Al Hamdulillah” was the same praise Prophet Adam offered as he sneezed upon reaching earth. The beautiful baby was born without a trace of dirt upon him, and a sweet aroma caressed his perfect little body. Lady Amina remembered the instruction she had been given in her vision and supplicated to Allah with it for her little son, then gave him to Ash-Shaffa, the mother of Abd Al Rahman to hold. News that Lady Amina had given birth to a son was sent straight away to Abd Al Muttalib.

As soon as he heard the good news he rushed to see his new grandson. When he reached the house his heart was filled with joy and tender loving care. He cradled the sweet baby wrapped in a white cloth in his arms and then took him to the Ka’ba where he offered a prayer of thanksgiving to Allah for the safe delivery of his grandson. Before returning his new grandson to Lady Amina he went home to show him to his own family. Standing at the door waiting for his father’s return was his three year old son Abbas.

Lovingly, Abd Al Muttalib told his son, “Abbas, this is your brother, give him a kiss,” so Abbas, who was in reality his uncle, bent over and kissed his new baby brother. After everyone had admired the baby, Abd Al Muttalib returned to Lady Amina and in accordance with her vision and a vision Abd Al Muttalib had seen, the sweet baby was named Muhammad. When people asked why they had named him Muhammad they replied, “To be praised in the heavens and earth.” Before that time the name Muhammad was unknown and no other child had ever been given that special name. Abu Talib’s house, the house in which the Holy Prophet (sa) was born exists today and is used to house an Islamic library.

Ash-Shaffa was not the only person to witness miraculous events of this very special night. As Othman, the son of Abi As’s mother gazed up into the night sky she witnessed the stars lower themselves and a light so brilliant appeared at the time of his birth that she could see nothing except light. In the kingdom of Chosroes, fortifications shook and balconies collapsed, whilst the waters of Lake Tiberias ebbed, and the famous flame of Persia, which had not been extinguished since it was lit a thousand years before, was suddenly quite unexplainably extinguished. In the heavens, meteors were commanded to be on guard so as to prevent the satans from listening to the news the angels bore about the events of this very blessed night.

Amongst the citizens of Mecca were several Jews, one of whom was knowledgeable of the scriptures. He knew from his learning and the signs of the time that the birth of a new prophet was imminent and anxiously awaited his arrival. On the night Prophet Muhammad, (sa) was born, a strange feeling came over him that prompted him to rush to the door of his house and ask some Koraysh tribesmen, who happened to be passing, if they had heard of any births that night.

The tribesmen replied that they knew of none, so he asked them to go and find out then bring word to him. He felt sure that this was the night in which the new prophet had been born, and if his feelings were correct he knew he would indeed be able to recognize him by a special, prominent mark on his skin that lay between his shoulders. Sometime later, the tribesmen returned to the expectant Jew and told him that a son had indeed been born to Lady Amina, the widowed wife of Abdullah, son of Abd Al Muttalib.

The Jew asked them to take him to see the newly born and his mother, so in haste they made their way to Abu Talib’s house. When they arrived, Lady Amina presented her darling son to them and as the cloth that covered him was gently rolled back the Jew saw the unmistakable mark and fainted. When he regained consciousness he announced the prophethood had been taken away from the Children of Israel and said, “O people of Koraysh, by Allah, he will conquer you in a way that the news will traverse both east and west.” The mark the Jew referred to was circular and read, “There is no god except Allah, and Muhammad is His Prophet”, and it was from this identifying mark that the sweet aroma of musk exuded.

Abdullah was a young man when he died and therefore had very little to leave his wife and unborn baby. All he was able to leave them was an Abyssinian maid named Barakah, which means blessing, a few camels and some goats. Barakah was also known by the name Umm Ayman. During the first days of our beloved Prophet’s life, Barakah helped his mother to take care of him, and Thuwaybah, who attended his birth, became his first wet-nurse.

In those days it was the practice of noble and well-to-do families to entrust their newly born infants to the care of good families living far from Mecca where the infant would be less likely to contract the many diseases that all too often accompanied the pilgrims. Among the many advantages of sending a newly born to be raised in the desert was that it was there that Arabic in its purest form was spoken, and the accomplishment of speaking pure Arabic was a most sought after quality. Youngsters also learned the essential art of survival through the mutual love and care for one another that in turn lead to excellent manners and a chivalrous nature. With this in mind Lady Amina and Abd Al Muttalib decided to send Muhammad to be raised in the desert.

Soon after his birth, several Bedouin families made their twice yearly journey to Mecca in search of a child to foster. No fee was requested by the foster parents as one might suppose, rather, the intent was to strengthen ties between noble, well-to-do families and perhaps receive a favor from its parents or relatives. Amongst the prospective foster mothers was a lady called Halima, the daughter of Abdullah Al Sadiyyah from the tribe of Banu Hawazin. Halima’s family had always been poor, and that year in particular had been harsh for them on account of the drought that devastated the area. Halima had a young baby of her own, so together with her husband, Abi Kabshah, and baby they traveled in the company of other families from their tribe to Mecca. Halima carried her son as she rode upon their donkey whilst her husband walked by her side and the sheep ran along beside them.

When they set out, the sheep’s milk had been a constant source of nourishment for them, but the strain of the journey took its toll and its milk dried up. Halima’s own milk was insufficient to satisfy her baby, and many a time her baby cried itself to sleep out of hunger. Before reaching Mecca, there was another setback, Halima’s donkey started to show signs of lameness, so they proceeded slowly at their own pace whilst the others went on ahead. Because of the delay, Halima and her family were the last of the prospective foster parents to reach Mecca. By the time she arrived each of the other prospective foster mothers had visited the homes of parents wishing to send their newly born to the safety of the desert, and chosen a baby.

However, the planning of Allah was that all had declined the offer to take Lady Amina’s baby on account of him being an orphan, and so when Halima arrived he was the only one available. As Halima entered Lady Amina’s house she found the tiny baby sleeping upon his back wrapped in a white woolen shawl under which a green piece of silk had been placed. Instantaneously, with just one glance, in the same way that the wife of Pharaoh’s heart had been filled with love for the baby Moses, Allah filled Halima’s heart with overflowing love. Halima was overcome by his beauty, and as she bent down to pick him up she smelt the delicate fragrance of musk.

Fearing she might disturb him, she placed her had over his chest and as she did he smiled, then opened his eyes and from his eyes beamed a radiant light. Gently, and lovingly she kissed him between his eyes and offered him her right breast and immediately felt a surge of milk, he accepted her breast and suckled away contentedly. After a little while she offered him her left breast but even at this very tender age fairness was inherent in his nature and he declined leaving it for his new suckling brother. Later on that day, Halima returned to her husband and told him that there was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to foster Lady Amina’s baby — it was of no consequence to her that the baby was an orphan, or that future favors may not be possible — the baby had completely captivated her heart.

It is through the nourishing milk a foster mother gives to her charge that the baby gains an extended family into which marriage to its siblings is not permitted. And so it was that Halima’s foster child would refer to her in later years as his mother, and to her children as his brothers and sisters. Right from the very beginning, the bonding between Halima and her foster child proved to be a very great blessing for not only her family but the entire tribe. And it was because of this very close relationship that her people were, in the years that followed, protected and led to Paradise.

Whilst Halima was nursing Lady Amina’s baby, her husband, Abi Kabshah, went to tend his sheep and was very surprised to find its udder full of milk. When he milked it there was so much milk that there was more than enough to satisfy the entire family, that night they drank their fill and slept peacefully. When they awoke, Abi Kabshah exclaimed, “Halima, by Allah, I see you have chosen a blessed spirit, did you notice how we spent such a blessed night and are enjoying its benefits?”

source: http://www.infinitelight.org/content/view/889/16/1/7/