What Happened to ‘Good’ Islam
When Islam was presented to me, I was presented a religion of worshiping One God alone and as a practical solution for mankind’s social ills. It was a road map for improving our lives. I was told about an Islam that is about togetherness, sharing, caring and strengthening familial bonds. An Islam that was about creating communities, doing business together and uplifting people.
I was told about an Islam that promoted the equality of all men and no person is superior to the other except by his righteousness. An Islam that eschewed racism. I was told about an Islam that was about kindness to neighbors regardless of religion. Islam and Muslims were known as a force for good in the community and a sign that things are going to be cleaned up. This is the Islam that I know and love. An Islam of hope, love, kindness, concern and mercy. An Islam that promoted a mosque that affected the community around it in a positive manner and met the needs of a broken people. An Islam that was PART of the community and not apart from it. An Islam that provided a place for outsiders
A Muslim was a symbol in many neighborhoods - AMERICAN NEIGHBORHOODS - of standing for justice and making improvement in one’s life. A Muslim man was the personification of manly pride and responsibility to his family and his community.
I was told of an Islam that spoke of God’s Infinite Love and Mercy for His creation. I was told of an Islam that inspired people to make positive changes to their lives. I was told of an Islam that offers to serve others and offered solid solutions to problems. All of these things were attractive and this is the Islam that people were flocking to in the 1990’s. This is the Islam I accepted
Now all of those things are a “waste of time”. This new “Islam” is about hate, killing, rape and murder. I am told by a person visiting this site that I should be praising the daily carnage that I see on the news and to believe in wacky conspiracy theories and blood libel. (I have been accused several times by my co-religionists of being a spy and a closet Zionist)
Now I am told that I never understood Islam and that the things I mentioned above represent an “American” Islam and hence bidah (rejected innovation) and that I should accept this “real Islam”
Nowadays I see people coming to these boards trying to convince me that Islam is actually not about the things I mention above. No! Islam is about hate. You don’t pray FOR people, you pray AGAINST them and invoke the worse CURSES you can think of upon them. You don’t talk about God’s Love, you constantly talk about His Wrath. We should be fire breathing dragons that hate and invoke curses upon people.
I am now told by these people that there is no family togetherness or community building in Islam. Oh and by the way, that thing about all human beings being equal except by righteousness? Cancel that! The Arabs are superior to all men. They now tell me that Islam is firmly grounded in a medieval social order where Arabs are on top and I (as a black) am on the bottom.
I just don’t recognize this “Islam” of hate, murder, rape, stealing, explosions and chaos and I hate this “Islam” passionately. This is why I am so vehemently opposed to this “Islam” of Bin Laden and the other creeps. You see, I was told about a very different Islam than the one that we see on TV and hear about on the media and even the one that some Muslims try to promote. This new “Islam” that we see now would have been very strange in the 1990s to those of us who were accepting Islam. This is just not the Islam we were sold. And we would have never ‘bought’ it in the first place.
I find it very strange that I would be criticized by any Muslim for my rejection of throat cutting, rape and murder as being a part of Islam as if it were a pillar of some sort. I am not familiar with this Islam that calls for a lack of love and human emotion, but now this is what we hear. Slavish dogmatism, slogans and a culture of death.
Because of the lack of emphasis on self improvement (denounced as alien to Islam) and cloaking failure as “religious commitment” a Muslim is now one that is mired in many of the social ills that the rest of community suffers from. Because of this new “Islam”, Islam has begun to cease to be a force for positive change in the inner cities.
It has gotten so bad that a person will say to a Muslim: “you are too rational to be a Muslim” or they think that he is about to leave Islam or it will be said to him “you are not like them”
Now I am finding more Muslims from the 90’s era that are even beginning to think a “bait and switch” has been pulled on them and are confused because of the mass chaos set off by the Bin Ladens of the world
This is why I reject this “Islam” of carnage, irrationality, social disorder and murder.
Filed under: The Culture of Denial and Pretense
Not All Muslims Are Like That. We Are Actually Holy People. Only a Few dumb ass(Bin Laden and the other Terrorists) are like that.
yes, its true that not all muslims like that but you just cant accuse other people such as ‘bin laden and ‘terrorist’ as terrorist… they might have their own reason, you cant just accuse without knowing the reason first.
1stly, if a muslim bomb just once, they are already been label;ed as terrorist. what about the israelis? what about of americans? just how many muslims they killed and bombed but no one ever call them as the terrorist. why they are always seen as the ‘hero’?
Assalam o Alaikum.
Just wanted to remind you two basic things.
1. Islam is not about hate. If someone promotes hate, he/she is doing against the teachings of Islam.
2. When you receive a news, you must verify whether it is right or not. Don’t just start calling someone terrorist because BBC or CNN does that. This is also against the teachings of Islam to pass on news without verifying.
Quran says in Surah Hujurat, Chapter: 49, Verse: 6, that before you pass on the message, you should verify whether it is right or wrong.
Muslims love AND hate for the sake of Allah. Muslims LOVE justice and HATE evil. Most of humanity/jinn would not be condemned to Hell forever if Allah “loved” everyone. Consequently, since no sane Muslim wants to be tortured in Hell, it makes good sense to know what should be condemned and hated, so that he does not fall into such behavior (while at the same time he should learn what is accepted by Allah so that he abides by it).
The problem here are the extremists–of both the violent radical types and the apologist types. The violent radical types–e.g., the Qutubis/classical Wahhabis (some of the neo-wahhabis do not promote the same violent rhetoric as their founders) espouse a doctrine of violence that VIOLATES what Allah revealed. On the other hand, you have apologists who DENY what Allah has revealed.
The apologists are in some ways more dangerous to the Muslims than the radicals, because the apologists confuse the basic notion of Imaan (Faith) and kufr (disbelief) altogether. In an effort to distance themselves from the radicals, the apologists outright reject entire aspects of the Religion. As a result, they are made to look like fools in any debate with informed opponents of Islam–and worse, the apologists blaspheme for belying what Allah reealed. The radicals, on the other hand, have the notion of distinguishing Imaan from disbelief–but they misapply judgments, which leads to their violent acts.
It is misleading to say that Islam is a “religion of love,” (which is said by apologists) for it gives a person the impression that in Islam Muslims love everybody and everything. This certainly isn’t the case. The Muslim does not love injustice or sin. The Muslim does not love disbelief.
Muslims LOVE Allah, and they love OBEYING Allah. Muslims also would LOVE for (more) non-Muslims to embrace Islam. Muslims LOVE following the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam), and Muslims LOVE the righteous followers of Islam. In that sense, Islam is a religion of love–for if a person does not have love for Allah and His Messenger, then he can’t possibly be a Muslim. But again, Muslims do not love everyone or everything. Muslims love those people and things that we are ordered to love and we hate those things and people we are ordered to hate.
With Allah is the success.
WAHHABI ALERT WAHHABI ALERT
Please don’t water down the deen or let Fox news define what a radical is. Thanks.
Like above: Hujurat 6
@ Tariq
I hope you made Tawbah from what you wrote in this thread.
Muslims love AND hate for the sake of Allah. Muslims LOVE justice and HATE evil.
I totally agree with this.
Tariq,
JazakAllah for this post. Your a better man than most. Continue to stay strong and firmly grounded.
@ Gora
Nobody is talking about watering down the Deen. The Wahhabis are extremists. The Wahhabis are extremists first and foremost in the matters of their anthropomorphic creed. In addition to that, they are extremists in their murderous assault on Muslims. Virtually ALL (pseudo) Sunni Islamic terrorists groups affiliate themselves with Muhammad Ibn `Abdul-Wahhab. This has NOTHING to do with Fox and the Neo-cons.
The SUNNI MUSLIMS have been referring to the notorious Najdi movement as “Wahhabi” for the past 250 years. Simply investigate the work of the Imam of the two Sanctuaries, Zain Ad-Dahlan, called Fitnatul-Wahhabiyya (The Wahhabi Seditions). Or check out what the Wahhabis did in the early 1800’s in the Hijaz region. After examining their history, no reasonable person can doubt that the Wahhabis are extremists (and they are the cause for much of the support given this to watered down backlash of quasi-traditionalists we find being promoted in the media today).
Yes, akhi, this has everything to do with where you get your sources because it obviously is framing your method of thought. To blame AbdulWahhab here is like blaming Bukhari. If you wanted to mention Sayyid Qutb, then you would at least be making sense.
The most ardent followers of AbdulWahhab are the Madhkhalis (aka the neo-Khawarij).
It is my experience that those who are quick to throw around the “Wahhabi” label are those who have issue with, and cannot refute, anything the sheikh spoke about in kitaab at-tawheed.
Gora,
The primary issue with Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab is his anthropomophism/kufr–which is part of his so-called Kitabut-Tawheed. Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab didn’t have the creed of the Muslims. The political extremism of his followers results from their ignorant and literalist interpretation of the Qur’an and Hadith. Again, the leading (quasi-sunni) terrorist movements are almost all inspired by Wahhabism. And the term “Wahhabi” has been around for HUNDREDS of years and has been used by AHLUS-SUNNAH to distinguish the Najdi Movement from Sunni Islam. These are just the facts of history.
With Allah is the success.
سوارثمور، أنت تتكلم و تنسى جماعتك الذي معروف عنها ولائها لأعداء الاسلام.
Allah is not the real God…. he is not true all of u guys are wrong… i have proof to… he isnt true Jesus Christ is the real God… b/c he loves us unconditionally.. and he will always love us we dont have to pray 5x a day to get his love we just get it if we ask him to be out saviour and if we confess all our sins then he would bring you under his wing and care for u we dont have to earn his love by WORKS!!!! so maybe you should start praying to Jesus our God and see if they come true…. i am telling u… u will make the most wise disscision in ur whole life trust me!!!
shut up we can beleive in what we wont to beleive so shut up