Will Muslims rise up?

Society Religion & Philosophy
1

In light of recent discussions on Muslim social/religious issues in the last few days in which I have proposed Muslims take up non-violent means to raise red flags to issues that affect them, I was told many times by many people that, in a nutshell, that those attempts, feeble at best, will fail and that we should act for the betterment of the larger Muslim populations since Gad had give us dimag.

In the last few weeks that I have been on this site, despite reading the emotional calls to the Muslims to rise up in the face of the injustices of the West and the Jews, I have yet to see any suggestions by anyone else on what steps to take to begin to counter the so-called injustices.

While, after reading your posts, it appears that many of you have adequately defined the problems and the solutions. What I have not seen in any posts, disregarding my feeble attempts, are any suggestions of HOW to achieve, or try to work towards, the probable solutions.

It is ironic to see so much energy being spent to discuss the state of Muslims in the world, the analyses of the problems, and the solutions that the world Muslims must rise up to put in place; while no one putting in place any suggestions on how to take any steps to implement any suggestions. The only suggestion I have seen so far is for holding protests.

All of us on the net are well beyond the minimum levels of education. Most of you work in places where independent thinking is promoted, appreciated, and nurtured. In your places of work, in most cases, it is expected of you that you will work unsupervised. I can not fathom that you do not use your education, free will, and learned skills to work on solutions for multitudes of problems. I assume many of you work on projects as members of a team whose charter is to work together, without personal biases towards each other, to achieve identified goals. Many of you already have knowledge of project management; and by that very statement, I know that you know how to break down a project to minute, singular steps to achieve. I would love to see those people come forward and take charge. Is there a torch-bearer for us who can lead the charge with knowledge, skills and calmness vs. emotions?

Why is it that the very same people who are successful in personal and business lives do not take the same approach to the problems of Muslims in their local communities and abroad? Many of you in the Western world know, or ought to know, that you are sitting where the causes of many of our problems, as Muslims, exist but all of you spent much time and effort discussing the symptoms. The solution, as I can see for myself, can only be found when you wake up and get involved “locally”, not globally.

By getting involved locally, socially and politically, you will increase the contacts between Muslims and the local populations. You will introduce the character of Muslims and, by such, help fight the forces of hate towards Muslims. You will help alleviate the suffering of Muslims in the long run.

Many of the solutions we decide to work on today may not bear fruit overnight, to our dismay, while some of the solutions might not work at all. Many of you are not in a position to do anything more for the larger Muslim populace then to give your dua, your donations, your sadaqah, or your qurbani meet. On the other hand, you can do a LOT for the local Muslims or to promote Muslim interests locally. You will find it, at times, extremely tough going to do such and you will back off doing that for the fear of your lives. You want to sit back and let others do the dirty work for you and give their lives for you; while you raise slogans of “Allah-o-Akbar”.

Above the differences we discuss to no end, we all recognize the common problems we all face. I would love to work with people who are able to get together and work together, just like you do at work. Why is this bag of problems any different? Time is short for everyone but we are making it shorter by pointless bickering, most times.

To recap:

Issue:
All of you want the Muslims to rise up against the tyranny of the West and the Jews.

What is not for Muslims:

  1. Not everyone here prayes 5 times a day
  2. Not everyone here fasts all 30 days during Ramadan
  3. None of you are interested in participating in/on local events affecting your life
  4. No one is willing to act in defense of Muslim issues unless 100% victory is assured

What is for Muslims:

  1. Less then 20% of you pray Jummah (with jamaat)
  2. Less then 20% of you fast more then 15 days during Ramadan
  3. Less then 10% of you give sadaqah in times of distress
  4. Less then 5% of you give charity to the needy
  5. Less then 1% volunteer your time for your local Muslim community
  6. Less then 1% of you are members of any Muslim organization engaged in Muslim issues

If you feel anger at me for being way off the mark, I apologize for you wasting your time reading this message. If not, then, let me say that I am not any better then any one of you. I have tried to put forth some ideas, albeit with one type of approach, but unsuccessfully. I am not going to say for one moment that all/any of the above do not apply to me. I have had to think about the last few days and reflect on myself and my desire to do something worthwhile for the Muslims. No one here is perfect but you and I have more opportunity to make a difference then the majority of the people today in the world. Please think about this with a calm head and decide for yourself how much good you are actually DOING to help the Muslims vs. talking.

I appreciate your time reading this rather long message.

2

jannu: If you want to do something to help the muslims - go ahead and do it.

You want people to explain on a public forum what they are doing to help the muslims? Qe’re not living in a utopia where we have a right to freedom of speech and thought, and can do or talk about what we want. If you’re gonna do something, don’t talk about it - just do it.

The fact is that a lot of muslims ARE doing something to help the muslims. They all contribute in their own way and most of it is done without ever needing to tell anyone.

If you want ideas of how to help the muslims, then just read the Quran - you’ll get all the information you need

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif

3

You are right, Cooldude. But the World sees Muslims as they are not what their books say. The cold fact is that there is not Muslim social activism. Where are our voices on issues of homosexuality, lesbianism, crime in schools, homeschooling issues, crime and punishment, drinking and driving, violence in media, drugs, education? Are there any Muslim scholarships?

I and my kids are faced with these issues and I don't see any leadership from people who call themselves the Imam of the community.

If the you and others want to sit back feel sufice to shout and debate the finer points of Islam, thats fine. I have yet to see 10 people in my community who care for anything else then to come to my home and invite me to the masjid.

I have lived and grown up in U.S.A. All I can tell you is that I see the people who come here and are trying to propagate the religion like how they do in their own countries.

It is interesting how there was a level of sheer fear in the Muslims when the World Trade Center was bombed; how there was a level of fear in Muslims when the Oklahoma bombings took place; when the TWA was shot down but the Muslims are still suspect, to a lesser degree.

My friend, from where I sit I don't blame this society when they point a finger to the Muslims for the world sees Muslims as they are but not what their books tell what Islam is.

Public Relation. This is what we are missing. Even Islam says to seek treatment when you are sick. Today we are sick. You say to go ahead and do the work. I have started. Even Islam says to publicize the charity if it helps to promote charity in others.

Cooldude, we will only get better when we begin to show the world, again, what we are and who we are.

You are not alone in your comment and won't be the last. But I still feel alone in how I feel. We have no Public relations activities to "advertise" how good we are, how great Islam is. But then "IF" it was, we would have acted like the leaders like the Quran supposedly says so.

4

It's quite sad that you'd feel so alienated in your communinity.

Over here in the UK, Islam does have a voice. Mashallah, in our communities there are people and groups who speak out about Islam and try and help.

Islam needs unity, i'll agree on that one, and there are people who just talk and do nothing else. But on the other hand, there are lots of people who do take a stance and try to help the muslims. We send our kids to the masjids in the evenings and their are special clubs for girls on the weekends. Islam is a part of our life and I don't know anyone who doesn't think so.

Even at work, we demand to have a place to pray...

Anybody else have any comments on this?

[This message has been edited by CoolDude (edited November 14, 2000).]

5

Jannu, the most important thing is to take an initiative, and wry smile u shouldn’t be so quick to judge people:) I think you have some pretty valid points. There are alot of organizations that already undertake the kind of activities you mention in your post, and if u’re not in touch with them just look around a bit and i’m sure u’ll find them.

You mentioned protests which is a start…I’m going to quote from my reply in another thread,( http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/Forum26/HTML/000706.html )

Its a start at least

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif

6

[quote]
Originally posted by CoolDude:
**
Even at work, we demand to have a place to pray...
**
[/quote]

Cooldude, my in-laws are in London and I have been to U.K. a few times. I know what you are saying. Now I understand why you said what you said earlier. I am impressed with the situation there.

We, in the U.S., are dacades behind you guys.

We have no social works programs, we have no penetration in education system unless the schools are by and for the Muslims, we have no Muslim social services programs. In retrospect, I am in a way hoping to see our social lives evolve like yours has. But it will take time.