Musings of a Thinking Muslim

Bombing Churches and Islam

2011-01-02T00:12:00.004-05:00

So they bombed a Coptic church in Egypt killing 21 people. SubHanAllah. When will such insanity stop?

Did not God check one set of people by means of another, there would surely have been pulled down monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, in which the name of God is commemorated in abundant measure. God will certainly aid those who aid His (cause);- for verily God is full of Strength, Exalted in Might, (able to enforce His Will). (Qur'an 22:40)

They dishonor none but themselves and Muslims as a nation. Shame on us Muslims that some of our own think they can behave worse than beasts in the name of Islam. Shame on our societies that permit this to happen. How they besmirch our teachings, traditions and history! How they disobey God!

Between shame, outrage we must turn to God to remove this affliction and calamity that has befallen us whereby we have lost our humanity and have become more vicious than beasts.

Peter King - Good or Evil?

2010-12-25T17:48:00.004-05:00

Congressman Peter King of New York has been making headlines. In case you missed it, he will be chairing the powerful committee on Homeland Security in the 112th Congress that takes office right after the New Year and has promised to use his powers to hold congressional hearings on the causes of radicalization of American Muslims.

Our friends at CAIR and other Muslim advocacy groups are alarmed by this and are calling it a form of racial profiling.

I spent some time today reading all I could about the Congressman. I must say, I can't find anything objectionable about what he is doing or his positions. I invite you to read an ope-ed he recently penned in Long Island (NY)'s Newsday:

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/ny03_king/radicalizingmuslimamericans.html

Which of his facts do we disagree with? Which of his positions do we find unreasonable?

Let me address the Congressman and one of his key concerns first. Congressman, there are Muslims who hang their heads in shame by the denials within our community that 9/11 was the work of others. Let this serve as an unconditional apology to the broader community of fellow humans for our failure in what would be our religious duty to bear witness even against our own and ourselves in defense of the truth. Our faith prohibits us from holding our tribal affiliations above the truth but we certainly haven't been living by our faith for some time.
The Congressman's history with the Muslim community and the facts he states about the rampant state of denial among local Muslims leaders in many communities is absolutely on the mark.
Those of us who know the Muslim community well cannot deny he fact that that somewhere deep down in our psyche we always put a BUT when it comes to our position on suicide bombing and terrorism. We see the wrongs done by terrorists and the flaws in the ways of the Radicals, yet we feel the injustices done against Muslims somehow leave room for those reactions. Shame on us. Islam in absolutely unequivocal about fitnah. Until we get past this first step, this cancer is going to devour our communities, here in the US and globally.
Like the Congressman I want to know what in the world is going on. Why was the fool in Portland, OR thinking there was anything noble about killing women and children from an early age? Yes he felt the pain of Muslims around the world, but why didn't his faith teach him to cause a peaceful struggle (the greater jihad) to bring peace to Muslim lands? What about Faisal Shehzad - the man claimed he would love to die many times over for his cause. Why did his brain shrink to such a narrow way to respond to the crisis in Muslim lands? Why didn't he seek a real albeit slow solution that requires constant striving? What about the Zazi? What about the imam who tried to tip Zazi off?

Fact is, Muslims have good hearts but we are LOST in this world. Any nation that fell so far down so quickly would have a crisis of the sort we are having. Many of of our formal and informally placed leaders are steeped in frustration, lack clarity in their thinking and struggle at best on taking a position on issues. This lack of clarity about what our faith mandates us under such circumstances is confusing many in the community-at-large.

There is ABSOLUTELY no room in Islam for random acts of violence against people who are not armed and standing in combat against you. Even in such circumstances you don't fight to cause greater harm to others, you do so to disarm the fool who is fighting you.

Suicide bombing or bombing of civilians is against the most fundamental teachings of Islam. Absolutely no exceptions.

Fellow Muslims, step 1 is to acknowledge we have a problem. Let's get rid of our shabby tribalism and side with the truth, even if such truth condemns us in the short run.

Peter King, go ahead with the hearings.

Our Lord, have mercy on this community and give us leaders who will help us think with clarity and help restore our position as the standard bearers of truth and justice.

Radicalized American Muslims

2009-12-11T18:26:00.003-05:00

The devil has made a nest in the American Muslim community and has successfully taken to hell some of our young men. The case of Somali boys from Minneapolis area returning to Somalia to join "Jihad" is about a year old. More recently, we had that Khabees Major Nidal Malik Hassan and now the bunch of young boys in Pakistan.

What's at stake is our very future and it doesn't get more serious than this. We need to find out who's doing it and weed them out. Thankfully, a first stone has been cast in this direction, but there is a lot more to do.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/11/muslim.policing/index.html

Where's Obama's Savvy?

2009-08-11T18:26:00.004-04:00

Has Obama lost it? Where's the passion and the constant vigilance of his campaign?

Extremists have taken hold of the so-called debate on healthcare. Downright lies and scare tactics are growing roots. During his campaign, Obama's team would be there to fact-check and fix the nasty stuff. Not so on this healthcare reform issue.

We had a president of questionable intelligence aided by a vice president who had no respect for this country's constitution or traditions. Yet, they managed to get their way for most of their 2 terms. Yet, on healthcare reform we have people screaming "we want our country back" and "say no to socialism" - funny how that works.

If Obama lets others define him and his position on healthcare reform, it doesn't bode well for the rest of his presidency. Maybe instead of going on ritzy vacations, he ought to bring back the troops from his campaign to set the record straight on this critical issue?

Lastly, I mourn the nivite of my fellow citizens. The only people protesting this reform should be the super-wealthy insurance companies (i.e. the major shareholders in those companies). To say our healthcare system is broken is such an understatement. Yet, they have been scared into thinking the fix is better than their present state. Sigh!

Twitter Hype Machine - Give me a Break!

2009-08-06T10:56:00.009-04:00

If Twitter ran for President of the United States last year, I have a feeling Obama would not have made the history he did. Twitter's PR department seems to have embraced and proven the observation of some perceptive figure in history who had noted that the bigger the lie, more readily people believed in it.

Her Royal Highness Queen Nur of Jordan has a Twitter account, she actually posts stuff so the rest of us can know how grateful she is to be married. His Highness, the Ruler of Dubai, Shaikh Mohammed has an account verified to be his (yeah, with a Twitter ID of HHShaikhMohammed). I am waiting for their press release that Michael Jackson has been Tweeting from the other side (Suggested Tweeter ID NDMichaelJackson for Now Deceased Michael Jackson). This last one would be really helpful, it would save California courts a lost of time and California taxpayers could use a break.

This morning Twitter's server went down (again). My reaction to this cataclysmic event:

This is yet another irrefutable proof of the fact that Twitter is the fastest growing company in the history of humans, apes, microbes and celebrities. Data center cables must have literally burst into flames and melted as a result of the heavy traffic to Twitter’s servers…needing liquid Nitrogen to control the imminent fire.

Northern Air Command (NORAD) must appeal the Armed Services Committee to buy Twitter more cryo-server farms so homeland security is not compromised.

The only down side to this outage is that the democracy movement in Iran will not be able to oust Ahmadinejad for another 48 hours. Oh, not to mention, Obama’s economic recovery is going to take a few days longer. Sigh! We hope there has been no impact on the timeline for the cure for cancer and AIDS. This certainly must have disrupted the routine of the 200 million malnourished humans around the world, imagine, having to wait for their tweets!

On a serious note, Twitter’s PR department must be away on summer break. I was shocked Bill Clinton did not attribute his success in bringing home the journalists to Twitter and he didn’t post tweets during his dinner with KJI.

Update: Obviously, I am not the first to have figured out this hype machine's amazing performance. However, as with any lying...it eventually starts to catch up with you.
http://www.webguild.org/2009/08/twitter-hype-bombs-iran-key-to-acquisition.php

Compromised Bedrock

2009-08-05T12:17:00.005-04:00

A set of common core values and systems have served as the foundation on which America became a wealthy, powerful and even great nation. Many of these core values and systems have constantly been under threat and the onslaught has never been more blatant as in the present times.

Consider capitalism. A system that establishes rights of individuals and private enterprises and defines a framework in which people invest, buy and sell in order to advance their personal interest. The magic in capitalism was that in pursuing such self interest the common interest was also advanced (within limits of course, and often regulation was required to ensure that). I believe those days are over - regulation can't keep up with the thieves and the abuse has become shamelessly blatant.

Let me explain. Capitalism was epitomized by Wall Street which, in theory, provides a level playing field by making information available to everyone so the collective marketplace can determine the true value of any publicly traded company and no one has any unfair edge on information (knowledge) which translates into money and wealth. Tell me how badly this institution must be breached when Goldman Sachs reported making over $100 Million on 46 out of roughly 60 trading days in April, May and June of this year (and that in a bad economy). A bunch of people sitting in posh offices made money at such amazing levels merely "trading" which generates absolutely no tangibel or intangible asset of value (no inventions, no products, no new ideas from which any human derives any benefit). On all but two days in those three months, they made over $50MM.

Legally sanctioned heists of this sort will leave our society weakened and permanently damaged.

I say the fort called the United States of America has been breached and it cannot stand intact too long unless corrective action is taken. Thieves have figured out paths and channels that the rest of us do not know and it is only a matter of time before this thing collapses. Is anyone doing anything about it?

Google's 2009 April Fool Hoax

2009-04-01T09:45:00.002-04:00

They call it CADIE technology. Clever :)

Twittering to Another Extreme

2009-03-31T18:09:00.007-04:00

Growing up in the Eastern world, I was told that westerners are reserved by nature and cherish their privacy. When making small talk, I was told, it is best to stick to general subjects - such as weather and sports. On matters of faith, politics and personal life, they tend to shy off from talking to strangers. There is a fair bit of truth in this. The emphasis on individual living, decision-making and making the individual a priority is distinctly a Western trait. And in the 21st century, "Western" is not a geographical reference, it includes numerous places in the east that have adopted these norms. The emphasis on personal, individual and private to me has been a bit extreme.

In contrast, eastern societies have been more community-based. Your business was often everybody's business. Home was always abode to multiple generations, so people got married and continued to live under the same roof as their parents and other siblings. Over time people slowly moved to their own space (which is why you never find the entire village living under the same roof). I find this a more moderate approach.

The thing about moderation is, it is like an engineering system that has stabilized. Extremism is akin to an oscillating system which goes from one end of the spectrum to the other. What's true for engineering systems seems to be true for social systems too.

It is true that many eastern societies seem to be rapidly adopting western ways along with western gadgets, tools and technology and that is subject for another discussion. For now, I am marveling at the fact that in a mere twenty years I have seen my otherwise reserved and private neighbors swing to the other extreme in a phenomenon called Twittering.

Its tag line says "What are you doing?" Is that something we need to broadcast? Now, don't get me wrong, I am not a Luddite and I do see some very good applications of the technology. What I am marveling at is the swing from one extreme of being so private as to being stuffy to being so non-private that trivia is being shared with EVERYONE. QED.

TEHNC Series: Glorifying Lechery

2009-03-29T11:37:00.012-04:00

This is my second post in The Emperor Has No Clothes series and, coincidentally, it happens to be about no clothes.

I will never understand why dressing up for women in the West equates with LESS CLOTHES AND MORE SKIN. Actually, how do I say this, I do understand, but that is just too obviously putrid and objectifying of the fairer sex, no? It's true in sports (compare google search for images for male gymnast and female gymnast and I am not even bringing up beach volleyball), in formalwear where for men it's suits or tuxedos and for women it starts to get pretty skimpy pretty quickly. Does everybody see the obvious and ubiquitous putrid standards at work yet no one's saying anything about it?

Why does society elevate that whose sole purpose is to invite leching? I suspect everybody sees the double standards yet the lower common denominator dominates. And the emperor continues to walk naked while we all pretend everything is allright.

Dear Sami Yusuf

2009-03-29T00:25:00.003-04:00

I just bought and played Sami Yusuf's latest CD Without You. So here's a word or two for the brother...

God has blessed you with a lovely voice. Amazing! And you're putting it to good use. Masha'Allah!
As someone who loves the Prophet of Allah (pbuh) with all his heart, I can sense that you do the same and just that creates a special bond between two Muslims. So you know what I mean when I say "I hear you." I do :)
Now some bad news and sincere advice: Fire your song-writers and get someone who can write songs. In this and your previous CDs I'd give you lyricists an F grade. You can't take cliche-loaded speeches and pretend like they were songs. Your voice is good, but NOT so good that badly written prose may bring out the effect of a song. It tortures the listener, spare us, bro!
What's with plagiarizing singing styles and tunes? I swear, I thought I was listening to bad imitations of many popular artists. Stick to your style, brother. If I miss Jennifer Lopez, I will get her CD.

As much as I love you for the devotion which you fill your songs with, I cringed through most of the CD.

Here's the bottom-line: This is the last CD of yours that I purchased to support a Muslim artist. On your next CD, you'll have to earn my business.

Good Friday, Bad Friday

2009-03-28T23:04:00.004-04:00

I perform my Jumu'ah prayers at a synagogue (I know, that's a construct you don't normally expect to read). In the land of Evangelical Christians and diehard Zionism are also Christians and Jews who have embraced Muslims with arms and hearts wide open. As the Qur'an says, the People of the Book are diverse, some more fair than others.

I find the synagogue more peaceful than the local mosque. You are probably disappointed, but it's true. To begin with, it's cleaner. There's a certain din in the local masjid and most masajid (not all!) that does not pervade the synagogue and that instantly improves my Jumu'ah experience.

But the thing that makes the most impact on my Jumu'ah experience is the khateeb of the day. Talk about diversity! They come in all persuasions - from calm and soothing to fire and brimstrones. Some are difficult to put up with for 35 minutes. They must be connecting with some other members of the congregation but, sadly, I am deprived of any spiritual or moral inspiration by their words. Then, there's Joshua. God bless him. He does his homework. He is articulate but he isn't in love with this own speech. He comes and makes a point or two, with clarity of ideas and humility in his tone. May God bless him and all khateebs who bring God's servants closer to piety through inspiration. May God bless all places of worship where His name is uttered and praised in abundance and those who maintain them.

Losing Our Way

2009-03-13T19:54:00.008-04:00

Tagore, in one of the most beautiful prayers penned by any human, wrote:

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Alas, all good things run their course and all streams seem to lose their way into "the dreary desert sand of dead habit."

The level of fraud and deception in businesses across the world has reached that critical proportion that I think we ought to pause for a moment and mark the ending of something good that began with the rise of the Bourgeois class in Europe some centuries back. Wealth was earned, in the good old fashion - an essential confluence of hard work, ingenuity and luck.

That culture (if it ever existed) seems to have vanished. The class that seeks to make money today does not seem inclined towards the pursuit of tireless perfection. Dark souls that do not seem inspired by anything good, merely obsessed to fill their belly with more, by hook or crook, and under incredible pressure of unrealistic expectations of all around them. Madoff and Stanford may be evil criminals. But is there no culpability on part of the society that expects those kinds of returns that they provided? I believe these two and others like them are merely expression of a collective loss of our moral compass. After giving birth to a lot of good things, the Industrial Revolution is now finding itself in the dreary desert sand of habit, quite lost, I am afraid. And it is producing toxic stuff.

Legitimate profits have yielded to Ponzi schemes. More than a century of medical miracles and this civilization is now floundering in the direction of creating superbugs that threaten all humanity. Ingenuity is replaced by greed. Valor and honor seem to have been overcome by treachery and deceit.

I believe no matter how inspired any human enterprise, when devoid of God, it will lose its way. It's actually worse than that, even Godly enterprises, when they do not heed to Godly teachings in their proper context, lose their way. How inspired was Tagore to seek refuge with God from this high susceptibility we have to losing our way!

Paging Parents of Young Abdul Malik...

2009-03-09T19:10:00.007-04:00

I spent 3 hours in transit on Terminal 3 of London's Heathrow airport on Sunday. In that brief period, there were two cases of children getting separated from their parents. In each case a public service announcement sought to reconnect the child with parents. The first was a baby girl, I do not remember the exact name, but it was a Muslim name. An hour later and I was amazed: "Will the parents of young Abdul Malik, about 6 years old and separated from his parents, please come the the central security area?" Another Muslim family had managed to lose their child!

Two out of two in three hours, both Muslim...what does this say about us? Wonder who we blame for this sort of attitude? Israel? America? Or some other "legion of kuffar and mushrikeen"?

Putting Limbaugh in His Place

2009-03-09T19:05:00.001-04:00

Deepak Chopra, writing on Huffington Post, set the record straight on Rush Limbaugh:

By any sane account, Rush Limbaugh is dead weight when it comes to finding a solution to anything. Like Sarah Palin, his spiritual bride, he lurks in the shadow of the human psyche, expressing the dark anger, resentment, jealousy, and vindictiveness that society can never escape. And yet, the next time you tune into Limbaugh's censorious circus of insensitive scurrility, give him a kind thought. As far back as Mark Twain, the American character has been ornery. We secretly love rascals, bank robbers, tricksters, swindlers, hell raisers, and outlaws. And when we feel so inclined, we laugh at them. Rush Limbaugh may represent a toxic form of entertainment -- and the bile he spews bears no resemblance to true morality -- but the fact that America makes room for him is something to be proud of. I don't pray that he goes away. I pray that we can keep laughing, even if our grin is crooked, at the pranks of the eternal shadow who is our companion for life, whether we want him or not.

Rape in Afghanistan?

2009-03-06T21:09:00.003-05:00

This in today's news:
"'Rapes in the country have been growing tremendously, particularly child rapes within the ages of 9, 8, 7, even lesser than that' said Wazhma Frogh, director of Global Rights Afghanistan."

Any truth to this? I mean wouldn't ANY rape, much less rape of minors, be a highly dishonorable thing to do in Afghanistan, a highly repugnant action that would draw the ire of the masses given Islam's strong position against rape and any kind of sexual aggression? Then again, Islam is also strongly against drugs (consumption, supply or any involvement in any part of the entire supply chain) and narcotics are among the largest sectors of this sad country's economy.

Thinking Big, Very Big, in Mumbai

2009-03-04T22:48:00.007-05:00

I aspire never to be a pessimist. Yet, some dreams seem very big. I won't say too big, for that'd be pessimism.

On many occasions in recent years, I have walked the streets of Mumbai (where the highly acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire was filmed) in shock at how poor the city's infrastructure is and how it appears to be going nowhere anytime soon. Home to 14 million people, 45% of India's GDP comes out of this one city (I know, shocking!), nearly 70% of capital transactions of India are through Mumbai. Yet, visibly and infrastructur-ally, Mumbai is one large slum with stench to go with it.

Every day affluent people, people who have shaped the world through their contribution to business and the art world, jump over heaps of trash to get into their chauffeur-driven Mercedes Benz to navigate what are called roads but aren't really. They meet and socialize for hours in their posh apartments and villas with their windows closed lest the stench from the outside ruin their appetite. They spend millions in the weddings of their children competing in who could draw more guests, then go on with their lives breathing air that makes rounds of some shockingly polluted industrial zones.

The only thing more shocking than Mumbai's lack of infrastructure is the apathy of its residents and leaders over how bad things are. In fact, I feel there is a sense of joy its residents seem to find in all the squalor. Things are so bad and getting worse, there ought to be a citizens' revolt. Not here...it's "chalta hai". Some may argue it's a poor nation's poverty I am making fun of. On the contrary, I think there is money and the money is spent. I fear it ends up in secret bank accounts of people who face no accountability, coz it's all chalta hai. Millions of "honorable" people, a land of countless saints (going by temples, masjids, dargahs), and yet, they all stink...and I mean quite literally.

So, from Mumbai comes the following news: a grand dream to transform the city! God bless those who have dared to dream. I will pray for their success, but my breath, I shall hold not (although around Mumbai it's an exercise one could often use)!

Islam and Patriarchy

2009-03-04T22:02:00.003-05:00

Here's what I'd call a 5-star article on Domestic Violence among Muslims (and on the broader topic of Islam and Patriarchy) by Pamela Taylor. God bless Pamela! As long as we have people who can think clearly with humility and courage, we have hope.

The "The Emperor Has No Clothes" Series

2009-02-26T00:11:00.005-05:00

Needless to say, the list of things I do not understand, comprehend or appreciate is rather lengthy. But it's not my low IQ and naivete all the time. On more than one of these, I am glad to be on the side of those who don't get it.

For example: Starbucks coffee. I just don't get it. Why do people pay 3 to 4 times the average cost of better-tasting coffee? If this was some other issue we would have had a mutiny. A study found that many American college students add an average of $10,000 to their tuition loan over four years thanks to the habit of expensive coffee. All because it's a fad? Fools proudly follow fools each knowing in their heart the taste is lousy.

So after an issue with what we eat, let's go to the other end of the spectrum. The end we don't talk of often, and for good reasons. For all the awareness and desire for personal hygiene, why do westerners not use water for washing themselves after a visit to to the toilet? It seems natural - whether it's, #1 or #2, you want to wash. And I don't mean wash your hands. Wash!!! Get it? I hope so. A physician shared his experience in examining patients. When even the best dressed person got down to the gown, they would often smell. I know, you're cringing. Everyone must know something is not right. What's this obsession with dry bathrooms? Frankly, it err, stinks, everyone knows about it and yet, we pretend everything is OK.

As this company that introduced "wet wipes" would say in its commercial "try us, see the difference on laundry day" - or was it see and smell?

More to come, IA.

Inquiry into American Corruption in Iraq

2009-02-14T19:35:00.008-05:00

In an earlier posting I had alluded to BILLIONS of dollars that are largely unaccounted for from America's war and reconstruction operations in Iraq since 2003. Then I read this report in the New York Times which seems to indicate there is some effort to uncover details of possibly the biggest case of theft in human history.

Some thoughts:

This should be a multi-generation investigation. I'll tell you why. All they have to do is follow mid-to-senior level military officers who retire in the next 40 years, particularly if they leave America's shores to retire somewhere else. As they say in such investigations "follow the money" and in this case, following some of these retirees going overseas will take us to the money. My experience in such investigations is limited to reading Sherlock Holmes (sorry!) and yet, I feel confident if we do a preliminary investigation on those officers who have retired early in the last few years, we will be able to find a lot of American tax-payer money.
Here's my rationale for why this investigation should last a long time: Once it comes out that retirees are being followed, many will decide to forgo their plans, leaving the money instead to their children and grand-children. Let's watch them carefully for some time.
America's future depends on its ability to hold its officers accountable. Whatever happened to the days when this country could deliver massive and complex projects under-budget and ahead of schedule? The unprovoked war was shameful and criminal in itself. Its execution has been so badly botched that Americans have never been seen so incompetent and so corrupt in this nation's history. Aside from the unimaginable human tragedy brought upon the Iraqi people, George W. Bush' low, low IQ and Don Rumsfeld's high, high arrogance are the two things that have defined this war. And I believe there has been a "Don Rumsfeld" at every rank and level in this war. While we have seen the consequences of their arrogance, we have yet to see the size and scope of their corruption. Purely on a hunch, I believe there are boxes and sacks full of American currency hidden in all sorts of locations in Iraq and Kuwait. There are billions of dollars in off-shore accounts that these officers and contractors from Halliburton, Blackwater, CACI are waiting to retire and start enjoying. I hope we can catch them and make examples out of them. We need a long-term investigation. We must send a clear message that such ill-gotten gains can never be enjoyed. If your ethic is corrupt, no problem, America's Department of Justice will set it right. I must confess, I am not too optimistic about enough upright Americans left in public service to undertake this operation. But I can pray, can't I?
American military officers and contractors do not have a monopoly on corruption nor is corruption anything new - but recent levels of corruption in American public life should alarm the daylights out of us. Bringing these criminals to justice and doing so swiftly is necessary or our entire culture could spiral out of control. I hope it's not too late, although sometimes I fear it just may be :(
Finally, a silver lining to this cloud. I don't believe there is another nation in this world where an inquiry of this sort was even possible. Which is why I pray that not only may America survive this and prevail in ensuring justice gets done, I hope other nations follow in America's path. Many of you might remember, the long-time Saudi Ambassador to the US was identified as the man who received nearly ONE BILLION DOLLARS in kickbacks. It was all hushed up. Can you imagine what goes on in Saudi Arabia when news of this sort is discovered? I suspect it never comes out. I shudder to think of the sort of crimes that are constantly committed and, if you have the right contacts, you need never fear any consequences. Well, not until you wake up in your graves.

Case for Buying Fresh Produce and Cooking at Home

2009-02-14T10:11:00.004-05:00

In American homes, the kitchen has become more of a show-piece than an actual workshop where cooking is a full-time acivity. Families are raised on microwave-ready meals, pre-made sauces and soups. Turns out, those polished cans and colorful labels that promise happiness and health have been hiding much concerning the stuff we have been ingesting.

An op-ed in today's New York Times shares the following from a recent FDA study:

Among the booklet’s list of allowable defects are “insect filth,” “rodent filth” (both hair and excreta pellets), “mold,” “insects,” “mammalian excreta,” “rot,” “insects and larvae” (which is to say, maggots), “insects and mites,” “insects and insect eggs,” “drosophila fly,” “sand and grit,” “parasites,” “mildew” and “foreign matter” (which includes “objectionable” items like “sticks, stones, burlap bagging, cigarette butts, etc.”).

Giving Thanks

2009-02-12T20:13:00.004-05:00

The Prophet (pbuh) said: He who does not thank people does not thank God.

You will love this story: and the associated video. Pull out some Kleenex.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185143625/bctid11812033001

Signs of a Maturing Community

2009-02-12T19:30:00.005-05:00

If you have ever entered a masjid and thought to yourself, this could be better, then you owe it to yourself to attend this conference.

This is another step in our Thousand Mile Journey...a step worthy of celebration. Alhamdulillah!

A Cancer Called Taliban and Our Complicity in Their Crimes

2009-02-12T17:52:00.005-05:00

When I read news like the following, I wonder if there is any explanation for the insanity behind such actions:

Kabul, Afghanistan - Insurgents attacked three government offices in Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 26 and wounding nearly 60. The assault was one of the most complex and daring to take place in the Afghan capital since 2001.

There are more criminals in this than just the Taliban. All of us who fail to condemn it, we are complicit.

Where are the humanitarian Muslims who rush to condemn the insanity of Israel? Where are the rallies, and protest marches decrying the Taliban's brutality? I have yet to read any press releases from ISNA and CAIR. Will this be covered in our Khutbahs tomorow? If you hear one, please let me know. Will we call upon our Lord to rid the ummah of such fitnah?

What can explain mindless actions other than a primitive, tribal culture and civilization?

The irony is, Taliban literally means seekers of knowledge. A second irony is that such fitteen groups think they are acting in accordance with Islam. If we Muslims don't condemn such shameful acts, if we don't do something to counter it, we will be guilty of duplicity, among other things. And our Lord does not like duplicity.

To Dream The (Worthy) "Impossible" Dream

2009-02-11T17:48:00.004-05:00

Perssimists will find all sorts of problems with dreams of this sort. They are part of the problem. We need bold dreamers!

Two Moons in Someone Else's Moccasins

2009-02-09T18:10:00.006-05:00

There is this well-known native American saying: “Do not judge your neighbour until you walk two moons in his moccasins.” Looks like some of our American neighbors have strapped on their moccasins and are walking in our paths. Here's a video on the same, encouraging. Interesting exercise, I applaud this effort.

I believe Americans are like people in many parts of the world: hospitable, generous and kind. Americans have one more trait that people in many parts of the world lack: they tend to be non-judgmental. However, the things that have made the world judgmental and nations less hospitable have arrived in America in the form of commentary from the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. They appeal to humanity's lesser instincts just as a generation of semi-literate mullahs have in many Muslim countries.

While we don't always need as close an appreciation for how the world appears to someone else as in the experiment above, I do believe it makes us better neighbors, even adversaries, to be sensitive to it. Something as simple as appreciating the other side's perspective can significantly reduce misunderstanding, conflict and even violence.

Whither The Roots of Dubai?

2009-02-07T12:09:00.018-05:00

People find all sorts of reasons to love and hate New York city. I too have a list of things I would want to see different in the Big Apple (affordable parking for one). But I marvel at the inspiration and courage that God endowed certain people with to build those bridges and tunnels. Really, think about it. There must have been skeptics and doomsdayers when plans were laid to build under-water highways in what became Holland and Lincoln tunnels? Or to stretch that vast span across the Hudson called The George Washington Bridge? Surely some of the very people behind those ideas must have faced self-doubt? Yet the enterprising human spirit overcame skepticism and doubt and we have the vast, bold statement of human will and ingenuity in block after neat block of steel and glass rising to meet the sky.

I drag New York City in to all of this to make the point that I am, to a fault, a fan of the human spirit of adventure and enterprise.

Yet, despite a dozen trips to Dubai in the last 18 years, and despite sitting through countless infomercials on the Emirate, my take on Dubai ranges from skepticism to nausea.

Don't get me wrong, I admire Sheikh Mohammed's courage. Without doubt, his plan/goal to do something bold to inspire the current generation of Emaratis, perhaps all Arabs, perhaps all Muslims, is admirable. And on that, I will always pray that God may bless us with more people who have such courage. But I will also pray that the courage and desire to do something big should direct as much effort to deepening of the roots (for they provide stability) as to shooting branches, leaves and flowers (for they draw attention and create buzz).

As of now, I feel Dubai is giant tree with lots of branches, leaves and flowers but no roots. It's all held into the ground by some silly super-glue. If you've read Ayn Rand's Atlast Shrugged, you might remember the giant oak tree in the Taggart family's backyard was knocked down by a storm. Remember Eddie Willers' shock when he saw that the tree trunk had been hollow and its roots had rotted away? Dubai is posing to be an oak tree that hasn't taken the time to grow roots and I find that unsettling.

To that extent, I think Sheikh Mohammed is more of a Donald Trump (ouch, I know, sorry!) than a George Washington or Mu'adh Ibn Jabal. Despite the court and cloak of a nation builder, possibly even the zeal and earnest desire to be a nation builder, he's as close as the real world gets to a builder of sand castles.

It is easier to criticize than be the one doing something...and I write this acutely aware of that. But really, isn't nation building a more serious business? Doesn't it need a lot of ground-work, hard work, difficult work in advance of rolling out the catwalks for Armani and Prada?

How do I explain my dissimilar takes on New York and Dubai? First, there is something daringly original and creative about New York. It's hard to admire an imitator. Further, New York had an organic growth. New York had a parallel "human resource" development around it. New York addresses more than just the superficial, thrill & frill needs of the men and women who built it.

Nearly everything newsworthy Dubai is doing must seem superficial to non-Muslims and either makrooh or downright haram to Muslims. Artificial islands? Skiing in the desert? The Qur'anic word lahw comes to mind. The American city Las Vegas comes to mind. Very few American heroes have come from Vegas. Many serious-minded Americans go to see the neighboring Hoover dam and the Grand Canyon instead of the lights and shows of Sin City (believe me, really! :) ).

I don't write all this to deride Dubai. I hope I am wrong - I remain a well-wisher. I hope they have focused on the roots and I just haven't seen them. If you have, please take a minute to point them out to me.

So We're All Terrorists Now?

2009-02-05T23:30:00.011-05:00

An admirable trait in America as a nation is its quest to be a more perfect Union. It does not purport to be a perfect nation, merely one that is trying to get closer to that ideal. In it, there is a confession of falling short, and a determination to be better - two very admirable qualities that continue to serve America well.

Like many immigrant groups (e.g. Catholics, Jews) before Muslims, we are now the target of a massive campaign by a small-but-resourceful group for demonization. Over the years, this demonization technique has been perfected. Yet, the determination of every immigrant group has been able to defeat it. America is and has been the land where the children and grandchildren of immigrant laborers go on to become governors and senators.

A mainstream organization like ISNA has been in the cross-hairs of these hate groups for some time. What is interesting is the technique used. Having created the perception of a link between Muslims and terrorism (towards which many of our own have contributed rather generously), these groups now use innuendos to besmirch the reputation of any organization or individual.

Ingrid Mattson, ISNA's president, spoke by invitation at President Obama's inaugural National Prayer Service. She was very well received by leaders of the various faith traditions based on eye-witness accounts I have heard. I have known and followed Ingrid's work since she was a graduate student at U of Chicago. She represents the best in western and Islamic traditions. Modest, but walking as an equal with the best of the world. But hate groups have been pulling the levers they have put in place to label her as someone with "ties to terrorists." If Ingrid is "linked to Hamas" (which the readers' brains have been conditioned to translate as "Ingrid Mattson is a terrorist"), who among us is safe from such accusations and innendos?

There is bad news and good news in this. The bad news is, we're going to have to face a desperate group of people who have no shame and no ethics and who will try anything to besmirch the good name of Islam and Muslims. The good news is they are betraying signs of desperation. Remember how corrupt cabals with lots of power and wealth deal with a minority that threatens to expose their corruption? First, they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you and then you win. It's a rite of passage for every immigrant group to America as it stands at the cusp of a signifcant recognition. But we have to prove our worth and earn it.

We will have to steadfastly hold to being a just and fair people during this trial that lies ahead. We will have to do the right thing every day and ask our Lord for strength. In the end, I have no doubt as to who will prevail...this country has a fine tradition of that, and my faith assures me of it.

Preparing for the Attack of the Bigots

2009-02-05T20:39:00.005-05:00

Fair-minded Americans are especially challenged by Obama's rise to the highest office in the land.

Many like Rush Limbaugh are openly hoping for America's first president with a non-traditional demographic to fail. Cheney recently claimed America is becoming unsafe due to Obama and he is perhaps waiting for his "I told you so" moment should, God-forbid, something bad happen.

The challenge before us is to produce a thousand men and women of Obama's caliber. The man's temperament is extraordinary. The clarity he brings on issues is refreshing. His ability to stand calmly under pressure and smile is unparalleled. Hate-mongers are plotting and hoping for things to fall apart. They want things to go wrong so they will spread fear for as long as they can so Americans do not soon dream of thinking freely when it comes to racial and other prejudices.

Now is the time to prepare. The silent majority has its work cut out for it. If anything goes wrong, the hatemongers will have a field day. Prepare! Be ready!!

Story-Teller Extraordinaire

2009-02-05T19:09:00.014-05:00

I just finished reading Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth. It's mesmerizing. I normally don't go about buying every famous author's next book. Yet, I knew I would be buying and reading Unaccustomed Earth the moment my eyes fell on the book's epigraph, a quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne, that inspired 19th century New England novelist most famous for The Scarlet Letter:

"Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn out soil. My children...shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth."

Jhumpa Lahiri has gained much fame, all quite well-deserved, for her two prior works, one of which was made into a movie. The reason her writings hold special meaning for people like me, is because nearly all her stories are inspired by the experience of Bengali-Indian immigrants to the United States. In Namesake she focuses on the immigrant generation. In Unaccustomed Earth she uncovers the life of the children those immigrants had as both embraced America as their home.

As I read one story after another in Unaccustomed Earth, I marveled at the power story-tellers have. Good story-tellers take their readers on elaborate, even transformational, journeys over which readers surrender all control to the story-teller.

Unaccustomed Earth has two common threads running through it: life experiences of Indian-Americans (I should say Bengali-Indian-Americans) and a sometimes-subtle, sometimes not-so-subtle sexual tension that the author builds and maintains throughout her stories (with the exception of two stories). Many Muslims might be a bit uncomfortable because of the consistency with which she holds to the latter theme. A good story-teller can glorify the trivialization of something sacred as well as make fun of the fact that some hold it sacred. Jhumpa Lahiri does both when it comes to that most intimate and sacred connection between two humans. But she does more. She lays bare the struggles of the Indian-American immigrant family from the perspective of one who has had front-row center seats to this show all her life. On things that other readers find simply funny, the reader who has witnessed life from the same perspective as the author will laugh to tears. There is very little pretension, the author does not try to be someone else. The stories are powerful because of their simplicity in both plot and prose.

What will resonate with all Muslims is the struggle between the old and the new. The journey into the unaccustomed earth by the new generation and all the joys and gut-wrenching it entails. I hope many of you will read and enjoy it. I hope somewhere out there are young Muslims who will grow up to tell the story of American Muslims and their foray into this unaccustomed earth.

Israel's Gone Insane

2009-01-31T23:54:00.006-05:00

I cannot resist making a prediction: It's only a matter of time before Israel is going to fall into a spiral from which it will not be able to recover. Due to prevalence of recording devices and telecommunication, it has become harder to lie and hide crimes. And as a result of this, Israel has started to appear un-cool, it is losing its ability to project its moral high-ground. Any nation that starts to act as desperately as it has been acting of late cannot sustain itself. Watch this CBS 60 Minutes report and see for yourself (many thanks to my friend who brought this to my attention).

To be clear, I am not calling for its imminent demise, rather a fundamental change in its core values as a nation. No nation can live by the power of muscle alone, even if that muscle is powered by atomic bombs. Israel's founders got it wrong in their strategy with their neighbors. And Palestinians need to be more charitable and strategic in their thinking than their ancestors were - despite the fact that they have been egrigiously wronged. That is the tradition of our Prophet (pbuh). Let us compete in our abilities to be good, not evil.

I am told CBS is under tremendous pressure from very powerful folks and organizations for airing this and I am hardly surprised. I want to congratulate CBS' leadership for their bold stand. I have a feeling there were some gut-wrenching sessions before the decision was made to air this piece.

This shouldn't be about Muslim or Jewish, and for me it isn't. It should be about fairness and justice and I hope my Jewish friends will stand on the side of justice and fairness on this one. I hope Muslims will urge each other to avoid committing any excess, for our Lord is watching and He doesn't like those who commit excess.

The Real Reason Why America is in Trouble

2009-01-28T22:35:00.010-05:00

Everywhere you see, the headlines are the same. People in leadership have become corrupt. The common man? I don't think so...the average person still appears to be more ethical than our leaders. But these are the headlines from just the past few days:

Mississippi mayor, wife arrested on Katrina fraud charges
Ex-NY Senate leader Bruno indicted
New York Says Health Chief Abused Power

Now the ones above are mere petty thieves. Blago of Illinois is his own league. And the real Big Leaguers just left Washington, DC and are probably starting to enjoy some of their ill-gotten gains. Some really LARGE ill-gotten gains.

Rush Limbaugh is a shameless, fast-talking entertainer who cares only for Rush Limbaugh and no one and nothing else, yet, a man so many Americans regard as their ideological leader. Religious leaders are either spreading hate or getting caught in scandals. Muslim leaders are busy entertaining.

I am reminded of a cartoon where this guy says "You know, used to be 'In God We Trust'...now it's 'I Got Mine'." It appears this was never more true of those in power in America as now...Obama's election being an exception and a ray of hope.

Using that ray of hope, I am hoping that American parents will raise a generation of leaders that is wired to not be greedy. There is no dignity in cheating to make money, there is no honor in being a thief. And in this task, American Muslims have a huge role to play. Are we ready for our prime-time role? We've benefited economically from America...now will we give back?

You Don't Need "Virgins in Paradise" to Lose Your Mind

2009-01-27T19:45:00.016-05:00

Dear Muslim World and Western World: Ignore the premise of this posting to both your peril. You are warned.

There are mischief-makers in both your communities. You should neutralize them else you will both suffer and bleed for a long time.

In the Muslim World, preying on the despair of the people, these monsters have mobilized religious zealotry to terrorism. Their message: the Western civilization is a blood-thirsty civilization. Events like the Iraq war serve as "proof."

In the West, a sophisticated and well-financed propaganda machine is at work in full force to demonize everything about Islam and Muslims. And there seems to be no shortage of fools among Muslims whose actions serve as proof for the propaganda against Islam.

Any thinking person will see the fallacy in their arguments, sadly most don't think. If Muslims were killing themselves to go to paradise and be in the company of 71 virgins, what is the motivation behind not-so infrequent news items of this nature.

If despair of losing job can drive a man this far, what could digging your child's body out of rubble do? Why doesn't Israel get this basic fact?

Let it be a thing of the past when civilizations fought because of misinformation sown by mischief-makers. Neither the West nor the Muslim World is all perfrect, or all evil. And both have some evil: Muslims have Taliban and Mullah Omar...the West has their equivalents dressed in suits and ties. They may not be physically bearing arms in the West but their agenda is every bit as sinister.

Scholar As Mere Entertainer

2009-01-26T21:00:00.003-05:00

I attended talks by some prominent Muslim scholars recently. Hamza Yusuf is blessed with intelligence, eloquence and a memory unlike anyone I have seen among Muslims. Boy, can this brother connect the dots! Yet, I feel he has chosen a very unambitious roles for himself over the incredible possibilities that exist. Either that or nobody is perfect.

When history looks back at Hamza, will he go as anything more than one who entertained weary Muslims? Knowing fully well that my personal shortcomings far exceed that of any of the people I criticize, I still think it is necessary to take a few steps down this dangerous path. Aoodhu billah min ash shaitan ar rajeem.

Let me explain this with an analogy: There are two professionals who make the rounds at pediatric cancer facilities. The obvious one is the pediatric oncologist. These are learned physicians who use combinations of toxic chemicals and dangerous radiations in judicious quantities to kill cancerous cells while leaving good cells intact. Obviously, this requires skill and discipline that comes from years of rigorous training of a gifted and talented human being.

There is one more person you see make rounds at these facilities - very conspicuous by the way they dress. You guessed it, the clown! When children are dealing with such painful therapies, you need someone to come and cheer them up, to put smiles back on their faces.

As I left his talk, I couldn't help but wonder why Hamza, who has the talent and training to be a pediatric oncologist, ends up playing the clown in many of his speeches. O yes the ummah is hurting and we need someone to cheer the masses, but we have many clowns and far too few oncologists. I have watched him for nearly 16 years now: he chooses to be 10% oncologist, 50% clown and the other 40% of the times he's off on a stupid tangent which he later seems to regret.

Hamza brings to Muslims in America what Bollywood has brought to millions of slum-dwellers in India...a fleeting escape from the harsh realities of life. Sadly, when the movie ends, slums is all they got. In some ways, their escapism gets in the way of their doing something about their sad lots.

Islam Distorted: Distortion #6

2009-01-26T20:45:00.000-05:00

Half-baked ideas based on slogans such as "we need to bring back the khalifa" built perverse movements such as Hizb At Tahrir which attracted, wasted and left disillusioned so many bright young Muslims. Without a substantial intellectual rebuttal, they gave birth to more radical groups such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

As I said at the start of this series, it's not just others' demonization of us that has us looking bad. Quite a bit at our core is rotten and that's where this stench is coming from. Don't spray perfume to mask it. We need a Hundred Year Strategy to clean up the mess based on a deep intellectual foundation, sound scholarship and education of the masses. A good PR campaign would make us look good but do we need some silly ephemeral fix?

For reform of this sort to occur, history shows us that several generations have to long for and pray for God's help before that help arrives. I wonder where we are on that timeline and with tears in my eyes, I seek our Lord's help, for He is most kind and merciful.

Islam Distorted: Distortion #5

2009-01-25T07:20:00.006-05:00

Tribalism that never went away: Much of Arabia has remained tribal despite Islam. Tribalism teaches "My brother, right or wrong" whereas Islam teaches "truth and falsehood are not equal." As is evident, Islam is the very anti-thesis of Tribalism. Why, despite centuries of Islam, do tribal warlords and landlords loom large in Pakistan and Afghanistan?

Why did Islam's adoption in these lands remain limited to its men growing ugly large beards?

Islam Distorted: Distortion #4

2009-01-25T07:11:00.004-05:00

Instead of recognizing people's intellectual contributions through Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize and Fields Medal, we have been handing out Takfir Medal (broadly speaking Takfir = heresy) for nearly 150 years. Our greatest minds are all distinguished by having received this: Muhammed Abduh, Rashid Rida, Syed Ahmed Khan, Muhammed Iqbal. First, very few among us are literate, and among those who can read, the culture of reading books and reflecting simply doesn't exist. Yet, we label as heretic anyone who comes up with an idea that doesn't fit our old, narrow, rigid mold.

Is that the reason contemporary Muslim scholars tend to restrict their sermons to entertaining Muslim masses instead of urging this intellectually ravaged nation to wake up and smell the coffee? Our culture does become the filter through which our future is shaped. We need someone who will give us the bitter pills that will heal us, but we threaten anyone who'd dare do that!

Islam Distorted: Distortion #3

2009-01-24T12:47:00.006-05:00

The adoption of Terrorism in general and Suicide Bombing in particular, as modes of fighting. One of Islam's greatest contributions to humanity was the way it civilized the world with respect to rules of engagement and the battlefield. All that lies in a huge trash can of history.

Now Muslims didn't just go start blowing up other people. In most of these places they have been oppressed. A sinister result of that is, while most Muslims denounce terrorism, many sort of empathize with the extreme reaction because they may have witnessed the oppression. The Prophet (pbuh) was oppressed more than any prophet that preceded him. He is our role-model. Terrorism is fitnah and fitnah has been condemned as an extreme evil in Islam. This sickness will not go till every Muslim starts to hate it with every fiber of his being!

Islam Distorted: Distortion #2

2009-01-24T12:30:00.004-05:00

Somewhat related to #1 is the Danish cartoon debacle. The kuffar of Makkah heaped greater insults on the prophet (pbuh) but no one was asked to murder anyone to defend the honor of the prophet. On the contrary, by brushing aside such insults, even continuing his acts of charity towards the offending people, the Prophet (pbuh) won many such haters to Islam.

Sincere as it may be, our service to the noble tradition and beautiful akhlaq of the Prophet (pbuh) has been no better than that of the monkey to his master in the following story:

A certain king had trained a monkey to guard him. One day, the king was sleeping and the monkey stood guard with a naked sword. A fly sat on the neck of the king. The monkey tried to scare the fly away but to no avail. So the monkey struck the fly with the sword and hurt the king in the process. (Taken verbatim from http://www.jainstudy.org/jsc4.04-FRB.htm, original source unknown.)

The Prophet has been ill-served by his so-called followers whose collective IQ is no more than that of the monkey's in the story above.

The "Islam Distorted" Series: Intro and Distortion #1

2009-01-24T08:41:00.005-05:00

Educated Muslims often think our only problem is Public Relations. And that the rest of our house is in order. I disagree. We must not forget that we declined as a nation and civilization, from one that was world-leading to one that couldn't even keep up with the world. Just that fact is enough to require some serious thinking as to what might have gone wrong.

The fixing of our house will need more than the world press becoming more fair and America's foreign policy becoming more just and balanced. We have a lot of work to do on the inside.

We need to find out the underlying philosophical and religious distortions that have led to the following events in the past 50 years. In my opinion, NOTHING in Islam allows it, and there is much in Islam that condemns it. The list is made in no particular order.

Distortion #1: Imam Khomeini's call for Rushdie's head. The whole murtad fatwa is nonsense. It's a shame very few Muslims, even among the educated elite, stood up to the massive besmirching of the name of their faith. (Same genre includes Taslima Nasrin and possibly others).

The list will grow. But remember to get more than just a good PR person.

Obama

2009-01-21T08:21:00.005-05:00

Only the most cynical are left uncharmed. That's right, this includes The Wall Street Journal editorial team. Wait, Cheney and Bush charmed them...so they're not cynical technically, they are in the Very Tribal category.

In physics there is this trick question about what might happen when an irresistible force were to hit an immovable body. For at least a generation, possibly much longer, America's federal government bureaucracy and related lobby groups have represented an immovable body. Barack Obama is the nearest I have seen to an irresistible force. The match has begun. We turn to God in thanks and in prayer...end the reign of those that cheat, usher in a period of honest public service and policy...in America and other lands of the world.

Culture Matters

2009-01-20T10:02:00.007-05:00

If you got intimidated by the length of my previous post, here's a CliffsNotes version:

Things that we do with regularity (even little things) become our culture.

Cultural traits act like enzymes. Tiny little things eventually determine whether or not big things are possible.

Al Ghazali, a genius and a rare scholar, deeply renowned in his own life time for his scholarship who adopted a highly spiritual path in the later stages of his life (lived in the 12th century CE), successfully (albeit erroneously, possibly unintentionally) pleaded a case to the Islamic civilization that things of this world were meaningless and matters of spirit and the business of there Hereafter, were more worthy pursuit.

Al Ghazali was so renowned that his thesis slowly but surely started to deter Muslims away from the pursuit of scientific research, scientific knowledge, possibly even commerce, exploration, and innovation. Think about it, over several hundred years, young men and women made career decisions ever so slightly influenced by what a giant of a scholar and pious man had written, choosing a path closer to "piety" than "worldliness." Over time, this became our culture. New enzyme was no longer being produced, we survived a few hundred years off the "savings" from prior centuries. But we were running out of the good stuff. Many scholars tried, albeit in vain, to point out the critical error.

The engine of innovation, discovery and scientific pursuit that Islam had unleashed continued to fire for a few hundred more years because of the sheer momentum (just like fast-moving car keeps moving even after you apply brakes...the brake in this case was gentle, but definitively there). Over time, though, it lost its vitality and intensity, sputtered, then gasped, and finally fell into a smoulder of its great history. The enzyme that made good reactions happen had been depleted below the critical threshold and so good things had ceased to happen beyond the required level to be a vital and thriving civilization. Essentially, our culture killed us.

Ironically, just as our culture faltered, other societies which had been drowning in bad culture, selectively started to drain out the bad elements in their culture. They adopted innovation (often inspired by us), exploration and scientific methodology. Very soon, they were knocking on our doors, arriving on faster boats, armed with better weapons, with ability to predict the behaviour of elements of nature. They had mastered better organizational skills, replaced tribalism with meritocracy, embraced a culture of taking risks and ascribed heroism to trying new ventures even if it led to failure. In our culture, heroism was ascribed to only attaining greater spiritual levels.

We were colonized as nations and dehumanized for over 200 years. In the great centers of learning in Baghdad, Bukhara, Samarqand and Al Azhar the structures remained, the drill was enacted, but the spirit had died. It remains largely dead till this day. The contemporary Muslim civilization despite numerous things worthy of celebration, (in general) lacks clarity on seeing its history in its proper context. (As a nation) we are slow to read the rules of engagement with our neighbors, react emotionally. Like a sharp chess player, we fail to anticipate the consequences of our actions. Our lot has been rather miserable.
(All this is said as a generalization. It is only an approximate truth from my perspective, and applies to our state as a nation. There are sub-groups and individuals among Muslims to whom this clearly doesn't apply. So if you know a certain Muslim who is all together, that does NOT constitute proof that my thesis here is wrong.)
Diagnosis: Cultural Tilt that Favors The Spirit Over Matter
Rx: Cultural Adjustment to reset this tilt (1-1-1) (i.e. over three generations) and restores the balance.
Practical Change: The next time you see something about dunya that looks bad, don't shrug your shoulder and laugh at it as if it's an alien entity. It's our dunya. Pause, reflect on it and ask yourself if there might have been anything POSITIVE in what you're witnessing. Then, also reflect on what was deficient in it that led to the problem.
Another Practical Change: If advising someone to be mindful of the pitfalls of this dunya, please remember to add "there may be pitfalls, but as God's khalifas in this world, we are also required to exert ourselves on matters of this world, so go forth, don't be too scared, work hard and pray hard...you may find odds but over time you will prevail, Insha'Allah."
One More Practical Change: If you are a young Muslim, ask yourself, am I taking the easy path or am I exerting myself? Don't take the easy path. Exert, strive and struggle. Don't worry about setbacks, failures, names you get called...work hard. Do things that benefit humanity as a whole. Live your life outside the comfort zone. Insha'Allah, there will be plenty time to rest in our graves!

OK, some CliffsNotes are longer than the original. What're you going to do!

(Credit: I borrowed the title of this post from a book by Harrison and Huntington.)

Anti-Dunya Vigilantism

2009-01-19T09:29:00.021-05:00

There's been some debate related to a past posting on the need to be really careful about becoming too worldly...as if there is no need to be really careful about becoming too un-worldly. You see, in Islam, both (too much worldliness and too much un-worldliness) can and do lead to problems. Islam teaches us to excel in matters of both the body and the soul. But some among us have large "Welcome" signs on the booth that invites people to matters of the spirit, but install hazard signs, ring loud alarm bells and run hell-fire slide show around the table that deals with matters of this world.

I find this virtue ascribed to "avoiding worldliness" among Muslims troubling for several reasons. First, I think it is asymmetrically applied. Meaning, it has an elevated level of emphasis on one matter relative to other issues of equal, sometimes greater, priority. Secondly, this has UNINSPIRED (if there is such a thing) generations of Muslims into sitting back, even kicking back, instead of engaging with the world. So troubled was Muhammed Iqbal by this attitude that he wrote more than a poem urging Muslim youth to get off their lazy behind, recall their ancestors who embraced the world, who crossed oceans, who hungered for knowledge, who were curious and eager, who took risks and who considered the whole world and all its affairs their own. You can almost feel the pain, the agony in his words, you can sense a soul was on fire. He realized all too well that unless this ummah could shake off that "I choose that world instead of this world" mumbo-jumbo, we'd continue to be fringe players on the world scene.

The way to the next world for a Muslim is 100% through this world. It's not either-or for us, we are citizens of both the worlds and our Lord commands us to engage with this world in a manner that is just so we can inherit the next. Avoiding this world is not an option.

Shortly after 9/11, Carly Fiorina, then-CEO of Hewlett-Packard, spoke of this in a speech (scroll to the bottom where she says "I'll end by telling a story. There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world.") that has received much attention among Muslims (a fellow Muslim said he wept for hours after reading that speech). She would know, she majored in medieval history and philosophy from Stanford. And the Madieval Age (ending in 16th century CE) is when the Islamic civilization was taking its last gasps of vitality in its losing battle against a defeatist, over-spiritual worldview.

Now, one could argue that just reminding people to avoid the pitfalls of the world doesn't necessarily invite doom & gloom. I disagree. I think the disproportionate emphasis tilts the focus even so slightly but definitively and sets the course of a nation in a certain direction - towards what eventually becomes doom & gloom. This disproportionate emphasis has been applied for more than a few centuries, and as a result, hardly anyone should be surprised, doom and gloom have arrived. They have been parked here for a long time. Just read the headlines. Just read your history books. Muslims, who once set the course of the world, were colonized, humiliated and often dehumanized. To call our present state doom & gloom sounds dramatic, but a civilization has run aground, people! And it crashed centuries back and it is still struggling to lift itself out of its rubble. How's that for dramatic?

Progress has been made and a lot of good work is and has been under way. But most of it is DESPITE the efforts of our "got to avoid the pitfalls of this world" vigilantes. This progress has been made at the risk of seeking the ire of this well-meaning section of our ummah that is, in my view, greatly responsible for the decline, destruction and confused state of this civilization. (I know, strong charges, but I don't use these words lightly, nor is this issue a light issue). If you made a list of the names of those thinkers/leaders and philosophers in the Muslim world who have been called heretic, "socialist" "progressive" (euphemism for "he's headed towards hell") in the last few centuries, you will have listed some of the brightest and best minds God has blessed this ummah. You can go back almost a millennium and you will see this trend.

Someone (you know who you are, I am not naming names :) ) quoted Imam Al-Ghazali corroborating the vigilante position. That's like quoting Paul (Paul as seen through Muslim eyes) as evidence for the doctrine of Trinity. Ghazali, as towering a scholar as he was, as elevated as he may have been in the eyes of His Lord, his piety having few parallels, was still human. Who am I to criticize this great scholar? I am not worth the dust on his feet. But it's not my opinion, it's historic evidence that judges Ghazali. He is the fountainhead of "this world's so dangerous and useless" school of thought. So dominant was his status that the shaikh single-handedly arrested the powerful engine of scientific inquiry, exploration, discovery (all things worldly) in this ummah. Other thinkers and scholars of his time and the generation that came after him saw the errors in Ghazali's thinking, foresaw its dire consequences, many sounded the alarm bells, all in vain. Ghazali's lofty status, his renowned piety, became the basis for the ummah to reject every other viewpoint. The brakes had been applied by that slight asymmetry in emphasis. Over time the great engine ran out of steam, and innovation came to a halt. Muslims were sitting ducks when the colonizers arrived. The rest, quite literally, is history. Many a great civilization has been gutted by strategic mistakes, and sometimes strategy amounts to a slight asymmetry on a seemingly harmless principle or a fine point. We are the inheritors of one such.

So stop with this "got to be careful with dunya" bit already. If someone were to say "we have to be careful with everything" I shall gladly cede that. The struggle today is to shake that mantle off where one who excels in matters of this world is seen is somehow being corrupt or at any greater risk for hell fire than the one who locks himself in the comfort zone of the so-called matters of spirit.

The irony is, books of hadith are filled with sayings of the Prophet (pbuh) telling us about the great scholar (or the great martyr or the great worshipper) who will will be dragged to hell fire...somehow, it's only that "worldly guy" everyone sees being hellward bound. Meanwhile, generations of youth whom God has blessed with energy and abilities, use the crutch of "avoiding dunya" as justification for their laziness, lack of ambition, avoiding even modest measure of risks and choosing the easier path while a nation rots. They choose a lower level of engagement with this world while their older parents struggle to make ends meet, their neighbors go hungry, their community has trash at street corners that is not cleared, their masajid are flooded with miskeen, young women are begging in their masajid (and in some cases old corrupt men want to marry pre-pubescent girls - well not any more than any other society, but at least in other societies it is ILLEGAL), polio and malaria still ravage our populations, streets are not paved, highways non-existent, public officials are corrupt, our societies are primarily based on tribal affiliations, we have become a nation that settles differences of opinion by murdering our adversaries, fatwas have been issued permitting smiuggling of drugs and suicide bombing.

For the Muslim, fortunately or unfortunately, there is no shortcut or easy path to paradise. I have witnessed the escapist Muslim desire expressed as "let me go on jihad (while my family that needs me here is abandoned)" all too many times. Others retreat into "Islamic work" which barely challenges them but keeps them well within comfort zone. Yet others take pride in being "content with the little God gave us." I want to grab young Muslim men by the collar and push them out into where the heat is so they sweat every day and feel challenged. Why are they so content earning just enough for their own few? Why isn't their soul agitated in this world where there is so much suffering, poverty, diseases, hunger and injustice? Why are they not less sure about whether or not their Lord is pleased with them? Why has the Lord so disfavored them that He has robbed them of ambition?

Thus the idea that "we're not people of this dunya" is one I consider possibly the most dangerous idea of the last thousand years...an idea that has done more than its share of damage already. I don't think it was done with malice, but some of the greatest calamities have been brought about by by folks who had nothing more than good intentions.

As I reflect on colonialism, racism, the Ozone Hole, the World Wars, Consumerism, I wonder what the world would have been like if Muslims had not abandoned their engagement with the world. Detractors will say that the problems of the world are brought about by "worldism" - the very idea I am promoting. Not true, I am asking for BALANCE and MODERATION - perhaps the most critical concept in Islam. Not worldism, but not unworldism either. Not Dunya, but not Anti-Dunya either.

Now you know why I find this "anti-dunya"ism so dangerous. As I contemplate what the world would have been had Muslims continued down the bold path of embracing wordliness and touching and shaping it with the message of mercy that our Prophet (pbuh) was sent with, I get goosebumps and I too curl up and weep for hours. I suspect I am not the only one.

[If you are now wondering what this emotion is all about, I suspect it's because you didn't read Fiorina's speech, so I am copy-pasting the relevant portions here:

"I’ll end by telling a story.

There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world.

It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts. Within its dominion lived hundreds of millions of people, of different creeds and ethnic origins.

One of its languages became the universal language of much of the world, the bridge between the peoples of a hundred lands. Its armies were made up of people of many nationalities, and its military protection allowed a degree of peace and prosperity that had never been known. The reach of this civilization’s commerce extended from Latin America to China, and everywhere in between.

And this civilization was driven more than anything, by invention. Its architects designed buildings that defied gravity. Its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors examined the human body, and found new cures for disease. Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration.

Its writers created thousands of stories. Stories of courage, romance and magic. Its poets wrote of love, when others before them were too steeped in fear to think of such things.

When other nations were afraid of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive. When censors threatened to wipe out knowledge from past civilizations, this civilization kept the knowledge alive, and passed it on to others.

While modern Western civilization shares many of these traits, the civilization I’m talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent.

Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage. The technology industry would not exist without the contributions of Arab mathematicians. Sufi poet-philosophers like Rumi challenged our notions of self and truth. Leaders like Suleiman contributed to our notions of tolerance and civic leadership.

And perhaps we can learn a lesson from his example: It was leadership based on meritocracy, not inheritance. It was leadership that harnessed the full capabilities of a very diverse population–that included Christianity, Islamic, and Jewish traditions.

This kind of enlightened leadership — leadership that nurtured culture, sustainability, diversity and courage — led to 800 years of invention and prosperity.

In dark and serious times like this, we must affirm our commitment to building societies and institutions that aspire to this kind of greatness. More than ever, we must focus on the importance of leadership– bold acts of leadership and decidedly personal acts of leadership..."]

Auschwitz and Gaza

2009-01-18T09:23:00.005-05:00

Palestinians searched for bodies in the rubble of a building after Israeli forces withdrew from the area east of Gaza City on Sunday. Source: New York Times

Above: Picture of Corpses in Block 11 of Auschwitz. Source: About.com

Added later: Thanks, Anonymous. I am posting the URL you left as a comment here to make it easy for folks to access it. It's a must read.

The Rape of Zimbabwe

2009-01-17T11:18:00.004-05:00

You've probably seen the bizarre and sad headlines. In fact, I believe news from Zimbabwe has gotten so bizarre, it hardly even makes headlines. A nation is being deconstructed in ways that shocks the soul.

Here's a brief history of the country: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Zimbabwe
Inflation got so bad, they are printing 10 Trillion Dollar bills.

The key players are: Mugabe, The Opposition headed by Tsvangirai, other senior political leaders in and around Zimbabwe and the people of Zimbabwe. The rest of the world watches helplessly and hopelessly as a nation is coming apart.

How does a nation allow itself to be so raped? The fact that this can happen in the world in 2009, what does that say about the human race?

The Two Faces of "Dunya"

2009-01-14T14:11:00.006-05:00

A very dear friend, a young man I proudly consider a younger brother, sent me a news article today about the rather superficial and fleeting aspect of this life (aka dunya, lit. dunya means "world"): it's an article about the stupid Forbes 400 list, specifically about the wavering fortunes of Sheldon Adelson. His email was entitled "dunya" and I think he makes a solid point. Everything here is fleeting, we need to anchor ourselves in more than our net worth. I understand the higher the net worth, the harder it becomes to stay anchored.

That having said, I think it is vital to remind ourselves that while it may be difficult, it is not impossible. And there is that distinctly different side to dunya. The works of Bill Gates and thousands of people who have acquired financial freedom (and engaged heavily with dunya) are worth mentioning and reminding so they inspire us for they are truly inspirational. A random search on google found a lot of articles, just one of which I thought I would share to make sure we don't lose our perspective on this matter.

In Islam, envy (not jealousy) is permitted in case you notice a person whom God has blessed with means and this person spends for good causes (because by becoming one who gives, this person is truly blessed!). In Islam, the hand that gives is better than the hand that receives. With so many hands in need right now, we need more hands that can give. Go and seek riches, my friends, grow the stuff of dunya, and then, do the ultimate...give it away to help others!

Immunizing Against Bigotry

2009-01-12T16:07:00.009-05:00

The Islamic Society of North America and the American Baptist Church (USA) got together over the weekend to organize a Baptist-Muslim conference in the lovely Chapel building of the Andover Newtown Theological School in Needham, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. More than any presentation by any scholar, what struck me was the gradual ice-breaking that occurred in successive sessions as the attendees got to know each other. I can't think of a more effective way to defeat bigotry in this world than to build deep and meaningful relationships and friendships with the good people of other faiths. The Qur'an assures us that in the face of the truth, falsehood eventually must retreat.

One way to get even greater mileage out of these meetings is to bring our respective youth to them. The older generation certainly benefits from it, but younger people would walk away immunized from bigory for life.

Update: Detailed articles on this event:

Spin Makes the World Go Round

2009-01-11T12:55:00.010-05:00

These past few months I have been quietly mulling over a question that might seem strange to you: What'd John Galt make of recent economic events? Of course you may not know Galt, but he is the hero in Ayn Rand's famous novel Atlast Shrugged. Rand proposes a radical theory of human nature with a lengthy treatment of what motivates us, even inspires us and, in the end makes a most passionate case for the fact that some systems of governance bring out the best in us and others the worst.

It makes for compelling reading even at its nearly thousand pages. I read it in my college days and drooled over the words. The Prophet (pbuh) is reported to have said there is magic (sihr) in speech/words(kalam).

The reason I remembered John Galt is because it seems that everything that unbridled Capitalism stood for seems to have evaporated before our eyes in 2008. In my simple-minded understanding of the ideas in the novel, Rand suggests that government regulation is a great crime and if only we were left to our own instruments we would create the best world possible. Beginning in the 1980's American banking system has gone through waves of "banking reform," euphemism for deregulation. If 2008 was any indicator, it appears that some measure of regulation is good, even necessary. The heroes of Atlast Shrugged can also act like the looters in her novel - call it the Bernie Madoff Transformation. (Madoff was once the chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange).

While I still remain curious about what Galt would really think, I read a sort-of response to it in today's WSJ which proves how, with good spin, you can twist any story to make it sound favorable to your agenda. My thesis is that Rand's "absolute" supporters should be in retreat right now given what has transpired. To me, recent events prove that she was dead wrong in her extreme view on regulation. Yes, you can over-regulate and that is an extreme, but, you can also fall off the extreme end over on the other side through under-regulation. However, an oped in today's WSJ cites recent events and loftily proclaims: "see, Rand told us so!" Told us what?

We live in an era which could be described as: never mind the truth and details, if you say it loud enough and often enough, people will believe it. Cynics might argue we have always lived by this rule.

Israel bombs Gaza away for days on, emaciated children, too worn out to be able to stand, are found guarding bodies of their dead parents in homes where they hid to seek shelter from the bombing and the headlines proclaim "FIGHTING in Gaza continues" - Fighting? I believe the word for what's been going on there has yet to be invented.

People were dying in the shelters in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina hit and for days America's famed FEMA was nowhere to be found, and our president proclaimed: "Good job, Brownie." Dick Cheney wants us to believe he has been nothing more than a traditional vice president for the last eight years. And of course, Don Rumsfeld had nothing to do with the torture of prisoners in Abu Ghraib. I read all this and I have three words for you: Who's John Galt?

Who REALLY Broke the Truce?

2009-01-07T08:57:00.005-05:00

I am indebted to an anonymous commentator who responded to my question on who broke the truce between Israelis and Palestinians. View it yourself. I asked it almost rhetorically believing the overwhelming assertion by political and media leaders that it was Hamas' misadventurous rocket launches.

Those of us who do not normally subscribe to conspiracy theories and like to trust the institutions of governments and the free press wonder why when things are this black and white, the issue is still left obfuscated:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KntmpoRXFX4.

Israel has sunk to new lows and that's a shame. America's political machinery and powerful spinmeisters continue to throw their full weight and power of their spin behind Israel's misdeeds. As a religious/spiritual man, I worry for any nation that commits crimes of such proportion...not for what a generation of suicide bombers would do to it, but what God's judgment could do to it.

I hope Israeli moderate will rise in outrage and take their nation back from the terrorists who are committing these egregious crimes.

Remembering Life (in our Khutbahs)?

2009-01-07T08:39:00.004-05:00

Last Jumu'ah, the khutbah (sermon at the congregational Friday prayer) was exceptionally good. After a long time I was sitting through one without feeling guilty for feeling disinterested in what was being said. A young man was talking about death and about remembering death. Everything we see is passing. Avoid greed and being over-consumed with this life. And for over 25 mins he kept me engaged, listening intently.

But a young family member who attended the same khutbah reminded me that in the past two years we have sat through at least a dozen khutbahs on the need to remember death but not one on the value of life and how this is the moment to be seized.

I know, I know, some of you will quote me ahadeeth about remembering death. But everything around us, everything for which God sent prophets, created heavens and the earth, all this is about life. Through such singular focus on death, we have a distinctly slanted association with the mosque. I am asking for balance. I want to hear a Khutbah on the magic of life, on the beauty of life, on the joys of life, of the joy in our pains, on JOY and LIFE. I want to hear a khutbah about FORGIVENESS (not sin), on the power of FORGIVENESS, on how Allah (SWT) LOVES forgiveness.

There, did I commit some sin already?

Why Do They Hate Us?

2009-01-05T23:23:00.012-05:00

Gaza is about 2x the size of Washington, DC (and DC's area is about 60 sq miles). How many sorties flew over it dropping bombs in the last ten days?

Do children who have been exposed to such experiences need a perverse religion to make them extremists?

The top pic is today's NY Times Pic of the Day where the caption read: A Palestinian boy ran for cover during an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, in southern Gaza....

If you grow up using your coat for cover against bombs, you don't grow up normal. American and Israeli governments refuse to see this fundamental fact and we are all paying a heavy price for it...but none as heavy as those upon whom those bombs are raining.

Got Fear?

2009-01-04T22:34:00.006-05:00

Many of us know someone who was at or around Ground Zero on 9/11/2001. We all remember the shock of the planes hitting the Twin Towers. Fear, anger, anguish. All this from hundreds and thousands of miles away while watching images on TV.

We will never know what it feels like to be a target of bombings and I hope none of us ever has to. We who get tensed watching scary movies, sweat when we're stopped for speeding on the highway, how can we EVER know what it is like as hundreds of sorties over us are dropping "smart-bombs" and we are sitting targets? Imagine being a child whose nation's "soldiers" have embedded themselves among civilans. Imagine being a housewife who is trying to get by as buildings shake, roofs cave in, shells explode and you have to dig out your children from underneath the rubble.

Ehud Barak recently justified Israel's actions: "Obama said that if rockets were being fired at his home while his two daughters were sleeping, he would do everything he could to prevent it." Right, and I wonder what Obama would do if his daughters were in the house while his tiny neighborhood was being bombed for days on and a bomb could fall on his house any minute? Obama the Israeli would fight. I suspect, so would Obama the Palestinian.

I believe it was Gandhi who said "an eye for an eye will make the whole world go blind."

As I said, if the purpose is to make the other slide bleed and live in terror they are both succeeding. If their goal was to live in peace and to prosper, I think it's a mixed bag.

This evening, I pause for the innocent children of Palestine who have very little to comfort them. They are like the children of Israel in many respect and like children anywhere else in the world, except, as I said, they have far too little to comfort them through all this insanity. They don't have shelters they can hide in. They are not counseled by child specialists in coping with loss and traumatic experiences. They are left to the varied elements of their misfortune and random events. They are every bit like all our children except their future is dim because they were born in the wrong geography.

I suspect Ehud Barak doesn't lose sleep worrying about their lives even though their destinies are intertwined with that of the children of Israel. Hamas is far too intoxicated in humiliation to think clearly about them except as possible tools in its arsenel through miseducation and brain-washing. May the Lord comfort these children and keep them safe now and in the future.

Strange Evenhandedness

2009-01-04T21:28:00.018-05:00

Six pics from NY Times slide show today. Notice the selection of the images: If you didn't know the background and read only mainstream American press, you might think Palestinians were butchering and murdering Israeli civilians in large numbers.

Washington Post had two op-eds last Sunday, both advanced the Israeli viewpoint.

The headline of the article covering this issue in the Washington Post yesterday stated how there might be "opportunities" for Palestinians in this massacre at the hands of Israel. Really now, people, this bombing is good for the Palestinian people.

This sort of news reporting fools no one. It is part of the continued strangulation of the truth that disempowers all moderates in the region. It fools no one except those bent upon distorting the truth. It's part of the lies we tell ourselves.

Who Broke The Truce?

2009-01-03T10:01:00.008-05:00

A critical chapter in the early history of Islam is the Treaty of Hudaibiyah between the young Muslim community in Madinah and the idolaters of Makkah. The two sides agreed that for ten years they would maintain peace and not attack/harm/slay members of each other's communities. The treaty was a huge compromise for the Prophet (pbuh), yet he saw peace even on less-than-ideal terms preferable to continued threat of violence. And having once signed, he insisted on keeping his word. This had been a core teaching of Islam (au fu bil uqood - honor your commitments).

Because of the treaty an open exchange of people and ideas became possible. Islam's simplicity and beauty impressed many of the idolaters who prior to this had only heard the negative campaigns against the Prophet (pbuh) from the power elite of Makkah. They started to abandon their unprincipled lives for the monotheistic faith in large numbers and the ranks of Muslims grew rapidly. As you can imagine, the leadership of idolaters in Makkah and the neighboring tribes was horrified. Their horror gave way to hopelessness. Hopeless people did hopeless things back even then and so they decided to launch a campaign of terror against Muslims. And boy did they cause terror! They would attack Muslims in stealth in the dark of the night in guerrilla attacks. Their strategy was to never leave any witnesses or take hostages.

There is no such thing as a perfect criminal campaign - given enough time, you will reveal yourself. And fairly quickly the source of these attacks was identified. The idolaters had broken the truce they had signed with the Prophet (pbuh). If they had broken it knowingly and deliberately, why was the prophet (pbuh) bound by it? So, the Prophet decided, it was time to take Makkah. And he did that by marching an army of ten thousand believers into the city that had tried to literally murder him many times.

Makkah was taken peacefully. There was no chest-thumping, no victory parades or insulting the vanquished. Their property, their honor was guaranteed. With their heads bowed in humility, tears running from their eyes out of gratitude to their Lord, Muslims returned to Makkah and taught us a new way to engage in conflicts, win wars and establish peace. They showed how, if you keep doing the right thing, no matter how crazy and powerful your adversary, you will prevail. Sabr, the unique Islamic teaching of persevering in the face of hopeless adversity, because you never lose hope in God, became the basis of resisting all forms of despotism without falling victim to the hopelessness that is at its roots.

Forgiving the people of Makkah was not easy. There were murderers among them, people who had mutilated bodies of dead Muslims. But it was a chapter that needed to be put behind. No retribution was extracted, none was allowed. This was the biggest revolution of Muhammad (pbuh). As someone said, Muhammad invaded hearts of men. And once your heart falls in love with something, it doesn't cede an inch.

Fast forward 1400 some years and we have a situation with some parallels and several strange twists and turns (of course, all analogies and parallels have limitations). Israel and Palestinians had a truce signed six months back. Israel alleges Palestinians have been constantly in violation of the truce. International news media reports that Palestinians have been attacking by launching their crude rockets into Israeli territories. The fact that these rockets have been nothing more than a nuisance is not material, I think. Fact is, it is a violation of a truce.

And announcing this as the basis of its actions, Israel is launching an offensive to "change the situation on the ground." Oh yes, the realpolitik of this may be the upcoming Israeli elections. But while that may be true, it is also true someone broke the treaty. I want to know if Palestinians broke the treat or not. And I don't hear enough Muslims who are protesting Israel's "disproportionate" response addressing this important issue.

Irrespective of the size of your standing army, number of tanks and power of your bombs, if you invade lands and territories, your victories are going to be short-term. Sooner than later someone will outsmart you and throw you out. Israel just hasn't gotten this simple fact in its sixty years of existence. In fact, it's been playing the EXACTLY OPPOSITE strategy. (As an American, I will add that America's role, despite stated inentions, hasn't been very helpful either). If Israel has had a miserable 60 years of existence, this simple fact explains it. Win some hearts, folks...and I don't mean by bribing some to spy or infiltrating organizations and planting Mossad agents - genuinely undertake a policy that wins hearts. You're dealing with humans across the fence.

Now, if Israel in its might and power, is not as gracious as the Prophet (pbuh) was when he returned to Makkah, I don't think Palestinians have been as REALISTIC about the uneven distribution of firepower either. The people of Makkah did not resist because they knew they were outpowered. They didn't want to adopt a suicide strategy and cause the death of their loved ones. Palestinians have chosen to subject their children and women to the horror of Israels bombs and tanks. They know their adversary, by now they know the dishonor, the shame and bloodshed their actions will invite. They continue to subject their loved ones to it.

They have been outpowered, but they continue rocket launches and suicide bombings which are more than an annoyance. Oh yes they are hurting, their situation is bad and keeps getting worse, they have been forced into hopelessness, and hopeless humans still do hopeless things...I get all that. But their strategy is still bad and I don't hear enough Muslims criticize that in an unequivocal way.

You have to keep doing the right thing, and often that means resisting the urge to strike or succumbing to hopelessness and blowing oneself up.

Above those clouds and inside our secret Strategy Rooms and whisper meetings, there is one more entity present who we don't see. It's God. Allah. Elohim. Our Lord. And He watches all that we plan and do. We can cheat against His principles to win short-term victories or fleeting blasts that cause some damage to the enemy. But in the end His principles are the only standard by which we will be judged and our long-term future determine. It is not too late to repent and turn back to Him.

This is not to be the sermon of a pacifist. I say fight. But fight to win, not to continue to bleed. Neither side is winning and both are bleeding. Some more than others, but it's evident neither has peace. And if you don't have peace, what's all that other stuff you got worth?

Stupid Meets Stupid

2009-01-02T07:33:00.032-05:00

The new year is barely 2 days old I am already indulging in name-calling. Sadly, I don't think I can do justice to my thoughts without stooping low, so please be advised: the word s-t-u-p-i-d features frequently in this post so it's not for the faint-hearted and reader discretion is advised.

On no less than the MAIN page of CNN.com this morning, its top news reports that a family of 9 Muslims was not allowed to fly because some passengers grew concerned over the subject of their conversation as they boarded the flight. There are a lot of little details to the story and you can read it on your favorite news site but I can't help but wonder: you are a muslim, (here I am assuming) an outwardly visible muslim, and in a post-911 America you have just boarded a plane and you are talking so loud that other passengers can hear you (mommy never taught you to keep it down?), and your conversation is about which seat on the plane ("whether the one near the wing") is the safest? Is there a word other than STUPID to describe you?

People around the world joke that the American public is stupid. Well, I don't know that the average American is any more stupid than the average human anywhere else in the world. So when Americans are alarmed by such conversations and report it to flight attendants who call the FBI, it sounds like a case of definitely-stupid meets possibly-stupid? Better stupid calling authorities than sorry - we've been burned before!

I was once traveling in a Muslim country where an official asked me for a petty bribe. When I (in my young, naive and idealistic phase) protested stating he should be ashamed for asking me for a bribe, he smiled and whispered "you self-righteous ba*****, I will lock you up in a jail somewhere and no one will ever know where you are."

In the case of our Muslim family, they had a cordial interview with the FBI which quickly determined that this was all a misunderstanding, and the airline issued full refunds and asked them to go home or take another flight. Will you please show appreciation for a civilized society and tip your kufi/hat/scarf to the US of A? This family is still upset that the airline declined to let them fly on that very flight. Can you be stupid twice in the same week? And then draw attention to your stupidity by going to the national media? And can you be thankless and stupid both at once? You can tell I am annoyed!

Earlier this week I was at Gravely Point, a park north of Washington DC's Reagan National airport from where you can witness breathtaking airplane landings from an amazingly close proximity to the runway. I was alarmed when I saw a Muslim family - hijab, arabic conversations - whose three children were playing with plastic toy guns. I have been there a dozen times, people bring their children to play there...I had never before seen kids playing with toy guns. Let me repeat a line from this blog: you are a muslim, an outwardly visible muslim at that, in a post-911 America near an airport viewing plane landings, and your children are running around pointing toy guns at those planes? Is there a word other than STUPID to describe you? One may ask what is wrong with children playing with toy guns, it's our right...true, but do we have to be so obtuse in the way we seek our rights ignoring the context of the world we live in? If someone gave me a dollar for every time I saw outwardly visible Muslims whose children-in-tow were playing with guns, I would be rich.

Do we have to so overwhelmingly embrace our right in America to be stupid?

I am afraid CAIR and other muslim civil rights organizations might take this case and demand "justice." I urge them not to do so. If we cry wolf at the world's reaction to every stupidity by a Muslim, I am afraid the effectiveness and reputations of our civil rights organizations will be compromised and the numerous cases involving genuine civil rights concerns and abuses will suffer.

As part of "tawasau bil haqq wa tawasau bissabr"(Qur'anic injunction to advise each other to do the right thing and persevere against adversity), and shedding my deplorable sarcastic tone, I wish to say this: We have all done stupid things, we all have bad days. Yours truly is seriously and frequently guilty of it too. But no need to get mad at others when we make a mistake. Our Muslim family from DC area should just move on - it wasn't their shiniest moment but I don't think anyone else has any blame in any of this. And thank God that the FBI and the airline were cordial and respectful to them. To my non-Muslim American/world family-at-large, let's keep those ears and eyes open and err on side of caution when we see someone who could be a terrorist. However, nothing wrong with using a little bit of judgement instead of being, err, obtuse about the way we report these things!

Lies We Tell Ourselves

2008-12-31T23:16:00.007-05:00

One more post on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

It occurred to me that nations, just like individuals, can fall into the bad habit and eventually deadly trap of lying to themselves. I call it a deadly trap because, often, everyone else except the nation itself knows it's a lie. And the self-deceiving nation grows in bewilderment as it finds the world not consistent with how it thinks it ought to be.

A gross example of this is America's Middle-East policy. Either we are a neutral mediator or we have a special relationship with one of the two sides there. We can't have it both ways. For God knows how long we have been lying to ourselves that we can be both of the above. We end up being neither and everyone, except us, sees it.

A consequence of this is that the moderates among Arabs are shoved to the backseat by the masses who see see this lie as clear as daylight. Radicals are empowered and commit outrageous crimes. And to that our bewildered response is "why do they hate us?" And Israelis abuse the "special relationship" to dig themselves deeper into injustice, oppression and excesses.

A truly neutral America would empower moderates on both sides to sit and work out their issues. We've been hurting the situation because of our sweet little lie.

There is yet a ray of hope in all of this. I have immense faith in America's ability to self-correct. It might take longer than we'd like but this nation has a soul. Yes, it may have started wrong on as many issues as any other nation - let's count a few: status of slaves, rights for women, civil rights for minority races - yet through debate, education, and peacefully (not to be read passively) organizing, it finds its way home. If we find America lost in its own lie today, it's only because not enough of us who see the truth have engaged our neighbors and communities to highlight this lie.

We can curse the problem or as believers in the power of action and prayer, we can bring about positive change. I think far too much blood has been shed in the Middle-East. Far too many parents have buried their own children. Way too many orphans have cried over the bodies of their parents and their bulldozed homes. And a sickening number of humans there live in rage, fear and such deep hopelessness that they resort to suicide bombing. Criminals exploit such emotions and the sick cycle continues. I bow in prayer to the Lord of Abraham, Our Lord, help us rid ourselves of our lies. Give us the tenacity to resist lies and embrace truth no matter how inconvenient. Give us hope in you mercy that we never resort to violence or excesses. Peace, O Lord, lasting peace, please!

Two Failed Strategies

2008-12-30T20:42:00.003-05:00

I have gone on record describing how the strategy by Palestinians to regain their lost land has been a failure. All Muslims feel a connection to this human tragedy because the Holy Lands are equally as holy to us. And I have described in previous posts that this Muslim/Palestinian strategy has been a failure and will continue to be a failure. It violates some of the basic precepts of Islam and common sense.

What I haven't written about at all is the other failed strategy - the one adopted by the Jewish State itself. No nation should be founded on so much violence, so much pain inflicted on another people only so you can live there. The world is a big place. It is a shame that for all the scientific and technical progress Israel has made, it has inspired some of the worst emotions in humans. This is particularly shameful given how strongly Israelis feel about the Holocaust. They of all the people should know that the mighty fist cannot achieve everything. They continue to commit excesses and great crimes against innocent civilians and feel that they can whitewash it as "collateral damage." Sadly, they have have the bombs on their side but no peace.

The irony in all of this is both Muslims and Jews greet their people with Salam/Shalom, literally "peace" in Arabic and Hebrew. Somewhere out there, the devil must be laughing non-stop.

If sane people on both sides sat down, it really isn't that hard a problem. The insane have been in-charge for far too long. Lord, flush them out, let decency prevail!

Let's Not Fail This Test

2008-12-30T20:33:00.003-05:00

If Israel declares a 48-hour cease fire and asks that Hamas not launch any rockets into Israel, will Hamas honor it? Will Muslims condemn if Hamas breaks this cease fire? If Hamas does break the cease fire and there are rallies to condemn this on part of Hamas, please report it here...

Protesting Israel's Actions, The Islamic Way

2008-12-29T17:30:00.009-05:00

This one is going to alarm a few readers, so I have to write my Bismillah and ask my Lord to guide me on the Straight Path.

The cycle continues. Israel is bombing the daylights out of Palestinians. CNN reports that there are protests worlwide. I too feel moved by the sheer numbers of those dead. But I want to pause for a second. This has happened so many times before, I want to reflect and process this.

Were there actually rockets flying from Palestinian territories into Israel for months, as Israel alleges? If there were, then that changes everything for me. I am not going to be tribal about this. I am taught by my faith to be just, even if it means I have to bear witness against myself (or my "tribe" in this case). And you, my friend, all ready to beat your chest and protest, protest today, ONLY if Israel's claims of unprovoked rockets is false.

If those claims are true, then I am inviting you to reflect on this for a moment...

If I practiced Tribalism, I should be cheering every time "my side" hit the other side, and protesting every time the other side hit mine.

But I practice Islam. And my reaction is to be consistent with the command in Surah 5, verse 2:

"...and let not the hatred of some people in (once) stopping you from AlMasjidalHaram (at Makkah) lead you to transgression (and hostility on your part). Help you one another in (virtue, righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allah."

So today, protest if and only if Israel's claims of rocket attacks are false.

If Israel's claims are true, then we can all ask Israel to consider practicing constraint and pray God brings about peace. But I don't think we have the moral high ground needed to show our face at a protest, particularly if we were not protesting the Palestinian rocket attacks. I pray I live to see the day when we get rid of the Tribe in us to protest acts of transgression by those of our own faith. Wouldn't it be nice to read a headline that says "Muslims acrsoss the world condemn rocket attacks by Palestinians against Israel"? If you find that idea repulsive, consider this - they are UNISLAMIC actions :) - there, that should make it easy for you to show up at a rally!

Anarchists on both sides are ruining the lives of their people. Infants are dying, wives are widowed and little children orphaned as mere spectators and for no faults of theirs. I condemn such fitteen and anarchists on both sides. I seek God's mercy upon the innocent who suffer on both sides.

As if the Future Mattered

2008-12-24T21:06:00.013-05:00

Dulles International Airport (IAD) outside Washington, D.C. is one of America's busiest airports. It has been undergoing renovation/expansion for the past few years and its inspired designers created galleries to share some of the history of the airport (an odd thing to do if you ask me - just quickly complete the darn work and move on). There is this one panel where they got a little nostalgic and were trying to impress the point that the airport's original architects never lost sight of the future when the airport might serve vastly more passengers. Now slow down as you read this...the point being made was they (the founders) planned because - still with me? - BECAUSE the future matters. Except...and I keep thinking it can't be just me who has been noticing this sign for the last two years...the sign says PLANNING AS IF THE FUTURE MATTERED. Somewhere out there is an English teacher who let a student down.

My only other thought on this is, I hope their construction skills are better than their English language skills.

THE BIGOT STREET JOURNAL

2008-12-24T08:45:00.011-05:00

The passion with which The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) embraces the most bigoted positions is both alarming and sad. I have concluded that as far as opinions and editorials go, this newspaper is to the world of American journalism what Dick Cheney has been to America's political leadership (ideology-driven, what others say never matters, never admit any mistakes, offense is the best defense, decency is over-rated). Well, I wish it had kept its bigotry only to its editorial content, it goes further and taints its news, what it reports and how, with a fierce ideology.

In recent days, nearly every report on the scandal surrounding Illinois' governor Blagojevich has focused on somehow connecting President-elect Obama and his team with it. The MAIN headline on its online edition in the past 24 hours has been "Obama, Two Aides Questioned in Probe." Choosing to lead with such headlines and trying to make this about the President-elect than the governor of the Prairie State, requires some effort, possibly an agenda?

If WSJ were a publication in Russia, it would certainly hail Putin as the great guardian of the great nation and regard every opposition leader as a traitor. Ideology and tribal affiliations seem to mean more than any effort at trying to embrace a balanced view point and looking at all sides of any story.

I base this on the way the editorials and op-ed selections have glorified Sarah Palin, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, etc. Apparently, one of its op-ed writers still hasn't received the memo that the election is over, and proclaimed concerning Sarah Palin: "I know Maggie Thatcher. The two women have a lot in common." If you don't like Maggie Thatcher, there's one sure way to diss her. The heading of the same article was "Conservative Snobs Are Wrong About Palin." Wow, reads more like Rush Limbaugh's monologue transcript than the heading of an op-ed in one of the world's most prestigious daily newspapers.

The editorial yesterday called for President Bush to issue a full pardon to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney. Mind you, within hours of being found guilty and sentenced to jail, President Bush rushed to commute Scooter's jail sentence. Anyone else would have been jumping in joy, clapping their hands and sending thank you notes... but the bigots at WSJ call this "a half-measure" and "a chilly arms length" treatment. And the audacity of their bigotry - they then go on to say "Many in (the Bush) Administration failed to behave honorably, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell..." Cheap attempt at obfuscation. Drawing from a famous exchange in American history, one may ask the WSJ editorial team, "have you no sense of decency, folks?" And what will they ask next - Scooter be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom?

Even the choice of books they review propagates bigotry and a monolithic view of the world. In their review of a book called The Blind Spot, they highlight the work of two authors who believe that any attempt to explain acts of terrorism by Muslims as a result of "oppression, economics, freedom and progress" is "stunningly naive" because such acts are solely the product of Islam's "fundamental religious dimension."

It is sad when news organizations become mouthpieces of any ideology. Fox News, MSNBC and WSJ do not serve the American people or American democracy well in their ideological slant. In so many ways these organizations are parochial and medieval, the difference is they have money and power today with which they cover it up. Shame on them and their sad agendas.

Their approach has a marked impact on the sort of nation we become. I have occassionally peeked at the "discussion" section most newspapers have started where online readers can leave comments. How is it that only the most bigoted and extreme people seem to participate in these? The passions, the bigotry, the downright hate that people spew on these forums - it's stunning. How come no one there sounds like my neighbors and co-workers? Slanted media serves the extremist appetite in our nation and that appetite grows as it consumes more of the "red meat." History shows us, that is not a good path for any nation.

A Hoover Correction is Due

2008-12-20T11:16:00.005-05:00

One of America's most admired traits is that it is a land of laws and equal justice - illa ma sha'Allah - meaning, with some unintended exceptions within the realm of human imperfections.

Yet, it seems, every once in a while, a man rises who challenges this core of this great nation, and gets away with it. In a prior generation, such a man was J. Edgar Hoover. An amazing feat of this man was that he headed the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1935 to 1972. Only death managed to get him out of that powerful position he frequently and abundantly abused. Not quite the tenure of Fidel Castro, but definitely that league.

There is a beautiful hadith where the Prophet (pbuh) is reported to have said the equivalent of the fact that it doesn't behoove a believer to be bitten out of the same snake hole more than once - the Islamic equivalent of "fool me once, shame on you - fool me twice shame on me." And boy do we believe in this in America! A fool tried to bring a plane down with explosives in his shoes, so for six years now we have been removing our shoes to be screened before boarding a plane.

It's what I'd like to call the Hoover Correction. After Hoover's highly controversial and abusive career-to-grave, congress passed a law that limits the tenure of an FBI director to a max of ten years. That doesn't mean we won't ever be abused by a crook of a FBI director again, but it won't be because he or she is in power for that long.

I think a Hoover Correction is also due over the abuses of Dick Cheney. For eight years this man has reduced transparency and accountability in public office not just to nothing, but lives to ridicule it. This has been documented in an award-winning series by Washington Post journalists Barton Gellman and Jo Becker. I just can't find enough people who have read it...

I hope they take measures so America's democracy is never tarnished and abused by a man like Cheney again.

I'm Stumped, Help Me...

2008-12-20T10:43:00.007-05:00

In recent years, we have seen Iraqis fight with abandon.

With no care for what became of their own bodies, with no regard to what happens to their families, so many there have embraced suicide bombing and carried out missions that just seem irresistible. It's hard to fight someone who is fighting to die, especially if you are restricted to fighting by a civilized code (Abu Ghraib and others of Messrs Rumsfeld and Cheney's misdeeds aside, on which there will be another post another time).

For a moment, I want to set aside any debate on what inspires or motivates them - whether it's desperation, religion, brain-washing, patriotism, etc. Let's consider that only in the limited context that I am posing the question:

Where were these "brave" men when Saddam ruled over that land with an iron fist for decades? Just where were they? Why was it that whatever is "inspiring" them to "fight with whatever and everything they have" didn't come out against a sadistic ruler who just wouldn't go away, but it flows so easily against an effort to establish a system that gives them more power and a greater say. I have a few theories, but I could be wrong:

Good ol' Tribalism - which says something along the lines "he may be wicked and stink, but he's OUR wicked and he's got OUT stench." Our stench is better than a "foreign perfume." Abuse at the hands of someone from MY TRIBE is better than something that benefits me at the hands of a FOREIGNER.
Inertia: Yes, this is Uncle Isaac Newton's First Law. People resist change, they accept the old. So maybe Saddam faced some problems in his early days, but the generations that opened their eyes in the world with Saddam as the head, came to accept that as "normal." An attempt to change that even with the promise of something better is change and Newton can't have any of that - not without a fight.
Things really were not that bad under Saddam: OK, I am putting this down to prove I am trying to be exhaustive in my brain-storming.
People fighting now are those who were privileged under Saddam: Sort of like in Europe, it was harder for the serf class to start a rebellion. So the Kings kept the Lords and Nobles happy and everything was peaceful.
Saddam crushed rebels more ruthlessly than Americans and Iraqi government dare: This could be true. There are reporters in Iraq now (how else would we get the video of the Shoe-Attack on President Bush?) and it's not just the official news state anymore. So Saddam could carpet bomb the rebels and bury them with bulldozers, and no one would find out?

Help me, I am confused. Where were the brave men of Iraq when Saddam plundered their land? got into one misadventure after another? Why was it so easy for him to suppress their yearning for self-determination?

Who'll Cover This Story?

2008-12-17T23:19:00.002-05:00

Marc Gopin writes a real blog and I couldn't think of anything more worthwhile to write than what he recently wrote about a story that deserves greater coverage.

Shoe-Attack

2008-12-17T00:22:00.005-05:00

A lot has gone wrong in Iraq in the past 6 years.

An American president possibly defined by his lack of curiosity, likely overwhelmed by a mentor and a mentor's mentor (Cheney and Rumsfeld), rushed a 9/11-scarred nation to invading this sovereign nation over flimsy UN resolutions and shameful lies. What a shameful scar on the history of America and what a horrible tragedy for the people of Iraq and humanity! Some experts estimate nearly 1 million Iraqi civilians may have been killed. That's the count of innocent Iraqis, not soldiers, not militia folks, just your average men, women and children.

An uninstigated ought to be sufficient reason for Americans to be ashamed of what their country was doing...but for the thick-skinned, God sent images of Abu Ghraib and reports of rapes by American soldiers. We have yet to figure out how we ensure something like this never happens again.

All of this is so jarring that I shouldn't be able to see any humor in anything associated with Iraq.

Yet, yesterday's shoe-attack on President Bush made me laugh and cry, both simultaneously.

Many things went through my mind all at once:

For all that Iraq endured, and I can't even begin to appreciate it, at least the country has gotten to the point where you can hurl your shoes at a VVIP and not immediately face a firing squad. That seems like progress.
Then again, maybe he will rot in a dungeon somewhere? So there may not have been much progress after all?
You can always count on Muslims doing the most high-risk and stupid thing when charged with emotions. For some reason, we lack the ability to carefully lay out constructive plans with long-term strategies and remain steady on them. I suspect we have the steady-types, it's just that the shoe-attackers and suicide bombers keep making headlines?
Does this mean all future presidential press events will require journalists to leave their shoes behind?
That was one fast shoe-pitch, if I ever saw one...I mean he didn't merely toss his shoes, he surely meant to hit W!
That was some fast ducking and evading by Bush. Then again, as this lady on TV said, he's been practicing evasion and ducking through much of his presidency!
On a serious note, there is something wrong about attacking any political leader or head of state like the journalist did. An act like this is all despots need to usurp more freedoms of press. The journalist got to get his frustration out of his system but the cause to which he claims allegiance was not advanced, I would argue it suffered.

The Classiest Act of Campaign '08

2008-12-12T18:19:00.007-05:00

A picture is still worth a thousand words...sometimes more. I wrote this morning about how Colin Powell has been a bit more outspoken lately. Here's the picture that pushed him over the edge. Scroll down and get the full story by watching the clip of his interview on MSNBC (he gets into some stuff at 6min 40sec that might bring tears to your eyes...but every second is worth watching).

God bless Karim Rashad Sultan Karim and his family. And may God bless all our soldiers and their families.

As I said earlier this morning, blessed is America for among her sons are men like General Powell.

Lesser Instincts and Better Instincts

2008-12-12T07:37:00.009-05:00

Former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, in an interview yet to be aired, is reported by CNN to have said the following concerning the Republican Party:

"Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh? Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?"

Every nation in history has always had its demagogues who appeal to the the fears and prejudices of their fellow citizens. The power and magic of leadership cuts both ways, though. Every nation in history has also always been blessed with truly inspired individuals who see the truth for truth and the lies for lies. Such men and women have an opportunity and duty to appeal to the better instincts of their fellow citizens. Where a nation goes as a whole depends on which type of leaders take over the reins of that nation - but it's a collective fate, the good and the bad end up in the same place.

For all the mistakes Colin Powell made as GWB's "Yes Man" Secretary of State, America is blessed that he is now speaking his mind. It is my hope and prayer that clear-thinking, educated and experienced men and women in Muslim societies will start to speak out and act against the way our faith has been hijacked. It's never too late to turn the tide against those who appeal to our lesser instincts. It's time to take back.

Awash in Blood & Gore

2008-12-10T18:16:00.003-05:00

It is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches God: it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you, that ye may glorify God for His Guidance to you...

Qur'an 22:37

Who says there is no such thing as bad publicity? I got one for you.

This past Monday, for the first time in recent memory, most Muslims across the US and Canada celebrated Eid Al Adha on the same day. When I realized there wasn't a single person I knew who celebrated it on Sunday or Tuesday, I worried I wasn't embracing Muslim diversity enough...I mean, was I becoming too snooty and selective in the friends I had? Possibly.

I wish that were the saddest realization I had this Eid. That arrived soon enough, in the form of a 10 mega-pixel picture gallery in the online edition of The Washington Post. The leading text was fairly innocent:

Every year on the holiday of Eid Al-Adha, Muslims take part in the Festival of the Sacrifice at local farms in Virginia and Maryland. For some, it is a festive occasion with balloons and laughter; for others, it is a solemn ritual as they pray over the chosen animal.

But I knew we were in trouble when, even before the first slide showed up, the following parental advisory flashed:

Editor's Note: Some images in this gallery may be disturbing because of their violent or graphic nature.

A mentor once told me, "it's not what you say, it's the listening you create." I am afraid most WP readers didn't see what Eid Al Adha is supposed to mean for Muslims. (For a quick read, check out Wikipedia and if you want to learn a lot more: The Tent of Abraham.)

The slide show goes downhill from the appropriate parental warning...20 slides in high, high resolution of what appears to be at best an uncivilized bunch killing animals. It certainly did not capture the solemnness that my parents taught me is associated with laying down to slaughter an animal for food. The necessary reflection on the meaning of life, on how we express thanks for the livestock God provides for our nourishment, how we don't slaughter them or hunt them for mere sport. We created some bad listening, I am afraid.

WHY WOULD ANYONE INVITE A PHOTOGRAPHER TO CREATE A SLIDE SHOW OF MUSLIMS SLAUGHTERING GOATS AND LAMBS? Is the world lacking in the stereotypical association between Muslims and disturbing, violent activities? Have we not contributed more than our share of galleries that may be disturbing because of their violent or graphic nature? Oy ve!

More than 10,000 Muslim Americans of all shades and color, from newborns to folks in wheel chairs, speaking English in every accent known to mankind, attired in the most exotic and diverse regalia, gathered at the new and beautiful Convention Center in America's capital city to pray, play and party as a way of celebrating Eid. We invited leaders and members of other faith groups so we build bridges of understanding with our neighbors. But how does the Washington Post show we celebrated Eid? By being awash in blood and gore, of course! I don't know I can blame Carol Guzy, the photographer WP assigned to cover the story (member of a Pulitzer-winning team, by the way). But I certainly hope they find a new PR person at the mosque which thought of inviting Carol there.

I am not calling for censorship. Just balance. A lot more happened on Eid day than the "bloodfest." And the spirit of the sacrifice as captured in the verse I quoted above from 22:37 was not even remotely conveyed. Islam is strongly for animal rights. In days when camels and horses were the only means of carrying load around, Islam prohibited overloading them. You may not burn ants if they infest your backyard. We may not hunt animals for pleasure - only if you intend to consume them for food. No fur coats. No ivory on our walls. I think you get the point. And I doubt you got it from Carol Guzy's slide show.

You want a link so you can see the slides? Go do something better with your time (smile).

One Muslim Community (Finally) Takes a Stand!

2008-12-09T19:56:00.001-05:00

Who says all news is depressing? In what BBC reports as "their first openly defiant act against 'Islamic terrorism'" Indian Muslims refused to bury the bodies of the nine men who terrorized Mumbai in Muslim cemeteries.

Finally, a precedence-setting act of courage! Alhamdulillah.

Earlier, I was told that US government officials were starting to avoid referring to terror perpetrators as "mujahideen." I hope the media follows suit.

Kinship with people of one's faith is natural, among Muslims this kinship is deeper and stronger than many other faiths. We celebrate each others' successes as siblings do. We mourn with each other our losses. Our hearts weep for the oppression other Muslims endure. Yet, for all the tragic and heart-rending oppression of Muslims, we can never retaliate by crossing the lines our Lord has drawn. Our love for other Muslims will not blind us to their crimes. We are not a tribe, we are a faith community. Our faith sets high ethical and moral standards. We are not so naive that anarchists and terrorists could pass off as freedom fighters and martyrs.

You can fool anybody once, but you can't fool all the people all the time. I view the response of India's Muslims as the beginning of the end of the age when terrorists defined Islam and Muslims.

Terror is our response to tyranny against us? Forgive the cliche, but two wrongs do not make a right. We don't fight sin with bigger sin. Just as speaking the truth before a tyrant is a great form of jihad, resisting hopelessness, despair and suicide in face of great oppression must have great rewards with God. Who came and tricked us into suicide missions? And look at what that has brought us?

We need to unequivocally denounce the terror strategy. It has no place in our faith. And it's been tried for way too long and failed. It has brought shame to the name of our faith and untold suffering to our people. To borrow from the editorial headline of India's leading Urdu newspaper Inquilab: "ab bahut ho chuka" - enough already!

Libertarianism in Islam

2008-12-09T09:07:00.001-05:00

I sense a particular closed-mindedness and exclusive thinking among fellow Muslims. I found the following Wikipedia entry on Hilf al Fudul an appropriate answer to that narrow approach. I am not being lazy, this entry is better than anything I could ever write.

A Jew in the Path of our Prophet

2008-12-07T09:29:00.001-05:00

This morning, CNN carried a little article on Raphael Lemkin, the man who was at the center of efforts to ensure the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Forty members of his family had died at the hands of the Nazis. Lemkin followed two key teachings of the Prophet (pbuh). First, he left the country where his life was in danger - he made hijra. Secondly, he acted to confront oppression in a constructive way. He committed his entire life to ensuring the world recognized the criminality of genocide.

Lemkin had a choice on how to react to losing forty family members in the Holocaust: he could fall into despair, lose hope and worse, lose it and become a suicide bomber. We have witnessed such reactions from others. But Lemkin stayed hopeful - an essential trait of a Believer. He didn't resort to violence - which does not mean he did nothing about the tragedy that befell him. In fact, Lemkin embarked something very difficult and very courageous. He hit the agents of oppression with a hard and lasting blow when the United Nations adopted the Convention. The world is a better place that Lemkin directed the energy that comes from so much suffering down a constructive channel.

To repel evil with good, is a central Qur'anic command:

Good deed and the evil deed cannot be equal. Repel evil with that which is better... 41:34

Eid Mubarak - when is it?

2008-12-04T19:36:00.000-05:00

I wonder if there will ever come a time when we will not dispute over when we celebrate our major holidays such as Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and mark the beginning of Ramadan.

Weird thing is, the Qur'an takes a strong position against those who thrive on mastery of inane matters. In Surah Kahaf (8:18), for instance, it makes it clear that debating issues that are of little significance and on which there is not clear-cut final resolution is not an activity that behooves people of faith:

"Enter not, therefore, into controversies concerning them, except on a matter that is clear..."

Yet, so many Muslims seem to have such hardened positions on moon-sighting and determination of Islamic calendar dates, when the fact of the matter is, it is vastly more important to celebrate Eid together than get that darned date "right".

The comedy-tragedy on this issue occurred when after years of educating and lobbying, Muslims in a city convinced the local school board to declare Eid day as a holiday. As the Muslim community fell in sujood to thank Allah, the phone rang. It was the school board president, he wanted to know what day Eid would fall that year, so he could put it on the school calendar. OK, so I made this story up, but if it hasn't already played out across American, it's only a matter of time.

A young, fast-speaking, African-American Imam from New York who embraced Islam as an adult used to say: "Muslims man! We master the minor and miss out the major." (Now say that ten times out loud in a New York accent, to get a feel for what the Imam sounded like!). Time to read Surah Kahaf again...

Evidence of a Flawed Strategy

2008-12-03T18:27:00.000-05:00

Given enough time, it will become manifest to anyone whether they're on the right path or the rotten path. I think we Muslims have reached one such milestone and it's time to reflect.

Muslims once created and lived in a great civilization. The world from Spain to Indonesia woke to mueddhin's call to prayer and fasted every Ramadan. With time, they became complacent and abandoned critical thinking, science and innovation.

Western Europe came late to the civilization party, but got some things right. They pursued science, rational thinking and embraced innovation. When they came to Muslim lands with their superior weapons, Muslims could barely put up a fight. The world outside had changed forever, but in their complacence Muslims thought it was just a local, passing anomaly and they would regain their past position of being the trend-setters.

For over 250 years Muslims kept losing battles small and large and ceding control of their lands to Europeans who colonized these lands. They only took notice of events that were symbolically big. For instance, when the Allies abolished the Caliphate, Muslims tried hard to restore it. The nation that had little discourse or debate over the fact that the Caliphate had become a hollow, meaningless shell of an institution for centuries, stood up in outrage when its irrelevance was made official.

Another big shocker was losing control of the Holy Lands.

Two generations of Muslims have waged armed struggle in the Middle East and other parts of the world. When they were completely out-powered by their adversaries, Muslims have adopted guerrilla warfare and a more sinister war which is appropriately labeled terrorism.

In general, the Muslim nation is still unable to fully come to grips with the fact that the world has changed and we are living in a new paradigm. They think the mueddhin will soon sound the call to prayer at daybreak and, waking up, they will realize all this had been one long bad dream.

Now, I think Muslim grievances in many instances do bear merit. Millions of Muslims have been wronged individually and the nation has been wronged collectively. But such is life. American Indians have been wronged. The Irish have been wronged. Franks and Persians have been wronged. Jews have been wronged by the Pharaos, the Nazis and generations of Christians over Passion of the Christ. India's untouchable class has been wronged - and that's been going on how many centuries? And, right before our eyes, with plenty video footage still available, we have seen the subjugation, humiliation, dehumanization of African-Americans. They were stolen from their homes, brought to America as slaves and worked without so much as being accorded their humanity.

In the 1950s and 60s, this last group was at a cross-roads. With few rights in a land that brimmed with wealth, they had a choice. They could go violent, and some did, or they could adopt the path of passive resistance. Passive resistance means you don't commit violence, but you stand firm in the face of your oppressors telling them that you want them to stop oppressing you ("speaking truth to a corrupt leader" is extolled in Hadith as the greatest jihad). The cross-roads is symbolized by the Rev. Martin Luther King as one path and The Black Panther as the other. It is also symbolized by the speeches and path of an angry Nation of Islam Minister called Malcolm X and the path suggested by a more mature, Al Hajj Malik Shabbaz.

History bears witness that despite some flirtations with the path of violence, African Americans have largely chosen the path of passive resistance.

And today, a man whose father was as black as the blackest slave ever traded and dehumanized in America, is counting days to assume the highest office in this land. And he was voted there by the children and grand-children of those who once oppressed.

As I look back at the history of Muslims and African-Americans, I think we see two nations acutely aware of the oppression, subjugation and dehumanization and two nations that have taken two radically different paths to addressing it. I think it is as clear as daylight which strategy has failed and which strategy has worked.

The perversion of Islam to convince Muslims that their faith allows for random acts of violence is one of the biggest tricks the devil may have pulled in a long time.

One last point: There is a management principle that if you do more of the same, you get more of the same. Is 250 years plenty proof of a failed strategy? Do we want another 250 before we open our eyes and realize this isn't a bad dream, it's real? It is not too late yet. We need to categorically abandon terrorism as a mode of fighting against anyone we consider an adversary and adopt the path of our Prophet (pbuh): get your own house in order, stand firmly against oppression, but don't resort to acts of violence. Our African-American neighbors did and look where God is taking them. Allahumma Salli 'Ala Sayyidina Muhammad...

Dear Brothers and Brothers

2008-12-03T11:56:00.001-05:00

Imams Who Don't Care #3: Dear Brothers and Brothers

A unique challenge for many Muslims is to accord to women their rightful status - as defined by the Qur'an and the Sunnah - in society. Islam ordains that men and women are equal before God and in society. However, humans, in their imperfect implementation of this principle often swing to the two extreme ends of this spectrum.

To some, sadly, equality is achieved only when SAMEness is achieved - i.e. men and women dress the same, carry the same responsibilities, and do the same things. I say sadly, because this quickly becomes absurd. Some of the sameness can never be achieved because it is physically and biologically impossible. Men will never be able to breastfeed children or carry babies in their wombs (which do not exist). While Islam allows a woman to work outside the home, this distorted sense of equality now pressures all women to feel the need that they must work outside the home to feel equal.

The other extreme, equally sad, is the one we see more often in Muslim communities. People who sort of pay lip service to women's equal status but kind of wink and nod to a reality that is anything but. Books can be written to cite evidence for this bold assertion, but two simple examples ought to suffice for now - I see some comedy and tragedy in both:

Muslim Women as an Afterthought: In the last 40 years Muslims have built mosques around the United States. What amazes me is how badly designed most of these structures are. I know, I know, it's the spirituality that's more important and all that nonsense, but come on, if you're going to build a structure, please pay as much attention to it as you would to your own house in terms of functionality. The issue that receives LEAST attention is that of women's access to mosques. It's usually an afterthought. Here is how I think things really happen. The grand mosque gets built, nice dome and minaret and all, prayer rugs from Persia and Pakistan...and the inauguration day is approaching. Someone, then realizes "what about women - where are they going to pray?" The highly resourceful masjid secretary has a solution. "Hey, not to worry, we have a dark and damp basement!" If there is no basement, he usually runs to Office Depot and grabs a few pieces of cubicle furniture. Then, in the extreme corner of the masjid, the same resourceful brother, assisted by the rest of the executive committee, working together in perfect unity, installs the "Sisters' Prayer Area." Oh, the sign is quickly made too - the cover of a cardboard box is ripped, and using a matching color H1B pencil someone writes it all up and duct-tapes it at the entrance. Masjid budget: $2 million, 4 years of effort. Budget to find place for "Sisters": $125 and 35 minutes of effort.

If you feel your brother here is exaggerating, visit the "National Masjid" in Washington, DC on Massachusetts Avenue.
The "Dear Brothers and Brothers" Imam: Some of our "Back Home Imams" and others who became Imams here but picked up a hardlined strain of the deen just can't come to accepting the fact that our daughters, sisters, wives and mothers choose to join us in prayers at the masjid. These Muslim women may be braving the dark, damp basement or relegated to a corner cubicle where jackets and the masjid cleaning supplies are kept, but the biggest insult they have experienced is when the Imam just cannot acknowledge their presence. I have known many such Imams - I call them the "Dear Brother and Brother Imams." You know how it goes, the Imam in addressing the congregation considers it a sin to refer to the congregation with the realistic "Dear Brothers and Sisters" - naah, can't utter the taboo word.

If you feel I am exaggerating, maybe I am. So these Imams simply say "Dear Brothers" even as they know the presence of the fairer gender in the masjid, but bad, old habits, deep-rooted biases just can't bring them to acknowledging them.

I worry about this issue is for the following reason: We Muslims in America, and soon Muslims elsewhere in the world, won't be able to bluff our daughters, sisters, wives and mothers for too long. Bluff season is over. It's time to fully adopt Islam and shed our old, pre-Islamic tribal principles that we have held on to so tightly for so long, even if we feel very attached to them.

Dear brothers and brothers, let's start with building mosques that are every bit geared to also meet the needs of our women. And if you know they are in the audience, don't hesitate to make them feel welcome.

Burying Daughters Alive

2008-11-30T21:10:00.000-05:00

Answer quickly: Under what special circumstances does Islamic Shari'ah make it legal for Muslim parents to bury their young daughters alive?

If you answered never, you are right.

The people of Makkah prior to the message of Islam condoned the the heinous custom of burying their daughters alive. Oh they had their reasons - girls consumed resources but didn't contribute economically. There was shame associated with anything wrong they would do. The tribes into which they married gained an upper hand, etc.

One of the earliest revelations that came to the Messenger of God provoked the early believers to reflect on this crime:

When the female child who was buried alive is asked for what crime she was killed. 81: 8-9

Islam forbid this custom forever. And this prohibition is absolute. No compromises. No special considerations. Nothing, absolutely nothing would justify or condone or accept or tolerate this monstrosity. And it is a monstrosity.

Islam forbid a few other crimes, some equally as heinous. Sadly, some Muslims want to bring those criminal and inhuman customs of jahiliyah back. Read on...

First, what do I mean by "special circumstances." Islamic Shari'ah has an incredibly flexibility built into it. A Muslim jurist is required to weigh all factors in a situation before issuing a ruling. While doing this, she or he must also prioritize and ensure the law is serving to better human condition. Consider an example: Pork is forbidden from a Muslim's diet. But if a Muslim faces starvation and pork is the only food available, the shari'ah does not hold the Muslim liable for consuming this food in order to survive. Human life has precedence over the piety of avoiding pork. Numerous other examples can be cited. This flexibility is a mark of our Lord's blessing and mercy upon us.

This flexibility is subject to judicial principles and not easily open to abuse. For instance, let us consider if there could be a situation under which parents may bury their little daughter alive. Say, if there was a famine when there was not enough food for everyone? The answer is an absolutely undisputed NO. What if the parents were convinced (for whatever reason) that their little girl may not be able to cope with the moral decadence of society and grow up to fall prey to its perversions? The answer is still no.

Why this inflexibility? Because God provides and God guides. Also because taking another's life is not a matter of personal choice. There are numerous principles vastly more powerful than the silly fear of food scarcity and moral decadence in the above example. I think all sane Muslims would agree with my analysis of this hypothetical question.

I am about to make a point. I believe a similar prohibition applies to terrorism. It is evident that Islam's prohibition on acts of violence is absolute. I feel some Muslims believe that if we have been wronged, we may resort to some form of violent retaliation. This perversion of our faith is sickening. It has besmirched the name of this great faith and continues to. I am still recovering from the filth of what happened in Mumbai. I am ashamed for what happened on 9/11. My heart bleeds that the curse of terrorism has befallen the community that was charged with inviting all to the "Straight Path." Oh how we have lost our way.

This prohibition is categorical. No excuses. Terrorism = Sin in Islam. Big sin.

I know what some of you are thinking. You are asking yourselves, this guy made a list of acts of terror by Muslims, how about acts of terror inflicted upon Muslims? I overheard someone at the mosque today "Muslims in India have suffered a lot, some of them were bound to lose it and become terrorists."

Look, I understand the human failing if "losing it" aka insanity. Anyone can lose it and commit crimes or acts of sin. The Pharao lost it and wanted all humans to worship him as God. But please don't tell me that my religion permits insanity and heinous crimes.

Surely Muslims are persecuted in many parts of the world. So are Christians, and Jews. Blacks in America have suffered centuries of oppression, humiliation to the point some generations were born, lived and died with very little of their humanity acknowledged. Yes the world isn't perfect.

But as standard bearers of the world's morals, you want to tell me that retaliation against oppression through random acts of terror is accepted, permitted or condoned in Islam, you are dead wrong. I will oppose you with every breath, and God willing, your false ideology will be defeated.

Islam forbids this perversion. And this prohibition was absolute. No compromises. No special considerations. Nothing, absolutely nothing would justify or condone or accept or tolerate this monstrosity called terrorism.

Insha'Allah-itis Is An Official Sickness Now

2008-11-30T20:54:00.000-05:00

This elaborates on my post from yesterday "Spotting IWDCs #2." You know it's true when the New York Times does an article on an issue :).
Click here to read the article.

The reason I don't find this abuse of Insha' Allah funny is because it is happening at the hands of (through the mouths of) educated folks in our mosques. Our history teaches us to be more tolerant of those who could not know better...the villager who has no education, the tribesman who came to the Prophet's mosque and not knowing more refined ways, started to urinate in the mosque. The prophet taught us to deal with such ignorance with understanding and kindness. But when educated folks, the ones who are to be the standard-bearers of knowledge, themselves slip up, it calls for action.

In the words of William F. Buckley, some of us need to stand athwart history and yell stop. So here it is - STOP ABUSING THE PHRASE Insha' Allah. Think if it makes sense to use it in a sentence.

Will you not join me?

Abusing Insha' Allah

2008-11-29T22:32:00.000-05:00

Imams Who Don't Care(IWDC) #2: Abusing Insha' Allah

Abuse of the phrase "Insha' Allah" abounds in most mosques across the United States and Canada. First, let's do a crash course on Insha' Allah.

Our Lord in the Holy Qur'an instructs us as follows: "And never say of anything, 'I shall do such and such thing tomorrow. Except (with the saying): 'If God wills!'" (18:24). The phrase Insha' Allah is translated as "If God Wills."

Growing up in a Muslim family I never had any confusion about its usage. In fact, I remember the following childhood story used to illustrate correct and incorrect uses of the phrase:

An uneducated and not-so-religious villager was on his way to the market with his livestock when an acquaintance met him and inquired as to what he was up to. "I have a plan" responded the village, "I will be in the market this afternoon, will sell the animals for a handsome profit and with the money I get, I will build myself a large house." To any Muslim, that sentence has a few missing words, and so this acquaintance sought to remind the obviously ill-educated villager. "You mean to say Insha'Allah, you will be in the market this afternoon and, Insha'Allah, you will sell the animals for a handsome profit, and with the money you get, Insha'Allah, you will build yourself a large house?" The villager didn't see the point of all the extra words. "What's Insha' Allah got to do with anything? Here's my livestock, there's the market. So it's all in my hands."

Later that evening the acquaintance saw the villager returning back from the market, looking visibly shaken and troubled. "How was your day, sell your livestock?" "Oh, friend," responded the villager, "I should have listened to you and used Insha' Allah in my speech. Anyway, here's what happened...Insha' Allah, I went to the market and Insha' Allah, I had a great sale. But, Insha' Allah, someone pick-pocketed me, so Insha' Allah, I have no money. And that dream of the house is, Insha'Allah, all gone!"

End of a story with fairly obvious moral. The phrase "Insha' Allah" has a purpose, a meaning and a proper usage.

Yet, countless Imams Who Don't Care (IWDCs) (ab)use it like many use "ummh," and "errr" in their speech.

See if you can spot the illiterate and uneducated villager in the following announcements in your local masjid:

"Insha'Allah, brothers and sisters, please remain seated during my announcement."

"I hope everybody is well, Insha'Allah."

"Please donate generously, Insha'Allah".

"I have a question, can we, Insha' Allah, sit and discuss this issue a little longer?"

One brother even goes on to say "Assalamu' alaikum, Insha' Allah." I hate being the IA police but it's got to hurt other ears besides mine. And it sets bad acoustics for the younger generation who might pick up a good word but use it incorrectly?

Many mosque leaders have a far more serious problem with the phrase. They use the phrase improperly multiple times in a sentence - and I mean 4, 5 times! Insha' Allah! Oops, I meant, SubHan Allah! What's happened to their 'aql? Big time Imams, established mosque leaders, improperly dropping Insha' Allah to the point of disrespect for the phrase.

Insha'Allah, one of these days, I shall write a simple set of rules under which the use of the phrase is appropriate and all other use is actually an abuse and trivialization of the important command of our Lord.

The "Imams Who Don't Care (IWDC)" Series

2008-11-29T15:23:00.000-05:00

Some Imams Don't Care

We've all seen them and suffered at their hands - Imams who simply don't care. They must think they have us all fooled with their phony smiles and loud "masha'Allah"s - but the truth of the matter is, they fail the important tests of caring.

I am building a list of acts of omission and commission by Imams across the United States. God, the Most High, is my witness, I am motivated by a desire to point out these on-going and fairly obvious, even glaring acts, with a desire that they may read them and change. My own shortcomings are such that I had to deploy sarcasm to shed some light on these. If you are an Imam or a leader of a muslim group of any sort, please check the list below to see if any of these apply to you:

Imams Who Don't Care(IWDC) #1: What's In a Name?

This is the most shocking for me and deserves the first spot. If you've attended a Muslim Wedding recently chances are you have been subjected to this blatant act of not caring by an Imam.

The next generation of Muslims growing up in America proudly embraces its Islamic heritage and invites an Imam to perform their Nikah - the equivalent of "the exchange of vows" at a wedding. Ceremonies range from simple to stylish. Now since Muslims come as rich and poor and of varied backgrounds, venues range from Masjid basements to ritzy hotel ballrooms. Menus range from a few samosas or masboosas to elaborate 5-course sit-down meals. Yet, in all this diversity, there is one facet common to all Imam-led wedding ceremonies.

(In many cases, thanks to the cultural baggage of our parents' generation most Muslim weddings run hours behind schedule. The one silver lining to this shamefully dark cloud is that Imams are rarely the cause of delays at weddings. "Six PM Sharp" conveys simply nothing to Muslim masses. They stroll in anywhere between 7 and 8 PM.)

But the most embarrassing act of the ceremony belongs to the Imam, our leader. I have yet to go to a wedding where the Imam took the time to get to know the bride or the groom. And I don't mean in such a way as to say a thing or two about the beautiful qualities in the young people and their families coming together - that would be too much to ask for. How about their names? That's right, NAMES. The very things by which angels refer to us. If you listen to NPR, you are familiar with the effort that they put in to get people's names right on radio. They remind you "when writing us, please tell us how to correctly pronounce your name."

At your life's most important event, with all your loved ones surrounding you, the obviously lazy Imam (who couldn't care less but) who has given hundreds of khutbahs and lectures about how the Prophet (pbuh) had a personality that won over others, doesn't feel the need to ask the bride's family what her name might be, or the groom sitting next to him how his name is to be pronounced...until it's too late.

I have seen prominent Imams struggle with this. "We are here to witness the most important day in the life of our brother Sha...Shaw...err, (whisper on 1500 W speaker) how do you say your name, brother? - oh yeah, Shah-Zad, we are here for dear Shahzad and, errr, (to the man to his other side this time) what's her name..."

Recently, the "Azhar-educated" Imam made rookie mistakes on Indian-Pakistani (aka desi) Muslim names. Desi Names 101 tells you that among men, their given names may be preceded by a Muhammed or a Syed. But a Syed Abrar Ahmed's name is never to be Syed. The dude is Abrar since the day he was born. Likewise, Muhammed Aleem Khan is Aleem. The brave, couldn't-care-less Imam kept praying loudly that God may bring happiness to the life of "our dear brother Syed" - while the visibly uncomfortable attendees showered their "Ameen"s - some of them rechecking the groom's face to make sure they were at the right wedding.

The same IWDC managed to do the entire ceremony with the microphone turned off, apparently he forgot, so no one heard the most critical part of the ceremonies. Aaaagh!

If God has honored you with the status in the community that you get invited to perform nikahs, then kindly take the duty seriously before you accept. And part of the duty is to know the names of the bride and the groom, know the names of their parents, know whether the parents are attending, know whether any of their parents are deceased - so that on the day we are to believe is the most important of our lives, in the ceremony that is most important part of that day, we are called by our names without hesitation, correction and embarrassment. Is that too much to ask of you? I don't think so!

I once even sat at a Nikah where the Imam tried to convince the groom that his name was not a "proper Muslim name." Imagine this: "We are here to celebrate the nikah of - what's your name brother? - maysur? now, that's not a proper Muslim name, you sure it's not Mansur?"

I had never fantasized sitting in the groom's seat until that day, but that evening I wondered if I could swap seats with the young man who was beginning to sweat by now simply so I could tell the learned Imam what I thought of him.

Dear Imams, if you're so busy to do justice to an important ceremony, do the bride and groom a favor. Politely bow out of the responsibility. There is no clergy in Islam and any adult Muslim can lead in all ceremonies. I would rather someone who had the decency to do justice to the ceremony than someone who acted like a mercenary who didn't care.

Then there are clumsy Imams. It is not until they have started giving their sermon that they bother to ask the family about their preference on the sequence of the ceremony. In all their years of learning, no one told them that it's not planning when you are already under way with something and the microphone in your hand is not the best time to start consulting about what to do next.

Sarcasm and outrage aside, I pray to God that our Imams will have the sense, the courtesy and decency to see the point I am making and stop embarrassing young Muslim brides and grooms, their families and friends and portraying all Muslims in poor light.