3.06.2007

Can we "All Just Get Along"?

I'm expecting to have a bit more free time in the very near future.....planning a change of lifestyle actually. Inshallah it will come to fruition and then I will be able to begin the studies I have longed to start; Arabic and Islamic history and more.

One of the things that I have been curious to know more about is how the people of Madina lived together. I want to know this so that I can think of it as a model. I relate it to how we Muslims should live with non-Muslims today.

I came across an interesting point of view on this subject that I would like to share...

The article is entitled "The Trouble with Rage" and it was written by Imam Suhaib Webb


here is an excerpt:

"I felt compelled to help explain the relationship and rights that our fellow non-Muslim brothers and sisters share with us. It is my hope that the Muslim communities in the West will mature and move towards a more inclusive role with their fellow countrymen. And that our non-Muslim brothers and sisters will learn to distinguish between orthodoxy, which possesses a great history of compassion and mercy, and the actions of those, who out of religious zeal, have rocketed past the tradition, values and moral teachings of Islam.

...The Prophetic model of relations is a blessing we can ill afford to dismiss. At a time when the voice of Islam is drowned out by flaring unorthodoxy, it is my hope that Western Muslim communities and their fellow non-Muslim counterparts will take the time to get to know each other, build long-lasting relationships and synthesize the positive aspects of each other’s religious and cultural heritage."

If my essence is from dust, then dust (wherever it is)
is my homeland

And every creature upon the heavens and the earth
represents a close relative.

— AN ARAB POEM



This is a bit hard for me to swallow, but I don't disagree with this totally. I'm not living in the "the west" now, but I am currently living in a multi-cultural and multi-religious setting. I see a great need to respect the lives of non Mulims, but not at the expense of our deen. I would hope that by living amongst the Muslims (those that practice Islam in its purest and most traditional sense) non-Muslims might see the light of Islam and answer it's call independently and more importantly, with conviction.

What do you think?...

(Click here to see the full article by Imam Webb)

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