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Showing posts with label Misuse of Islam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Misuse of Islam. Show all posts

Rediscovering Islam with Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Introduction:

Islam is the eternal faith for all the humanity, irrespective of race, colour or gender. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) did not introduce any new faith, God chose him for reviving and culminating the original faith for all the humanity till eternity. Purpose is attainment of peace through total surrender to the ‘Will of God’ (Islam), the message preached by all the previous messengers, to their respective communities.
The Arabic "Salaam" (سلام) and Hebrew word "Shalom" (שָׁלוֹם), literally mean "peace" and are cognates of each other, derived from the Semitic Triconsonantal of Ś-L-M (realized in Hebrew as Š-L-M and in Arabic as S-L-M). Hence the word ‘Islam’, derived from Arabic root ‘S-L-M,’ meaning 'peace' or ‘submission’. In a religious context it means; ‘attainment of peace through complete submission to the will of God or his laws’. Combination of Arabic.(سلام), Hebrew (שָׁלוֹם), and English ‘Peace’ is also used as “Symbol of Peace”.
Islam is as old as the humanity. Prophet Adam (peace be upon him), the first human was also the first prophet of Islam; Later he sent prophets like Noah, Enoch, Abraham (peace be upon them) and others to guide the humanity, they preached the ‘total surrender and obedience to the will of God’ (Islam). All the messengers preached and practiced the same religion .i.e ‘Submission to the will of God’ (Islam), which is not new to the mankind. Hence all the messengers and prophets along with their followers may be linguistically called as Muslims because their faith was based upon ‘total surrender to the will God’ (Islam). Allah says: “The same religion has He established for you as that which He enjoined on Noah-the which We have sent by inspiration to thee (Muhammad) and that which We enjoined on Abraham Moses and Jesus:...”(Qur’an;42:13); “Behold! Abraham said to his father and his people: "I do indeed clear myself of what ye worship: "(I worship) only Him Who made me and He will certainly guide me." And he left it as a Word to endure among those who came after him that they may turn back (to Allah).”(Qur’an;43:26-28).
The original message of God for guidance of humanity conveyed by messengers of God got distorted with the passage of time only to be revived by an other messenger. Once humanity developed to a certain level, Allah sent the final messenger Muhammad (pbuh) with the final scripture Quran, which is protected by Allah. Even after 1400 years Quran is available in its original revealed form but with the passage of time people lack in understanding the spirit and indulge in practice of undesirable activities; Hence periodically the scholars of Islam make effort to rediscover the original message of Islam for practical application.
We are living in the age of the media. Before the advent of the modern media there were large numbers of people in the world who knew nothing of Islam. With the invention of the printing press and now the electronic media it is difficult to find today a single person who is unaware of it. But there is a clear-cut difference. In previous ages it happened that wherever Islam spread people were so impressed with it that most of them accepted it as their religion. That is why today we find more than one billion Muslims throughout the world. Strangely enough the present day publicity given to Islam has produced only a negative effect. People are now generally allergic to Islam rather than being interested in it writes, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan in his book “Islam Rediscovered”.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan (born in India 1925) is a noted Islamic scholar and peace activist. He has translated the Quran in simple and contemporary English and wrote a commentary on the Quran and gives lectures on media. He has received many awards.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan has made it his mission to present Islamic teachings in the style and language of the post-scientific era. Rediscovering Islam himself from its original sources, he has authored over 200 books on Islam, prophetic wisdom and peaceful co-existence in a multi-ethnic society. Some of which are; ‘In Search of God’, ‘Man Know Thyself’, ‘Islam’, ‘The Voice of Human Nature’, ‘Quran: An Abiding Wonder’, ‘Islam and Peace’, ‘The True Jihad’ and ‘Islam Rediscovered’.  
The theme of his book ‘Islam Rediscovered’ is being reproduced here with minor editing is evident from its title, Discovering Islam from its Original Sources. The  purpose of Maulana Wahiduddin is to present Islam as it is, drawing on its original sources rather than judging it by the later day interpretations and commentaries or the practices of present day Muslims in different parts of the world. He has made a distinction between Islam as presented by the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, and his companions (information about which is available to us in the Qur’an and the Sunnah) and Islam as represented by later Muslim generations — both in theory and practice. This is what he calls the scientific approach.
In previous centuries when Islam was introduced, people used to say: Yes, “Mr. Islam welcome to you!” Now when Islam is presented to them they say: “No thank you.” Why is there this difference? The answer is very simple. In previous centuries Islam was introduced to the people of the world through its scriptures, as it is — without the slightest change in its original message. Whereas in modern times, Islam is being introduced through the negative practices of certain Muslims as reported by the media.
There is a further and more severe problem that of selective reporting. According to their own criteria the media is interested only in ‘hot’ news, although so much ‘soft’ news is available about the Muslim people. Because of their ingrained professionalism, they do not allow this ‘soft’ news to find its way into their columns of their broadcasts.
Islam is the religion of nature. If it were to be presented in its original form, people would turn to it quite naturally. For example, when a recently converted American by the name of Gary Miller was asked why he had converted to Islam, he replied: “I didn’t convert to Islam I have rather reverted to my original religion.” [Islam is the 'primordial religion' (din-al-hanif), it seeks to return man to his original, true nature in which he is in harmony with creation, inspired to do good, and confirming the Oneness of God. Allah says: “Therefore, stand firm in your devotion to the upright faith - the nature made by Allah, the one on which mankind is created - and the laws of Nature ordained by Allah cannot be changed. That is the standard of true faith (ad-den al-qayyim), but most among mankind do not know”.(Qur’an;30:30 similarly 6:161 & 4:125)]
Unfortunately, a section of Muslims is engaged in violent and aggressive activities, wrongfully indeed, in the name of Islam. It is such news as, through the media, has a great impact upon the general public and creates serious misunderstandings. People have come to take Islam as a militant religion. Since modern man is in search of peace, he finds no appeal in a religion which, as presented by the media, is one of hatred and violence.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan in this book attempts to introduce Islam as it is. It calls for a distinction to be made between Islam and the practices of Muslims. Taking a scientific attitude, you have to see Islam in the light of the Islamic scriptures and not judge it by Muslim conduct.
For surely, if you want to know what democracy is, you will examine the ideology of democracy as established by its champions. You will not form an opinion about the democratic system merely on the basis of observing some self-styled democratic nation. Everyone who wants to know what Islam is, should follow this scientific method while trying to form his opinion on Islam.
We are living in an age of information. This is the age of the knowledge explosion. Today, everyone wants to know more and more about everything, including religion. The result is that, on the subject of religion, people are far better informed than ever before. But there is a difference. About other religions, people generally know what is enshrined in their religious books. Whereas the case of Islam is the opposite. Their information about Islam is derived from unauthentic sources. The reason for this lies with the Muslims and not with anyone else.
The Muslims of modern times are engaged in violence everywhere in the name of Islam. Violence, however, is not limited only to Muslims. It is found in every community and in every group. But there is a basic difference between the two. When the adherents of other religions engage in violence, they do not do so in the name of their religion. But the violence engaged in by the Muslims is being done in the name of Islam.
These violent activities of the Muslims reach the people through the media. As modern media is a “hot news”-based industry, these violent events are flashed in the media. For this reason, people come to regard Islam as a religion of violence. It is only among Muslims that all violent activities are carried out in the name of religion. In practice, only a tiny minority of Muslims is engaged in such violent activities. However, since other Muslims neither condemn these activities, nor disown them outright, it is but natural for people to attribute their violent propensities to their religion. But the scientific way of study is to distinguish Islam from the deeds of Muslims, just as the ideology of democracy is studied by distinguishing it from the acts of democratic countries.
The aim is to present Islam as it is enshrined in its sacred scriptures, so that it may be brought before the people in its true form. The authentic source of information about Islam is the Qur’an. The Qur’an, according to Muslim belief, was revealed by God to the Arabian Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him. The second source of knowledge about Islam is the Sunnah, i.e., the words, deeds and sanctions of the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him. The lives of the companions of the Prophet provide another later source. Then, there is a full stop in this matter. No other person or historical record enjoys the status of source of Islam.
However, this write up does not claim to be a comprehensive introduction to Islam. That is something which can be had only by studying Islam directly through its basic scriptures, that is, the Qur’an and Sunnah. This effort thus presents a fundamental introduction for those who want to understand Islam as it is. Its aim is to provide a proper background in the light of which the original sources of Islam may be studied.

It is hoped that this information will be useful for those who want to know about the original Islam, as opposed to the “religion” represented by certain self-styled Muslim leaders introduced to us by the media.
Read / download full book or in part: http://goo.gl/41ky3n
http://www.cpsglobal.org/books/islam-rediscovered

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Islam and Codes of Tolerance

A new book Codes of Tolerance by Dr. Hubertus Hoffmann, Founder and President of the World Security Network, has been recently published by Herder Verlag in Germany and presented at the International Book Fair in Frankfurt. An Arabic version will follow in November and a Polish as well.

It is a profound and also promising answer to the aggressiveness and violence “in the name of Islam,” whether by IS/ISIS in Iraq and Syria or Boko Haram in Nigeria.

In the first half, the German geo-strategist Dr. Hubertus Hoffmann analyzes the question “Is Islam intolerant?” and paints a detailed picture of a truly peace-loving Islam with many new facets.

The author works out 10 Golden Nuggets of Tolerance in Islam, which give rise to hope:

1. The predominance of God’s mercy and compassion in the opening Surah and all other Surahs of the Qur’an. 

2. The Muslim greeting formula “Peace be with you!” 

3. The Prophet’s goal of harmony practiced in a new society of hilm with respect of God and humans. 

4. Punishment on the Day of Judgment and not on earth. 

5. The state-political example of the Prophet through reconciliation after the conquest of Mecca from 630 to 632, when he did not establish a totalitarian theocracy, but left intact the old political structures and even pardoned all his enemies. 

6. The numerous references in the Qur’an to the validity of the ancient holy texts of Jews and Christians and the other 14 prophets, which are observed also by Muslims. 

7. At least 27 verses of the Qur’an which ask Muslims to practice tolerance, among them six core calls to tolerance. 

8. The clear limitation of the use of violence in the Qur’an – as self-defense and only as long as there is direct danger, and never against uninvolved civilians. 

9. No less than 14 contracts with Christians designed to have eternal validity, including the protection of freedom of religion, as best practices from the time of the Prophet and the first two Caliphs. 

10. The tradition of tolerance, as documented in the close friendship of the first 100 Muslims with the Christians during the exile in Abyssinia from 615 to 630 and the Golden Age of Islam in the ninth century, as well as the obligation, according to Surah 17:34, to observe the UN Charter as a transformed law in effect in the Islamic countries.
In – so far little known – details, the well-informed author refers to the forgotten peacefulness of the Prophet at the conquest of Mecca in 630:

He did not kill his enemies, who had displaced him from his home town, had offered head money for his capture, had wounded him in battle and had waged a war against him for eight years. He pardoned them, practiced generous forgiveness and preached a new harmony. He left intact the political conditions and the officials remained in their positions. Hoffmann considers this not only as proof of the Prophet’s tolerance, but also as his guideline for the separation of religion and state – just the opposite of the assertions of the radicals of ISIS, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram.

Another example newly investigated by the author is the asylum of the first 100 Muslims in the Christian Kingdom of Abyssinia from 615 to 630. The Prophet himself sent his first followers from Mecca to the Negus so that they were able to survive. The Christians disobeyed the order of the powerful rulers to expel the Muslims, started a long-term deep friendship with them and were even successful in convincing the enemies in Mecca to withdraw the banishment.

The book argues that the radicals have misunderstood these ten messages of tolerance and the example of the Prophet, they have picked out only six hard sentences from the 6.236 Surahs of the Qur’an, thus ignoring 99.99 per cent and turning Islam upside down, from a conciliatory message into an aggressive message of fighting.

The author’s analysis of Islam is optimistic and a counterpart to the propaganda of ISIS and Boko Haram: The true Qur’an and the message of the Prophet Muhammad are characterized by mercy, the virtues of calmness and harmony (hilm) and peacefulness (salam). The Islamic world must recall these roots, and the silent majority must stand up against the small minority of radicals.

The author refers to many forgotten details with regard to the Prophet’s relation to women in the exciting chapter on Muhammad: ‘I am the best to women’

The focus is on the comprehensive portrait of Khadidjah bint Khuwaylid (around 555-620), the Prophet’s first wife, and her formative role in the birth of the new religion. She was an emancipated and very successful business woman in Mecca, employed the younger Muhammad and proposed marriage to him through a mediator. There is only one world religion that was financed by a woman – Islam. Not a man but a woman was “the first Muslim.” A woman was the most important adviser and supporter of the Prophet.

She should be a model, so Hoffmann argues, for all present Muslim women, because God consciously chose an emancipated woman for his messenger. Khadidjah is the opposite of the image of women propagated today by ISIS and Boko Haram: they should neither go to school nor work, in the year 2014 – supposedly and absurdly “in the name of the Prophet.”

The rules of the Qur’an should grant women not less but much more rights. The Qur’an granted them six so far unknown rights, including the law of inheritance, the right to personal property, the necessity to agree to marriage and the prohibition to kill female descendants. In the tribal society of the seventh century, it was not possible to implement more rights of women. However, it is nowhere written in the Qur’an that women should not be granted more rights. Later equality is not excluded. The Qur’an does not impose a limit to progress, but indicates a clear direction towards emancipation. The Prophet promoted the emancipation of women and was in love with an emancipated business woman, so Hoffmann writes.

His book is an appeal to every responsible world citizen in all parts of the world, to commit themselves personally, with small contributions, to the establishment of a common global village. How this works can be found at the end of the book in the Codes of Tolerance.

In 60 Codes of Tolerance, Hubertus Hoffmann refers to concrete rules and paths towards a world politics of love of humanity. 79 best practices for all of us, parents, religious leaders, the media, politicians, sports and culture prove: We can walk the path of tolerance successfully with many good deeds, tear the world from the preachers of hatred and thus can let more love flourish for our children.

The author describes a clever attempt at more love of humanity in the global village and demonstrates through many examples: More tolerance towards other religions, minorities and races is possible, and appeals to tolerance are contained like golden nuggets in all word religions – also in Islam.

However, so far the 99 per cent majority of peaceful people has remained silent and has left the power of interpretation to the few radicals. The world urgently needs a world ethos in practice, the Codes of Tolerance. Hoffmann’s book is a plea for more humanity in our global village and an active peace policy of reconciliation.

An active policy of tolerance that is able to defend itself is not the naïve idea of starry-eyed idealists, but absolutely imperative. Hubertus Hoffmann initiated the Codes of Tolerance project as president of his World Security Network Foundation, as a new approach of the soft factors of peace-making. He actively calls for a new, balanced double strategy of the West, a politics World 3.0, of power and active tolerance and reconciliation. There is need of a positive vision in this world. It is not the hawk alone that can create peace. This is true for Syria and Iraq, as well as East Ukraine or the Holy Land.

So far, there have been many talks, but without noticeable actions. Only 0.01 per cent of the budgets of the states are spent on projects of reconciliation, but 99.99 per cent on internal security and defense. Hoffmann calls for a paradigm change and a re-orientation in foreign and domestic affairs. An active policy of tolerance should be developed that is financed through at least one per cent of all expenditure for foreign, development aid and defense policy. Only in this way can politics in trouble spots create more tolerance.

The author did his doctorate with the renowned researcher on totalitarianism and political scientist Karl Dietrich Bracher, and for 25 years he was the protégé of the legendary Pentagon strategist Fritz Kraemer (see www.worldsecuritynetwork.com/fritzkraemer). The German geo-strategist analyzes shrewdly the roots of human behavior and the development of a world ethos in the great world religions as part of a new foreign and peace policy.

His investigations and sources are profound, fresh and global: In Jerusalem he met President Shimon Peres, the Grand Mufti, Jewish rabbis and Christian bishops and participated in the historic visit of Pope Francis in May 2014. With Archbishop Alfons Nossol he analyzed the Christian principles of reconciliation, and he investigated in the Vatican. He met with the Dalai Lama three times for an interview on tolerance and with his monk Laktor, the director of the Tibetan library, he traveled India following in the tracks of Buddha. There he also met Sadguru, Hindu scholars and Sandjai Gandhi. In Afghanistan he discussed peace in Islam with the director of the library of the Blue Mosque and talked to people in Kabul. In Iraq he met politicians and bishops of the oppressed Christian minority, and in Pakistan and the FATA he met Muslim tribal chieftains. In Jordan he presented his Codes of Tolerance to Prince Hassan bin Talal and was invited by Queen Rania. In 2008, the Minister of Science of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mabarak al Nahayan, asked him to present his Codes of Tolerance to the 1.800 ladies at the big Women-as-Global Leaders Conference at Zayed University in Dubai.

The work is a comprehensible textbook of tolerance on 463 pages, for active involvement of responsible world citizens of all religions, races and ethnic groups. In addition, the Codes are a successful contribution to intercultural and interreligious dialogue and mutual understanding in the global village.

His appeal: Don’t leave the world to the preachers of hatred and to evil! Don’t wait – just start! Locally, creatively, actively. Put a first small, good jigsaw piece into the mosaic of seven billions. Let’s together create a new harmonious world of cooperation with more respect and humanity in our global village, especially for our children and their good future!


World Security Network Foundation 
Views expressed are of the author.
Further reading: 
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