Regaining the middle ground

Many ordinary people are confused when they look at Islam. Why? Because the perceived differences of the groups. Only those in the know can recognise the differences of the information that each group present. 

When people see religious folk they see people that they cannot relate to. Wearing a big unkempt beard and pants half way up their legs, is that a belt? As well as a cold hard, stare about the 'visible' sins of others. This is against almost everything that was reported from the Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him). His (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) character was full of mercy for the sinful because they needed it the most! How could we be religious folk when others act like this? It makes the average person think that religion has nothing for them. Why? Because they do want to be hypocritical and judgmental. These are two of the most hateful traits that people see in religious folk. Why don't they react to enlightened individuals? Most of the enlightened refrain from the public light. So the discourse is dominated with stern brothers and sisters who lay down the law like WWF wrestlers!  

I remember one strange man say that when the centre collapses the periphery comes to the centre. This is what has happened the centre has become hidden and the fools have become manifest.

There are many problems here. If you see someone doing something that you disagree with then you have to consider the following. Is this unlawful and agreed upon? Smoking, as wretched as it is, is not agreed upon. Some say it is highly disliked and others say its haram. There are even rare opinions say it is permissible (not currently accepted). So this is not an easy issue. Drinking also could be a problem because there are lawful drinks in some bottles that look like alcohol bottles. You could be condemning someone without realising that it was a lawful soft drink. Secondly, no one will stop doing something with harshness. If anything you have probably given the  more excuse to perform the sin. Why? Because your character has barred them from the religion. This happens more often than many us think. We need to open the path of the religion to people, the ordinary people. They are in dire need of it and so are non-Muslims.

One such example was a drunken man that we came across. He blamed Allah (the Exalted) for his state. After speaking with us for some time, he was changed. Then he began to rebuild his life, even though he falls off the wagon every now and then, he is on his way. There are many people like him who just need a little bit of help. They need to be pointed in the right direction and be encouraged. You cannot make someone pray, know they will pray or they will not but for your part the best thing you can do is encourage them. Buy them books and assist them. This is more effective than saying you are committing a major sin because you do not pray. Sometimes they might not be listening to good scholars so you should encourage them with gifts. Do not tell them to read books that they have been brought. Let them read and refer to a scholar if they have any questions. Know that sometimes they will accept something from a particular person. So encourage them attend events but give them room to accept or decline the offer. Do not force them as long as they are learning from a Sunni scholar.

Do not think they have to learn from the same scholar as you. Let them grow slowly and do not crowd or overwhelm them, as this will have the opposite effect.

Non-Muslims

This is the same for non-Muslims. Many are our friends in terms of wanting good for us. Many lend us a helping hand. These people are sympathetic to our situation. Rather than befriend such people we actually alienate them because we do not understand why they are being so nice. Of course, free mixing must be avoided but good manners from us must be maintained. More on Dawah can be read by clicking here (dawah post).

Due to current events in Iraq we are encouraging those who can speak to speak. We have no doubt that we are facing a racist media who is only interested in mongering war. But the decent people of the world need to be given sufficient information to make an informed choice. Speak, write do anything that you can.

One has to bear in mind that the events in Iraq are the result of illegal invasion and chaos spreading there. The fault lies at the hands of the invaders.


Crazy movements

Caliphs of old were instrumental in giving rights to other religions such as Jews, Christians and other denominations. Why? Because they were recognised in the Quran as having the right to chose their religion. 

The Ottomans, Abbassids and every single caliphate gave rights to non-Muslim to judge themselves with autonomy. They were even allowed to trade in items that were not lawful for Muslims to consume!

They could cannot be harmed or killed. No other religion gave the right of the existence of other religions except Islam. They were known as dhimmis or the protected minorities. They were not allowed to be harmed. The Jews in Spain welcomed Muslims because they had no right to own their land with the Christians but they had rights in Islam.


Forcing people into Islam

This is nothing but a fabricated lie against Islam that is frequently repeated by those who detest Islam.

Read 'the spread of Islam in the world' by T A Arnold, a non Muslim, and you will find that Islam spread over a long period of time there was no mass conversions and rarely was there forced conversion. In fact the author only mentions it occurred in India which at the time was under British occupation. So he had political reasons for mentioning that. Which could have been to enforce the idea occupation was good. Yet if that was true why did most of the population of India remain Hindu? Also Egypt, Iraq, Syria and most Muslim countries have non-Muslim minorities and this is proof that there was no forced conversion otherwise these minorities would not exist. Forced conversion is not valid according to the majority of scholars.

Forced conversion did frequently occur in Christian history and if you open the pages of history then you will be shocked.

Regain

We have to regain the middle ground and allow those in the middles ground and seek ways to speak in the masjid. Instead of barring them because, they are perceived threat! There needs to a lot of work done on our side and I include myself in that too.

We need to be the light that shows them the way. Instead of helping satan by chasing them away and making a bad situation worse.

We have a lot of work to do!