I am a Muslim and I believe Islam has been hijacked by a group of extremists who believe not in love and unity, but in hate and violence. This tiny minority thrives because we have abandoned our collective responsibility to comprehend the deeper message of compassion and giving that is the true spirit of our faith. We have abdicated our responsibility to be a good human in favor of being a good Muslim - which is defined not by our actions towards people and planet, but by our duty to Allah - namaz, hajj, umra, roza. While these acts of submission and worship are supposed to inspire us to be good humans, we stop here because the Maulvi has convinced us that worship alone will get us into heaven. While we claim to be Muslims, weve become the Munafiqeen that Allah discusses extensively in the Quran. We equate Islam with not drinking, not fornicating, not eating pork - while we continue to show arrogance to people who are less Muslim than us, and continue to follow our greed even if it means lying and cheating. We hire without compassion, we drive without compassion, we do business without compassion. Heck, even our charity focuses on religious education while millions die of poverty and disease. Our challenge is not that Islam has any external threat, our challenge is that Islam is not thriving in our hearts. Unless we re-awaken the true spirit of our faith, which is compassion and giving (zakat) and justice, and rise above rituals - our religion will continue to be a plaything in the hands of those who thrive on hatred, violence and war.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 07:00:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015