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In recent times a plethora of misconceptions, misrepresentation and myths have been forged about Islam
and Muslims. Many western influentials from politicians, policymakers to judges have taken it upon
themselves to undermine the Islamic beliefs, values and rules so to make it palatable to their
egotistic minds and the secular liberal thoughts.

This blog is dedicated:-

1. To argue the point for Islam in its belief and systems and to refute the misconceptions.
2. To expose the weakness and contradictions of all forms of secularism.

26 Mar 2010

Talk Brief: Atmosphere of Imaan

Last week we talked about how Muslims need to change, as its much harder when everything around is non-Islam. Not to make society an excuse to not to practice. So we gave practical ways to maintain constant on the deen.

This week is to remind that practising brothers will always be the minority unless there is a concerted effort to change the very society.

Concept:
Change of society leads to change of individuals, therefore our work must be to change the corrupt Society to an Islamic Society.

The influence of society:
Going straight to the point. Why is it we know more about Rooney/Gerald/Drogba than Umar al Khattab (ra) Abu Bakr (ra) Imam Ali(ra). We know more about Man U/ Liverpool than the Sahaba (ra)/ Scholars of Haqq (ra)? Simply we are bombarded with these, day in & day out! Why?

Jahil Muslims, a natural product of non-Islam:
So to maintain their dominance over us, to maintain the status qou. To maintain their viewpoint in life. Touch on integration (through school education systems). The biggest influencer is the established norms around us like freedom, democracy, evolution, individualism, wordly distraction (Peerpressure, Easter, Christmas, World cup, Premiership, Cricket).

When the norms encourage your brother, sister, mother, father to think about his freedom and due to this your sister becomes a lap-dancer, your mother has a boyfriend, your father becomes a paedophile and your brother becomes Gay! (like Eastenders)…

Thinking of change:
So naturally a man with clear vision would think about changing that norm and to live in the atmosphere of Imaan. Show how things would be and was in an Islamic state (something we had! Reminding them of glimpse of Ramadhan. Touch upon little at this stage, to be elaborated at conclusion).

Me, Myself & My Islam:
But todays individualism has affected man to think about himself (animalistic instinct). He thinks about perfecting himself, morally & personally and then he will than be ready to face society. To justify to himself that he is not selfish, he imposes this view on others, so others perfect themselves.

Refuting the Individual Approach:
Perfecting oneself in Islam is on going, not selfish & individualistic. Perfecting oneself is adhering to the commands & prohibitions of Allah SWT. Call to Islam is call to whole of Islam not a call to just morals, which infact hinders the change. When your mum gets imprisoned or your brother gets arrested under flimsy anti-terror laws, do you ask them to perfect themselves! Was it because they did not practice their Deen. When your community is under siege & forced to apologise about 7/7 (which was not done by community), when your community are told to spy on their children, spy on other Muslims, when your community are forced to join MI5! When your community told its ok to insult RasulAllah (saws)! When your community are told to be ‘moderate’ and to fight the ‘extremist’.

Ummah's problem is one:
Our problem is not an individual problem but a problem shared by the whole Ummah. Naturally the work starts in the Muslim Lands.

It’s not just muslim communities in UK, its all over the world. But with them there is added confusion and brutal force, occupation, poverty, death, etc. The Muslims have an Imaan which is constantly challenged by the norms of Non-Islam wherever they are.

It is absolutely unnatural for muslims to live under non-islam and not do anything to change that. Ummah lived under complete Islam 96% of its life, but today it seems like a far dream only to those who have no hope & no vision.

Change of society leads to change of individuals:
In conclusion we must understand when society changes, this affects every individual. When the society is Islamic then naturally we will know more about the sahaba (ra), the salaf (ra), the khalaf (ra), be inclined towards tafsir, ahadith etc on a greater level. Even the non-Muslims will be affected; nobody is immune unless they are hermits.

It is also important to understand that it is also the society that produces the great personalities in greater numbers like Ash-Shafi'ee (ra), Abu Hanifah (ra), Al Biruni (ra), Al Khawarazmi (ra), Harun Ar Rashid (ra), An Nawawi (ra), Umar Abdul Aziz (ra), Salah Uddin (ra), Tariq ibn Ziyad (ra) etc

In fact we will witness thousands attending talks by our shuyukhs than seeing thousands going to football or concerts. We will be hanging about in Halaqahs not Pubs or with girls. Our viewpoint becomes one of pleasing our Rabb SWT more than pleasing our desires. We will be constantly reminded of our duties as an Ummah & our Unity will be obvious. When we fail to understand this then we will only think about changing just as an individual - becoming selfish & isolated.

Some Daleel: Refer to Surah Nasr (110: 1-2); Surah Radd (13:11) (including Imam Al Qutubi’s (ra) tafsir) and Hadith of the boat.

End with dua. May Allah SWT give us tawfik to understand this and make us work to change our bad situation. Ameen

Wa alhamdulillahir Rabbil Alaimin
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What they said...

“Islam represented the greatest military power on earth…It was the foremost economic power in the world…It had achieved the highest level so far in human history, in the arts and sciences of civilization...Islam in contrast created a world civilization, poly-ethnic, multiracial, international, one might even say intercontinental.”





[Bernard Lewis, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Orientalist and Historian, 2001]





"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…the civilization I'm talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600… Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage"





[Carly Fiorina, ex-CEO of Hewlett-Packard, 2001]





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[Lothrop Stoddard, Ph.D (Harvard), American political theorist and historian, 1932]





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[Jared Diamond, UCLA sociologist and Author, 1997]



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[Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, Professor at Harvard University, 1932]





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