There is only one Islam

http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2010/04/there-is-only-one-islam.html

To: Muslim leadership from every denomination.
Dedicated to Dr. Imam Yusuf Kavakci. The following two pictures were from the Unityday USA event, which was an inter-faith and intra-faith event.

Written and sent to Dr. Kavakci on 2/4/2010 1:20:58 A.M. Central Daylight Time and he responded back, that efforts will take time.

There is only one Islam
Mike Ghouse

There is only one Islam, but each one of us sees it differently. While there is hardly a disagreement on “many” a key issues, we certainly disagree on some. I dedicate this to our Imam Dr. Yusuf Zia Kavakci, who has encouraged me to do my individual share of work in bringing the ummah together, those words have constantly motivated me and I continue to strive towards that goal.

We have to learn to accept that God has created us as unique beings; each one of us has his own different thumb print, his own DNA and his own ID. He did not punch us out like the Farishtas (angels) on his mass production machine, each one of us was made unique; one at a time.

Among Muslims of all hues you will get 100% consensus on the subject of Tauheed (Oneness of creation), Muhammad (pbuh) being the last Prophet, and several other items that most will agree. However there are areas we differ and on perhaps partially agree, such as the format of Hijab, Prayers, women leading the prayers, Public Sharia (deals when more than one person is in the equation), divorce, conversion and a few other issues, we have the God given right to have a different perspective. No one should even dream of compelling anyone to conformity, it simply goes against the human Fitra (nature). God loves his creation and shares his wisdom with us in Qur’aan that there is no compulsion in matters of faith.

Over the centuries we have learned to accept different perceptions of the same “fact” as to what prophet said in his last sermon. While the Shia believe that the prophet assigned the role of leadership to his family members, the Sunnis believe that no was assigned to lead them and their version is “I am leaving the book to you to read and understand” whereas the Shia version add the progeny to the book.

Among Shia’s we differ and hence we have the Shia, Bohra, Ismaili and a few more classifications. Among the Sunnis we have the progressives, Barelavis, the Deobandis, the Nahadtul ulamas, the Wahhabis, Salafis etc, and within each we have several others like Ahle Sunnat, Sufis, Kurds, and a few more. Then we also have the Ahmadiyya and Warith Deen Muhammad Branches. Each group is claiming to be rightly guided by the Quraan.

Who is really right then? Should the large numbers among Sunnis give them the right to be right? Didn’t prophet have only two people supporting his mission for a while? Did their numbers make them wrong? Does Shia’s claim to the family of Prophet make them right? Guess what, all of us are right, we have to have the humility in us to respect other point of view. No one has to be wrong for us to be right; it is a difficult thought for those binary people who see things in black and white, it is like pulling the earth from beneath them, they feel threatened to even consider the idea that all of us could be right, some how they are conditioned to believe some one has to be wrong for them to be right. We have to get out of the mode of seeing others from our limited point of view without giving them the same right.

The differences are legitimate and we must accept them instead of fighting who is right, only Allah will decide that, not now, but on that elusive Day of Judgment. Indeed, we differ on some issued but not all, and we must be cognizant of this. We need to fight the temptation that acknowledging other Muslims’s tradition as good as ours, will somehow diminish our own tradition, it does not.

When God calls on us on the Day of Judgment, it is our deeds that matter. In Islam, the idea of Munkir- Nakir, the angels (your own conscience) who register your bad and good karma exists; signifying the freedom one has to pile up either side and live with its consequences in terms of anguish (Hell fire) and serenity (Jannah). A good deed is your clear responsibility to the creation; life and matter.

Our Unity should be based on the Shahada (Pledge) to bring justness and peace to the world at large, also referred as Aalameen. We are Muslims, the peace makers, and when we band together, it is to do “good” and not to be against some one, such unions are false and won’t last.

What you do with your Deen is your responsibility as what I do is mine. Neither of us is answerable to any one but God. Islam is large enough to accommodate all our differences.

The Neocons of all faiths (http://hatesermons.blogspot.com/2008/03/neocons.html ) have successfully created hostility between Iran and Saudi Arabia, between Hamas and Fatah, between Shia’s and Sunnis and between us. Do we need to blame them? Absolutely not, we need to understand our own dumbness in allowing others to place wedges between us. It is time for us to wake up and join in with our differences to repair the world. God has given us this opportunity to be the peace makers of the world, first let’s have peace between us and extend that to the world.

Would you pledge to yourselves, that when some one highlights the differences within us, you would say;

1. The differences are God given” so is the “free will” and as an individual I am committed to peace within and peace for all, that is what Islam means.
2. God guides me to know each other, so together we can create a kingdom of peace for all the seven billion of us.
3. I understand that my safety hinges on safety of others that surround me and I cannot have peace when others around me aren’t.”

I further pledge that;

I would resist all temptations to mis-represent the otherness of other traditions. No matter what any one tries to get me to say negatively about Sunni or Shia, Ismaili or Bohra, Ahmadi or Wahhabi or any faith for that matter. I will refrain from talking ill about others (applies to all faiths and traditions) and present them not to make them look bad or make mine look better, but for people to know what is that they believe without classing them.

No matter where I go, I want people to see me as a peace maker, some one who is bent on mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill.

I don’t want people to be afraid of a Muslim or his beard or her Hijab, instead they should say OMG, here comes a Muslim, a peace maker, the truthful, the trustworthy and the Amin.” Amen!
It will take ten years to change the world around us. Would you do your share?
We can take this message to the world, each one of us have to do our part.

Jazak Allah Khair.

Mike Ghouse
(214) 325-1916
http://www.WorldMuslimCongress.com and
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/

Mike Ghouse is a thinker, writer speaker and an activist of pluralism, interfaith, co-existence, peace, Islam and India. He is a frequent guest at the TV, radio and print media offering pluralistic solutions to issues of the day. His websites and Blogs are listed on http://www.mikeghouse.net/