The Fight for the Soul of Islam in America by Yahiya Emerick

[Guest guest]

The Fight for the Soul of Islam in America

Amidst the competing agendas of Salafees, Sufis and Modernists,

Yahiya Emerick calls on " everyday Muslims " to remember that Islam is

a balanced way of life.

 

If you're like me, you really care about Islam becoming a permanent

part of the fabric of this nation. You don't want to be the last

Muslim in your family tree either and you're convinced that Islam

would make everyone around you much happier if they only gave it a

try. You or I may not always be the most perfect Muslims, but we do

work at it and we genuinely hope in the mercy and forgiveness of

Allah.

 

Now if you get around, like I do, you've been to a variety of

Masjids, conferences, gatherings and dinners. I say a variety because

the style and substance between one and the next can be like night

and day. You probably also have seen at least one copy of the several

types of Muslim magazines that are in circulation. It would be hard

not to given that the people who publish them usually give them away

free at every gathering they can find. (No wonder no one s,

they always get them free.)

 

You've probably also heard a lot of different types of scholars speak

and heard a lot of different theories and concepts presented for how

to live Islam. Some you may agree with, others you may not. But isn't

it true that there's always something going on somewhere, whether

it's in the Masjids, universities, organizations, magazines or

centers? There's always something going on and always some idea being

advanced.

 

And if you've noticed, as I surely have, there is quite a lot of

range in the opinion and presentation style. So much so that you

would think different religions were being taught at each function!

Some conferences, magazines or Masjids make you love Islam while

others make you feel like grabbing your Eman and running away and

hiding. Amazing isn't it?

 

What of organizations? The same holds true. There are a zillion

Muslim groups operating in North America right now. So many, in fact,

that most everyday Muslims don't know who they should support and

thus remain dormant. Part of the problem which is fueling this

tendency to inaction is that we often don't see the members of many

of the organizations practicing or implementing any meaningful sense

of Islamic brotherhood, at least in the way you or I have read it's

supposed to be done according to the Qur'an and Sunnah.

 

In fact, we so often complain about there being too many Islamic

groups who don't reflect Islamic teachings that it can be quite un-

nerving. But we have to redefine this lament in order to get at the

real crux of the problem. The real issue is not that there are too

many Islamic groups out there- hey, the more Islamic groups the

merrier! Neither is the issue whether or not the groups adhere to

Islamic standards, because if you're a Muslim, you work for Allah

regardless of how helpful the people around you are.

 

The real problem is that each group seems to teach something

different or to present Islam in their own, narrow way, to the

exclusion of the rest of the Ummah. They give us their interpretation

of what the perfect Muslim does and then they ardently try to get

everyone else to follow this interpretation. Other Islamic groups,

who may lean in a different way, are then labeled " weak " Muslims, mis-

guided or even kuffar. Thus the wall of disrespect.

 

If you're interested in participating in the building of a healthy,

self-perpetuating Islamic community in North America, then you

probably look upon all this foolishness and sigh in sorrow. But if

you're really an optimist, as Islam tries to get you to be, then you

just don't complain about something, you try to understand the

problem and then work towards a solution. So how can we learn how to

cure this problem and how can we know which direction for change we

must take? To do that then, requires a little analysis. So let's go.

 

First, we have to recognize that Islam in America is probably closer

to the true teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, may he be blessed,

than at any other time in the last five hundred years. No, I'm not

saying that Muslims are better believers today. I'm saying that the

access to pure Islamic teachings and the ability to live them to

their fullest moral and social potential is more pronounced here, in

North America, than in Iraq, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan,

Afghanistan, Nigeria or anywhere else. The Muslim world: forget about

it. It's too bogged down in stupidity, corruption, nationalism,

racism and every other kind of ailment you can imagine. The light of

Islam has been put out in the Muslim world and has been reborn in the

heart of the secular, faithless West. (Allah is truly great!)

 

There is nothing you or I can do to improve the Muslim world.

Nothing. Just accept it and get over it. Part of being a Muslim is to

choose your battles wisely. Even the Prophet left Mecca when he saw

no more change could come. In the open and cosmopolitan society of

Medina, the focus of the Muslims was in building a solid community

which could live in relative safety. The Medinan situation is where

the ideal of the community took form and flowered. We are now in the

Meccan times today in the Muslim world and Islam, like so many

Muslims, has made Hijrah to safer lands where it can work on

regaining its strength.

 

Think about it: living in the West is the real test of a believer.

You're living Islam in a place where there are no restrictions

against your 'Ibadah. No one will prevent you from praying here, no

one will make you shave your beard or remove your Hijab. (If someone

tries, you can take them to court!) No one will make you eat pork or

renounce your beliefs. No one will make you stare like a wolf at a

pretty girl. No one will make you take drugs or alcohol. No one can

make you lie, cheat or steal. No one will make you open a liquor

store or accept interest money. No one will prevent you from living

near the Masjid, etc... America today is literally Sodom and Gomorra:

a place where anything, including Islam, is allowed. You are like

Prophet Lut in the midst of the pit of sin. No one made him change

his religion. He prayed and taught whatever he wanted. Most people

just refused to listen, that's all.

 

The whole matter comes down to you. It's you who will either grow in

strength and Taqwa or sink into depravity and wish for your endless

desires to be filled. If a person accepts Islam, they can develop

themselves to their fullest moral potential even while surrounded by

the most alluring temptations. The advantage for Muslims here is that

no one can legally oppose you and you have access to the most

accurate Islamic information from books, to audios and videos to

whatever. And you don't have the stupid village traditions about wily

jinns, evil eyes and palm reading and the like to dilute your

knowledge as they have in virtually all Muslim countries.

 

So now that we know that the Islamic potential is the greatest here,

and that most of the Islamic program can flourish pretty much

unimpeded, what currents are going on among the Muslims of North

America and what forces are tugging at them. Well, to be blunt, we

have a lot of Muslims who are trying to import the garbage of the

Muslim world into North American Islam. At the same time, we have

some converts to Islam here who are trying to blend the garbage of

the West into Islam as well.

 

Think about that for a minute. In most of our Masjids and

conferences, over half of what you hear being talked about will be

issues of politics overseas or the mindless promotion of sectarianism

that is over a thousand years old. I'm sitting here watching the

second generation out in the parking lot of the Masjid blaring pop

music from their expensive cars and talking to the opposite sex while

their parents are inside arguing about things that have been argued

about forever. In the end, everyone goes home mad because they staked

their identity on non-issues and petty sectarianism. The teens,

however, have a hot date to look forward to that weekend.

 

This sectarianism has no place in Islam in America whether its the

Shi'a/Sunni thing or the fundamentalist/modernist clash. Let me tell

you something interesting. I taught in an Islamic school a few years

back in Michigan. Fully a third of the students came from Arab Shi'a

families, the other two-thirds were from Sunni Arab families with the

odd Indo-Pak kid here and there. By themselves, these kids mixed with

each other and thought they were all just Muslims. It was beautiful.

The Shi'a kids didn't think they were Shi'a and the Sunni kids

likewise. Everyone was a Muslim.

 

The second year I was there, sectarianism reared its ugly head. Some

of the parents (and these were all settled immigrants who were

involved) objected to the fact that a " Shi'a " was on the school

board. Some of the " Shi'a " parents objected to the " Sunni "

orientation of the school and to the performance of the Eclipse

prayer in a certain manner. (Never mind that the Prophet's basic

definition of a Muslim was believing in the message of the Shahadah,

making Salat and eating Halal meat!)

 

You can well imagine the situation six months later. Most of the

Shi'a kids, at the behest of a few parents, formed themselves into a

unified block and some even refused to pray with the rest of the

students at Zuhr time. Some of the Sunni kids started spreading

rumors about what they thought Shi'a beliefs were and on it went. By

the time it was all over, the Shi'a families pulled their kids out

and opened a school of their own a year later and the Sunni families

rejoiced, even as their school was plunged into chaos and financial

hardship from the exodus of so many tuition-paying families. The

garbage of the Muslim world, brought in the suitcases of those who

came here, disillusioned a whole lot of people- for nothing. (I'm not

immigrant bashing, mind you, for many immigrant Muslims I know are

models of the perfect Muslim. I'm talking about specific issues here

only and the few who participate in them and ruin it for the

majority.)

 

Beyond the Shi'a/Sunni thing, however, there is a heated ideological

debate going on in the majority Muslim community (the so called

Sunnis). It threatens to destroy the vibrancy of the rising Muslim

community and has the potential to create a wide, new gulf between

Muslims as serious as the ones currently plaguing the Muslim world.

This debate centers around three, powerful forces. There are the

Salafees, the Sufis, and the Modernists. Most Muslims don't adhere to

any of these three groups, and rather prefer to just live as good

Muslims. But because the organizations, magazines, Masajid and

centers are often controlled by one of these three groups, (because

they're motivated by their cause to promote themselves,) it's

inevitable that the regular Muslim becomes embroiled in the

contentious issues and stupidity. And that's the last thing they

wanted!

 

We all know that Islam must adapt to this environment to survive. No,

I don't mean that the teachings or beliefs of Islam must change,

that's an idiotic line of thought that some wealthy secularists are

pushing. No, Islam must stay intact for it to be acceptable to

Allah. " Adaptation " is not the same thing as " change, " however.

Islam " adapted " to Malaysia, Pakistan, Morocco, Turkey, Bosnia and

Gambia. Islam didn't change, it adapted. No one complains about that.

So if Islam needs to do the same here, (adapt,) then instead of

complaining that our kids love pizza and hate kabobs or can't

identify our home country on a map, we must get to work and see how

we can implement the Islamic lifestyle in this American context

faithfully.

 

What the three opposing sides in the struggle for the future

direction of Islam in America want is for Islam to adapt here in

their specific ideological way- in the way that is acceptable to

their narrow world view. The Salafee-style Muslims, who almost always

are Middle-Easterners, have a conservative vision which is usually

intimately tied to Arab culture and politics. They shun everything

modern or Western, unless it can be used to further their cause, and

they feel nervous all the time lest some point of " correct belief " is

breached by some Muslim here or there.

 

When you read their books or magazines, you find everything they say

about Islam is in terms of correct/incorrect. (Such and such is not

correct belief, etc...) It is admirable, of course, to be interested

in the truth, but in their approach there is no life, no love, no

spirituality. It's all about legalism such as the legalism of the

Jews at the time of Prophet 'Esa. Hence, the recently coined

condition of " Salafee Burn-out " whereby people drop out of this

movement after their heart has been completely drained of all

spirituality.

 

For the Salafees, " Everything is Haram " seems to be their primary

position of Fiqh and something is only allowed if one of their

Sheikhs issues a big fatwa and says it's OK. They always take the

position of most hardship for people as well. Such as saying face

veils are required for all women, women should never pray in the

Masjid, any type of bank account, even a non-interest bearing

checking account is haram, etc... All these " fatwas " are from Al

Jumu'ah magazine, one of their premier party publications. (Al

Jumu'ah magazine, by the way, has a checking account in a Western

bank per the admission of the editor in a private phone conversation

with a friend of mine.)

 

In addition, their emphasis is on imitating the Prophet so closely

that one's desire is to become a robot. If the Prophet wore a leather

sandal, they will wear a leather sandal. If he didn't like the taste

of squash, they never eat it. If he held a staff, they walk around

with sticks in their hands. If he used a sword in battle, they hang

swords all over their houses. If he grew up in Arabia, they hang

pictures of the desert all over their houses and buy stuffed camels

for their children to play with. If he wore a red cloak, they all buy

red cloaks, if he said a Du'a once, they say it all day, if he used a

miswak, they walk around all day with miswaks hanging from their

mouths, etc...

 

I like the line where they say they want more than one wife because

the Prophet had more than one. They say they are being a " Sunnah man "

by doing it. Interestingly enough, the Prophet had only one wife

until he was about 53 years old, and after that he married mostly

widows and other women in need of support. So what are all

these " Sunnah men " doing marrying another wife in their thirties and

forties? Follow the Sunnah exactly, wait until your old, then marry a

second wife.

 

Regarding his eating habits, the Blessed Prophet ate dates, camel

milk, moistened barley, coarse bread and the like most of the time.

He almost never ate meat. But all the Salafees are " kabob kings " -

eating meat with almost every meal. Where's the barley? Where's the

camel milk? Why do dates only come out in Ramadan? He also only took

a staff regularly when he was old. I could go on and on and on.

Sounds like they are " Selective Sunnah " men to me!

 

Indeed, they fail to distinguish between Sunnahs (both moral and

behavioral) based on Islam which the Prophet promoted, and mere

personal habits or the cultural conditions of the time.

(Interestingly enough, the Prophet always wore a turban and told

people to do likewise, but you hardly ever see the Salafees wearing

turbans. Really now, is the modern-style Kufi necessarily " Islamic " ?

Who invented it? What type of head covering did the Prophet, peace be

upon him, wear?

 

There is big oil money behind the Salafee groups. They are funded by

the Saudis, Kuwaitis, Middle-Eastern businessmen and others. The

Salafees, therefore, lean towards supporting the policies of these

gulf-Arab governments and have very good ties with the corrupt

religious establishments in that oil-rich region. Their main

celebrities are extremely conservative Sheikhs, almost always Arabs,

who come from the king-supported universities in either Saudi Arabia,

Kuwait or Jordan. (I hope you understand I'm not " Arab-bashing "

either.) Their master is an Albanian who was raised in the Middle

East whose name is, appropriately, Al Albani. He did most of his work

years ago and was so audacious that he even labelled many accepted

ahadith from Bukhari and Muslim as " weak " or fabricated. For the

Salafees, there is Allah, the Prophet, Ibn Taymiyah and Al Albani.

This is their chain of authority.

 

The Salafees have been reasonably good at recruiting some African

Americans into their fold through the distribution of thousands of

nearly free books written in their ideological style, but most native

Muslims, black or white, have remained aloof, complaining of too much

legalism and emphasis on ultra-correctness that tears the heart out

of Iman. ( " I didn't become a Muslim because I wanted to become

embroiled in legal disputes and challenges all the time. " is a common

statement.)

 

Will they be successful? I don't think so. Many MSA's are controlled

by Salafee minded students and the first thing they do is either

exclude totally or marginalize the participation of sisters. They

also drive away almost all of the Western born Muslim students,

sometimes in a very shameful way. (I've seen it first hand and have

had innumerable others tell me about their experiences.) When they

run a Masjid, it becomes a hot-bed of Arab nationalism/culturalism.

Even if their are African American Salafee recruits there, they

orient them towards Arab political concerns. I really feel it is a

movement that can only survive with continued immigration from the

Middle East. It's not a movement that can be passed on to their

children. I've met and taught the children of Salafees many times

before. They are the most disillusioned about Islam of all.

 

The Modernists are next in our analysis, for indeed, these people are

the most potent of the enemies of the Salafees. They are made up

principally of settled Muslim immigrants from the Indian Sub-

continent (with a few from the Arab world). No, not all Indo-Pak

Muslims are modernists, mind you, just a small, very powerful

segment. The modernists, who are almost always wealthy professionals,

follow the Western-style secular-liberal tradition. (The

infamous " American Muslim " crowd. When a person places their national

citizenship in front of their Muslim designation, then watch out! The

priorities are made clear.)

 

They were brought up in countries in which the ways of the British

(and now the mythological Americans) are worshipped and idolized to

this day. They are the people who are almost always in control of the

suburban immigrant-dominated Masjids and Islamic schools (because

only they had the money/clout to build them). What is their agenda?

 

In my experience, observations and travels, I seem to have identified

three main goals of these modernists. They can be roughly listed as:

Assimilation of Islam into the American mainstream, promoting an

interpretation of Islam which is as loose and uncontroversial as

modern Christianity or Judaism, and finally, curiously enough, the

establishment of a class system based on status, position and a well-

defined hierarchy dominated by the leader class. All three of these

things are in contradiction to each other, but this fact seems to

have escaped their intellectual gymnastics.

 

Their goal of assimilation is easy to analyze: they want to be like

the Jewish community in America. That is their model and they always

reference it. They have this image of the Jews as being a

" prosperous " minority which is accepted in mainstream American

society. The Jews, in their eyes, control the media, government and

foreign policy of this nation and therefore cause American policy to

be pro-Israel.

 

They do this with no serious backlash and no one bothers them based

on their religion or ethnic group. Of course, the strengths of the

Jewish community in America are well known, but what the modernists

fail to realize is that the Jews have no religion. They are thinly

united on a loose, ethnic affiliation and there is never any talk of

prayer, morality, obedience to God or anything of the sort. As is

accepted by all today, most Jews are atheists or hopelessly secular.

(Inter-marriage with non-Jews, according to the few Orthodox Jews in

America, is threatening to destroy even that tenuous ethnic

affiliation.)

 

Modernists fight against communal living and never desire to

challenge the validity of other religions, desiring, rather, to " live

among the society " and to " dialogue " with others. Now if the

modernists succeeded in getting themselves and their families

assimilated in the same way the Jews are, then they would be Muslims

no longer. (I have met a lot of Modernist Muslims and almost all of

their children are hopelessly unIslamic.) They would be Americans of

Indo-Pak heritage who are only interested in getting foreign aid

dollars for their nostalgic homeland. Their spoiled, fun-loving

Americanized children of course, would not continue this trend and

thus their mission of foreign aid dollars for home-country X, Y or Z

would dry up real fast.

 

Once you give up the forms and structures of Islam, once you no

longer really believe that it's true, then you defeat your original

purpose, and that is to stay intact as an identifiable community. If

no one prays, goes to the Masjid or reads the Qur'an, then your

community is reduced to iced-tea sippers who water their lawns on

Friday afternoons. Then there is no community after all. The paradox

is that it's the modernists who make Americans less afraid of Islam

and they are also the ones who usually make the mainstream aware of

our holidays and similarities with them. Go figure.

 

The second goal of the modernists is to dilute Islam so much that it

becomes harmless and " normal " in the eyes of non-Muslims. They want

an Islam where there are no Hijabs, no beards, no prohibition of

interest, no judgments of right or wrong, no haram meat and certainly

no moral restrictions on personal or social conduct. The modernist

agenda is basically to make Islam as irrelevant and harmless

as " Reform " Judaism. (Maybe they'll make a " Reform " Islam one day.)

 

Their favorite argument against any teaching of Islam that they don't

like is saying that it's based on a " weak " Hadith or that the

scholars are " divided " about the issue- so they can do as they see

fit! I have seen all of these ideas promoted by modernists and I'm

sure you have as well. What's the point of saying you're a Muslim if

you throw everything in Islam out that you don't like? This last

objective is shamelessly played out everyday in our Masjids and

politically-oriented " Muslim " organizations.

 

What about the class system? Indo-Pak culture is very old. It spans

thousands of years of civilization and has its own features and

values which govern how people interact. Whereas Arab culture is

usually very egalitarian, Indo-Pak culture tends to be very, very

structured. I guess we shouldn't be surprised when we realize that

the Hindu caste system is still alive and well in the sub-continent

even as it has been for four thousand years. Of course, the Muslims

also follow this caste system to one degree or another and the

culture of the Saab, Saheeb, Maulana, Zamindar and Nawab has been

transferred to America in the form of a hierarchy based on wealth and

family status. I'm not going to go into detail about this because

it's just too sickening and I'm sure you've seen enough examples to

make your head spin. I just want you to think about what you've seen

and why it is wrong.

 

The last group which seeks to have its vision of Islam prevail in

America is the Sufis. Now the Sufis are a hard bunch to define

because they literally run from one end of the spectrum to the other.

There are " Popcorn " Sufis who are usually white (or Jewish) Americans

who want to experiment with this mysterious and cool sounding thing

called Sufism. There is no Islam there at all. All they do is the

chanting and dancing that they think is Sufism and then they go home

and do whatever immoral things they choose. Such people are spiritual

drifters who may go on to Tibetan Buddhism or Yoga next.

 

The legitimate Sufis are those who claim allegiance to Islam and who

don't go overboard with the chanting, weird mysticism or dancing.

The " halal " Muslim Sufis in America are usually affiliated with

mother-organizations which are based in the Muslim world. They

organize themselves into Tariqas, or Orders, with a leader, known as

a Sheikh- the followers being spiritual " initiates. " Their primary

goal is to develop love for Allah and to spread Islamic peace to

other people. But in their emphasis on spirituality, they sometimes

are as extreme in their particular direction as the Salafees are in

the opposite direction.

 

They sometimes resort to singing, ritual dancing and praying for long-

since dead Sheikhs in ways that look suspiciously like hero-worship.

While there is nothing wrong with group dhikr or molding one's self

to model the Prophet's emphasis on love and understanding, many

Muslims find that their style of dress (straight out of 1001 Arabian

Nights) and their emphasis on tolerance at all costs can sometimes

make their methodology difficult to model. In addition, many Muslims

are put off by the term, " Saints, " which they apply to their

ancient " Spiritual Masters. " (For Allah's sake, don't use the

Christian term " Saint! " It doesn't mean the same thing as " Wali " does

in Arabic and misleads people!) I also find it strange that some Sufi

groups, the Naqshabandis in particular, seem to wish for the return

of the Ottoman empire and they venerate that dynasty as if it were a

duty in Islam to do so. In their magazine, " The Muslim Magazine " they

refer to one of the descendants of the last Ottoman Sultan as " Her

Highness. " Now what is that?

 

It has been noted by several contemporary writers that the Salafee

approach has brought death to the Eman of the second generation while

the Sufi approach has caused Eman to be reborn among the youth. But

the difficulty for the youth is that the majority of them would find

it very hard to dress in green turbans, flowing robes and giant

beards in their high schools and colleges. If only we could take half

a Salafee with their correctness and half a Sufi with their

spirituality (and add a dash of modernist adaptability) and put them

together in one body, then we would have the perfect Muslim!

 

It's truly amazing when you really take a close look at each side.

Each one of them has a serious defect which they are blinded to, but

each also has a strength that needs to be present. The end result is

that each side loses its followers as fast as they gain them. The

Salafees drop out from spiritual draining, the Sufis drop away from

to much fruitiness and the Modernists leave no second generation of

believers behind them. Meanwhile, the masses of the Muslims are

waiting for direction so that we can get down to the business of

living Islam and building a viable, self-perpetuating community in

America.

 

How do these three very different trends interact in America? Well,

the modernists are the enemies of both the Salafees and Sufis, for

obvious reasons, and tend to shun both, preferring to participate

in " bridge-building " with non-Muslims. So for now, let's discuss the

current, fierce battle between the Salafees and Sufis. Its not a new

one. In fact, this battle has been raging in the Muslim world for

over a thousand years. The Salafees quote their Ibn Taymeeyahs while

the Sufis quote their Abdul Qaadir Jilanis.

 

Just what is this battle about? Basically it comes down to the

difference between spiritual content and legal exactness. There are

rules in Islam but don't forget that Islam is more than rules. The

tragic thing is, as was outlined earlier, the two most vocal elements

from among the Sufis and Salafees go to extremes. The most radical

Sufis, in the history of Islam, actually began to incorporate Saint-

worship, wine-drinking, dancing and hokey-mysticism into their Islam,

while the most radical Salafees, in the history of Islam, actually

began to suppress any expression of joy or spiritual satisfaction in

Islam, equating it with unreliable emotion or suspicious beliefs. In

addition, their suppression of women's Islamic rights is well-known.

(The Salafees cheer the actions of the Taliban, and even fund them,

for example.)

 

Now it must be pointed out that most Sufis and Salafees do not go to

the fullest extreme, though many muddle around the edges, I'm talking

about the leadership, the official ideology and the methods and

practices of the loudest proponents of each pole. This same battle

goes on here in America today. There are super-Sufis who talk about

love ad nauseam and there are Salafee Fundamentalists who talk about

punishments and legal rules so much that they make even you scared of

and/or tired of Islam.

 

In the end, the interaction and friction caused thereby from each

group can leave us everyday Muslims confused. Where do we go for

reliable Islamic teachings? How can we cause our love of Allah to

grow? How do I adapt Islam to America and make my neighbors

understand me? These are the questions we ask everyday. When we see

the various groups at each other's throats we get doubly confused.

Whither Islam?

 

In this article I have tried to present a brief sketch of the main

ideological elements which are battling for the future direction of

Islam in America today. In the process I've probably succeeded in

getting everyone mad at me, but my heart has been crying out to make

these observations for some time now. (Remember, a Muslim is supposed

to love getting ihtisaab, even if they don't agree with it.) As we

have seen, the state of Islam in the international Muslim world is

that of an unconscious invalid, whereas it is becoming more vibrant

in the West.

 

Now, in the same way that American Christians have given up trying to

convert Americans to Christianity and are now sending their

missionaries and their billions to convert the illiterate natives of

the third world, Muslim activists have given up on the Muslim world

and have migrated to safer waters in the West where they can bother

and harass Muslims at will in the pursuit of their own particular

visions. This is the condition of the battlefield for the soul of

Islam. I just hope we can keep at least a few of the youth safe from

both atheistic secularism and also from the overpowering influence of

these three groups so that there will be some normal, functioning

Muslims to carry the torch of the Blessed Prophet's Islam into the

future.

 

My advice to you, my Muslim brothers and sisters, is to remember that

Islam is a balanced way of life, so seek balance by learning Islam

from your own reading of the Qur'an and Hadith and don't let your

hearts be swayed by those pulling you to an extreme pole. Join with

like-minded people locally and form your own study groups, social

networks and functions. You'd be surprised to learn that there is a

whole invisible network of Muslims who have nothing to do with their

local Masjids and organizations but who do Islamic activities all the

time from different people's homes and rented facilities.

 

You can do the same in your area if your local Masjid " leadership " is

beyond redemption. If you live in one of those rare communities where

the Masjid and school are fine then say alhumdulillah and get Muslims

to live around the Masjid. Whatever your situation, let's get to work

putting Islam into practice!

 

The Fight for the Soul of Islam in America by Yahiya Emerick

[Guest guest]

http://adishakti.org/_/fight_for_the_soul_of_islam_in_america_by_yahiya_emerick.\

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