Welcome, brother Moslems [Archives:2005/855/Opinion]

When the Prophet Mohammed (peace of Allah be upon him) delivered the message faithfully and with all the dedication that a prophet could muster up, he embarked on a mission of universal implications that to this day still represents the ideal international order. With the message of peace that the religion of Islam even enjoins in its name, there can be no comparison to the importance that Islam places on the advancement of human welfare and social cohesion, not just on a regional plane, but throughout the world.

But, regrettably, the Nation of Islam has indeed become the underdog of the world. Rather than standing atop the world, the Moslem world is subject to all the agonies, misery and pitiful transgression by every evil that one can imagine to befall a nation. Paramount in this pitiful situation is the regrettable lack of harmony among the Moslems in the world. This is not only in facing up to the challenges that are brought on by hostile forces of every denomination that confront the Ummah, we have even forgotten how to get our act together and energize our development to become modern nations that can stand up to all forms of social degradation most of the countries in the Moslem World are facing. The most pitiful aspect of this is that as a nation, we have forgotten the universalism and brotherhood that Islam insists is part and parcel of our creed. Thus, there is pain and agony here and there amongst our brothers everywhere. However most of the countries suffice by declaring their vocal condemnation, while at the same time, some countries even succumb to the wishes of the very forces that seek to destroy our being.

We have allowed our religion to become misunderstood even by the very adherents to Islam as we become drawn into a senseless sectarian argument that should have died long ago, had good sense and mutual interest become the driving force behind the policies we as a nation pursue. No, this is not the work of conspiracies, mysterious clandestine operations and myriad mysteries that we seek to cover our own inaptitude to facing the internal roots of self-destruction that are being implanted by our very own brothers, who find pleasure in nurturing this with an avowed mind-boggling diligence that defies explanation.

We have been blessed with the most convincing arguments for advancing the welfare of not just our own brothers, but the entire world, yet we are at a loss at confronting the forces in our midst that seek to turn Islam into a quest for political and social hegemony at the expense of the peace and tranquility of the rest of their respective communities.

So, what should the leaders of the Moslem World do in such a forbidden environ as we live in today? Certainly, they should meet – and meet as often as possible. But, realistically are all these meetings getting us anywhere to meeting all the awesome challenges confronting the nation? Even in these meetings, are the representatives laying out the real hard issues facing the nation: retarded development, hunger, oppression, lack of equity, bad governance, misarranged priorities and misguided extremism.

Then, if these are the issues, why aren't these meetings coming out with substantive solutions to these living issues we are witnessing, no matter how hard we try to close our eyes to them.

This observer has had the opportunity to visit many Moslem communities throughout the world and it is indeed refreshing to come back home knowing that at the grass roots level, many leaders will be surprised to learn that there are a lot of common grounds of agreement between Moslems throughout the world. Sadly, these common grounds are not to be seen amongst the leadership of many of the Moslem countries. The logical thing is then that Moslem leaders throughout the world need to come to grips with the reality that they and their constituencies do not see eye to eye in the way the Moslem World is living up to our moral and spiritual commitments to God and to our people. Their constituencies may indeed be closer to what is expected of us as a nation than their leaderships, who have become more enmeshed in the narrow interests that they view as being part and parcel of their existence. Wouldn't their attachment to the guiding spirit of the universalism of Islam be a far more rewarding and uplifting pursuit?
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