Out of respect for the Prophet Mohammed, it is customary to say the words “peace be upon him” or a variant of this phrase whenever he is mentioned. In print this is abbreviated to PBUH. Here, in the letters, I assume the reader utters it as appropriate.
The return to the practices of our seventh- and eighth-century Muslim forefathers we were promised would bring us back the power, the glory, and the success that they enjoyed. There was another layer to the things we were taught. It did not always surface, but it was always there, I realize now. It was all the ideas that seemed to contradict earlier lessons. Ideas like suicide bombing. People would say that it was a great sacrifice to give your life for the community or the country or the Islamic Ummah, the global community of Muslims. My friends and I would ask how it was possible that committing suicide was seen as a great sin against Allah if done for reasons such as sadness, or unhappiness; and yet it was the greatest sacrifice a Muslim could make if it was done to fight the “enemy”? This question was relevant in the 1980s when I was a teenager, and is still relevant today.
When I hear of different value systems and how they are going to clash, I see the values of human beings striving for a better life. I write these letters to both of my sons, and to all young Muslim men and women, with the intention of opening their eyes to some of the questions they are likely to face and the range of possible answers that exist for them. I want to show them that there are questions that have persisted from the first beginnings of human thought, and that there is no reason for the modern Muslim not to engage with them as generations before them did. I want to reaffirm the duty to think and question and engage constructively with the world. I want my sons and their generation of Muslims to understand that we live in a world full of difference and diversity. I want them to understand how to be faithful to their inherited religion of Islam and its deepest values, as well as to see how to chart their way through a complex world. I want them to discover through observation and thought that there need be no conflict between Islam and the rest of the world. I want them to understand that even in matters of religion, there are many choices that we need to make. Not all that is presented as part and parcel of religion is necessarily the case. Much is presented as divine instruction but in fact reflects choices that other people have made for us. As I say in one of the following letters, there are structural principles in Islam, such as the search for knowledge and the command to use one’s mind and think about the world around us. I want my sons’ generation of Muslims to realize that they have the right to think and decide what is right and what is wrong, what is Islamic and what is peripheral to the faith. It is their burden to bear whatever decision they make.
More recent and more shocking videos come from the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, where you can watch suicide bombings with powerful anasheed (religious songs) as accompaniment. These Muslims are true Muslims you are told. They have sacrificed their lives for the honor of Islam and the Muslims. These young martyrs are ensconced in heaven today for having made the greatest sacrifice for Islam. They are the model to be emulated, for what could be more selfless, noble, and moral than to give up your life for the greater glory of Islam?
Here, my father and his colleagues were invited by another employee in the office to start an organization for Palestinian liberation. At the time the Palestinians were only a few years into their attempt to organize themselves after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. In the cozy world of the 1950s, the colleague was a man called Yasser Arafat, and he was establishing something that he wanted to call the Palestinian Liberation Organization. This organization became the standard-bearer for the Palestinian people. And my father would later come across Yasser Arafat in the course of his work. For reasons unknown to me, my father did not join or participate in the establishment of the PLO. This simply illustrates how small and intimate the community of educated Arabs was at the time. It also tells you that the thinking then was not religious; it was national and social. It was about people and their rights, and not about religion and power over others. This comes later. A friend of my father encouraged him to think of moving to Germany. Job prospects seemed good. He finally settled for up to six years in Düsseldorf. The lack of information, and therefore clarity, about these years is very frustrating. It is near to impossible to know what my father did and how he thought at this time. What was he doing in Germany? What was he planning to do? The only surviving remnants of his time in Germany are a few photographs from the early 1960s as well as an address and a large number of books in German. I would often look through his books to try to understand what he was interested in, what he was driven by. Finally, my father decided to move on, and as luck would have it, the Soviet government had established a scholarship system for Arab students. My research tells me that approximately two thousand Arabs benefited from the scholarships over the lifetime of the program. My father enrolled at Leningrad Polytechnic in what is now Saint Petersburg in 1964 and graduated in 1968 with a Russian wife—my mother, Lioudmila Alexandrovna Blagoveshenskaya.
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It seems my mind is being guided to consider the really important parts of the world's problems... It's not really guns, even though I will get back to that book ASAP... Frankly I never thought too much about it--I mean, how do you really know what religion another individual is unless you make assumptions, which I don't do about important things such as race, religion, sexual orientation--you know all those people who are covered under our U.S. Constitution...
All I can remember is that when I saw the book, somewhere, I knew I should read it... I started weeks ago, where the author began to give a history of the different divisions of the Muslim religion... Historical info that I didn't see why he started with that point to talk to his son... But, as I read, it began to sink in...
That's exactly what happened to individuals who had broken off from the Catholic Church, began their own places of worship and then became another denomination under the blanket groups of Protestant.
Right then I began to wonder--it seems that people who think, that analyzes what is being told to each one, will often begin to question what they are being taught. Indeed, recently I remembered to end a discussion with my BFE to say, "remember, think with your mind rather than your heart/emotions..."
To me, that is what is meant by the Free Will that God gave to each of us... Our mind over our emotions... Or, at least, thinking through an issue, even if you choose your emotions...
I had put this book aside because of the violence being initiated by the U.S. administration across the nation as well as the world--against anybody who is not an authoritarian with whom he obviously wishes to join.
My first awareness of having a Muslim friend, or rather, an online connection with whom I enjoyed watching as a news host, was Velshi, on MSNBC. Yes, I enjoyed his comments, but he was also leading a banned books ongoing review which I immediately loved. It was just by chance that one day two Muslim individuals acknowledged their common faith, else I would never really know, would I? Having been on a university campus for over 30 years, it was fair to say that I had routinely interacted with those of different faiths, including Muslims...
Thus my need to know more as the DEI actions by this administration has moved into extremes never known before in this land, or at least in the last 150 years, I think...
I'm about 1/3 of the way through. I've found nothing that this author is writing that is different than what I am synchronized with...
Ghobash began his search when his father was killed early in his life. He remembers that he was pulled out of school and taken home, where his mothers was crying. But nobody explained what happened until years later. Then, he began to question what he was being told about his death... You see, he was told that a terrorist, a Palestinian had been found guilty... But Omar had understood that there was full support of the ongoing plight of the Palestinians??? Then why would one man choose to murder his father?
The latest monstrosity of the Middle East is presented in its full magnanimity: the destruction of the Syrian people at the hands of the atheist, Kaffir, Baathi regime of Bashar al-Assad. You were very young when the so-called Arab Spring started in 2011. You knew that something was happening. You would catch glimpses of the news of massive demonstrations taking place in the central squares of a number of Arab capitals. These were revolutions. Tunisia was the first country to fall to the demonstrations. Its president fled. Egypt also had a revolution and its aging president was arrested and imprisoned. The Libyan leader was hunted down and killed in a gruesome manner. Yemen had an initially less violent outcome. And then all eyes were on Syria. The Syrian people demonstrated and danced and demanded change. Then Syrian children were arrested, tortured, and killed. Their bodies were returned to their families. More and more violence was committed against the Syrian demonstrators. You have grown up watching the daily reports of the deaths in Syria. You also know that the destruction of Syria and the radical forces that are operating in the territory of northern Syria and Iraq have led to a great migration of refugees into Turkey and then across into Europe. Initially, the Europeans welcomed these refugees with open arms. Other refugees had already been established in enormous camps in Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan. This new wave of refugees came across into Europe hoping for a better life than anything possible in the Middle East or North Africa. As Muslims, we watch these refugees risk life and limb to get away from where they originated.
In fact, they are trying to get away from what are Muslim countries and Muslim lands. The debates that are taking place in Europe have gone from theoretical openness to a practical anger and panic over the implications of the influx. As Muslims we are upset that our fellow Muslims are no longer so welcome in Europe. But as Muslims, we are also facing the question of why our Muslim societies are breaking down across the Middle East—from Afghanistan to Libya. You know that some of my work is concerned with the problem of Syria. You ask me when is it going to end. You seem to think that the world has left Syrians to their fate.
Here the videos of tortured and maimed Muslim children are countless. The outrage you feel is completely rational, and justified. The crimes committed against the innocent and the defenseless are condemned by all people everywhere. But no one seems to be doing anything about it. Who is going to put a stop to the carnage? Who is going to take revenge against the killers? Every day in the Arab world, in Europe, and in the United States, you are told that governments are helpless in the face of global economic forces, or climate change, or extremism. Governments are not going to do anything because they do not want to or because they cannot.
So the only one left is you. So what do you do? You are the only one who has an ounce of morality left. Only you seem to know the difference between right and wrong, between good and evil. There are others out there like you. They also feel the outrage. They feel the sense of impotence when they look at the way people seem to shrug at the news of the latest atrocity, and then get on with their mundane lives. Fast-food restaurants, TV shows, Facebook, and Instagram. You are all perplexed by the way people seem to be more interested in the petty politics of Congress and the European Union than they are by the greatest moral question of the twenty-first century. You, like human beings in general, have this constant urge to make sense of the world around you. It can be a painful process, but there is light at the end of this tunnel of worry, anxiety, and self-doubt. Could it be that the online ulema—or religious scholars of Islam—are correct? Could it be that they are the living embodiment of what Islam can and should and will become?
The path is clear, the language is straightforward and simple. When all the clutter of modern life is removed, the path opens up before you toward meaning and purpose. The more you look, the more you find what makes sense. You are all tapping into a great civilization. Or at least a civilization that was once great, and that must be great again. You believe that your parents do not understand the issues you face. They live in a different world. They are content with the mind-numbing and backbreaking work they do. They are isolated and powerless in the face of technologies and economic forces. Can they even call themselves good Muslims? You are embarrassed to think it, but you cannot help it: your parents are cowards who do not want to face the world. They are not the good Muslims that you thought they were. Islam has demands and it has rights over us. We need to be good, and being good means living up to the demands of Islam. What are your parents doing? Nothing. They mutter things under their breath when the news comes on, they are always tired and irritable. They do not have any convincing answers to your questions. In fact, not only are they not living up to the clear and simple dictates of Islam, but they are also dinosaurs who have no role in this life. You love them, but they are peripheral in the great battle of Good against Evil.
There is a moment when you are faced with a key question. If you are serious about being a good Muslim, a proper Muslim, a true Muslim, then you need to live like one. What are the models for this? Actually, the model is there in front of you. It is the model of the Prophet Mohammed. You are told to emulate him. In every way. This is a noble and straightforward thing. The idea of following the example of a good and noble historical figure is not strange at all. In fact, you hear about the need for role models at school, at work, and in business. Many people are trumpeted as role models—scientists, actors, singers, and scientists. Of all the role models we Muslims have, the Prophet Mohammed is the finest. Luckily, there is a long-standing tradition that outlines specific acts and sayings of the Prophet that allow you to fit yourself in smoothly. Some of the requirements, or at least what you are told are requirements, come across as quite strong, such as the need to distance yourself from non-Muslims entirely, and from Muslims who are not strictly observant. Soon, though, you join with others in expressing shock that such and such a person made what seemed to be an immoral joke, or that another Muslim was seen walking with a young lady who was not his relative. What could they be doing? you all wonder. And conclude that they must have been up to no good.
Judgment of others comes quickly and easily. Why? Because you live a Muslim life of such high and demanding moral standards that everything around you seems ritualistically and morally incorrect. You find that you are living in a polluted world that needs radical cleansing. There is a sense of peace and balance you feel as you join the communal prayer at dawn, or after work, and mostly on Fridays, when you pray our obligatory communal prayer of the week. You feel the dread as the sermon is over and the short prayer approaches its end. We all know the mosque to be a place of warmth and community. When we are far away from traditional Islamic societies, we feel a brotherhood and a sense of recognition when we gather in a mosque. The mosque in faraway places is a gathering place, a refuge, a place to sit with your community and Allah. The best moments are the Friday sermon and communal prayer. This is the time when the mosque is most full, and most welcoming. As soon as these moments pass, you know that you will be out in the cold or in dark streets, feeling a little lost and a little lonely. There is the emptiness as a new week builds up to the next Friday prayer. You are able to console yourself with listening to the captivating recitations of the Holy Quran that are freely available online. What is special about the recitation of the Quran? The Angel Gabriel revealed the Quran to the Prophet Mohammed by reciting the verses to him and having him learn them by heart. Though you know the Quran as the beautiful leather-bound book with the wonderful calligraphy, the Quran is actually meant to be recited or read out loud. There are rules on how to read it out loud. The way it is recited today is the same way in which the Prophet recited it more than fourteen hundred years ago. In fact, today’s reciters can trace their knowledge back through their teachers along a chain of people right back to the Prophet. So what you hear today is the way it has been preserved for hundreds of years. The recitations vary in quality, depending on the age and voice of the reciter. It’s like being a musician. One reciter may have the technical mastery but lack in passion or emotional depth. You have your favorites.
My favorite is the recitation of Al Sudais, the imam of the Holy Mosque in Mecca. You can listen to him for hours and feel the emotion of his love for Allah and his Message. Some of his recitations are recordings of him during Ramadan evening prayers. Here he sometimes breaks down in tears due to the emotion of the recitation. Others cry with him. The recitations charge you up. They tap into a great river of emotion and energy. You are exhausted after listening. I am too. Sometimes I think that I should limit myself to listening for only an hour a week or an hour a day. Why? Because perhaps the intensity is too much. It jars with the outside world. Often I cannot manage the balance. The move from the beauty of the spiritual world to the ugliness of the outer world depresses me. You may feel the same way.
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We who have lived with the peace, love and assurance of God in our lives... know it is difficult to understand what is happening across the world today...
May we learn and speak of God's desire for us to Love Our Neighbors... No matter who they are...
Must peace be generated by computers?
I laughed; I cried...
Can we ever depend upon those who place power over even God?
Wherever you are...Plan to vote Love!
Discussion continues...
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