Thursday, April 03, 2008

Guarding Our Deen

So now we probably all know that Muslims outnumber Catholics. Not that it should surprise anyone, by the way, but in case anyone had doubts, we now know officially thanks to the Vatican. And we trust the Vatican, right? Well, anyway. It is definitely worth pointing out that Christians in total still outnumber Muslims, roughly 3 to 2. So I wouldn't exactly start screaming "We're number one!" from rooftops or anything because it's sticky.

On the other hand, we can clearly see the successful growth of Islam to over a billion adherents. And yes, we should absolutely glorify Allah (swt) and praise Him. Although, we must also continue to convey the message of Islam to the world--including to the Muslims, I might add. How is it that we have so many people in the same religion who, yet, refuse unity in matters of deen?

The Prophet Muhammad (saws) gave da'wah in Mecca for 13 years, and Islam grew. He migrated to Medina and continued to give da'wah--so we must learn the lesson that da'wah never stops. And we must use da'wah to establish unity among the Muslims, and bring them together, to increase justice in the world, to show humanity the real truth of Islam.

We must, we absolutely must guard our deen, we must guard the scholars who have been given the inheritance of the Prophet (saws) which is the knowledge of Islam. The strength of Islam is in its wisdom, and in its truth, in the Qur'an. And that is our tool, the soft and gentle power of Islam. We must let the true teachings of Islam prevail and dominate the hateful propaganda which is broadcast to inspire fear and blind hatred of Islam, and Muslims. We have the truth, though it is hidden and obscure at times. It is time for Muslims in one united voice to raise the banner of submission to God, of truth, of justice, of a way of life leading to peace.

3 comments:

Naeem: said...

AA- Amy,

My only fear is that your call to attention to the hypocrites amongst us will open the door to slanderous, unproven claims. Why even go there?

The Prophet (saw) was privy to that information (the name of the hypocrites) due to Divine revelation, but clearly that doesn't apply to us.

So what does it serve us to be on the lookout for hypocrites? We have enough internal strife, name-calling, takfir, and so on...I don't think we need anymore.

Amy said...

Wa alaikum as-salaam Naeem,

The direction the post took when I was writing was not the same as I had intended, and I think I arrived in the end at a better place.

So I changed the title of the post (was originally 'Watch out for Munafiqeen') and removed the paragraph which attempted to draw attention to hypocrites in the ranks of Muslims.

Becuase I think you're right--it shouldn't lead to takfir or more internal strife. On the other hand, I do think it's something to watch out for and be aware of--not for name calling, or labeling, or takfir and denouncing any particular group. We don't know who is a munafiq anyway. But STILL we know they are there, and I think it's a problem.

Just not a problem for which I have a solution--and division would certainly be counter-productive. Thanks for your comments, and making me rethink my opinion.

Tawfiqur Rahman said...

Assalamu Alaikum
It is a nice article indeed. I agree with it.

I have more to say that muslim population remains constant. It is true the number of reverts is increasing but the no. of faithful muslims or mu'mins are decreasing. This is due to lack of 'islamic' parental guidance. No parents want their children to be completely islamic in every way. From my own experience very few people understand the demand of modesty and manner, which constitutes half of faith, and can guess more than 'Creator' about Allah.

You are right that daw'ah is very important and shall be continued always. This is not enough to comment on your writing but I will be glad if you kingly go through my blog: www.neutralminds.blogspot.com