Who speaks for Islam?

Thursday, July 3, 2008
Who speaks for Islam?
Mike Ghouse

Any one can speak for Islam, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in his last sermon said that, among other things, he is leaving the book of guidance, the Qur’aan for Muslims to follow. It is up to the individual to learn, read and understand one's responsibilities towards oneself and what surrounds; life and enviroment. The intention to assign the responsibility to individuals was to prevent a few from making a business out of it; the clergy business.

God could not have been clearer than that. On the day of reckoning, or in your personal reflective moments of solititude, your bear the responsibility for your words and actions towards others; and not the clergy or even your parents or kids. It is you who will suffer or feel the serenity in you for your actions. Islam is about freedom and individual responsibility and finding the truth is your own responsibility.

There are several translations of Qur'aan ranging from enlightening ones to flawed one’s; One has to sift through them to understand the truth. I recommend the translations by Mohammad Asad, Yusuf Ali and Pickthal. Please remember translations are human and not God’s words. God's words are for our peace and tranquility and cannot be flawed, the flaws are in translations and understanding of it.

To be a Muslim is to be a peace maker, one who constantly seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for peaceful co-existence of humanity. God wants us to live in peace and harmony with his creation; Life and Matter.

The World Muslim Congress is driven by the Qur’aan, Al-Hujurat, Surah 49:13: "O mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. The noblest of you, in sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Allah Knows and is Aware."

We are developing a list of speakers who believe “My faith is dear to me, as other's faith is dear to them." We have to build bridges, mitigate conflicts and work for a world of co-existence. Honoring other traditions does not deplete divinity of one's own faith. If you are a Muslim and wanted to be listed as a speaker, I have the responsibility to ask you to read Sura Kafirun presented at this link: http://quraan-today.blogspot.com/2008/07/sura-kafirun-un-believers.html

For National speakers bureau, we are working on developing the list and it will be listed at http://www.worldmuslimcongress.com/. For Dallas /Fort Worth area, please visit http://www.dallasmuslimcenter.com/

Our Mission

Our Mission is to work for a world of co-existence through inclusiveness and participation. As a member of diverse family of faiths, our efforts will be directed towards justice and equity to attain peace for the humankind with a firm grounding in commonly held values. We cannot have advantages at the cost of others. Such benefits are temporary and deleterious to lasting peace. We believe what is good for Muslims has got to be good for the world, and vice versa, to sustain it.

Indeed we aspire to promote goodwill amongst people of different affiliations, regardless of their faith, gender, race, nationality, culture or any other uniqueness blessed by the creator.
Here is a beautiful Chapter (Sura) from Qur’aan that addresses the believers in other systems in the most dignified way, putting every one on par and without putting others down.

God wants justice, fairness, balance and peace for his creation and communicates that through Qur’aan. Indeed, the Qur’aan begins addressing God, as God of the cosmos to include every one and concludes with the chapter addressing the humankind in general. There are lots of distortions and propaganda out there to fill one with hate towards the other and take out one's own peace of mind and peace of others. God is not about that and certainly Islam is not about that. It is your responsibilty to find the truth and if you do, you will find the peace.
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109:1 SAY: "O you who deny the truth!
Topics discussed in this Verse: [Unbelievers]
Qul ya ayyuha alkafiroona
قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ (109:1)
Baset - Hussari - Minshawi
Writer’s understanding: Addressing those individuals who denied the truth spoken by the Prophet
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109:2 "I do not worship that which you worship,
Topics discussed in this Verse: [Unbelievers]
La aAAbudu ma taAAbudoona
لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ (109:2) Baset - Hussari - Minshawi
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109:3 and neither do you worship that which I worship! [1]
وَلَا أَنتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ (109:3) Baset - Hussari - Minshawi
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109:4 "And I will not worship ~hat which you have [ever] worshipped,
Topics discussed in this Verse: [Unbelievers]
Wala ana AAabidun ma AAabadtum
وَلَا أَنَا عَابِدٌ مَّا عَبَدتُّمْ (109:4) Baset - Hussari - Minshawi
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109:5 and neither will you [ever] worship that which I worship. [2]
Topics discussed in this Verse: [Unbelievers]
Wala antum AAabidoona ma aAAbudu
وَلَا أَنتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ (109:5) Baset - Hussari - Minshawi
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109:6 Unto you, your moral law, and unto me, mine !" [3]
Topics discussed in this Verse: [Islam] [Muhammad:faith of] [Unbelievers]
Lakum deenukum waliya deeni
لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ (109:6) Baset - Hussari - Minshawi
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Thank you.
Posted by Mike Ghouse at 9:43 AM