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Losing My
Religion- a call for help – Waleed Kavalec To the Homegrown American Sisters and
Brothers At present, our community in America,
whether or not we are aware of it or acknowledge it, is engulfed in a decisive
conflict, and we are taking heavy losses. Mass numbers of descendents of
Muslims, converts, and spiritual seekers are forsaking the American Islamic
community and many of these will inevitably abandon the religion. The
confrontation is of course not military but rather is occurring on the
intellectual plane. On one front our religion is being both subtly and overtly
demeaned by the media. On another, anti-Islam websites are assaulting the faith
with mostly discarded but now resurrected antiquated orientalist criticisms. On another, an extreme, virulent and
irrational interpretation of the faith has assumed, with a good deal of outside
support, center stage on the world scene. On another, most mosques in this
country impose in the name of Islam, traditions and beliefs of questionable
necessity that obfuscate the fundamental message of God's last revelation to
humanity and that are driving individuals from the faith in droves, and that
serve to confirm for too many youth of Muslim parentage and American converts
the overriding negative impression of Islam that society seems to hold at
large. Instead of seeing a path to spiritual growth, enlightenment and
fulfillment many of these disengaged Muslims start to see a stagnant,
retrogressive, patriarchal remnant of a lagging culture, mired in meaningless
controversies and hollow, lifeless formalism. If this is going to be countered, it will
require an immense and courageous intellectual effort, and those upon whose
shoulders this challenge and duty primarily rests are the second generation and
converts who have held fast to their faith despite the many challenges this has
presented. It is you, the activist American Muslim youth and converts, though
your numbers are small, who have been placed in a pivotal role. Through your
American upbringing, you have come to fully know and understand the surrounding
society, and through your love and commitment to God and your religion, in a
milieu that constantly tests it, you have by nature and necessity become the
crucial bridge between your faith and its future in this country. You are in
the best position to rationally respond to Islam's detractors and to
communicate and demonstrate to your fellow countrymen and women what it really
means to be a Muslim. You think their think, talk their talk, and appreciate
their confusions and concerns. You are also in the best position to reassess
the vast tradition that has come down to us in the name of Islam. It is
precisely because you have not been reared in a traditional Muslim culture and
because you have been taught since your first day in school to search,
question, critique, and analyze that you are the prime candidates to endeavor
to separate religion from culture, to distinguish the essential to Islam from
time and place bound interpretations. It is you who are best able to understand
and communicate to the disaffected Muslim youth. This is your jihad (struggle),
a jihad for minds and hearts, a jihad of intellect and reason. So I encourage you to arm yourselves,
my younger brothers and sisters, with books, and pens and personal computers,
and all the other instruments of learning. And arm yourselves with knowledge of
your religious tradition and the works and thoughts of its great minds of the
past. But also arm yourselves with
modern techniques of critical, analytical, investigative research, so that you
can better study and critique past contributions in the Islamic sciences. Learn
all you can in your coursework, and especially in such fields as religious
studies, history, anthropology, and linguistics. Arm yourselves also, if you
have the inclination and aptitude, with advanced degrees in these areas of
research so critical to the project of reappraising our community's traditions.
And arm yourselves with humility, because it is vital to objectivity, and with
courage and perseverance, brothers and sisters, because you will be opposed
from without and within the Muslim community. And remember to always pursue the
truth, for God is the Truth, and always pray for and trust in His guidance. And
so arm yourselves also with steadfast devotion to your Lord, never forgetting that to Him, and Him only, you have surrendered-not to a tradition, or a school of thought, or a local
community or culture, or scholarly legacy-and that your living, striving,
sacrifice and dying, all is for Allah. The article was excerpted from Dr.
Jeffrey Lang's book entitled Losing My Religion, an in depth analysis of the
current acculturation of the Muslim American identity. Dr. Jeffrey Lang is Professor of Mathematics at The
University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. He is the author of two best selling
works: Struggling to Surrender and Even Angels Ask: A Journey to Islam in
America. Both Books have been translated into other languages. Moderator:
Jeffrey has summed very well. “The confrontation is of course not
military but rather is occurring on the intellectual plane. On one front our
religion is being both subtly and overtly demeaned by the media. On another,
anti-Islam websites are assaulting the faith with mostly discarded but now
resurrected antiquated orientalist criticisms.” It is time drop the battles that have not
worked. Our passion needs to be directed to produce results and not endless
arguments. This morning, I had a long note from one of those Neocons
(extremists in faith, any faith) where he had challenged Zakir Naik for not
engaging with him for his ten questions… I read them and was tempted to
respond, then I realized that he will steal my good time for doing nothing. I
chose not to respond. There is a lot of good out there that needs to be
encouraged and discussed. Engaging with them is not wise, they are not seeking
knowledge nor are they seeking to understand… Just leave them alone peacefully
and not aggravate the situation further. We need to build positive facts – getting
involved in the city council, working for a congress person, being part of the
interfaith… inviting people to your social and religious events and
reciprocating them. This will change things faster than most all other efforts.
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