Monday, February 19, 2007

How Can We Convert Muslims To Islam?

By: Maged Taman

It sounds funny, but believe me I am serious. If we are eager as Muslims to spread Islam we have first to convert ourselves to Islam. Someone would tell me who in hell are you to say that. I would say I am chosen to say that and if I am chosen to say that, it means you are guys very bad (just kidding). Sorry can not resist not to crack a joke even when I am serious, that is me. Let me first tell you what diseases we have in Muslim world:

1- Selfishness: everyone is running in his own direction caring only about himself or his close family member. This worked well for the tyrants since we are not willing to get together to oppose them.
2- Envoy: we are rather see each other fall rather than we see all of us climb high together. This is a human disease since God created man but is particularly common now. Even you can find it in religious leaders that why we are not one heart.
3- Isolated or inward spirituality: this what usually Arab governments want us to have a spirituality isolated from real life. They do not care about morals or religious awakening they are interested to protect their kingdoms. A lot of Muslims have good spirituality and spent a lot of time in worshipping God, but they do not take it a step further to get Islam applied in out daily relations and have our leaders abide by the justice of Islam and fear corruption.
4- Extremism: I can understand the anger and resentment of Muslims. The thing I do not understand is how extreme measures would solve our problems.
5- Street Morals: the morals of Islam is replaced in daily life of Muslims in many places by street morals. Sayings of these street morals: look for your interest, the kind people spit on him, divide and you prevail, the world is like a sea a big fish eat the little ones, the thing you win with play with and so forth.
6- Hopelessness: In my country when I used to express my frustrations about what state we are in people would say the common proverb "are you the one who will change the world".
7- Blaming America and Israel: there were wrong policies from America and we took Israel an enemy and they did the same in return.
8-Competition: people still in the Arab and Muslim worlds do not realize that there is a difference between ambition, competition and envy. The first two are healthy the last one is detrimental not only for others but for ourselves. You find in a lot of work places people make one another life miserable though their real interest is to have each of them happy and successful. Our GDP (gross domestic product an economic measure is the collective input of all of our productions) similarly our real GDP is happiness is a collective one. If each of us is happy the world will be full of happiness. When people watch a play many times they laugh more for sharing their laughs than the actual jokes of the play.
9- Shia and Sunni against one another: In Islam there is only one sect at time of the prophet: Muslims and it should remain the same. The family of Muhammad (PBUH) are great but he would never accepted that we divide in two sects because of them.
10- Anti-Christians or Anti-Jews: it has no place in Islam. Satan want us to be all enemies.

Thus to Convert Muslims back to Islam:
1- We become less selfish and look after the others and our collective welfare.
2- Overcome envy that make us too selfish to see others succeed and destroy our big dreams.
3- To have outward spirituality means that you decide to live with God not only in your isolated self but as he want you to do it in our daily and political lives.
4-Moderation: Islam is the religion of moderation. As the west opens the dialogue to us we would be able to change the world for better.
5- Islamic morals: the Islam we inherited from the prophet and his first companions gave us the straight path and the real morals that were displaced by street morals.
6- Hopefulness: yes we can change the world. There is no single person that can change the world the most he can do is to call our minds and hearts to the lost message of God for the real understanding of his message, justice and peace. He is not necessarily better than us but he cared enough to make the call.
7- Reconciling with America and Israel: not from a stand of the weak or oppressed but from the stand of the wise and free.
8- Coalition: we should not compete to destroy ourselves but we should work together to improve the cause of Islam, humanity, justice and peace.
9- We should be one sect again Muslims. How we can unite the world if we are dividing ourselves.
10- Christians and Jews are not the enemies but the enemy is within. We can be a great nation again we can win America and secure Israel. If there is Caliphate it is not which city it will be in but what it would do for humanity.

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