alhamdullilah
Stranger
What is an extremist?
An aquaintance of mine (i try not to call him a friend, due to his extreme ignorance), keeps calling me an extremist. Now see i'm somali, this guy is also somali, considers himself to be muslim. The reason I bring up my nationality is that right now as we speak there's a war going on in my country, a war between warlords (or the "government" that is being backed by the world super powers and the African Union....the government consists of former warlords), and the islamic courts union (a group of somali men that came from all over the world to fight and try to make a difference, and ending somalias cycle of violence and corruption thats plagued our nation for the past.... Well ever since the "mad mullah" about 50 years ago).
Now, the sad part is the propaganda that's spewed over the airwaves about how warlords are better off for our country than islamic "extremists".
The word "extremism" seemed pretty clean cut in its use back when 9/11 happened. It was used for suicide bombers, and other non-islamic actions that were being used in the name of islam. But now the word has been used so much, in so many different contexts that the word is now being used by muslims (or so called muslims) against other muslims.
So you might wonder why my "buddy" here calls me extremist. Do I plot and practice suicide bombing procedures? No. But i get called an extremist for my dislike of music, for praying my 5 prayers punctually, for following the deen to the best of my abilities (may allah accept my efforts), and following sunnah whenever I can. THIS IS THE DEFINITION OF EXTREMIST thats been pinned on us now. If you tune into CNN, and hear them talk about extremism (which has become synonymous with pious muslims... you might even forget that it has another definition), they show you muslim women wearing hijaab (that're apparently being forced to follow the religion by their extremist husbands) and muslim men teaching quran to kids (brainwashing them).
This is understandable from the government run media, but how can this happen within muslim circles? As if it wasn't bad enough to be critisized and alienated by nonmuslims that blindly follow media; but now they've successfully convinced some muslims that following the religion closely is a form of "extremism". And not in a good way, not like its exciting as in EXTREME sports. But as a brand new definition exclusive to pious muslims.
So are muslims slowly but surely being divided up, to the point that some muslims (non "extremists") will begin to identify more with nonmuslims than their own muslim bretheren? Or has it already happened? What can we do to change it? Obviously only allah can rid somebody of ignorance, and we can do nothing on our own, but what can we do? How do we do our part? To educate, to spread the knowledge to dispel widespread ignorance within the ummah, so that we can lookat another muslim and see them as a brother, and a sister instead of an extremist or an ignorant "westernized" "muslim" (i use the word "westernized" not to attack western civilization, but as the anti islamic western culture we see today). Please if you have any thoughts on this. Much brainstorming and dua is needed before we become another generation of losers "Khasiroon"
An aquaintance of mine (i try not to call him a friend, due to his extreme ignorance), keeps calling me an extremist. Now see i'm somali, this guy is also somali, considers himself to be muslim. The reason I bring up my nationality is that right now as we speak there's a war going on in my country, a war between warlords (or the "government" that is being backed by the world super powers and the African Union....the government consists of former warlords), and the islamic courts union (a group of somali men that came from all over the world to fight and try to make a difference, and ending somalias cycle of violence and corruption thats plagued our nation for the past.... Well ever since the "mad mullah" about 50 years ago).
Now, the sad part is the propaganda that's spewed over the airwaves about how warlords are better off for our country than islamic "extremists".
The word "extremism" seemed pretty clean cut in its use back when 9/11 happened. It was used for suicide bombers, and other non-islamic actions that were being used in the name of islam. But now the word has been used so much, in so many different contexts that the word is now being used by muslims (or so called muslims) against other muslims.
So you might wonder why my "buddy" here calls me extremist. Do I plot and practice suicide bombing procedures? No. But i get called an extremist for my dislike of music, for praying my 5 prayers punctually, for following the deen to the best of my abilities (may allah accept my efforts), and following sunnah whenever I can. THIS IS THE DEFINITION OF EXTREMIST thats been pinned on us now. If you tune into CNN, and hear them talk about extremism (which has become synonymous with pious muslims... you might even forget that it has another definition), they show you muslim women wearing hijaab (that're apparently being forced to follow the religion by their extremist husbands) and muslim men teaching quran to kids (brainwashing them).
This is understandable from the government run media, but how can this happen within muslim circles? As if it wasn't bad enough to be critisized and alienated by nonmuslims that blindly follow media; but now they've successfully convinced some muslims that following the religion closely is a form of "extremism". And not in a good way, not like its exciting as in EXTREME sports. But as a brand new definition exclusive to pious muslims.
So are muslims slowly but surely being divided up, to the point that some muslims (non "extremists") will begin to identify more with nonmuslims than their own muslim bretheren? Or has it already happened? What can we do to change it? Obviously only allah can rid somebody of ignorance, and we can do nothing on our own, but what can we do? How do we do our part? To educate, to spread the knowledge to dispel widespread ignorance within the ummah, so that we can lookat another muslim and see them as a brother, and a sister instead of an extremist or an ignorant "westernized" "muslim" (i use the word "westernized" not to attack western civilization, but as the anti islamic western culture we see today). Please if you have any thoughts on this. Much brainstorming and dua is needed before we become another generation of losers "Khasiroon"
I just Ask Allah to help us be UNITED under Laila Ila Allah Muhammad Ar-rasoli Allah (SAW) because Wallahi like you said(above) it has WORKED this far. May Allah guide us all to the RIGHT path and May we ALL unite Under His name. Ameen.
