nyerekareem
abdur-rahman
:salam2:
there are countless reasons as to why people choose to revert to islam. for me, it was the fact that islam doesn’t teach racial superiority. it was much different than the many churches that i had ever attended. i must say, that here in america, sunday morning is the most segregated day between the races. whites go to their churches and blacks go to their churches. yes, race relations indeed have improved here and can even be seen by the fact that america has recently elected a black man to be her president. still segregation is prevalent in the churches of america.
when i first entered the masjid, many years ago; i was surprised to see the various ethnicities at the masjid. it was one of the most beautiful things that i have ever witnessed. but what i didn’t notice was the internal racial fighting that was taking place within. anyone that has a decent knowledge, knows that islam does not support racism. yet many muslims are practicing this. yes, our masjids are full of different ethnic groups, but what does it mean if we don’t return a salaam alaykum or play keep away in the prayer lines? most muslims know that nationalism is discouraged in islam. it’s discouraged because it creates barriers between muslim brothers and sisters of different races. which is antithetical to the muslim ummah.
this is what’s leading me to my point. i always hear about the palestinian struggle, the kashmiri struggle, the bosnian struggle; and people wonder why we haven’t achieved victory in these places. how can we help these needy people if we can’t see all muslims, regardless of their color or nationality as our brothers and sisters in islam? we hesitate to say salaam or stand next to each other in salah. we’re going to help palestine this way? i don’t think so!!!
i don’t think you can be a racist and be a good muslim.
i believe that if we can create an environment of unity in the masjids, we can further unite and help the oppressed muslims around the world. so many muslims are not working with each other because of ethnic and tribal issues. imagine if muslims in America, Britain, the Middle East, and the rest of the muslim world can unite. we would have a much greater effect on solving our issues because we’ll have real strength in numbers. we do indeed have 2 billion followers of islam, but we don’t have 2 billion people working hard to unite the ummah and help improve our state.
so let’s drop centuries old rivalries and create a new age of islamic brother and sisterhood for the better insha’allah.
nyerekareem
there are countless reasons as to why people choose to revert to islam. for me, it was the fact that islam doesn’t teach racial superiority. it was much different than the many churches that i had ever attended. i must say, that here in america, sunday morning is the most segregated day between the races. whites go to their churches and blacks go to their churches. yes, race relations indeed have improved here and can even be seen by the fact that america has recently elected a black man to be her president. still segregation is prevalent in the churches of america.
when i first entered the masjid, many years ago; i was surprised to see the various ethnicities at the masjid. it was one of the most beautiful things that i have ever witnessed. but what i didn’t notice was the internal racial fighting that was taking place within. anyone that has a decent knowledge, knows that islam does not support racism. yet many muslims are practicing this. yes, our masjids are full of different ethnic groups, but what does it mean if we don’t return a salaam alaykum or play keep away in the prayer lines? most muslims know that nationalism is discouraged in islam. it’s discouraged because it creates barriers between muslim brothers and sisters of different races. which is antithetical to the muslim ummah.
this is what’s leading me to my point. i always hear about the palestinian struggle, the kashmiri struggle, the bosnian struggle; and people wonder why we haven’t achieved victory in these places. how can we help these needy people if we can’t see all muslims, regardless of their color or nationality as our brothers and sisters in islam? we hesitate to say salaam or stand next to each other in salah. we’re going to help palestine this way? i don’t think so!!!
i don’t think you can be a racist and be a good muslim.
i believe that if we can create an environment of unity in the masjids, we can further unite and help the oppressed muslims around the world. so many muslims are not working with each other because of ethnic and tribal issues. imagine if muslims in America, Britain, the Middle East, and the rest of the muslim world can unite. we would have a much greater effect on solving our issues because we’ll have real strength in numbers. we do indeed have 2 billion followers of islam, but we don’t have 2 billion people working hard to unite the ummah and help improve our state.
so let’s drop centuries old rivalries and create a new age of islamic brother and sisterhood for the better insha’allah.
nyerekareem