Representative group from all muslim communities

**khilji** · 06-21-2005

Assalamu Alaikum,

I am looking for a forum where we can unite Muslim brothers from all distant and remote communities of the world.

I am from Bangladesh and saw the break up of Pakistan as I grew up. From my experience I have come to the following realization over the years:

- Bangladesh, as a geographically small Muslim country is not a viable state, as it cannot address two of its immediate dangers facing its 160 million population, of which 90% is Muslim

* river-linking project for all rivers at upstream zones in India that will dry up the rivers in dry winter season and will inundate the entire country with excess water during monsoon season, in other words the seasonal flooding will get much worse after the river-linking project is completed with barages put in place in all rivers at upstream locations - just like the Farakka Barage has already contributed to environmental imbalance in downstream areas of the river Ganges (Padma, as is locally known)
* Global warming in 50 years may increase sea-level by 1 Meter and that will displace 10-15 million people in Bangladesh from its fertile low-lying Bhati areas, this is currently being promoted as the first human casualty of Global warming. Experts still cannot agree, but evidences are mounting

- Being part of a bigger unit has its benefits, in the old days empires were brought upon nations and communities by force and internal peace within a large empire always fostered trade improving the lives of all citizen. Regardless of how it was achieved a long lived large unit always flourished, although eventually they always fell apart. Yet they do serve a purpose for their time and age in advancing human evolution, in my opinion. Mostly it is economies of Scale that gives the bigger unit its comparative advantage, bigger markets, bigger production base etc.

- Ancient Chinese, Indian, Mesopotamian, Egyptian/North African and Meso-American empires left their marks, so did Greek, Roman, Persian, Islamic, Mongolian, Slavic and Turkish empires. The recent Mercantile empire of Renaissance colonizers has also left their legacy out of which the West has emerged

- The colonizing empires eventually collapsed as they could no longer hold on to their colonies, and then emerged the non-colonizing natural large unit, the US, which was able to withstand and to contribute to the demise of the Communist bloc, an unnatural form of Union that was forced upon nations and people of Eastern Europe and Eurasia, by the old Slavic empire, in the name of Bolshevism

- The US inherited the torch of Renaissance and is now the reigning global hegemon, the sole and unmatched super power. Europe is trying to form a super-state to emulate the success of the US, by way of EC. Its success so far is countable and limited

- In this background, two other large units are emerging, namely China and India, which seem to be able to take advantage of their economies of scale, China in manufacturing and India in IT sector, Medical services etc.

- Bangladesh or Pakistan (although it has nuclear deterrence) is no match for India’s size and will continue to be bullied and be a victim, it is the law of the jungle, might is right etc.

- Muslims from other parts of the world were saddened to see the breakup of Pakistan and it has some lessons for all of us, here in my opinion, in very brief over-simplified terms, is what happened:

* Jinnah and other elite Indian Muslims wanted to unite the country under one language Urdu, but Bengal Muslim’s with their age-old Bangla language which was actually developed under Turkistani Sultanate and Mughal rule in Bengal, did not want to give up a mother-tongue and rightly so. 98% population of the then East Pakistan spoke the language. If Jinnah had promoted Arabic rather than Urdu, as the third language (Bangla being 1st, English 2nd), Bengal Muslims would have gladly accepted

* Jinnah moved to the Western wing and set up capital there. Although the Eastern wing had 50%+ of the population, it was made one province, where the Western wing had five provinces, and all provinces got equal share of the budget - which meant that 50% of the population was apportioned 17% of the budget.

* Ironically, Jute, the main exportable cash crop of then Pakistan was produced in the marshy Eastern wing and earned 70% of export earnings from 1947-1971

* Initially, highly educated muslims from present day India (Bombay, Delhi) monopolized the government administration, but soon the Punjabi muslims took over, due to their proximity to the capital and because they joined the army in large numbers, while they excluded Bengal Muslims since they are not from a “martial race”

* the feeling of Racial superiority of North-west Indian Punjabi’s who are more “Aryan” types, and of the Urdu speaking Indian Muslim who were descendant’s of Central Asian Muslim invaders, was too much for the poor Bengali Muslims, who were mostly dark skinned Dravidian types converted from lower caste Hindu’s with smattering of immigrant blood in the elite families - after the removal of British raj, they now had two bosses to deal with, who looked down on them and robbed them of their resources at the same time

* despite all of the above, the average Bengal Muslim would never dream of breaking up Pakistan, unless it was for the instigation of Indian RAW (Indian CIA, Research And Intelligence Wing) and our national traitor Sheikh Mujib, whose entire family is India’s agent, both of whom were helped by politicians of the western wing

* Bright individuals like Bhutto and General Yahya Khan unleashed a genocide in Dhaka on 25th March, 1971 on fellow Muslims and took us to the point of irreconcilable differences, how can you trust a partner that thinks that they are superior to you because they look better, deal with you unfairly and finally want to kill you to make us subservient to them. Obviously, all sane Bengal Muslims then followed the so called “father of nation” Sheikh Mujib and with the help of India, got rid of this nuisance

- the bitter taste of the Pakistan period remains with Bangladeshi Muslims and although relationships have steadily improved since 1971 and are very friendly now (much better compared to our relation with India), neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh has any desire to reunite, but the possibility of a global Islamic Common Market, where many countries will participate is much more acceptable to both people, if I am not wrong

- I would welcome Muslim brothers from Pakistan to correct any wrong statements I have made. I must emphasize that despite all that has happened, it is in the past, a generation has passed and also everything that has happened, it was due to stupidity of politicians in both wings East and West, the victims were of course the people of both wings, ie the people of Pakistan and Bangladesh

- the purpose to bring this issue up was to show the complexity of uniting diverse communities under the banner of Islam. In todays age of democracy and free flow of information, I believe a common market gradual approach like EC is the best approach, of course there is no reason why we cannot try to implement as much of Sharia law as possible. In my opinion, HE Mahathir Muhammad of Malaysia, is one of the best qualified to give advice for such an initiative

- After the breakup of last three remaining Islamic empires, the Ottoman, the Safavid and the Mughal - the remnants of the Islamic world have morphed into many small nation states in the Muslim world, resulting in non viable entities like Bangladesh

- Muslim’s of today do not just live in small non-viable states, but they also live in minority enclaves, such as Kashmir in India, Xinjiang and Ninxia of China, Southern Russia, Mindanao, South Thailand to name a few, even the largest Muslim state of Indonesia cannot compete with China or India, due to size constraint

The idea of this thread will be to hear from diverse Muslim people, from Hui Muslims in Ninxia, Kazakh Muslims in Bayan Olgii to Berber Muslims in Morocco and Algeria and our Sub-Saharan Muslim brothers from Darfur to Nigeria. Hopefully, with increased dialogue and exchange of information, we can form a group of representatives from all distant Muslim communities.

OIC does its job well, buts its scope is limited. We would like to form a more grass root people’s group, whose feet are in the ground and who are from among the people and the communities. Our work and connections will complement the work of OIC to unite the Ummah and hopefully we will be able to join hands with OIC at a future date.

Anyone that is involved with, supports or sympathizes with violence (that is not sanctioned by established authorities on Islam) or promotes separatism against any existing nation states, will not be welcome and will be expelled from the group, as in my opinion, sabr is a better tool for getting results.

The group will work to expose injustice and among other things do brain-storming ideas on how together we can act on small projects to improve comparative advantage of the people of the Ummah, such as sponsoring scholarship for top students in remote disadvantaged Muslim communities, and encouraging study of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science among Muslim students which has tremendous future potentials to revolutionize economy and society.

Together, Insha-allah, we shall make a difference. Allah help those, who make the effort to help themselves.

Wassalamu Alaikum

**khilji** · 06-24-2005

Assalamu Alaikum,

To the forum Moderators and Administrators, I would like to request your permission to start my effort to bring in Muslims from various communities of the world.

I recognize that my post has generated zero replies and it shows either that Muslims in this forum are not interested in Muslim unity and looking for practical ways to achieve any kind of unity that will increase over time and help bring the diverse communities of Islam closer together or that I failed to convey my message in an effective manner with a long post with too many digressions.

But at least this is a Muslim forum and I am among Muslims and I would appreciate if you allow me to continue my effort. If you know of a forum that is dedicated towards achieving Muslim Unity and dialogue and is a more appropriate place for this effort, I would appreciate if you could let me know its url.

By the way, I have enjoyed the Gallery section where you have pictures from different Muslim countries. Also, I have gone through some of the articles in the Polemics and Rebuttals section and found them to be well written.

Wassalam

**aamirsaab** · 06-24-2005

You must realise that Unity takes a very long time - your task will not be completed with ease. I would like to help, although, I don't really know how and one person on your team will not make much difference againste thousands. I understand you cause but it is difficult for a favourable result ot be achieved. I truly would like to help so PM me with furhter info.

**Ansar Al-'Adl** · 06-24-2005

I just didn't understand how the forum was related to your vision of unity. What exactly do you seek permission to do?

**khilji** · 06-25-2005

Originally Posted by aamirsaab

You must realise that Unity takes a very long time - your task will not be completed with ease. I would like to help, although, I don't really know how and one person on your team will not make much difference againste thousands. I understand you cause but it is difficult for a favourable result ot be achieved. I truly would like to help so PM me with furhter info.

Thank you for replying to my post.

We can follow our beloved prophet (SAW) and not be affraid of difficult tasks.

One person cannot do much but we want to start small and assemble a larger group, eventually with at least one representative from every major Muslim community and over time all minor ones. Our first job will be to discuss:

- how we will find appropriate people from so many communities and bring them here, the logistics of it
- the purpose of this group, why form this group, to achieve what goal
- who will be eligible and who will not be

It is up to us to try our best and we will leave the results for Allah.

Thank you for your offer of help, I will PM you further details.

**Nakisai** · 06-25-2005

:applaud: :applaud: M :wilted_ro ay Allah bless you in your help ...

**khilji** · 06-25-2005

Originally Posted by Ansar Al-'Adl

I just didn't understand how the forum was related to your vision of unity. What exactly do you seek permission to do?

Every human being, I believe has a vision, some grand and some not so. I apologize if my post has given the impression that I have a vision of unity and would like to promote it.

The only Vision of Unity that I would like to promote and follow is the one that is described in the Holy Quran and the example of which was set by our Prophet (SAW).

The more one studies Islam, the more one finds how unity among its followers was emphasized not just in words but in thoughts and deeds:

- Imaan, is to believe that there is no God, but one Allah (ST), and with that all Muslims are of one mind, and agree to this fundamental point
- Salat, five times a day, brings Muslims into a habit that is one and same for all. Also, Salaat in a Jamat at home has more Sawab. A Jamat in a Masjid has even more Sawab than the one at home. Finally, the Friday Jumuah is a must, and bring the whole neighborhood together to see each other at least once a week
- Sawm, for one month, makes all feel the pain of hunger, rich or poor, and teach us the value of abstinence and sabr
- Zakat, helps the poorer section of a community that they are part of us and will be helped by all in times of need
- Hajj, brings together Muslims from all parts of the world and let the diverse people of the Ummah meet each other and feel their unity of purpose and closeness to one another

So, as you see, Unity of the people of Ummah, was one of the fundamental core points of Islam. I am not one of the Ulema, people who are more experienced with the Holy Quran and the Sahih Hadith can elaborate the importance of unity further.

The permission I seek is to bring together a representative group from among the members of this forum and people who we (the group members) will invite from other places to join us here, so that they can become a potential member of this group and forum.

**khilji** · 06-25-2005

Originally Posted by Nakisai

:applaud: :applaud: M :wilted_ro ay Allah bless you in your help ...

Thank you for your kind support.

**khilji** · 06-25-2005

Originally Posted by Ansar Al-'Adl

I just didn't understand how the forum was related to your vision of unity. What exactly do you seek permission to do?

To add a few more points to my earlier reply to your post:

- the proposal and suggestion to bring together a collection or group of Representatives from a diverse group of Islamic communities was my humble idea that struck me as a way that we could utilize the new communication method of the web and the Internet to increase communication and cohesiveness in the geographically diverse Muslim communities of different parts of the world, who speak many different language. But some in almost all communities have workable knowledge of English and are using the web. These online groups can work as conduits of communication for the larger communities

- in a way the web forums already do the above to some extent, but I wanted to try a more formal and more comprehensive structure

- if you would be so kind, please feel free to share with us your own suggestions for promoting unity among the population of the Ummah, so that we can learn and improve on our ideas

**khilji** · 06-25-2005

Assalamu Alaikum

Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim

I would like to invite all Muslim LI forum members to become a member of this new "Representative group from all muslim communities"

I have thought of the following initial goals for this group:

1. The groups primary goal will be to promote unity of the people of the Ummah, by increasing communication and dialogue among the diverse muslim communities of the world and thus giving them the opportunity to learn about each other

2. To include at least one and if possible more representatives from as many Muslim communities as possible located at different parts of the world

3. To discuss the major problems, concerns and current issues facing each community

4. Particularly we would like to hear from communities where Muslims are facing on-going violence, repression and deaths as a result, such as Palestine, Darfur, Southern Thailand, Xinjiang, Kashmir, Chechnya, Nogorno-karabakh, Uzbekistan(Andijon), Iraq etc. We need representatives from these communities who can give us real first hand information

5. The other important subject we would like to discuss on the economic front is Islamic Common Market

6. There are many groups in today's world who are doing many things in the name of Islam, for our group, we will refrain from doing the following:

- threaten existing nation states and their boundary's with ideas of Islamic Caliphate, which is the concept behind Hijb-ut-Tahrir. It is my belief that the nation state entities are stable entities that evolved out of history of every region, and any growth out of these entities must be a gradual, spontaneous and voluntary movement such as in EC, any subversive movement in the name of Islam is counterproductive, even if it seems non-violent
- promote violence in any form, that is not sanctioned by established authorities on Islam - it is my sincere belief that human beings today have grown past the need for resorting to violent means for any end, there are tools available to put pressure without resorting to violent means and Unity of Ummah is most important towards that end. If we can achieve more by staying away from violence then should we at least not try

7. If you do not agree to above no. 6, then I would respect fully ask you not to join our group. If at a later time we find such sympathies among some of us, then with consensus of the group, we will give them the opportunity to change their views and after certain time, if such views persist, we will take the decision, jointly by vote, to expel such individuals, since we did not want to include such individuals to begin with

8. We fear none but Allah(ST), follow only our Prophet(SAW) and we shall reunite the Ummah as they have commanded and prescribed

9. After we have a good number of representatives covering a large part of the Ummah, we will then work on a new and more appropriate name for this group

Here is the list of current members:

khilji: Dhaka, Bangladesh 1st representative from 140 million Muslims of Bangladesh
aamirsaab: Leicester, UK 1st representative from Muslims of United Kingdom (pending his final consent)

If you are interested to become a member, please register in the LI forum, and once you are an LI forum member, please post in this thread expressing your interest and consent, mentioning the city(optional), country(optional) and the Muslim community that you want to represent (mandatory)

It must be made clear that if you are a Kashmiri Muslim staying in the US then you can represent Kashmiri Muslims of India or Pakistan, if you are in touch with Kashmiri Muslims from back home or in the US, but you can chose to present yourself as a US Muslim as well, if you are active in your local muslim community. We will leave the decision up to the individual, who they want to represent.

Wassalamu Alaikum

**khilji** · 06-27-2005

Muslim world must focus on economy to realise potential: Malaysia
Written by Channel New Aasia
Monday, 20 June 2005

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia : Muslim nations must unleash their potential by focusing on economic development and building trade links with each other, Malaysia's premier told an international Islamic trade forum.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi hailed a new preferential trading system to be signed by 14 of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) members this year as an initiative to kick-start the process.

"This is an important first step towards the larger goal of greater economic integration among OIC countries," he said in an opening address to the forum.

"It is economic strength which can give the OIC greater clout and secure for itself a more influential voice in international affairs," he said.

Abdullah said it was up to member countries to ensure that the preferential trading system was successfully implemented.

"I hope the system can be adapted or another system put in place to promote greater involvement of the less-developed members in economic development as a whole," he said, adding that this was the best way to create wealth.

Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz said on the sidelines that the balance of the 43 countries will be brought into the preferential trading system once it is in place, probably by year's end.

The countries that have already signed and ratified the framework agreement are Malaysia, Iran, Turkey, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Lebanon, Libya, Egypt, Pakistan, Cameroon, Indonesia, Guinea, Jordan, Uganda, she said.

Under the system, countries will reduce tariffs in a gradual three-stage process, while there will also be fast track mechanisms, said Rafidah.

"Increasingly we'll be offering market access and duty free (access) to each other in the longer term," she said.

Current negotiations, expected to be concluded by September, are on how to reduce tariffs and the implementation period for the agreement, said Rafidah, adding that the protocol will be finalised in November.

She said the preferential trading system will complement a parallel system for eight OIC countries, including Malaysia, Egypt and Pakistan, talks for which commenced last year.

"In other words within the OIC itself there are already two parallel market-opening mechanisms being established, which is good," she said.

Besides the trading system, Abdullah said that governments and business communities must develop existing institutions like Islamic banking and chambers of commerce in order to promote economic integration.

"Let us look at ways in which we can leverage on our strength. Clearly these must be areas where we not only have a natural advantage but also the critical mass to make our initiatives successful."

The Malaysian leader said that one of the biggest challenges confronting the grouping is the deep economic imbalances between members, which "should be viewed as an imperative for cooperation rather than as an obstacle."

Abdullah called for education OIC countries to be improved, pointing out that Islamic had made immense countributions in the past but was now lagging badly.

"Out of the total population of 1.3 billion in OIC member states, less than 300,000 qualify as scientists. In comparison, the United States of America has 1.1 million scientists; Japan has 700,000," he said.

The Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur is playing host to a range of meetings on the Islamic finance and information technology sectors this week.

Malaysia, the current chair of the OIC, has been pushing for closer economic integration in the grouping and for nations to develop their Islamic finance sectors as a way of strengthening their economies.

Rafidah told the OIC trade forum that member nations must address their very low participation in global commerce, which accounted for only 1.8 percent of the total in 2003.

Channel New Aasia

June 20, 2005

**khilji** · 06-27-2005

Mission & Objectives:

D-8, also known as developing-8 is an arrangement for development cooperation among the following member countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. It also adds a new dimension to enrich the social and economical relations of its partners.

Following the "Conference on Cooperation for Development", on October 22, 1996, and after a series of preparatory meetings the establishment of D-8 was announced officially by the Summit of Heads of State/Government in Istanbul, on June 15, 1997 (Istanbul Declaration).

The objectives of D-8 are to improve developing countries' positions in the world economy, diversify and create new opportunities in trade relations, enhance participation in decision-making at the international level, and provide better standards of living.

D-8 is a global arrangement rather than a regional one, as the composition of founding members reflects. Membership will be open to other developing countries subscribing to the goals, objectives, and principles of the group, sharing common bonds.

D-8 is a forum with no adverse impact on bilateral and multilateral commitments of the member countries emanating from their membership and international organisations.

**Ansar Al-'Adl** · 06-27-2005

I see, so you want a formal structure with members representing different segments of the Muslim Ummah?

I agree with pretty much everything you have said. Our members already represent the Muslim Ummah whether they announce which community they represent or not. I'm not sure its necessary for us to each claim a different part of the Ummah under our jurisdiction and that we represent this region. To designate representatives one would need to determine how well a member represents a community through elections, etc. and that is beyond the scope of such a project.

But I think we can carry on with your plan without the need to designate official representatives.

**khilji** · 06-27-2005

Originally Posted by Ansar Al-'Adl

I see, so you want a formal structure with members representing different segments of the Muslim Ummah?

I agree with pretty much everything you have said. Our members already represent the Muslim Ummah whether they announce which community they represent or not. I'm not sure its necessary for us to each claim a different part of the Ummah under our jurisdiction and that we represent this region. To designate representatives one would need to determine how well a member represents a community through elections, etc. and that is beyond the scope of such a project.

But I think we can carry on with your plan without the need to designate official representatives.

Brother Ansar,

Thanks for agreeing with me.

You are correct, it is not necessary for everyone of us to claim a different part of the Ummah under our jurisdiction. We can definitely keep it optional and upto the participant. After all each one of us, as a Muslim, is representing all of Ummah, as you have correctly mentioned.

Thank you for agreeing to help and we definitely do not need to designate official representatives.

Please let us know your kind suggestions on how we can proceed.

**Chuck** · 06-27-2005

Br. I like your idea of increasing the communication among muslims from different parts of the world and looking into problems in the muslim world and their solutions through multi-cultural perspective.

**Bittersteel** · 06-27-2005

yeah me too.

**khilji** · 06-27-2005

Masha-allah,

We have now the following brothers who have agreed to participate:

aamirsaab
Abdul Aziz
Ansar Al-'Adl
Chuck
Hash
khilji

I would like to thank you for your support.

Please feel free to initiate any discussions at any time. Also I would like to propose the following:

1. we make a decision on having a to-do list
2. all of us make an effort to recruit more people for this group from this and other islamic forums, so that we have a more comprehensive representation of the people of Ummah, such as

- at least one person from every D-8 member country
- at least one person from every OIC member country
- at least one person from all major and minor muslim communities of the world from all other countries

If you can make the time, please visit the following sites and let me know your opinion and comments:

www.oic-oci.org and all its activities and links under "Related Links"
www.iiu.edu.my
www.iiu.edu.my/iimu

These are all the real brick and mortar organizations I found that actually have salaried people dedicated for the purpose of Unity of the Ummah. Please let me know if you know of any others, so that we can add to this list.

Malaysia is probably the current chair holder for OIC. I have always admired HE Mahathir Muhammad, although some of his local politics are questionable. Since he is retired, it might be good to get some one connected with him to participate in our forum, so we have a way to reach him for suggestions.

At some point, it may not be hard to co-ordinate activities and pool resources with the above organizations and institutes, since we have similar goals, but we will have to wait till this group reaches a certain size and has some concrete track record, before we make any formal approach, as without some weight, they may not take us seriously.

As a compliment to this forum, I must say that among all the Islamic forum sites I have looked at, this site seems to have the highest traffic. That is why I started here. But I do realize that I may have ticked off brothers from Pakistan, please let me know if I should edit the opening message and how I should do it.

**khilji** · 07-06-2005

Brothers, we need to hear from you, have you guys had any chance to go through the oic, iiu and iimu websites. Also, please invite people from other Muslim countries into our group.

I think I saw a thread where people have stated where they are from and I saw members from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and few other places, but most members it seems are from UK, which is fine - but please see if we can bring in members from other Muslim communities into our group, so we can hear about their part of the Ummah.

I have been a little preoccupied lately but I hope to start becoming more active soon.

**Bittersteel** · 07-06-2005

sorry brother I was a bit busy I will start soon......

**khilji** · 07-06-2005

Our Special Ummah

Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq

As the Prophet Muhammad (s) was the last prophet, the prophetic heritage of da'wah, sanctification and education, and community-building must be carried on by his Ummah. This is a special Ummah, not based on any race, language, geographical nationality, color, gender, or any other artificial classification. It has been evolved by Allah for humankind for the express purpose of: enjoining good and forbidding evil (Amr bil Ma'roof and Nahi anil Munkar) witnessing over humankind; and invitation to all that is good (Khair). This is the reason of the existence of this Ummah. All other aspects of being a Muslim are subservient to this role to carry on the prophetic heritage.

You are the best of peoples, evolved for humankind, enjoining what is Ma'roof and forbidding what is Munkar and believing in Allah ... [3: ale-Imran: 110]

Thus, have We made of you an Ummah justly balanced, that you might be witnesses over the humankind and the Messenger a witness over yourselves ... [2: al-Baqara: 143]

Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining the Ma'roof and forbidding the Munkar: They are the ones to attain felicity. [3: ale-Imran: 104]

The sublimity of the Ummah is based upon its reason for existence -- evolved for humankind -- enjoining what is ma'roof and forbidding what is munkar. Both ma'roof and munkar have a broad range of meaning and a clear understanding of these two concepts is critical to a Muslim's life. Ma'roof means well known; universally accepted; generally recognized; that which is good, beneficial, right. Munkar means wrong; abominable; disagreeable; denied, not recognized, rejected; evil; atrocity. Islamic way of life represents the ma'roof and munkar, because it incorporates what is universally recognized as good and right and rejects what is universally recognized as evil and wrong. For example, no society considers stealing or lying to be good and right, even though people may practice those acts. Every society considers honesty to be a virtue, even though some people are dishonest. Calling mankind to ma'roof and away from munkar thus represents the universal nature of Islam.

Muslim Ummah does not exist for its own sake. It has a definite mission, a divinely ordained service to render to humankind. "The logical conclusion to the evolution of religious history is a non-sectarian, non-racial, non-doctrinal, universal religion which Islam claims to be. For Islam is just submission to the will of God. This implies (1) faith, (2) doing right, being an example to others to do right, and having the power to see that right prevails, (3) eschewing wrong, being an example to others to eschew wrong, and having the power to see that wrong and injustice are defeated. Islam (the author probably meant Muslim Ummah) therefore lives, not for itself, but for mankind."1 [Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation, and Commentary; explanatory note # 434.]

Living for humankind implies a noble responsibility on the shoulder of the Muslim Ummah. The Ummah must be imbued with the spirit of being 'evolved for humankind.' Its goal and aspiration, dream and vision, commitment and endeavor, and attitude and conduct must be molded with a genuine touch of love and compassion for humankind and a deep, sublime sense of duty, the former emanating from the essence of rahmah (compassion) of its Creator and the latter from its Iman (faith) and its submission to God. Also it is a fundamental requirement of believers to act on what they preach. Vested with the mission of ensuring that justice prevails, the Ummah cannot be either unjust or indifferent to injustice, within or outside its fold. The Ummah cannot be low in virtue, while preach others about the nobility of virtue. It cannot teach morality, if the Ummah itself is submerged in corruption and vice. The Ummah will not be fit to show others how to fear only God, while itself is frightened by everyone who appears powerful in this world. It cannot play a preventive role among others, if it is involved in the same kind of wrongdoings. This role model is primarily based on the preeminence, excellence, and superiority of the Ummah over others in terms of its faith, morality, virtue, and sacrifice, spirit of love and justice, and capable leadership.

Performance of this noble role also requires power and authority attained legitimately (that is, without coercion or deception) and exercised faithfully and accountably, according to Islam. Doing Amr bil ma'roof and Nahy anil munkar is not preaching or da'wah only. It is facilitated by the full support of legitimate authority of a state; our beloved Prophet (p) could not escape this fact either. He had to secure an arrangement whereby a state could be established in Madinah to effectively carry out the role of khair-e-ummah for humankind. Indeed, the verse 110 of Ale Imran was not revealed until such a state came into existence.

If understanding of ma'roof and munkar is important, so is the understanding of amr and nahy. Amr means order, instruction, or command; not just preaching, admonishing, or advising. Similarly, nahy means forbidding, prohibiting, or proscribing. Both of these two terms imply an 'authority' behind them. An individual or a group can only preach, call, or admonish. Without the relevant authority and power, it cannot command, instruct, or order; nor can it prohibit, forbid, or proscribe. Also noticeable is that all the verses about amr-bil-ma'roof and nahy-anil-munkar in the Qur'an were revealed after the establishment of the State in Madinah. Every Muslim must participate in the fulfillment of this collective duty of the Ummah. But to do so, internally within the Muslim Ummah and externally for mankind as a whole, necessitates, based on Islamic values and principles and under the institutional framework of a state, legitimate political and moral authority to provide the requisite means and support for this noble duty.

[Excerpted from a manuscript under preparation by this author. The author is a former editor of NABIC Newsletter and a faculty at Upper Iowa University. E-mail address: [email protected]]