Al-Huda

Foundation, NJ  U. S. A

 

the Message Continues ... 11/125

 

Newsletter for January 2012

 

Article 1 - Article 2 - Article 3 - Article 4 - Article 5 - Article 6 - Article 7 - Article 8 - Article 9 - Article 10 - Article 11 - Article 12

 

Transformation, not Assimilation !
(an excerpt from one of Dr. Robert Crane's heart-warming emails)

" ......There is no escape from oppression and death in any physical sense, so that hijra (to move from one place to another) in a material sense will not solve any problems and would merely change the venue or location of our vulnerability to oppression. Assimilation clearly can never be an option for any person on a religious path because it would mean spiritual suicide, which is an unforgivable sin. The only response to overwhelming evil, therefore, whether it comes from terrorists or counter-terrorists or counter-counter-terrorists, is to transform ourselves as the only means to transform the world.

Certainly we can and should work to transform the unjust institutions of the world, as well as to lesson the injustices that result from them, but these efforts can never succeed in any meaningful way except through the cumulative efforts of individual persons to change themselves, so that the power of God can work through them in ways that we may not even be able to understand.


This seems to be what Jeremy's dreams are saying, as well as some of mine. This does not mean that individual Muslims should not physically move to a better environment than America is right now, as tens of thousands of Muslims have already done during the past five years. This means only that such hijra will not adequately address the real challenges, which are spiritual and can be met only within the environment where we find ourselves.

We cannot escape evil, but we can overcome it by being the persons that God created us to be. Most Muslims in America were born here, so being Americans is part of our being. To be an American means to follow one's own religious path as a catalyzing force to bring out the best of America as a model of justice, tranquility, prosperity, and freedom for the world. The spiritual hijra of which Jeremy speaks is a means to the self-transformation that may be possible only by remaining where we already are. "

 

 

 

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