"Unity in ABQ"
Salaam Everyone,
I want to thank everyone that participated and helped with our last ASNM Eid Party! My goal was to have a more structured gathering that is informative and fun for everyone. For those members that arrived on time, I'm sure you enjoyed brother Faisals' lecture on Ramadan/Eid. I know the kids enjoyed the games and we all had fun with the lottery.
Our aunt that got ill during the party is home and doing well. You are encouraged to call the family and ask about her well being.
**Islam=submission to Allah, Sunni/Shuia are interchangeable terms that don't separate us.
one thing that was mentioned is that during Eid...It's recommended and some say mandatory to forgive and forget past wrongs. We have to make an attempt to contact those that you have disagreements with. Forgiveness is not only therapeutic it's a big Sawab.
Please post your response to Brother Abdul Hays' interesting questions and don't let our efforts go to waste. This blog/organization is created for you; in an effort to form a close Umah and easier ways for us to keep in touch. Again, I encourage and ask all of you for your participation. If you have not received an invitation to join it's because I don't have your email. email me at asnm98@yahoo.com
Peace be with you
posted by Harris/ASNM98 at 9:22 PM
2 Comments:
As-Salaamu 'alaykum wa Rahmatu-Llah
Dear friends,
Harris invited me to join this virtual conversation on the Afghan Society blog and I’m thankful for this opportunity. I am not sure how many of the society members log on and read this but I hope that this number in sha Allah will grow.
Currently, my work is to encourage the Muslims in Albuquerque to create more social conversations among ourselves. To support coming together more and to get to know each other as members of one great Albuquerque Muslim community. In order to do this I use my position and my office at the department of communication and journalism at UNM to focus a project called Envision Islam in America (EIIA). The idea is that people from different Muslim communities or groups in Albuquerque will meet for conversations about what is important for them and about what will better unite the Muslims. Now, my idea is that we can start this conversation right here on this blog and then continue to move it to a real environment – it is too hard to eat together in this virtual space.
So I like to start with a question, and if it is not a good question for you, please feel free to adjust it to your needs.
Well, it goes like this: I hear from my Afghani friends that many in your community don’t feel comfortable enough in the Albuquerque Mosque to come there often or at all. Why is it so and how can we change this situation for the better? It used to be different. Many more Afghani brothers (and sisters?), Sunni and Shi’a, came to the Mosque. What changed and what drove you away? What is needed to make the mosque more inviting to all the brothers and sisters? Do we need another type of place where more of us can meet and benefit more from our common religion?
I think that these questions are important, especially as the atmosphere towards Islam in the country that many of us chose to live in, is changing in threatening ways. So please brothers and sisters, join in the conversation and help all of us to better understand how to travel together and not only depend on our close ethnic groups.
With my best wishes wa-Salaam,
'Abd al-Hayy
Dear brothers and sisters of the Afhgan Society.
People ask me - what exactly is this Muslim dialogue you work on? What are these interviews that the children of the Salam Academy are engaged in? Why am I trying to gather groups of people to discuss their hopes for the new masjid and to understand what are the qualities they wish to find in their imam?
I began by asking all these questions on purpose. You notice that we ask questions of each other all day long. If you think about it, we are sort of question machines: Who are you? or how are you doing? Where have you been so long and how is your son Ahmad anyway? How much did you pay for this car (or coat, or the dentist…)? Did you see such and such show on TV last night and what did you think about it? What is your opinion about the war in Iraq? And on it goes. Some questions are for politeness’ sake, some we ask to gain new information, and some we use to challenge or make our point.
We also expect an answer for every question we ask. By asking a question we create a social vacuum that needs to be filled. Unless it is filled we feel uncomfortable. If the one asked does not answer we might interpret it as hostility, or unfriendliness, or lack of respect. But we also don’t want questions to open the door for a long exchange that waste time, unless we are taking care of business, solving a problem, or seeking some specific goal. We also use our questioning skills to socialize with friends, family, and people we respect, appreciate, and feel comfortable with. But how often do we truly question a person for the sake of Allah? How often are we patient enough to take our time and truly listen to another without allowing our ‘nafs’ to react? When do we ask the kind of questions that bring a deeper understanding of what another person is saying?
The prophet ‘alahi salatu-was-sallam taught us that we are mirrors for one another. We need each other to be able to see our own faces which we never can see with our own eyes. No one has ever seen his or her own face except in the mirror. Do we dare to believe the truth in the mirror when in our pride we think we know better? How close do we dare to come to the mirror before our nafs reacts to what it sees? One reaction is to turn away and run. Another reaction is to break and destroy the mirror. But we are commanded to be patient and to recognize God’s signs in his creation and in ourselves.
My ummah will never agree on error promised us our prophet, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. This is the meaning of the Ummah’s voice. This voice is both the voice of succession of our ulama transmitting the knowledge of Islam through history, and the voices of brothers and sisters who are near to us in community and who profess to be Muslims. Here I am not referring to democracy but rather to listening and giving voice to all our brothers and sisters. Allah did not create any of us in vain and all our voices must be encouraged and heard. A shaikh in al-Quds once explained to me that Islam is like a live tree of which we, the Muslims, are its components. The sap that flows through the tree represents the living truth of the religion, but take away the bark, this thick layer of dead cells, and the tree will die. All parts of the Muslim community are created by God and are essential and must be recognized. The Ummah’s voice must be heard.
So this is where Muslim dialogue comes in. This is where deep questioning and deep listening are needed to welcome all Muslims to be under one roof and to feel safe in each other’s company. To dialogue is not to convince others that we are right. It is not to confront one ideology with another. It is not a moral struggle for political power. But it is a way to build relationships among Muslims who are not afraid to look at the mirror and say: I love you, or at least: I respect you; even when I don’t agree with you.
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