Revising the Islamic Identity

[Conscious Manipulation]

Revising the Islamic Identity

 

The campaign to suppress Islam is lengthy, has many facets and comes from all quarters. Much of the assaults originate from the West and from within our own countries. It takes the form of the so-called war on terror and it is now being waged in our schools.

 

A number of the Muslim Ummah’s rulers recently gathered to overhaul their school curricula in response to US pressure. Saudi Arabia was in the forefront of this reformation and nationwide introspection. The pressure became acute with the introduction of The Saudi Arabia Accountability Act by the US congress in November 2003. The bill seeks to place sanctions against the kingdom for not doing enough for the United States in its crusade. The Saudi government had started with a national dialogue on political and religious differences in June 2003. This was followed by a December 2003 meeting entitled “Exaggeration and Moderation: A Methodological Comprehensive Vision”.

 

The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries also held a meeting that continued with the same theme. The council – consisting of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – agreed to revise school textbooks that the West claims are inflammatory and encourage religious extremism. Tracts that are deemed too “extreme” like those that teach the difference between Muslims and non-Muslims will be removed. Saudi Arabia has been deleting such references from its school textbooks since October last year and Kuwait is following closely. The education Minister, Rashid al-Hamad, said the aim of the revision was to 'promote tolerance and ensure respect for other religions and opinions'. Meanwhile, Jordan is receiving books from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) that will “teach” Muslim youngsters the difference between terrorism and legitimate resistance. Their Education Minister, Khalid Tuqan, said the new books would focus on "… the differentiation between terrorism and legitimate resistance, the concept of terrorism".

 

The rulers want to place obstacles between the Muslims and the understanding of the Deen. They wish to continue to produce a generation that does not refer to Islam, who will admire and emulate the West while seeking the solutions to our problems from their institutions. After all, that is how the rulers themselves have been taught. They hail from a generation raised by the likes of Taha Hussein. Taha Hussein was a prominent personality who lived during the height of Middle Eastern nationalism. He was a central figure in the reformation of the educational system of Egypt in the 50’s and a strong advocate of liberal thinking. He once wrote “We must follow the path of the Europeans so as to be their equals and partners in civilization, in its good and evil, its sweetness and bitterness, what can be loved or hated, what can be praised or blamed.” The current rulers are products of his reforms and they have inherited this legacy.

 

While our governments try to ingratiate themselves to the West by revising the textbooks of Muslim children to “promote tolerance and ensure respect for other religions and opinions” Western nations reciprocate by passing legislation that discriminates against Muslims. Led by the US, Western nations are implementing legislation that singles out Muslims as a security threat leading to acts of gross injustice against many innocent Muslims residing in the West. Nations like Germany and France are already outlawing the Hijab in their countries. In addition, they will be doing it with the full consent of people who are supposed to be the “inheritors of the Prophets”. The Chief Imam of Al-Azhar, Mohammad Sayed Tantawi, recently endorsed the French government’s position on the issue of banning the Hijab. On 30 December 2003, during his welcoming statement to visiting French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, Tantawi announced that France had the right to ban the Hijab in French state schools. The scholars are supposed to be the guardians of the knowledge of Islam not its destroyer.

 

The assault on Islam comes from all sides. The West is constantly trying to portray Islam as a religion of violence. Words like “hate”, “aggressive” and “intolerant” are just some of the descriptions you will find juxtaposed with the word “Islam”. The media is filled with articles blaming religions – read “Islam” here – with inspiring terrorism. In a thinly veiled attack on Islam and Muslims, the BBC TV presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk, called Arabs "suicide bombers, limb amputators, women repressors". These attacks, when not specifically intended to undermine the Deen, are designed to terrify the Muslims into silent acquiescence.

 

So, in light of the so-called war on terror it is Muslims who are required to change their Deen whilst our rulers are more than willing to undertake this task. One may wonder when they will deem it necessary to start revising the Qur’an and Sunnah.

 

Allah [subhanahu wa ta’aala] has mentioned these types of people and their fate in the Qur’an:

 

فَوَيْلٌ لِلَّذِينَ يَكْتُبُونَ الْكِتَابَ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ ثُمَّ يَقُولُونَ هَذَا مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ لِيَشْتَرُوا بِهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلاً فَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا كَتَبَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا يَكْسِبُون

“Then Woe to those who write the Book with their own hands and then say, “This is from Allah,” to purchase with it a little price! Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for that they earn thereby.” – [TMQ Baqarah: 79]

 

The revision of school curricula to root out so-called extremism should not come as a surprise. The rulers consider teachings that preserve and protect the identity of the Muslims extreme and anything that may bring us closer to Western culture and subservience to the kuffaar as moderate. Just like Taha Hussein, they want to erase the Islamic identity of Muslims and raise a generation that cannot tell the difference between Islam and kufr.

[wind talker]

CM -

 

Wonderful article. Key quote:

 

'The assault on Islam comes from all sides. The West is constantly trying to portray Islam as a religion of violence. Words like “hate”, “aggressive” and “intolerant” are just some of the descriptions you will find juxtaposed with the word “Islam”. The media is filled with articles blaming religions – read “Islam” here – with inspiring terrorism. In a thinly veiled attack on Islam and Muslims, the BBC TV presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk, called Arabs "suicide bombers, limb amputators, women repressors". These attacks, when not specifically intended to undermine the Deen, are designed to terrify the Muslims into silent acquiescence.'

 

What do they gain from spreading these fabrications? American tactics are always the same. Over the years, they've managed to poison Black American neighborhoods with hordes of drugs imported from South America with the goal of destroying the possibility of a new Malcolm X. Through the American educational system and through American media, notions of Blackness have been equalled with notions of violence. Whenever there's an enemy, the enemy is portrayed as being violent so as to scare the American public and prompt immediate government action. The 'war on terror' is a crystal clear war on Islam and it's principles. Islam was, is and will always be a religion of tolerance. During the times of Prophet Muhammad (SCW - pbuh), the Jews lived alongside the Muslim community without any wars or violence declared upon them. During the Bosnian conflict of the mid-90s, Bosnian fighters captured endless Serbian POWs and let them eat everything they were eating. If these are not signs of tolerance, then I guess what the American troops are doing to soldiers from the Afghan conflict held in Cuba are tolerant measures! American double standards have no end in sight. Smell the coffee kids.

[Conscious Manipulation]

salaam wind talker,

 

Whether they're dropping bombs or occuping Muslim minds and lands they'll never defeat this deen... " They plot and plan, and Allah too plans; but the best of planners is Allah. "

 

We just gotta keep working to better ourselves, we can't let them waste our time responding to everything they say. History has recorded the superemcy of our deen and the future will be a witness to its rise once again inshaAllah.

 

salaam