What would Muhammad do? (By Asma Uddin)

Washington DC Omid Safi is best known to many of us as being at the forefront of the Progressive Muslims movement, a movement that finds in Islamic spirituality a powerful voice for social justice and pluralism. In his latest book, Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters (Harper Collins), Safi explores the origins of that spirituality: the character and being of the Prophet Muhammad.

For Muslims, the book is a refreshing call to return to our spiritual roots, an element of faith that these days seems to be lost in the constant social commentary we are forced to engage in about Islam. For non-Muslims, Safi's explanation of Muhammad as the bridge between humanity and the Divine, insofar as emulating him brings one closer to Him, helps explain the connection Muslims have to their Prophet. It helps others feel as devout Muslims feel. In a time when the Prophet is so deeply misunderstood, such an emotional bond can go a long way in healing interreligious wounds.

What makes Safi's prose ingenious - indeed, what makes it especially relevant - is the way it moves back and forth between biographical details of the Prophet to the ways these historical points have been interpreted and emulated by Muslims. For instance, the Prophet's horizontal journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and his proceeding vertical movement from Jerusalem to the Heavens to meet his Maker, in the famed isra and mi'raj, signify first his connection to Jesus' and Moses' message and then his ultimate communion with the Divine.

The horizontal isra, along with the Prophet's meeting with Adam, Jesus, John the Baptist, Joseph, Enoch, Aaron, Moses and Abraham during the mi'raj, underscores the commonality of the Abrahamic faiths and the sanctity of each. Some Muslims reject this reading of Scripture, choosing instead to believe that the Qur'an supersedes rather than affirms previous revelations. (195) While it may be true that there are theological details that the three monotheistic faiths cannot ever agree on, there is ample Qur'anic proof of the essential connection among Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and a wide scope of spiritual traditions.

The Qur'an refers to the Prophet as a messenger to all of humanity and emphasizes time and again that each prophet brings the same message and one should not be favored over the other. The Prophet's message at its core is about spiritual submission to the Divine, designating as "muslim" anyone who adheres to such principles. While there are parts of the Qur'an that delineate factors for what makes one a Muslim with a capital "M", "in the Qur'anic worldview, 'Islam' is not so much the name of a new religious tradition as it is the quality of submitting oneself to God wholeheartedly... Islam is a path that leads one to Truth, but it is not the Truth itself." (200-1)

Refocusing one's conception of religion as a means to the Truth as opposed to the Truth itself not only allows for pluralistic interpretations of scripture, but also makes proper behavior central to one's religiosity. Being a Muslim ceases to be an identity; instead, it is a way of being and doing. The search for Truth becomes a process that requires effort - a process that is rooted in submitting to God by, among other things, working for social justice.

Safi's biography of the Prophet serves to do precisely that - to refocus the reader's attention on the person through whom the Qur'an was revealed. As Safi says, quite rightly, the modernist Muslim understanding of the Prophet's role is little more than that of a "UPS delivery man, dropping off the divine revelation of the Qur'an at the doorstep of humanity, maybe pausing long enough to obtain a signature to ensure that the item has been received, and then departing, never to be seen again." (265) Lost on these modernists is the "tradition of Islamic piety, learning, and spiritual practice" that developed around memories of Muhammad.

Lost also is the fact that spiritual purification can happen only through implementing the Prophet's larger message of socially conscious action. Safi's book digs back into these memories of Muhammad in order to revive them, the traditions constructed around them, and their call to embrace Islam through refined character.

The concluding chapter of Safi's book thus appropriately focuses on the question, What Would Muhammad Do? (WWMD). It is a question that brings the Prophet into the present, making his memory a living one. As Safi notes, in the modern landscape, many Muslims find themselves fighting stereotypes and misconceptions by defining what Islam and its Prophet are not. (301) WWMD is about digging into the Prophet's core message of mercy to discover what Islam is, has been, can be, and should be.

Asma Uddin is Associate Editor of altmuslim.com and Editor-in-Chief of Altmuslimah. This article was previously published in Newsweek/Washington Post's On Faith

Book Description

Who was the historical Muhammad, and how do Muslims remember him—as a holy prophet, a cultural revolutionary, a military leader, or a spiritual mystic? Unending media coverage of extremist fanatics, the controversy over offensive cartoon depictions of Muhammad, and fatwas against journalists and authors are all hard to ignore and have prejudiced our Western perceptions of Muslims and their founder.

This definitive biography of the founder of Islam by a leading Muslim-American scholar will reveal invaluable new insights, finally providing a fully three-dimensional portrait of Muhammad and the one billion people who follow him today.

Memories of Muhammad presents Muhammad as a lens through which to view both the genesis of Islamic religion and the grand sweep of Islamic history—right up to the hot button issues of the day, such as the spread of Islam, holy wars, the status of women, the significance of Jerusalem, and current tensions with Jews, Hindus, and Christians. It also provides a rare glimpse into how Muslims spiritually connect to God through their Prophet, in the mosque, in the home, and even in cyberspace.

This groundbreaking book offers the opportunity to move from telling Muhammad's story to talking about how different Muslims throughout Islamic history have both honored and contested Muhammad's legacy.

Where is Justice? Death and Brutality in Custody

Between 2003 and 2007, 1,535 people died while in the custody and protection of the Malaysian government.

Each of these people was a human being, with a story to tell, with family and friends who loved them. Countless more have barely escaped with their lives after poor treatment or brutality at the hands of the authorities.

Innocent or guilty, all were entitled to the protection of our laws and our government - to justice. Revealed here are the crucial facts behind the cases of four prominent cases: Teoh Beng Hock, A.Kugan, Altantuya Shaariibuu, and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

One died over an investigation into alleged corruption totalling RM 2,400; another was bloodied and beaten by the most powerful police officer in the country. Each cries out for justice. Beyond the headlines are thousands of other cases where Malaysians have suffered similar unjust brutality. All we have are names and brief details - if anything at all.

This book tries to do them justice too, by including human rights reports from over the past five years, including every known story of a death in detention, and many more of wanton abuse and neglect.

Author: Edited by John Lee and Nathaniel Tan

Publisher: Kinibooks, 2009

ISBN: 9789834092269

No of pages & price: 206 & RM29.00

Ali Sina’s “Understanding Muhammad: A Psychobiography”

For those who are familiar with the extremist Islamophobic website called “Faithfreedom International”, the name of its founder Ali Sina (a pseudonym) is synonymous with the bigotry and vile rhetoric often displayed against Muslims and Islam. This was a person who openly advocated for the atomic bomb to be used on Muslim populations and have many times declared that he will “wipe out” Islam within 30 years.

Now this relatively unknown figure within academic circles — apart from becoming the self-appointed hero for the cause of Islamophobia, bigotry and the new emerging school of lay-people and pseudo-scholars — has moved beyond the world that he is more accustomed with on the internet.

Like his predecessors, such as the infamous Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch, Ali Sina is now attempting to make his name within the world of published authors with the publication of his book Understanding Muhammad: A Psychobiography. Whilst it is true that over the course of years he has gathered a large following of largely misled haters, Ali Sina still has had to resort to self-publishing with a relatively small publishing press where anyone with anything to rant about can publish their own.

The book claims to be a “psychobiography” of the Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, but it is far from being objective and sane in its purported “scholarship”. It claims to refer to the Islamic religious texts (heavily relying on translations and not the original Arabic sources which betrays the author’s lack of command in the language) and then attempts to characterize Muhammad (SAW) in “modern analytical terms”.

Coming from a Shi’ite background in predominantly Shi’ite Iran, it is not clear from the onset as to why Ali Sina favours referencing the Sunni sources such as the hadith collection of Bukhari and Muslim (which is not used by the Shi’a and largely unfamiliar to them) and hardly mentions the Shi’ite sources themselves which talks about the Prophet (SAW).

This leads us to suspect that he may not have the credentials of an Iranian Muslim as he claims to have. Unfortunately, this book does nothing more than to resort to the old underhanded technique of cherry-picking a handful of half-truths, sprinkling them with lies, exaggerations and misrepresentations, and eventually to come up with a twisted mix of politically-motivated propaganda. MORE >>

UNICEF needs RM 410 million to help children in Haiti

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has launched a “2010 Haiti Earthquake Children’s Appeal” in Malaysia to support its global appeal for RM 410 million (US$ 120 million). Funds raised will be used to help children and families who survived the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti on 12 January.

UNICEF’s request is part of a United Nations appeal for RM 1.9 billion (US$ 562 million), launched last Friday, to facilitate humanitarian operations for the next six months in one of the poorest countries on earth.

Haiti ranks 148 out of 179 countries on UNDP’s Human Development Index. It has a long history of being struck by one natural disaster after another, and is struggling to recover from years of violence, insecurity and instability.

Given that nearly 50 per cent of Haiti's 10 million population is under the age of 18, UNICEF has a particularly critical role to play. MORE...

Related: Amerika Syarikat di Haiti, adakah sejarah akan terus berulang?

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Kudos for Nik Abd. Aziz for initiating inter-faith meet (Harakahdaily)

Even as praises poured in for PAS spiritual adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat for his leadership in initiating dialogue with more than 20 leaders of different faiths religion, Friday sermons at mosques in Selangor urged Mulsims to unite against the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims.

The text of the sermons was prepared by the Selangor Islamic Department or Jais, which is still largely controlled by religious officers loyal to Umno. Although the state is now run by the Pakatan Rakyat, Umno had governed Selangor since independence from British rule in 1957 to 2008.

“The decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Thursday, December 31, allowing the Herald, the Catholic Weekly, to use the word Allah was shocking to Muslims nationwide,” the text of sermon read.

“The use of the word Allah by the Christians, especially in writings, must be stopped by the government. According to Islamic principles, the government has the right to take pre-emptive measures to stop the expected damage.”

Contrasting stances

In sharp contrast to Umno's inflammatory stance, PAS leaders have sought to defuse simmering religious tensions.

On Thursday, Nik Aziz, who is also Kelantan Mentri Besar, told reporters that he had invited leaders of various religions to a late lunch meeting. The meeting - slated to take place at the Kelantan state government complex on January 28 - is aimed at building rapport.

“The state government is meeting them to raise an environment of peace and harmony between religions in this country. Although there is harmony in Kelantan for so long, it is hoped that the meeting will improve this,” Nik Aziz said.

PAS, which is led by a core committee of Muslim experts or ulamak, has stood above the racial politicking fanned by Umno. It is standing by Islamic teachings, which do not prohibit the use of Allah – the Arabic word for God – by non-Muslims.

"The initative by Nik Aziz should be welcomed by everyone and is all the more commendable when it comes at a time when leadership is perceived to be lacking from the government of the day," Ramon Navartnam, chairman of the Centre for Public Policy Studies, told Harakahdaily.

"This is the time when the vacuum of leadership needs to be filled, when the people are crying out for their leaders to reach rational solutions that are satisfactory to all.