Response to Reuben Horne

Submitted by Shazia Khanum, Sep 24, 2005 at 19:40

Reuben stated: "Sorry Shazia - I don't buy it betty."

Response:

It has never been my intention to sell you or any one else anything. It's merely a discussion in which I am expressing my beliefs, which are practical to me and to no one else, to see if some of the commentators can realize that stereotyping us all Muslims is erroneous. That there are many faces and that "islam" as a spiritual reality (a harmoneous submission to the Reality) exists in many forms and under many labels.

Do I not have the right to define my path and give it an outer label? Does it really matter if what I adhere to seem so foreign to some and does not fit their image?

Call Islam or Muhammad what you like. It makes no difference to me. God alone will decide what is right and what is wrong and what are facts and what are human perceptions. But this will happen in another realm of existence. Not this one.

The beauty of God being the judge -- and not us -- is that He is the Reality that encompasses all other realities. As a result, He knows our innermost secrets and motives, and our intentions as well as our levels of consciousness.

You can consider Muhammad an evil person, and you have that right. But do I not have the right to hold a different image of him? Do I not have the right to reject certain things that have been attributed to him, like you have the right to accept them? Just like you have interpreted certain historical accounts that have come to you through certain sources and have formed an image of Islam and Muhammad, so have I.

The beauty of tolerance is NOT that you agree with me or I agree with you. The beauty of tolerance is in the ability to recognize how we perceive things differently and yet are able to respect each other and have a peaceful co-existence.

I have already pointed out that the Muslims are in darkness -- collectively. But I also see many brilliant stars in our midst. Their light is dim because the veil of darkness are so thick. At least two generations have been taught an Islamist version of Islam. Therefore, the other faces of it are not recognized.

So it is not your fault. You see what is there from your angle.

You state: "it is a morally repugnant political philosophy ..."

And this is what the Islamists hold. And this is what has done a lot of damage.

Like it or not, believe it or not, but to me and many others, Islam is the story of human awakening, rise of consciousness and worshipful love of One all permeating Reality. If Judaism leads one to this, then this is his/her "islam", when the word "islam" is taken as the definition/description of an inner state. If Hinduism or Christianity or other religious paths lead one to raise one's consciousness to see Unity and a continuation of the self after the physical death, then that is one's "islam'.

You may point out something and poo poo what I have stated above. This is your right and I have no problem with that. What you see in certain things, we don't. This realm of existence is not meant for all human beings to agree on everything and follow the same outer path with the same outer label.

There is a wisdom behind it. And the wisdom is a challenge for us to learn to respect each other and co-exist, and shed the lower aspects of the self and go with the higher that is already within us.

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