(c) And then the bar of Justice is pushed even higher, until it disappears in the clouds.
Read:
Koonoo Qawwaameena Bil Qisti
Shuhadaa-a Lillahi
Wa Lawu Alaa Anfusikum! (4:135)
Want a paraphrase? Here it is:
“Be the pillars of Justice,
And be God’s own voice on earth,
By speaking out even against your own selves,
And, if it is necessary and Just,
then even against your own best interests –
your personal, professional, commercial, national and other interests!
People! And poor, poor, Muslims – besotted, bemused and on the run and helter-skelter! Don’t you see the quest for a “More Perfect Union” that the Constitution hankers after is an endless one?
And at the end of the day, it is a Muslim responsibility?
And don’t you see that – every step of the way – it is poor, poor America, that everybody plunders and abuses and only very few really help, is really trying desperately, and almost hopelessly, to catch up with the “More Perfect” state of the Qur’an?
And don’t you see Muslims that maybe, just maybe, you were brought to America from all parts of your Natural Habitat of Islam and Muslims, starting out, let us say, 1960’s, to do precisely that: To help America find that heaven on earth of “More Perfect Union” that the Qur’an came into this world to give everyone everywhere?
(d) And, the life of Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, was, Muslims, unbeknownst to you, about ensuring Peace and Tranquility – both domestic and foreign.
Read:
All of Surah al-Anfaal.
And also read:
All of Surah At-Tawubah!
And read, which you should have done anyway, all of the Qur’an, and multiple times, and continue doing so nonstop, cover to cover!
e) And, the life of Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, was, Muslims, a ceaseless striving for providing General Welfare. Not only for his “own kind”; not only for Muslims; but for all of humanity.
And not only for “Mankind,” as so many of you would say in such a sad repetition of the tragic perversity handed to you by your Jewish and Christian mentors and masters, but “Humanity,” as God in the Qur’an calls it, and which you then changed to “Mankind” in your English translations.
And you say you did not change the Qur’an?
Not just for humans, but for all of God’s Family and Children, as it were, and if that Hadith is to be taken seriously from a narrow methodological or Sanad point of view.
Or just call it Khalq of Allah.
And that blanket expression, Khalq, covers every whale and tuna in water; and every bison and buffalo in the prairies; and every tiger and rhino in every jungle in Asia and Africa! And you know – or do you? – why I am mentioning these things by name?
Just as it covers every inch of the Rain Forest in every part of the world from Amazon and Trinidad to Indonesia and Thailand!
And every inch of the Air, Water, Soil and the Environment everywhere!
Can’t you see, Muslims, how America is trying so hard and so bravely and persistently, and against all the odds that are strewn in its path, to rise toward a “More Perfect Union,” and, in doing so, to catch up with the Qur’an?
And what do you think the American Civil War was all about? If not a bloody stand so as not to be pushed off from the goal and path of pursuing that “More Perfect Union”?
I am dedicated to that goal. Make no mistake about. And I have always been. Even my classes, totally insignificant and non-descript as they are, are still a nod in that direction of trying to help America reach its goal of a “More Perfect Union.”
Yes, let me own up, I do teach university. For, as they say a man has got to find a living. So, that is how I make my living I suppose.
But let me recast it in the language of Islam:
I teach, for, that is how God Almighty seems to have chosen to put bread on my table.
And feed the hungry mouths under the roof that he provided me.
His words:
Huwa Yut-imunee wa Yasqeenee!
But when I am in front of my university students, God Bless Them, I am constrained by my contractual commitment, and by my sense of honor, integrity, conscience and professionalism – roll it all into one and just call it Islam – which keep me from using words like Allah and Qur’an and Rasulullah, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, in my lectures, presentations and discussions.
But the wisdom and light of the Qur’an and Hadith pour out in every word and every gesture, as I try and open the eyes of my students to the fact, no matter what the subject matter, and no matter what the class, that there is a “More Perfect Union” to be had. And that such a “More Perfect Union” is both possible and desirable.
And, more importantly, it is the basic duty of every single one of us to strive for the attainment of such a “More Perfect Union.”
Our Constitution mandates it.
And our own situation requires it.
And some of my own personal markers – Aayaat, do you think? – on this road to a “More Perfect Union” for America are my passions and commitments like:
(a) Best possible Healthcare for every single American.
(b) Best Education, from the lowest to the highest levels, for every single American.
No, I am not unaware of America’s dark past of Slavery.
Or America’s equally dark or worse encounter with the so-called “Native Americans.”
Or about the treatment of Blacks in post-Civil War America.
Or about America’s too often dubious role in international affairs, and especially in relation to the Muslim world.
