I have seen these past several decades, people embracing Islam, both in the US as well as the UK. They are men as well as women. And many of them are smart, talented and interesting people.
And what is the first thing many of them seem to do? Hit the Muslim lecture circuit. And, of course, Muslims lap them up as emblematic of the Second Coming of their Religion Islam.
These converts then evolve into some kind of Islamic leaders and Sheikhs, and Muslim conference staples, feeding Muslims a steady diet of their understanding of Islam.
The results, at least in some cases, have been disastrous.
What no one seems to be asking is this: Shouldn’t these good people be talking to the non-Muslims in their communities and inviting them to Islam?
Isn’t that where the real action is? And isn’t that where the future beckons?
So, I would say to them, what has happened over the past 30 years has happened. It is, as they say, maybe water under the bridge.
At least now, shouldn’t at least some of them contemplate reaching out to the non-Muslims to share with them their own personal experiences and joys of discovering Islam and becoming Muslim?
And be a catalyst for change in these societies to Islam?
Isn’t that a niche that needs filling? Or should I say isn’t there a crying need for it? Even though there definitely are those who have tried to do precisely that in some ways and succeeded in all sorts of ways to different degrees.
But shouldn’t there be more? And shouldn’t that be the norm, rather than the exception?
I think a great deal about Malcolm X. May Allah bless him.
What a man!
Instead of becoming entrenched as part of the crystallizing Muslim ghetto, Malcolm continued his outreach to non-Muslims even after he broke from the Nation of Islam.
Isn’t there another one like him anywhere in the world? And particularly in the US or the UK – someone who will walk right past incessant Muslim calls to be their conference speaker to be a true and tireless Islamic activist among non-Muslims in these societies?
Muslims can have any number of Sheikhs of any hue and extraction they desire. Their supply will not run out for the Muslims. And Muslims are not likely to be any the better or worse for it.
I know how many a Muslim community in the UK gets its Sheikhs from “Back Home,” and how at least some of these worthies are completely innocent of the English language and of local norms and culture in the UK.
So, Muslims will survive. They have – for centuries, over which they have changed little.
But what about the non-Muslims in the UK and the US? Who will reach out to them with the message of the Deen of Allah?
Don’t they – the American and the British non-Muslims – deserve someone who will feel their pain and reach out to give them an insight into Islam?
Who will do that if not the converts from their own ranks, even though the responsibility is a common one that devolves on the shoulders of everyone who consider themselves Muslim in America and Britain – or anywhere else in the world?
END
© 2012 Syed Husain Pasha
Dr. Pasha is an educator and scholar of exceptional
talent, training and experience. He can be reached at DrSyedPasha [at]
AOL [dot] com or www.IslamicSolutions.com.
