salem [salaam, other]

Thank you for attending the Inter-Faith Prophet Muhammad Day Conference.

And on behalf of Muslims For Peace I welcome you.

I’m sorry I could not be there in person, but I simply wanted to send a message in the spirit of peace and inter-faith dialog — because that’s essentially what Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) stood for.

And I think that’s something that people have to understand in this day and age of religious conflict and sectarianism — is that The Prophet, if you recognize him as a prophet — was carrying on the tradition of The Abrahamic Faiths — going back to Abraham and Moses — because having read the Old Testament, or the New Testament, as a young man, when I came upon [across] the Koran I was amazed to find how The Prophet drew upon the stories of Moses, he drew upon The Old Testament — Shariah Law was essentially Judaic law [Mosaic law] — and how much respect he showed also for Isa — Jesus.

There is something very important to understand in all this because people often ask me: ”Why did you accept Islam?” And I frankly never had a second thought about it: Why?

Because I believed that Moses, Abraham, their whole lineage is littered with prophets — and I believe that Jesus is a prophet — then how can I doubt that muhammad who comes and relates their stories and their same mission and their truth — how can he be any less of a prophet?

So to recognize this lineage and this work that Prophet Muhammad was doing is to become Muslim.

Whether or not you follow every ritual — it’s no different whether you’re Jewish or Christian or Muslim there are flaws in all people — there are flaws in every man, woman, child — but as people if we can recognize that which is best, that which is good, that which brings out our higher qualities, our higher nature, then we are tending towards God, towards understanding God.

And that is the true nature of faith. The truth nature of faith is to not demand that the world abide by our own will, but to have faith that God knows best, and despite all the conflict and tension that he may create in the world, and the difference people find within each other — we still have faith that God will order it and do as he wills with all people.

And it is not upon us —it is not left to us —to do God’s work — we do not have to condemn or punish people for their difference in faith, because our faith is so strong in God to do as he wills with them.

Towards this end I want to point out — unfortunately Prophet Muhammad is given a slightly ”negative bent” in this day and age, where many (even ”liberal”) people would say he is a ”terrorist” because he used violence to unify the people of Arabia.

And to look at The Prophet as a terrorist in the vein of modern terrorism is [not just] completely unhistorical but it’s also offensive. Because you can take for a case-in-point the constitution of Medina, which many people would point out is the first modern democratic constitution — as my friend ”sayyid amar” recently pointed out for me.

And we look at The Constitution of Medina. It is laid forth as principles by which people of a community that is not entirely Muslim are able to interact and operate under certain protections that are accorded to all believers —meaning Jews, Christians, and peoples of other faith.

And the most important, telling line of the document, the constitution, is the last — the forty-seventh principle — that says: God is the protector of the good and god-fearing men, and Muhammad is the apostle of God.

”God is The Protector of the Good and God-Fearing Men.”

It does not say ”God is the protector of Muslims.” It does not say God is the protector of what would become later Sunni or Shia — it says God is the protector of the good and god-fearing men!

And who are we? — in an age without a prophet — [today] there is no Prophet Muhammad, there is no Prophet Isa, there is no Prophet Moses — to lay down the principles or commands by which we should live — so who are we to assume THAT power?

Are we not attempting to be good and god-fearing men? I believe so.

But I think that the nature of being a God-fearing person is to never assume the power of God to condemn and judge absolutely.

We can judge within our inner consciousness and within the consciousness of our society that which we find reprehensible, that which we find immoral — but we can never condemn absolutely. That is where our faith in god must be strong.

We must know that God gives us all things, including Devils, for us to become better people.

So in that spirit of inter-faith dialog and the inter-faith day, I leave you with the message that Prophet Muhammad — as you know, Muhammad is a prophet — the lineage of the Abrahamic Faiths

And really that’s all it is to be a Muslim — beyond that we can debate, we can discuss — we can, even as Muhammad did, look to science [knowledge] as a guide, but we do not have to assume the authority of a God. Even Muhammad was more humble than that.

And that spirit of inquiry, of desiring knowledge, is the true essence of being a Muslim — I believe.

So I leave you with that message.

And please enjoy the day, in the spirit of peace.

Thank you.

I read a prophetic article today with a quote that will probably live with me till the end of my days:

Jim Kirwan

”The entire globe has reached a point where virtually everything is all now balanced on the head of the very last pin ­before everything falls directly into the open jaws of Hell.”

Can you feel the tension in the air at the moment? Everyone I talk to, from all walks of life, from many parts of the world are telling me work is quieter than usual for this time of year.. the world economy has taken another small notch downward and hope for recovery is all but gone, it’s not even spoken of away from media (which for 4 years now has told us ”the economy is back on track!”) and with spring on the way for the northern hemisphere we again are in the danger zone for conflict and later in the year we have to negotiate the equally dangerous autumnal lows in the economy.. another year full of dangers for us, the innocent masses. I hope we see it through and have another winter to get ready for the inevitable grand crisis, whatever final form it takes.
Peace to us all.