Muslims have a great challenge presently to redefine the faith from within here in the West and to stop allowing others who hate us to define it for us.

1. Islam: A Religionof Life not Deathby Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
“Answerthe call of God and God’sMessengerto whatbringsyou to life.”
– Qur’an
“If I asked forpeopleto die forthe sake of God,I would havethemlining up at my house;butwhen I ask
peopleto live forthe sakeof God, I can’tfind anyone.”
– ShaykhAbdallahbinBayyah
I am travelingtoNewJerseynextweektopresentforthe Princeton Pro Life lecture series.The topicis
beingaddressedfromthe perspectiveof the three Abrahamic faiths.I have beenaskedtopresentthe
Islamicview,soIhave beenthinkingabouthow toaddressthistopicto an Americanaudience inthe
contextof today’sclimate.Unfortunately,somanypeopleinthe U.S.now associate Islamwithdeath
rather thanwithlife.
Nietzsche,the Germanphilosopher,wrote in TheAntichristthatChristianity“cheatedus…out of the
harvestof the culture of Islam.The wonderful worldof the Moorishculture of Spain,reallymore closely
relatedtous,more congenial tooursensesand tastesthanRome and Greece,was trampled down …
because itsaidYes to life evenwiththe rare andrefinedluxuriesof Moorishlife.”1
Nietzsche’spointwas
that Islamwasmore balancedinitsattitude (Irecognize the reification) towardthisworldand
celebratedit,unlike Christianity,whichtraditionallywasfarmore focusedonbeingother-worldlytothe
detrimentof people’sexperiencesinthe world.
Why isit that Nietzsche,aleadingintellectof the nineteenthcentury,recognizedIslamasa religionthat
celebratedlife,yetsomanypeople todayhave the opposite view?Perhapsone reasonisthatNietzsche
livedata time whenthe Ottomansstill existedandwere seeninarelativelygoodlight(emphasison
relatively) bymanyeducatedpeople.Moreover,the Muslimworldwasstill unaffectedinitseveryday
life bythe incrediblechangesthatwere occurringinthe West,andmost Muslimcountriesinthe
nineteenthcenturywere relativelystableandextremelysafeplacestovisit.A cursoryreview of Western
travel literature tothe Muslimworldatthe time will verifythis(see,forinstance,Florence Nightingale’s
travelogue toEgypt).Muslimshadnevershiedawayfromthe sensual andaestheticcomponentsof life,
whichre-emergedinthe Westinspite of Christianity,asIslamwasmeantto offera balancedlife,and
educatedEuropeans,whowere raisedwithasense of shame of the senses,were astoundedbythe
celebrationof the bodyanditsexperiencesnotedinsuchplacesasthe hammamsandgardensof the
Muslimworld.
Giventhiscurrenthatredof Islamandall thingsMuslimthat hasarisen,I wouldargue thatMuslimshave
a great challenge presentlytoredefine the faithfromwithinhere inthe Westandto stopallowing
otherswhohate us to define itforus.We needtoidentifyenemiesoutthere andalliesnottomention
potential friendswhomayappeartobe enemiestoday.Lookcloselyatwhattheyare sayingand why.

2. Many of theircritiquesare the same onesSt.Johnof Damascusarticulatedina small chapteronIslam
back inthe seventhcentury!We needtoalsorecognize,asIbnTaymiyyahpointedoutinhis Jawab al-
Sahih,that some Muslimsare ignorantlyviolentintheirresponsestothe critiquesof Christians,andthis
reinforcestheirveryattackon Islam– that it spreadby the swordand notby the strengthof its Truth.
One of the waysto do that isto create a strongand effective internetpresence.There are currently
several anti-Muslimwebsitesrunveryprofessionally,and,inmyestimation,theyare verydisturbing.
For example,manyof these websitesdecontextualize Quranversesandinvariablyuse hadithtraditions
that are sometimesdeeplytroublingordifficulttosquare withotheraspectsof Islam.Mostpeople are
unaware that the greathadithcollectionsare onlymeantforscholars’reference,andeventhosethat
are categorizedas Sahih containmanytraditionsthatare not consideredauthoritativeby Ahlal-Sunnah.
I do notwant to go intoa detailedexplanationhere,asthisisnotthe properforum, butsuffice ittosay
that ImamMalik didnotlike excessive use of hadithforthe veryreasonthatthese websitesexploit:the
hadithcan be veryconfusingtothose not versedinthe tradition,asonlyhighlyskilledscholarsare able
to discernwhatisthe relevance of eachhadithandwhichhadithare usedandwhichare not.
In myestimation,mostMuslimshave notrecognizedhow problematicsuchwebsitesare.Overtime,
theyattract hundredsof thousandsof viewersandhave viral impact.Theyeventuallyreachmillions,and
we have a duty to defendourProphetandclarifyobfuscationsaboutourfaithasloversof our Prophet,
peace be uponhim,and defendersof ourfaith.A seriouseffortfromaselectandtalentedgroupof
Muslimsneedstobe spearheadedtoaddressthe issuesraisedonthese websites,pointbypoint.Over
tenyearsago, I metwithseveral AmericanleadersandscholarsinSouthernCaliforniaandmentioned
that I sawthese websitesthatwere spawningatthattime as a seriousproblemthatIsuspectedwould
grow worse overtime,andIfeltwe mustaddressthis seriousissue,asIfearedthatsome of these sites
wouldconfuse notonlypeopleof otherfaithsbutuneducatedMuslimsalso.Unfortunately,atthattime,
everyone else inthe roomdisagreed,anditwasdecidedthatwe shouldnotrunthat route as it was an
apologeticposition,anditwasbettertojust ignore those websitesastheywouldeventuallyfizzle away.
However,thatdidnothappen,andit ismuch worse today.The issue of Park 51 isa flashpoint,and
thoughI hate to say this,if 9/11 had happenedtoday –God-forbid– inthiscurrentclimate,matters
wouldbe far worse forMuslimsthantheywere inthe halcyondaysof thiscommunitytenyearsago.It is
time forMuslimsto wake upand smell the qahwah.
About Quran School
Since itsinceptionin2007, Quran School has beenprovidingaconvenientwaytolearnQuranonline and
the historyof Islam,for kidsandadultsthroughonline Quranteachers.
http://www.quranschool.com/blog/islam-is-a-religion-of-life-not-death-by-shaykh-hamza-yusuf