[GJM] President Of India's Friday Prayer : What this 'devout secular Muslim left, ' ?: Dr.M.K.Sherwani

[Richard D. Foley]

With an open heart and mind, desiring only harmony and enlightenment, 
without any desire, to diminish, in any way, the honor of the beliefs of 
the believers of Islam, I present the following thoughts.

Written or uttered, words are the imperfect tools we humans have to 
strive to communicate with each other.  I am neither a Muslim nor a 
scholar, just an ordinary, common man ever in need of correction, yet am 
I wrong, was there not some discussion over the subject of written and 
oral words between Mohammed and the Arch Angle Gabriel, with Mohammed 
receiving some teaching on the necessity that he receive his 
instructions orally?

No doubt I am in need of further instruction for the question occurs to 
me that if the oral delivery of the instructions of God being 
established as a superior, better, more accurate, and more deserving of 
believability than a written delivery, then why is the written word of 
the Koran worthy of higher veneration that those words of God's a person 
may hear in their hearts?

My Creator has provided me a mind capable of simultaneously containing 
and considering two ideas (described by some as mutually contradictory 
ideologically exclusive), represented by words such as secular and 
devout, can a mind not find some positive value in both?  I am a 
monotheist.  I grant no man the liberty to judge me in this area of my 
being soul.  God is my only judge.  I accept His judgment only.  As I 
know that His judgment shall be perfect, I know that every judgment of 
man, regardless of desire for perfection, shall contain imperfection.

As Christ instructed, judge not!  No man is without sin!  Sin 
disqualifies the judger.  First let us clean the tree trunk, clear the 
brush, and mow the high grass from our own eye before we undertake to 
remove the splinter from our brother's eye.

If I desire to walk without harm or injury my path of life, then who am 
I to allow any others to self-promote themselves to some self-proclaimed 
elevated position from which they thereby proclaim for themselves the 
authority to not only condemn others, but to punish those whom they have 
condemned?  For me, this is the essence of what others have chosen to 
identify as secularism on one side, and its opposite on the other as 
fundamentalism.

Perhaps, the journalist who wrote about President APJ Abdul Kalam could 
have used more care in his selection of words.  Words are powerful 
things, but also powerful imperfect things.  On judgment day we shall 
know the full truth of the meaning of God's will, for we shall no longer 
be enslaved to the imperfection of words, or to the will of men who 
proclaim divine talent as sole translators and enforcers of the will of God.

Respectfully,

Richard D. Foley




Sherwani Mustafa wrote:

>www.hindustantimes.com( March.2,9pmIST)
>Amid thousands, Kalam prays at Fatehpuri Masjid
>March 2
>-----------------------------------------------
>  " The prayers over, the devout secular Muslim left,
>after thanking the mosque officials and shaking hands
>with some of the more enthusiastic visitors."
>--------------------------------------------------
>  
>     The way  Friday prayer of the President of India
>Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam has been reported in the
>newspapers indicates that perhaps after entering the
>President House it was the first occasion that he
>entered any mosque. The religiosity or the depth of
>spiritualism of a person is a matter between him and
>God,and  no human being has the authority   to judge
>it.Our president is also a person of deep spiritual
>values the directions of which he himself and his
>Creator can assess.
>    
>      What came to me as a great astonishement  was
>his description by four attributes 'the
>devout''secular' 'muslim' 'left'- a combination
>comrising mutually contradictory ideological
>perceptions that  he earned after his visit to
>Fatehpuri mosque. 'Muslim' no doubt he is. 'Devout'
>'secular' and 'left', however, have hostile relations
>with each other - pragmatically if not theoretically.A
>'devout muslim' is termed as 'fundatmentalist' because
>he can never indulge in polytheistic practices which
>are the negation of 'Islamic monotheism' but integral
>part of 'secularism'.Conversely, a muslim cannot
>succeed in establishing their 'secular credentials'
>unless they do everything which is prohibited in
>Islam, while simultaneously retaining their 'muslim
>identity'. 'Left' is generally associated with
>atheistic  assumptions, and as such the use of this
>word in  describing the characteristics of the
>President of India is totally out of place. 
>   
>   ---------------------------------------------
>  Dr. Mustafa Kamal Sherwani  
>
>
>------------------------------------------------
>Amid thousands, Kalam prays at Fatehpuri Masjid
>March 2
> 
>Ignoring requests to stand alone for better
>protection, President APJ Abdul Kalam offered midday
>prayers on Friday at the historic Fatehpuri mosque,
>standing among thousands of believers.
>
>The president spent 20 minutes at the mosque, located
>near the Red Fort monument in the city's old quarters,
>during which he accepted the greetings of many with a
>polite walekum as salam (May Allah bless you too).
>
>Kalam entered the sprawling mosque shortly after 1.30
>p.m. and joined the prayer, led by Naib Shahi Imam
>Maulana Moulvi Mohammed Mouazzam, a 49-year-old who
>along with his brother received the president with a
>bouquet.
>
>Kalam stood in the second row of a larger gathering
>5,000-6,000 strong and prayed, like everyone else,
>with his head bowed and while facing the Mecca. He
>wore socks, having taken off his shoes in his car.
>
>The prayers over, the devout secular Muslim left,
>after thanking the mosque officials and shaking hands
>with some of the more enthusiastic visitors.
>
>The Fatehpuri mosque is not as well known as the
>nearby Jama Masjid although Mughal emperor Shah Jahan
>built both. Among Muslims, however, the Fatehpuri
>mosque commands greater respect owing to what the Imam
>said was its "spiritual loftiness".
>
>Asked why Kalam had chosen the Fatehpuri mosque to
>pray, the Imam said: "The president is deeply into
>spiritual affairs. He is devoted to Sufiism. He has
>discussed with us religion and Sufi thoughts many
>times. So he chose to come."
>
>The Fatehpuri mosque also houses one of the biggest
>Islamic seminaries in the Indian capital. It is ringed
>on all sides by narrow lanes chock a block with shops
>including those of Khari Boli, one of the biggest
>wholesale markets of Delhi.
>
>Some of the locals had wanted to meet Kalam and submit
>memorandum related to Muslim affairs but the Imam said
>he dissuaded them from doing so "since the president
>is coming for a religious affair".
>
>"He is the president of India and it is a honour for
>us to receive him," the Imam said. "He should not be
>troubled on this occasion by purely Muslim issues."
>
>Hindu-majority India is home to the world's second
>largest Muslim population after Indonesia.
>
> 
>
>
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