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

Tue Mar 6 22:49:38 MST 2007

I appreciate the visit of President APJ Abdul Kalam..I had been writing for getting more an more prayerful responses generated for addressing the climate change challenges. I wish president realises the importance of practice of prayer more and more and communicates the same for his large audiances across the country India and China has a great responsibility along with all other for shaping the ecologically sustaianble consuption, production and  leiusre use patterns that are inimical to ecological safety....

"Richard D. Foley" <rerailer at earthlink.net> wrote:
  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.           Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com     _______________________________________________  Discussion mailing list  Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net  http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net      
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