Saturday, March 15, 2008

Happy 100th Post!!

yeaaaaaay!! I have reached the 100th post!

Actually this is not a happy post at all! It is an angry post. I have been postponing writing this
post since a VERY long time now. I was postponing mainly because I was busy, but I was also hoping for things to get better.Hoping to hear good news of any kind or in any form. I am not talking on the personal level. Things have been great for a while el7amdolelah. But I am talking on a "nation wide" level. I will take this 100th post not to celebrate how much of a great blogger I was these previous 99 posts, but I'll take it to scream out loud some of the things that have been getting on my nerves. I mean isnt that what blogs are for? Letting it all out? Sharing your ideas with friends, fellow bloggers and anonymous strangers who somehow seem to care? Anyways,there are one specific event that really got on my nerves.I postponed writing this post hoping for a happy ending for this event, but it seems that happy endings are only in movies.

The Denmark cartoons:What's getting on my nerves are not the cartoons themselves(Oh yes they are). But what is REALLY getting on my nerves is the islamic countries and people's reaction. When it comes to Islam's image in the west, we get very defensive. As if we did something wrong. As if we are ONLY positioned to weakly defend and patheticly ask for an apology. Why are we blaming non-Muslim westeners for portraying our prophet in cartoons and a mocked false image, when there are many of us arab muslims, who don't even know the least about prophet and his biography that well?I mean, there are a lot of Muslims who are also bluntly attacking the prohpet in the first place.And if not attacking, a lot of muslims are ignorant of his journey to spread the word of Allah.Many Muslims would sadly think that Islam was indeed spread by force, others would have no explaination of why did the prophet marry more than once, others would even question the degree of credibility of his Ahadeeth. And that is from Muslims. What do we expect from non-Muslims?

What I want to say is, we can't blame them for how things ended up to.We don't have the right to get angry.We should of course get angry for our prohpet being mocked at, but we should also be realisitic and understand that everything is a cause-and-effect.The cartoons are an effect. A symptom, of how bad things really are.We should blame ourselves for not presenting Islam as we should by embracing our prophet's teachings.I mean almost all muslim countries compose a vast majority of the 3rd world.A lot of muslims (if not most of them) are sadly lazy, ill-educated,self-absorbed,brain-washed with alot of misconceptions (if any concepts at all) about Islam.If muslims are having misconceptions about Islam, isn't that worth more attention than outsiders having misconceptions of the prophet? Do we as muslim hold up a good presentation of Islam? If people pretend to care so much of how Islam is portrayed in the outside world, they should Act upon it.Not just (Re)act surprised, angry and defensive.

Allah yer7amak ya Geddo, he always repeated the verse of El-Motannaby:

أغاية الدين أن تحفوا شواربكم يا أمة ضحكت من جهلها الأمم

On the other hand, we shouldnt be so much consumed of how the "West sees Islam". What we should care about is just being the best Muslims we could.
It doesnt really matter what we do to portray Islam in the best image.Yes, we are required to be our best, but that doesnt mean to get all consumed in being accepted in the west as a well-respected civilization.
We should be more consumed in developing OURselves for the sake of OURselves, not our image.Other wise,we would be just wasting time trying to prove that "Islam is the perfect religion, it's only the people who apply it wrong". Get the people to apply it right, and then we should rest our case!
قبل لما لأصلح صورة الاسلام في الغرب, أصلح الأصل

There is ALOT to be done before trying to reach the west in defense of Islam. There is ALOT to be done before trying to explain ourselves and our beloved prophet.We should present Islam by example, not by defense. Here is what I think many of us should do, and that is only a humble list of mine.
1- Read, read, read: read about the Islamic History and heritage. Whether or not there is a consiperancy of getting the youth ignorant of the Islamic past, we should read more about Islam.

2-Think, think, think:
People stopped using their brains. We stopped thinking creatively, and we take everything for granted.People are numb. We are even lazy to change what we take from the west. Even in our songs, movies and sitcoms. Even in THAT we come last. We are even bad at imitating.

3-Stop complaining: This is addressed to me more than to anyone else. I do waste a lot of time in complaining when it could have been wasted in actually changing something. If you don't like something, you either change it

if you can, or shut up و ذلك أضعف الايمان.

4- Add some value: As muslims, I believe we have only 2 purposes in life: The worshipping following purpose, and that includes all the rituals of Islam that we apply with faith(Praying,fasting..). There is also the building,creating partاعمار الأرض.The one most ignored, the one that requires a Muslim to think,imagine and execute. The one that requires every Muslim to be an added value, to do at least minimum positive change in his surrounding circle of people. I think that the successful Muslim is the one that balances between these 2 purposes in life.


أنا زهقت بقى أن احنا مسلمين هايفين و متخلفين ومكتومين و مكسلين يفكروا. زهقت من احنا كل سنة بنبقى أوحش من اللي قبلها. نفسي نتغير


Happy 100th Post!

10 comments:

Deeeeeee said...

gJoe!! Mabrooooook dear! Happy one hundredth, I'm glad you selected a good cause for the topic! I'm very proud of that! Amazingly, this topic has been flowing keda in my whereabouts keteer awii, first through some random TV show, then a conversation with Dido, Fadfadation's post, Hoda's MA Thesis (remind me to pass along the interviews with IR students on the Image they have on Islam)... reading them made smoke come out of my ears melnarfaza! I really hope we can communicate something positive about our religion, to its believers, before cascading it to others!

Anonymous said...

happy 100th post
w 3o2bal el 1000th keda w 3o2bal el book :D
bgad el post da is one of the best
keep going gjoe

Anonymous said...

Mabrook on this 100th post and mabrook on a very good 100th post. You have explained the problem excatly.
It makes me mad to think that Muslims think that those stupid cartoons even deserve a response let alone one as dramatic as it received.
Saying that...the fact that we are even discussing the issue shows how pervasive it has been.
BTW Thanks for stopping by my blog :)

Mohammad said...

I agree with sooo many points in this post, especially the "reading" one. it's startling how the vast majority of us, even the ones who are into reading (but usually confined to literature) don't know the least about islamic history. the mere suggestion that there was once a war where Sayedna ali ebn abi taleb was one one side and Al sayyeda Aisha one the other side almost made me a liar!

it's really provoking how those who are so enthusiastic about defending Prophet Mohammad don't know the least about his life and that of the people who were around him and succeeded him. it's like they were taught that "Prophet Mohammad is the best person in the world and Islam is the true religion" and they were never taught and never tried 2 know why.

Gihan said...

Deeee: Allah yebarek feeky ya Dee...But Why am I not surprised that you were thinking of the same topic :)..Actually your before-last post was on exactly the same thing!

Zekry:Thanks a lot for the encouragement!

Arima:Thanks Arima for stopping by mine!And I agree, most arabs lel asaf like to dramatize and do nothing.. Btw, your blog has been on my google reader for a while and I really enjoy it!

Marooned: I can see that you do understand Exactly what is upsetting me. It's really assuring to see someone who agrees with what I think.I also agree with you:People who shout the loudest, know the least.

Bongo said...

congratulation gjoe " i would like to know the meaning of your name someday " :D .. well , congrats on your 100'th post

one of the great posts i read today .. really :)

grey said...

mabrook!!

that was a great read, really...and i appreciate the effort you put into it.

Gihan said...

Bongo: Thanks..well gjoe is actually my nickname and it is pronounced like "geegoo".My real name is gihan, and I hate to be called gigi :)

greyscaleThanks Grey!Your comment is greatly appreciated

Anonymous said...

happy 100th ..
eah enty wasalty 100 we sakaty .
la askat Allah lakom 7esan :P

Deeeeeee said...

You are tagged! :)