I have been collecting quotes about faith (and life in general) that spoke to me as a young American Muslim. I’m pasting them below because faith is about growing and stretching yourself. Each of the quotes below has done that for me and I hope it does the same for you:
“Watch how you live. Your lives may be the only gospel your sisters and brothers will ever read.” — Fmr. Archbishop Dom Helder Camara
“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a Communist.” — Fmr. Archbishop Dom Helder Camara “Judgement Day is more important than election day.” — Fmr. Congressman Tom Perriello
“We have socialism for the rich and capitalism for everybody else.” — Fmr. U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich
“People with money should not be able to buy more democracy than people without money.” — Bill Moyers
“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.” — Mother Teresa
“If you want the federal government off your back, take your hands out of its pocket.” — Fmr. U.S. Senator Gary Hart
“You don’t come to church to be entertained. You come to wrestle with your spirit.” — James Cone
“The sons and daughters of Ishmael—if not by lineage, by sacred history—are here. Some of them are from here. And in Richmond’s old city, the pain caused by stark divisions certainly provides a modern canvas on which to color a new post-9/11 American story.”
I recently gave a Khutbah (friday sermon) about Shariah in America. I’ll post the text of that later, but for now enjoy this entertaining and mildly humorous video explaining how Shariah works in America.
I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.
George Washington Carver
In Chapter 2 of the Quran verse 164 says:
“Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day, and the ships that run in the sea with that which profits men, and the water that Allah sends down from the cloud, then gives life with it to the earth after its death and spreads in it all (kinds of) animals, and the changing of the winds and the clouds made subservient between the heaven and the earth, there are signs for a people who understand.”
The word for “signs” in the above mentioned verse is the arabic “ayah”.
Nature as a revelation from God is a timeless Islamic principle. Our environment is full of signs to reveal God’s greatness to us. There are signs within creation that lead us to worship and service to God. In Quran every verse is called an “ayah”. In the same way that the “ayahs” of the Quran are a revelation, the environment also has “ayahs” or signs that reveal things to the discerning and sincere heart.
The list includes women from over 1000 years ago until today. They span achievements in academics, spirituality, theology, politics and civil rights. Amazing.
The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) never hated non-Muslims. So Muslims are not commanded to hate people who are not Muslim. Inviting others to God’s way necessitates loving them and having sincere concern for them. This is an excerpt of a talk by Abdul Malik Mujahid.
“The sons and daughters of Ishmael—if not by lineage, by sacred history—are here. Some of 