Imam Zaid Shakir - Scattered Pictures: Reflections Of An American Muslim

To the Memory of My Mother, Richelene Whitaker Mitchell (1934 1975)

For she is wise, if I can judge of her, And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true, And true she is, as she hath provd herself; And therefore, like herself, wise, fair, and true, Shall she be placed in my constant soul.

- The Merchant of Venice, II. vi Reflections of an American Muslim An anthology of essays by ZAYTUNA INSTITUTE2005 Zaid Shkir, Zaytuna Institute All Rights Reserved

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Published by Zaytuna Institute Printed in the United States of AmericaISBN: 0-9702843-5-7

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Transliteration Key vi About the Author vii Acknowledgements xiii American Muslims, Human Rights,
and the Challenge of September 11 151

v Invocation of peace and blessings of God be upon him that follows references to the Prophet Muhammad Invocation of peace be upon him that follows references to other recognized Prophets

A doubling in length (holding for two counts) of the a A doubling in length (holding for two counts) of the i A doubling in length (holding for two counts) of the u An emphatic th, as in the word th is

An emphatic h or kh, while constricting the middle of the throat

An emphatic s, with the tongue behind the upper teeth An emphatic t, with the tongue behind the upper teeth An emphatic th, with the tongue behind the upper teeth

A distinctive glottal stop made deep in the throat that is often used at the end of a word to indicate an abrupt stop, and also to concatenate two words

A distinctive Semitic sound that sounds like a vowel vi

Im m Zaid Shkir was born in Berkeley, California and accepted Islm in 1977 while serving in the United States Air Force. He earned a BA with honors in International Relations at the American University in Washington, D.C. and an MA in Political Science from Rutgers University. While overseas in Egypt, Syria, and Morocco, he studied Arabic and traditional Islmic sciences including Islmic law, Qurn, and Islmic spirituality. He co-founded Masjid al-Islm in Connecticut and taught Political Science at Southern Connecticut State University. He has translated several books from Arabic into English including The Heirs of the Prophets . Imm Zaid Shkir currently teaches full-time at the Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, California as a scholar-in-residence.

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The people who have helped in bringing this project to fruition are many. Were I to endeavor to mention them all by name, I would do a grave injustice to those whose contributions were important but whose names I may inadvertently omit. To avoid doing so, I will I express my general gratitude to all of my teachers, Muslim and non-Muslim, who have contributed to my spiritual and intellectual development. I also express my deepest appreciation to my colleagues who have read versions of the articles and essays gathered here and have offered valuable and necessary suggestions. May God have mercy on them.

I would also like to thank my students. My interaction with them provided a forum for me to explore many of the ideas that found their way into this work. Their energy and insightful feedback are an indispensable component of the book. May God preserve them all.

I must express my indebtedness to the staff, volunteers, and supporters of the Zaytuna Institute. They have provided the tangible and intangible support that allowed the idea of this work to manifest itself in the finished form before you. Special thanks go to those who have worked on proofreading, layout, cover design, and all of the other technical aspects of the work. May God reward them abundantly.

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I would be remiss if I did not thank my wife, whose hard work behind the scenes is an integral part of anything I may do or accomplish in the public sphere. May God bless her.

Finally, I would like to express my deep appreciation for my immediate family. They have provided the culture of love and nurturing that helped to lay the foundation of my life. May God guide them all.

Preliminary versions of some of the material contained in this work appeared in Seasons Journal (Flight From the Masjid, Spring/ Summer 2003; Jihd is Not Perpetual Warfare, Autumn/Winter 2003-2004; Islm and the Nationalist Question, Spring/Summer 2004; Islam, The Prophet Muammad, and Blackness, Spring/ Summer 2005); Cross Currents (American Muslims and a Meaningful Human Rights Discourse, Winter 2003); American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (Reflections on the Tsunami, Winter 2005); Zaytuna Institute Website . (2005, We Are All Collateral Damage, Abrahams Story, Reflections on Black History Month, Trees, and Peace and Justice in Islm).

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urs are difficult, confusing, and in many ways contradictory times. Technological advances are so profound that many observers feel we are entering a new axial age. Future institutions, new ways of thinking, and new ways of living are being fashioned in these times. However, despite the profundity of the advances characterizing our lives, the reemergence of many of our old prejudices, biases, and hatreds threatens to undo many of the great human achievements of the past century. The great expansion of trade, which led to a near universal rise in living standards, is breaking down into a world where the gap between the haves and have-nots, both within individual states and internationally, has never been greater. The regime of international law and organization that facilitated an international order where major conflagrations between interstate actors were becoming anomalous, is threatening to degenerate into a state where warfare again becomes the accepted norm to resolve disputes between contending groups.

Perhaps the reemergence of old, destructive ways of thinking is no more visible than in the rise of mutually-excluding, narrow religious fundamentalisms. Religious passions are being stoked across the globe, and in the ensuing blaze, it becomes extremely difficult for advocates of the common good to be heard, and understanding inevitably wanes. Deep and damaging polarization may result if current trends are not challenged. This situation has motivated this writer to try to contribute what is intended to be a voice of reason and understanding in ongoing discussions whose outcomes will go a long way towards determining the future of our planet.

The issues dealt with in this book are approached from an Islmic analytical framework. It has been one of the goals of the Zaytuna Institute, with which I am proudly affiliated, to use the deep reservoir of traditional Islmic knowledge to provide insight into and solutions for our contemporary condition. By traditional Islmic knowledge, I refer not only to the Qurn and the prophetic tradition ( Sunna ), but also to the wealth of jurisprudential and exegetical writings that have helped to insure the historic integrity and continuity of the Islmic project. I also refer to the methodological tools that have allowed for a flexible, practical, and dynamic application of Islmic law. Only by immersing ourselves in that reservoir will Muslims be capable of making an intelligible contribution towards addressing the challenging issues of our times.

However, that knowledge is not applicable in a vacuum. It must be applied in the context in which we find ourselves: the context of advanced western civilization. That being the case, we must have knowledge of this civilization and its intellectual tradition. Only then can traditional Islmic knowledge be relevant and make an effective contribution to the ongoing advance of human civilization. It is from these twin traditions, one rooted in the East, the other in the West, that these reflections emerge.

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