Independence Day: A Day of Celebration and a Day of Responsibility
By Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi

Remember that your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are thankful, I will give you more, but if you are thankless, My punishment is terrible indeed. And Moses said, ‘Even if you, together with everybody else on earth, are thankless, Allah is self-sufficient, worthy of all praise.’
(Ibrahim 14:7-8)

We should be always thankful to Allah for His many blessings and favors. His blessings are countless and His mercy is great (see Surah Ibrahim 14:32-34). When we thank Allah, we of course acknowledge His gifts and glorify Him. He deserves all thanks and all praise; we need to thank Him; Allah does not need our thanks. We need Him all the time; He does not need anyone. He is self-sufficient and is praiseworthy in Himself.
One can express one’s thanks to Allah in two ways: by the way of praise and prayers. Prayer is the best form of praise and thanks. Allah says in the Qur’an:
No, but worship Allah alone and be one of those who are grateful. (Al-Zumar 39:66)
Another way of giving thanks to Allah is by doing good deeds. After mentioning His many blessings on Prophet David and his family, Allah told them:
…Work thankfully, O Family of David, for few of My servants are truly thankful. (Saba’ 34:13)
When we thank Allah, He increases His blessings upon us and He gives us more; while the ungrateful people lose His blessings and may incur His anger and wrath upon them. May Allah save us from His anger in this world and in the Hereafter.
Allah’s blessings have been great on America and on His people. We as Americans should be thankful to Allah and should also remind our fellow Americans about these blessings. We must remind each other to do right things and be humble before Allah. Today is the Independence Day in America. Independence is the gift of Allah. Like other gifts this gift also requires thanks and appreciation both verbally and in action. Independence does not mean independence from Allah and independence to do whatever one desires. Independence to us means to be honorable, dignified and moral. In Arabic the word ‘al-Hurr’ is used to mean both free and noble. Independence means to be free to choose your own leaders, running your own affairs freely without the fear or interference of any other human being or group.
Independence is a great gift of Allah on any nation. In 1776 people of America declared their independence from the British Crown; but the most significant thing is that they signed a document that is called ‘The Declaration of Independence.’ This is the document from which the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of United States were taken. The most famous single sentence of the Declaration of Independence is:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This is the sentence that is accepted as fundamental by Americans and memorized from the time they are school children. This sentence is rightly considered as the pride of American nation. This is the sentence that talks about the freedom and equality of all people. This is the sentence that came in the same spirit in which Prophet Muhammad –peace be upon him- declared more than 1400 years ago in his Last Sermon:
O People, Allah says, ‘O people, We created you from a single pair of a male and female and made you nations and tribes so that you may know each other. Surely the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the one who is most righteous of you. There is no superiority of an Arab over a non- Arab, or a non-Arab over an Arab; or a black person over a white person or a white person over a black person, except by righteousness. People are from Adam and Adam was made from dust.
When Americans signed the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July 1776, it does not mean that all Americans suddenly on that day became equal. Someone has correctly observed that “the reality of equality in America has been problematic and evolutionary.” It took 232 years for America to evolve to the level in which we are today. Americans continuously struggled to acquire equality and paid great price for it. We appreciate the work of many leaders who dedicated their lives for the protection and promotion of civil rights and civil liberties of all people. It is due to their efforts that America is proud to say that it is “the land of the free and home of the brave.”
This struggle has to continue. There have been forces in the past and there are many forces now in this country, as in other countries,  that try to hijack the progress and take the people away from the path of independence and equality under all kind of pretexts for their own vested interests. Freedom is the honor of human beings. It is the dignity of human being to be free from the bondage of other human beings. Human beings should not be enslaved, put in prison without a just cause, should not be tortured or punished without the due process of justice. Human beings should not be spied on; their privacies should not be violated. 
As American Muslims we should freely acknowledge and appreciate the progress that America has made in developing, not perfect but a fairly, just, peaceful and pluralistic society and we must support all efforts for the rights of all people. Supporting and maintaining freedom, equality, justice, peace and security of all people is the command Allah. In America we must uphold and observe the freedom of all human beings living here. We must fully participate at all levels for the benefit of this society. We must oppose any laws or practices that deprive human beings of their freedom without a just cause. In America we must also work for the freedom of all human beings around the globe.  We must support those who are working to increase the honor, dignity and freedom of all human beings.
Thus We have made you a balanced community, so that you may bear witness (to truth) before others and the Messenger may bear witness to it before you… (Al-Baqarah 2:143)
 (Khutbah at ISOC – Rajab 1, 1429 / July 4, 2008)

 

Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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