The Muslim Brand
By Azher Quader
President, CBC
Chicago, IL
At a time when the Jewish brand has become identified with a brutal occupation, the Christian brand with youth molestation, the Muslim brand with global terrorism, we have to wonder what has become of our faith traditions that so relentlessly preach about freedom, morality and peace.
Does anyone walk the talk anymore? Do our Abrahamic values matter? Are we beholden to the same God from whom we seek our mutual rights and our mutual obligations? In an age when the world has become so connected and transparent, man’s inhumanity to man cannot remain hidden or pushed under the rug for long.
The hypocrisy of preaching one thing and practicing another, exposes us in ways it never did before. Our arrogance of living our lives in conflicting domains of beliefs and behavior has made us so immune and indifferent to the pain and misery of millions, that our claim to be civilized, to be the defenders of liberty and justice, has to be seriously questioned.
When Moses (pbuh) led his people out of Egypt, he was embarking upon a journey of freedom. Freedom from the tyranny of an oppressive system which denied to a whole group of people the right to live with freedom and grant them equal justice under the law. When Jesus (pbuh) threw the money lenders out of the Temple’s courtyard, he was claiming not only the moral high ground that rightfully belonged to that special space, but also was asking his followers to reach that moral high ground by removing the lust and lure of material possessions from their hearts. When Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) signed the treaty at Hudaibiya accepting the demand of the Quraish, disallowing him and his followers from entering Mecca, he was demonstrating a powerful lesson in diplomacy, that victory is not always won through force and teaching a profound principle of life, that long-term gains often require significant short-term sacrifices. So how did we lose it and where did we go wrong?
Our Muslim brand that gave us dominion over such vast stretches of land came through many sacrifices of lives and limbs. Our Muslim brand that gave us triumphs and victories over and over again, came through a passionate belief in ourselves and in our mission, which made us fearless to die and gave us the courage to fight against formidable foes. Our Muslim brand that made us the celebrated educators of our times came from a commitment to learning and a devotion to observing and inquiry. Our Muslim brand that made us the welcome conquerors and trusted traders of our times was rooted in our transparent integrity, our show of compassion and our pursuit of justice and fair play.
That was the Muslim brand of the past that was able to produce the likes of Umar bin Khattab, Khalid bin Walid, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd, Al Ghazzali, Moinuddin Chishti, Rumi and so many more like them. When we let go the anchors of our faith, of compassion and justice, of service and sacrifice, of learning and integrity, we let go the Muslim brand that served us well for all those years when we were the envy of the world.
Today our brand is domes and dialogues, seminars and seminaries, halal and hilal, zoning battles and zikr sessions. We mistakenly equate the Muslim brand with our cultural identities, of our foods, our clothes, our art and music, our festivals and our celebrations. Our Muslim brand is much more than all these peripheral preferences. Can we build the Muslim brand again? To be sure we can. But not with labels and marketing. Not with bill boards and imagery. Not with the way we have been going about these past few years, not knowing our neighbors, not knowing our politicians, not getting out to vote, not getting to research the issues and understand the positions that are facing us as a nation. We remain disengaged from the society and remain absorbed in our own comfort zones.
The plight of our neighbors has little relevance in our lives. Building mosques is in, serving people is out. We have lowered the bar for excellence and settled for mediocrity. All this to be overcome, requires real work and needs much sacrifice and effort. But with a commitment it can be done. We were the ones who showed the world the power of endowments once. Today we have zero endowments supporting our institutions and refuse to establish even monthly contribution portals which can provide funding, reliably and painlessly to our needy institutions. How sad, in an age when so much is transacted on line, we cannot establish such transactions more widely in our community.
Our mosques serve only us and remain closed to the hungry and homeless who walk the streets around us. That is not the Muslim brand from our past. Our educational institutions charge a premium to educate our young. That also is not the Muslim way from our glorious past when education was a right of every citizen and free.
Why, even here in America, a few short years ago, community colleges were free. Public schools of course are free today across the country. Some of us now talk about leaving a legacy behind; a Muslim legacy in America. The question for us to ask of ourselves is what kind of legacy will it be? Will it be a legacy that simply sticks a Muslim label to give it a Muslim name or will it be one that carries the weight of a Muslim brand? Some day we hope the Muslim brand will regain its name and will no longer be defined by the acts of terror of a few, but by the acts of compassion and integrity of the many who will make a difference in the lives of their neighbors. May Allah inspire us to regain the true Muslim brand.
