Liberal Arts Forum

Salam Alaikum Everyone,
I have decided to work as a part-time Muslim chaplain at Rutgers University – New Brunswick, NJ. Rutgers University has one of the largest Muslim student population in the country. My role at Rutgers would be of an adviser/teacher. I look forward to working with the students and administration. The website for chaplaincy is probably the best way for people to find out more about activities at Rutgers Univ.

Office of the Muslim Chaplain at Rutgers University
http://omcru.blogspot.com

Islamic curriculums in most Islamic schools are based almost solely on rote memorization. Students learn to memorize and regurgitate information back to their teachers and this is what counts for a good grade in their Islamic Studies classes. Students are taught the prayer, how to fast, the recitation of the Qur’an and similar activities. On a practical level, there is no doubt such practices have kept the rituals of the deen intact for the last fourteen centuries. However, deeper teachings such as what our role in society is supposed to be and how those objectives can be achieved are sorely absent from these studies. In essence, the body of Islam still stands while the spirit of Islam has dwindled, and in my understanding this has been caused by the lack of pragmatism in Islamic education.

People generally take a class in Arabic, Qur’an, or Hadith and end up memorizing words. This is commendable, but life consists more of challenges and not just words. Overemphasis on words has produced individuals who are not able to synthesize anything meaningful with what they have been taught and cannot intelligently relate what they know to our current state of affairs. To produce bibliophiles who are socially dysfunctional is not the goal of Islamic education. Classes on Islamic education must incorporate the way one is to live Islam in the Western hemisphere, and in this respect lessons are needed on Islamic education within the Western social context. Students must be properly educated on how Islam deals with social, political, and psychological issues. Islam has a rich history of solving our communal problems and disunity, racism and nationalism, dealing with Islamophiles and open lewdness, dealing with blasphemous caricatures, desecrations of the Qur’an, prejudice, media stereotypes, hate crimes, misconceptions, and much more. This is the help our society needs and we need to offer to it. Learning how to pray is easy. Learning how to live as a Muslim is the real challenge.

I have been contemplating about the usual rant at local mosques about youth being MIA (missing in action). Why is there such a lack of youth participation? Why aren’t they coming to the mosque?
Well! I believe the answer has a lot to do with another question. Why should they come to the mosque in the first place? Now I am not trying to introduce any deviant ideas here but honestly, what would they find of interest at their local mosque/Islamic center that will motivate them?
I will let the readers’ comment on this situation but let me point out an interesting fact. The mosques or Islamic centers that employ youth coordinators have their ‘money where there mouth is’ . By that I mean they are literally investing their money in the future generation by hiring individuals to bring youths to the mosque. Time and time again, we have seen that most Imams cannot even communicate with the youth. In such a desperate situation, a youth coordinator should be able to provide much needed support. Let us think beyond the annual youth basketball game and beyond Sunday Islamic school. Let us search for youth coordinators – smooth operators, who could close the generational gap between the adults and the youth.

Photo: Khalid Latif Chaplain NYU & Princeton Univ.

Our Obligation to the Koran
“Guide us to the straight path”.
audio file
By Faraz

Imam Shatbi related five core values that shari’a came to protect. Shah Waliullah believed that shari’a is dynamic and it is always in need of synthesizers – fuqaha who could develop the law based on social circumstances. Imam Ibn Taymiyya believed that there were many goals of shari’a – basically, everything to promote good and forbid evil is part of the package of maqasid al-shari’a.
A person cannot issue a fatwa based on having the knowledge of two hadiths or ayat unless he/she knows the fundamental reason for the establishment of shari’a – maqasid. What are the maqasid al-shari’a – the aim and purpose of Islamic law?

To preserve and protect:
Life
Religion
Honor/lineage
wealth
intellect

What is Your contribution in quenching people’s thirst?