Being freed from pressure

Emigration, thus, represents a positive move of being freed from pressure, through which a man acquires strength and wider space to achieve his goals in life. If death meets him whilst hi is on that path and away from his homeland, God will certainly reward him with His generosity and mercy. And if we study the emigration verse, we find that they represent the supreme value of the Qur'anic appraisal of the emigrants (al-Muhajirūn) in its (emigration's) effect to emphasize Islam's position of strength and its dynamic movement in enriching the confrontation tendency. We have noticed in the Prophetic history (sirah) how the Prophet(p.), Muhammad (p.), planned the Muslim's emigration to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) to escape the pressure and to prepare a favorable environment for the Message. We can, perhaps, understand from the emigration rulings how they move dynamically in the framework of achieving the great goal, in the line of propagation and movement and emphasizing the stance of the truth, by finding a wide arena for Islam through the intellectual and by practical initiatives that Muslims in this or that area undertake in order to take the word of God to the hearts of other people who do not have the opportunity to hear it, or to deepen it in the minds of the Muslims who have emigrated – to make a living, or to escape pressure, or in pursuit of knowledge, or otherwise – on the basis of their need for Islamic care, spiritual fulfillment and dynamic development.

Strengthening positions in respect of the call (Message)

That arena might become a springboard for strengthening positions in respect of the Islamic call in terms of both belief and jurisprudence culture, or within the political horizons for the vital issues, to bring awareness to international public opinion about them, and also to defend them against the opposing media, which strive to distort their image and denigrate their positions in the international arena. The dynamic movement of the call (to Islam) in local areas through direct dialogue differs from its movement from a distance, since direct relations have numerous positive elements, which can clarify a lot of the unclear situations that are imposed by the complexities of regional or international conditions. We do not talk in this matter on the basis of intellectual and political naivety and hence claim that the Islamic initiatives abroad, especially in the West, will lead to decisive results in the interest of the Islamic concepts and issues, and will bring about change quickly, for this is not realistic in a society in which the intellectual, political, religious, social basis has proceeded from concepts foreign to Islam in its cultural roots and practical jurisprudence considerations, something which makes getting through to it extremely difficult. This is especially so when we see how the image of Islam has become distorted due to different complexities in the Islamic World, and especially the political behavior and bloody conduct of some of the positions in the Islamic movement, whose negative effects the media of the arrogant forces have tried to blow out of proportion and to distort in their detail to a level that implies a (universal) aggressiveness or inhumane nature (in all Islam). This is in addition to the other image of traditional Islam as stagnant or backward societies that have diverged from the original Islamic lines and allowed themselves to fall under the control of the international arrogant forces, and live in a state of confusion – all of which removes all brightness from the image of Islam, as well as the respect of others.

The opening up of Islamic speech

This is in addition to the variety of styles and content in Islamic speech content resulting from the different tendencies and the different personalities in its cultures, that moves between: imitation based on ideas with deep historical roots; opening up, which coincides with an understanding of contemporary values; the dual tendency, that stand in puzzled hesitation between traditions, with all its weight, and contemporary values, with all their lack of clarity. This has led to a kind of lack of clarity in the Muslim's consciousness, and the Arab's consciousness as well. We are not talking about quick results, but that the dynamically moving, planned experience – through planning the endeavor in the call (to Islam), the style of presentation and the details of culture, politics and sociology – can start the first step in the one-thousand-mile journey. This can be achieved through the opening up of the pioneering, aware, intellectual Islamic segment of society of Western popular reality, or cultural medium, in a process that combines the powers, the efforts to spread Islam in the real world and the stimulation to achieve the goals; for Muslim activists should not keep to themselves in their individual affairs, because the effect of this is that all their concerns become a question of just reliving their problems and their partisan, regional, sectarian or national disputes, with the result that everyone ends up standing in his own secluded circle – neither achieving his aim, nor giving any service to the supreme issues.

Islamic unity

A pressing matter on our contemporary Islamic stage is the need to establish a practical process in countries of expatriation in which the Islamic character of the individual or the groups is transformed into an active element that protects personality and preserves originality. This can be achieved by working towards establishing a miniature form of an Islamic political front within the framework of the different Islamic parties, and an actual experience of Islamic unity at the level of sectarian jurisprudence, philosophy or political dynamics, so as to study the intellectual and practical problems that can impose themselves on the Islamic reality in this or that circle. This can also be achieved by trying to freeze small details in the peculiarities of this or that party, this or that institute or this or that regional group, to move away from operating within small islands that have no horizon in atmospheres of the supreme challenges which confront the whole of Islam in the question of its image, and all of the Muslims in their causes. And if there are peculiarities for a given group in its homeland or region, the activation of these peculiarities at the level of the public cause- so that the public interests serves the peculiarity, or the peculiarity moves through the public interests which surrounds its circumstances – is the best way to achieve great results, for this is what brings everyone together, away from overindulgence in the peculiarities that partition one homeland from another and one area from another. Each group will, thus, not feel that its country's issues consume all of its concern, since the other country's issues do not represent a priority as the other group is (also) looking after its own priorities. In this way others may succeed in fragmenting our causes, positions and stances, with the result that we do not feel that there is any arena that brings us together, or a unifying cause, except on a marginal level here or there. This is on the one hand.

On the other, it is unrealistic to talk about an Arabic issue that is separated from another Arabic issue, or an Islamic issue that is separated from another Islamic issue, for the arrogant international political reality proceeds from the interests of the arrogant world against the world that is oppressed (deemed weak), especially in its positions that exploit natural resources, strategic positions, consumer markets etc, which represent the depth of its interests that are achieved on out account. Through this, it (the arrogant world) stirs up all the contradictions in our nation, in its sectarian, regional, partisan and national partisanships, and transforms them into disputes, conflicts and wars that use up all our energies and resources and bring low all our causes; we (then) appoint these arrogant powers as judges after they have been – as they are still – opponents, looking to them for solutions, when their position through their activities was in fact the problem; in this way the future is lost in the maze of roads of the present.

We have noticed the negative results of this bad reality in the outcome of the first Gulf War, when some Arabs and Muslims proceeded to make the issue of the relationship between the Arabs and some Muslim on one side with Iran on the other into a conflict of existence, whilst the relationship between them and Israel did not represent any problem for the people of the Gulf, but rather the greatest problem (for them) was the Arabs, especially the Palestinians. Also, America is regarded as the savior, whereas it was America that prepared all the plans and circumstances for the war. Moreover, we find that some Arab situations are regarded as the problem, as we notice in many partisan, sectarian or regional position; when the overindulgence in peculiarities proceeds to place this or that Islamic group as an enemy inside the Islamic nation, whilst the arrogant infidel enemy becomes a friend, ally of similar. All this is because of the absence from our minds of the greatest danger and going too far in dealing with isolated smaller dangers.

Political flexibility

We want to raise, in the awareness of Muslims in the West, a realistic cultural movement to understand the background to the arrogant reality in its stance towards our reality. This is because the arena there (among the arrogant) may be more suitable for understanding the foundations of the stance of the arrogant who represent, in international politics, the decision-making powers, so that they (the Muslims) move, through this political observation, towards a deep and realistic study that uncovers all plans, methods and decisions which operate within the arrogant attack on our supreme causes. In this way, we can acquire wider knowledge that enable us to reduce its (the attack's) dangers through a confrontation that has a counter-plan and clear view; also, we can get rid of the political and cultural naivety in our arenas that are under pressure and which lead us to give concessions in our principles, terminology, means and goals under the banner of political reality and flexibility. A concession regarding a terminology in the service of a non-Islamic terminology leads to a concession in an Islamic issue with the end result of abandoning the Islamic cause for the national cause, making the issue a political issue that abandons all the culture, history and attitude behind it to take on a sectarian title that has no color, taste or smell. Political flexibility means dynamic style within the framework of conflict, alliances and political balance. It dons not mean abandoning original Islamic values in its political and intellectual content, or the original features that proceed from the roots.

Preserving the Islamic personality

Islamic groups in the West must shoulder the responsibility of preserving their Islamic personality in the framework of the individual as well as the family, and to work of integration the prepare practical means to achieve this goal, so that the concerns of each group are balanced with those of another. Also, they should open up group are balanced with those of another. Also, they should open up to the reality there, at the level of calling to Islam, to open that arena's horizons to Islam in its bright, original image, to stand up to and face all problems and doubts cast over Islam at the levels of intellect, dynamic movement and reality, and to make the Islamic presence, there a new Islamic arena Islam to proceed to leave its stamp on the West, even in if only some circles.

Let there be a dynamic call to Islam, a society of awareness and propagation starting with presenting Islamic culture and behavior in a way that manifests all its morals and concepts in our lives, so as to be role models for others when we succeed in manifesting these things as an Islam moving within us.