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Towards a younger, hipper IslamWhen talking to those of my generation and younger from the Muslim American community, an oft-mentioned challenge is a disconnect from the Islam one knows and believes in and the messaging received in places of worship. This seems to be changing tremendously here in the U.S. due to one simple thing: time. The practice of Islam in America is practically as old as the country itself, however the institutionalization of it - in the form of community centers, places of worship and even organizations based on Islamic principles - is really only several decades young. In what can best be described as generational evolution, young American Muslims born and raised in the U.S. (unlike many of their immigrant parents) are searching for ways to bridge cultures they love equally: that of country and faith. Those bridges are being found in the human capital of the generation itself, through men and women whose first language is English, who watch “Avatar” and “Lost” and study Quran, and who believe that vice and virtue can be explained in rap music, poetry or even through examples in the storyboards of Hollywood films. Many believe that these new “bridges” are the Muslim community’s best hope for combating extremism. A recent Salon.com article explains the challenge:
A “symbol of hope,” according to Salon.com, is Imam Khalid Latif, who at 27 is the first director and chaplain of the Islamic Center at New York University, where he graduated from in 2004. While he may not be a “rare breed,” he certainly is a trendsetter, as he told Salon:
I caught up with Imam Khalid (pictured above with NYU students) to further explain his philosophies and what the ideal worship environment would be: CNN: Is there such a thing as the “next generation masjid or masjid 2.0?” If so, what would it encompass? Imam Khalid Latif: For me, it's the idea that a Muslim community (or a masjid meant to house a Muslim community) has to be something that is inclusive of everyone, including everyone who fall outside of generational gaps. In masjids, the imams or leadership present make sense for a certain need that exists within specific communities. So the African American community living in a post-civil rights context will empower leadership and develop community centers based on their reality. The South Asian or Arab community, coming in as immigrants, will develop centers based on their own need or their own process of socialization. Naturally, the society we are living in is very diverse, and you will see a gradual change towards community centers and masjids that play a role slightly different from those overseas. So if you go to the Gulf or a place where there is a majority Muslim population, the mosque isn’t playing a role of community center, and the imam doesn’t have to be the charismatic figure upon which a community is built. There, a mosque is looked at as a place to pray and that’s it. Here, mosques are taking on very much the same role as other places of worship and are becoming more than just a place to pray. So you will see a gradual progression towards centers who are not adhering to one school of thought and are not ethnocentric. They are being run more efficiently as well. If [the masjid] is a place that is supposed to have a divine understanding to it, it has to be a place where anyone can feel OK walking into. The masjid should turn into a place where it is a center of activity bringing a lot of good and benefit to the broader society in which it has been established. From it, there should be soup kitchens, legal services, health clinics, counseling, shelters provided to victims of abuse. In the next 5-10 years, you will see more centers being built that way. I was just out in the Bay Area, and they have a mosque there called MCA, and the community there is well established and they are stetting up a lot of programs and services that are beyond your typical “let’s pray five times a day.” CNN: Do you foresee virtual mosques becoming more prevalent? Latif: What I have seen in terms of the utilization of the internet - kind of a virtual mosque - is the utilization of social media. We have a podcast that is listened to in 100 countries and attracts about 30,000 listeners a month. The advantage of the technology we have access to is that it is a simple process and we are able to connect to a lot of people literally across the world. The issue we run into is that you can very easily maintain connection to someone and not know what you are getting yourself into. Through platforms like Facebook and Twitter, we get a lot of contacts from people who are looking for someplace to belong. They could be in a totally different country but are looking for a place to reach out to, so they are turning to this virutal world to gain some kind of solace. However, it is important to have that personal interaction when you are trying to develop or be a part of a community. It puts you in a place where you don’t have any options to be other than yourself. When I am existing online I can assume a totally different identity and can give myself a security blanket. When I am trying to learn my Islam online, if I am not engaging with an active voice on the other end, a lot of what I end up reading is not relevant to my specific issue. One of the things we try to emphasize here is in-person interaction. Our community members know where I live, they are coming to eat at my house all the time, I try to meet with everyone at least once or twice a year to see where they are at. CNN: Your most recent Khutbah dealt with chivalry. How do you define chivalry, and is it the answer to extremism? Latif: Chivalry as a concept is rooted in our tradition and applicable to both men and women. The underlying element is that an individual finds within them a kind of desire to stand up when they see some kind of injustice being taken around them. The word is derived from the Arabic word “fatah” which is used in the Quranic paradigm to refer to Prophet Abraham, when the Quran describes him as a young noble person who is willing to stand up against injustice as he sees it. The idea is that you have this sense of selflessness where you are looking to serve those around you in every way you possibly can. With regards to extremism, I think it happens when younger Muslims don’t necessarily feel empowered by their Islam. They don’t feel as if they themselves are deriving a benefit from their religion because it's been shaped and defined for them in a way where many feel alienated because of a cultural hegemonic application of it, as opposed to one that takes into consideration the context of how they have been brought up or where they are coming from. A lot of the hesitation you see on the parts of individuals today is rooted in a feeling that is very substantiated on both sides. You have a broader non-Muslim population that is very much fearful of Islam, and consequently the followers of Islam - because of the narrative that they are being shown - are fearful and are just trying to fit in and compartmentalize their identity. Chivalry teaches us that at some level there have to be some individuals who are willing to think beyond themselves and think about what is in the best interest of the community on a whole, how a self interest would be replaced by a self sacrifice ... the idea that what you are giving up is a beneficial gain for the people in your most immediate proximity. CNN: Do you ever come across the problem of not being able to be "super imam"? Latif: Some things I get asked to do, I am just not qualified to do. You have Muslims who, when they see someone they envision to be someone authoritative, they decide to pull that person in all directions and it becomes problematic because you then take that individual from what they are actually good at by telling them or inviting them to do things that there is probably someone who is a lot better and more qualified to do. I have a graphic designer who does our graphic design. It would be stupid of me to say I am going to do that. It becomes necessary to be conscious of our own strengths and weaknesses. For me personally, most of my life revolves around my work. If anyone has benefited from this it’s me. I get to meet a lot of amazing people and get to see them shatter the expectation of what people perceive them to be. The issues I am confronted with from a counseling perspective are not really always related to legal issues pertaining to our religion. The number of young women that I’ve spoken to who have been raped and molested as children in high school, boys who are suicidal, have depression issues, bipolar issues - these are some real serious things people go through. CNN: How do you explain the criticism that your interpretation – your “hipness”- goes against the cultural values of Islam? Latif: I have great relationships. Age has never been a factor. Legitimacy comes from consistency and being able to root your argument from an Islamic perspective - from something that is authentic. I don’t think anything we are seeking to employ here we are just kind of pulling out of nowhere. We are building a center that has no precedent to follow and in doing that, you are going to screw up and there is stuff I tried to do and didn’t work well. CNN: Do you incorporate current events or pop culture into your sermons? Latif: With the understanding that you know your sermon you give on Friday is going to be listened to by tens of thousands of people around the world, you have to remain true to the people sitting in front of you on that Friday. I can’t talk beyond the needs of my immediate community, but what becomes interesting is that the things that we bring about in our community face-to-face become issues relevant to Muslims around the world. When I gave the lecture on chivalry, I gave it around the time the Tiger Woods controversy came out. It came about because we have been having discussions revolving around masculinity in general - where we speak about gender more so in terms of females or things in relation to women - but we are not teaching our men how to be men. CNN: What sorts of trends and “bridges” have your own students presented to demonstrate the ways they process and interpret the teaching of Islam? Latif: On average we do about 30 programs a week. There is a variety of classes, dinners and community service projects. It’s really remarkable how all our students have come together. What is really indicative of their growth is not necessarily everything that they do in the sense that they can be highlighted and awarded, but kind of how they are willing to do for others, if that makes sense. For me growing up, I didn’t fit into the Muslim community. It was just a very hard thing to do and I was met a lot more so with a judgmental attitude. What I have seen amongst our community here is that they are not looking for a reason to push people away but for a reason to bring people closer. It’s not a "Kumbaya" kind of thing though. We do have issues. You don’t have a lot of communities where community members feel comfortable bringing up heart-wrenching experiences in their lives. It takes a lot for someone to bring up or talk about abuse or mental health issues. If I go into a mosque and tell somebody that I had sex with some girl last night and I need to talk to somebody about it, the immediate response I might get is, “That’s impermissible, you shouldn’t have done that.” But once you have that level of trust with someone, you know you can tell them and say, "Look at this thing I have done - I know that I can tell you and you aren’t going to think the worst of me because of it, you are going to help me get through it." |
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To all Christians and Muslims –
God is not in Jesus or Muhammad. God gave you a thinking brain. Please use it. It is the greatest sin not to use your God given brain. Jesus and Mohammad did not die for your sins. They died because someone didn't use their brains. Your thinking brain is the most powerful scripture you have. It's not the Bible or the Quran. Your thinking brain will lead you from ignorance to knowledge. True knowledge is knowing God deep within yourself. Not outside. Transcend relative existence. Seek the Absolute. That is God.
This I believe is the most islamic statement out of all of these
All religion makes a claim of infallibility, any salesman knows you need to be the best to sell well. People who cling to this kind of thinking do not bother me but when they convert someone at the point of a gun, well that's not good. Mao Zedong said all power issues from the barrel of a gun and this is and has been the power of religion. The best thought I have on it is we are all going to find out the truth sooner or later.
"Younger, Hipper" nonsense is still nonsense.
What About the Christian crusades ????
This all sounds good, but I'm not buying it until I see real progress. America can and will have zero tolerance to the excessive chains of Sharia Law. America is not a Muslim nation at it score, no matter how much the spin-meisters like to stretch history and say it goes back to the country’s founding. And more importantly, the cancer in the midst of Islam is something that Muslims themselves must step up boldly and us destroy, not pass the buck as not their problem. (Just as the brave founders of the Protestant movement helped limit the old, over aggressive powers of Catholicism, and Southern Baptists needed to come with terms over their harboring of the KKK in their midst during the Civil Rights movement.) Radical Islam is STILL a real sub-set of a religion that has been cop-opted and perverted, but it is still a piece of the so called legitimate jihad in many countries. Muslims need to understand our skepticism until we see hard evidence of their full commitment to tolerance. Not just empty words of hope, but actions and accountability.
I agree that if Islam is to survive in the modern world, it must make certain concessions. The Catholic church, for instance is in the same predicament. Radical Islam, however, is more than a cancer eating away at Islam from the inside out. The Muslim world uses their fringe element as an invisible hammer, waiting to come down on whoever defies it. Muslims who say, "I would never support suicide bombings, but I can understand those who do" are the truly dangerous element, indicative of a society that depends on a small but violent group to do its dirty work. This, along with a few other changes in interpretation of the roles of women in society, is what must change in Islam if it is ever to be accepted into the mainstream.
So were the Christian texts supposedly infallible.
Raising a family in the Islamic way is difficult in America. There are too many interpretations taken in and out of contect from the Koran by both Muslims and non-believers.
The truth is that Islam is being held hostage by the bipartisam politickers and "terrorists" as they use religion in a struggle for power. In America, Muslims have freedom of choice. In much of the Islamic world, there is no such freedom.
Religion without free will and personal choice amounts to totalitarianism and as in Iran fascism. I mean really, women staying at home is not a family value. A women contributing to the prosperity of the family contributes to society and provides her with a sense of well being and social contribution. Islam has to change with the times which means that the young Muslims growing up have to drop traditional views (that are not religious at all) and allow fundamental personal freedoms to be unassailable.
What young Muslims fail to realize is that their religion is solely based on the "Gabrielic" hallucinations of Mohammed. Without these hunger-induced visions, there is no Islam!!!!
As opposed to all those religions that base everything on absolute reality and verified (let alone verifiable) fact, right..?
More like the Texas Taliban.
Personally I don't think this is a reform on the outside of the Islamic youth structure like redoing a grocery store facade. Everyone has to realize that there are a lot of American converts (from Christianity, no less!) out there that have "american personalities" that need to find the niche which matches our beliefs with who we are as people. And yes, the article is right in that most masjids don't accomodate for folks like us, it's more an attempt to force us into patterns that they function in that are based more in traditions of their home countries than the true teachings of faith. This is a phenomenon of the eggshell cracking because of what's growing inside.
I am a proud California-born, neo hippi, ex-conservative Christian, convert Sufi Muslim crazy girl. And my husband is a half puerto rican half Pennsylvania-dutch ex-christian himself who is also a convert sufi muslim love train kinda guy. Where would we fit in the world of our beliefs if there were no movements such as this one? And whoever countered that "try Jesus" post up there w/the "try Mohammad" post, that was totally GROOVY!
"try Mohammad." I'll pass, thanks.
one thing you have to realize about Islam is that at its core, it is a result of a conflict between the Prophet Muhammad and a capitalist immoral Meccan establishment. As such, Muslims in America will eventually find themselves in a similar conflict with the vast numerous equally immoral American establishments from the war establishment, the booze establishment, the gambling establishment, the p o r n establishment, the Glorification and Promotion of Adultery establishment, there are corruption causing establishments in America that are bigger than the combined economies of the entire third world. People who think Muslims will seamlessely melt into the American pot need to study Islam 101.
these hipper looking moslems in the picture above, they look nice, but thats about it, you see. They are not HIPPIES, they are HIPPERS! Big, big difference. They are melted moslems, they have melted into the America Melting Pot of Sin, and will now make excellent worker bees for the various corrupt establishments highlighted above. It is the HIPPIE moslems that are the ones who refuse to melt into the American Melting Pot of Sin that are the real story.
i can see american divorce lawyers licking their chops at the sight of so many young males and females mixing so freely.
to all of the people who believe in a "Bible" Every Bible alive today has been written by Men. I do not know much about the Qaran, but I am sure it is basically the same "story" told in the Holy Bible. I am not trying to dismiss and disrespect anyones beliefs but I do not believe in any written word. Why, it was written by Men. It says in the Holy Bible that every man will be tempted by the devil and we will all fall into his trap. Well, if the first ever recorded writings were found to have happened 70 years after Jesus' death, why and how did those men, who were not even "profits" of Jesus speak with God? If God sent his only beggotten son to save us from our sins, why are there so many that claim to be him? I know you all are gonna say that there is only one, but who is to say that he was not equivalent to David Koresh? Everybody alive back then basically wrote Jesus off as a "RADICAL" or to the Tea Baggers, Barack Huessin Obama (lol, gonna be the greatest President we ever had BTW). I understand what Islam is doing. Hey to all of the Christians, didn't you guys just change the wording of the Bible so that it doesn't read "Thou, Thine" all of those old European words. to all of the Christians, did you know that there was a King or something in Rome that made the decision that some of the other profits wrote their story but it was not to be published? did you know? Wonder what it said in those writings. You all believe in words of Man who has been tempted by the devil while he was writing or rewriting your Bibles. Yet you will still strap bomb to you and kill, you will rent UHauls-drive it to a building and kill children, you will send young kids put guns in there hands and say, they hate you, we need to take over their country. I do not know why no body else can see that "that is the root of all evil" Books claiming to be written by your God thru servants make you hate. It makes you Kill. It makes you not a "Brethren" Peace be on to all of you, because in my world or religion, I love everyone no matter what your beliefs, race, color, religion, gender. Plus, "Who am I do judge wher you are gonna be after you pass away? More importantly, who are you to judge?" If you put all of the "Bible's" down and start shaking hands with people and speak to others we will learn more about each other, but more importantly, GOD himself.
It's kind of disappointing that some people take the convenient road of youtube-ing negative videos about Islam or echoing/overgeneralizing what you hear, which a lot of the time is untrue anyways. Honestly, if you don't understand something about the faith then make a real effort to study it or ask a legitimate source.
With that said, Islam doesn't need to be defended and Muslims don't need to be apologetic about their beliefs. I think the article is telling a story of what is occurring around the country with young people from all faiths, not just Islam. Young people are trying to understand what makes them who they are and for some religion plays a big part. There is nothing wrong with helping them feel a sense of pride and belonging in Islam on and individual basis and as a larger sense of the community, which is America. Whether some people like it or not these kids are Muslim Americans and there is no conflict in that.
unfortunately, there is a conflict between being muslim and being American! America is about freedom to make p o r n, freedom to mix freely for unmarried opposite s e x e s, freedom to make adultery glorifying TV, freedom to buy, sell, drink booze, freedom to buy sell gambling, freedom to indulge in all manner of usury related banking (fraud). these are all quintessential American freedoms, which are all prohibited in Islam. They are also looked down upon in traditional Christianity, but christianity is able to overcome the dislike for these, due to its wishy washy nature that allows you to sin and forget about it the morning after. In Islam, there is no such washing away of your sins. There is no God that died for all the sins you are going to commit every coming day in America.
The koran demands that male Muslims dominate the world by any means i.e. no male Muslim can be trusted.
Ignorance in full effect! Ideas like this are the root cause of terrorism.
especially the Royal House of the Saudi family!!
This whole effort to modernize Islam is like trying to square the circle. It cannot be done. It is possible to change the behavior of Moslems, and that seems to be changing to a significant degree in America. But that is very different from changing Islam which is a body of doctrines based on the Koran and the sayings of Muhammad. There is no way to change that because it comes from Allah directly. No mortal human being can change or reinterpret or reject what Allah said. These young, hip Moslems just do not know the doctrines which make up their faith. When they actually read the Koran and the sayings of Muhammad, they will see the impossible contradiction that they are trapped in. They will then have to choose one of the following: 1) follow the doctrines, which means becoming radicalized; 2) openly reject those doctrines, which means ceasing to be Moslem; 3) simply go about their moderate lives in silent disobedience to those doctrines. This last one is what almost all moderate Moslems choose to do.
"These young, hip Moslems just do not know the doctrines which make up their faith."
This is presumptuous to say the least. Faith is about an individual's belief in and relationship with his God. You can't possibly know what interpretations and leaps of faith these young Muslims are making. Don't forget, many things in Islam are ambiguous. People have to decide for themselves what is right.
Islam was given by Allah and may be changed by his divine grace. Who are you to say that this is Allah's final word! Heretics come in many forms. Beware the heretic who quotes scripture to his own means.
i completely agree. how does one make Islam "hipper"? Maybe you just need to re word that. I know you mean well and just want all brothers and sisters closer to Islam. The Quran was never hip and never will be. You just have to tell yourself, this is it. I am on this earth to let others know that there is a God and only one God. One that knows this and follows their religion is hip in itself
. It's really that simple. Please open your eyes to this crazy world. check out the videos on you tube called "the arrivals" and start with part one. Learning and understanding whats really out there will blow your mind!!!
Peace to you all ♥
"The rest of the Islamic world" will not be able to bully a man like Imam Latif who is followed by tens of thousands of Muslims around the world.
@ Muslims on this blog
I respectfully and humbly ask you to consider this: Take another look at Christ. This is the ONE thing that you missed. He was sent here for YOU. Yes, for you and me and the rest of us who were given life by God. He was not simply a prophet as you were told, or lied to about. He was sent here on behalf of the human race, as fully man and fully God, to be sacrificed for our terrible sin. I am not stepping on your beliefs at all, I am simply giving you extremely important information that you are lacking in this knowledge. There will be no hell, no punishment, and no damnation if you confess His name. Brethren, I am being completely truthful and honest with you as your distant relative and fellow sons of Abram. God Bless you and all people.
@ Christians on this blog
I respectfully and humbly ask you to consider this: Take another look at Mohammud. This is the ONE thing that you missed. He was sent here for YOU. Yes, for you and me and the rest of us who were given life by Mohammud. He was not simply a prophet as you were told, or lied to about. He was sent here on behalf of the human race, as fully man and fully Mohammud, to be sacrificed for our terrible sin. I am not stepping on your beliefs at all, I am simply giving you extremely important information that you are lacking in this knowledge. There will be no hell, no punishment, and no damnation if you confess His name. Brethren, I am being completely truthful and honest with you as your distant relative and fellow sons of Abram. Mohammud (PBUH) Bless you and all people.
Generally every Muslim knows the Christian belief (now days one)
It's the introduction that Jesus pbuh suddenly became god when i was in grade 5 that made me leave Christianity...
So I cannot believe you that Jesus pbuh is god, yes he was sent down to give us guidence but in no way is he god...and he never said he was god in the Bible and then if he was god then why did he prostrate to god and call out to god before he was betrayed?
that's really stupid.
Aisha–
Just because you don't believe in something doesn't make it stupid. Respect other people's beliefs –even if you don't agree with them –and left Christianity (in the 5th grade no less), in that way that respect will be returned to you.
Veronica ,Have you Read you Bible ? really read it ?
Joel, I try to follow only the truth and have found it in Islam. No disrespect but Christianity in its current form today does not make sense to me.
How about leaving the fairy tales behind completely? How about treating your fellow man with respect, living to do good by the Earth, and spending your one life doing something memorable instead of trying to get into a non-existent afterlife?
Imagine the world we would have without everyone killing each other based on 2000-year-old texts.
"Failing to address these issues, they fear, could sever the connection between a generation of American Muslims and their religion."
Please don't address those issues, then. This barbaric religion should not be followed by anyone in the civilized world.
"Mohammed, along with Buraq and Gabriel, visit Hell, and see a demon punishing "shameless women" who had exposed their hair to strangers. For this crime of inciting lust in men, the women are strung up by their hair and burned for eternity. Persian, 15th century.
Next, Mohammed sees women strung up by hooks thrust through their tongues by a green demon. Their crimes were to "mock" their husbands and to leave their homes without permission. Persian, 15th century.
Further on, Mohammed sees a red demon that is torturing women by hanging them up by hooks through their breasts, as they are engulfed in flames. The women are being punished for giving birth to illegitimate children whom they falsely claimed were fathered by their husbands. Persian, 15th century."
the irony Khalid is that 300 years from now, 2/3rds of the world will be moslem!! the way your non-barbarian civilization is going, they will no longer be reproducing. if you keep treating your women like pieces of meat to be used in p o r n and as meat for show on various media, only moslem children will be continuing into the future, because moslem women (like the one you just described) stay home and become moms, yours become hoo kers. yesterday on CNN, "stay home moms turning to phone s e x" to earn income!! even your moms are employed by the p o r n industry. so keep shouting "islam is barbarian, islam is barbarian" and misquoting our religious texts, only moslems will be around in the near future to hear your silly bleating.
@Khalid....either For or Against...you'll find yourself stuck with the same thing. Religion is like the skin of the banana, the real fruit inside is spirituality, human values. Unfortunately we all keep fighting over the skin and fail to incorporate the knowledge which is same at the heart of every religion. I agree that education and openness is mandatory in some of the religions. But for that we will have to work with love and skill.
As a Catholic. I agree with your statements about the average american, and the degredation of wemen, its discusting! And the birth rates of most of our selfish "enlightened" americans is self imposed distruction.
Abdul, the reality is that Islam will take a fall as more and more people realize what a sham it is. Muhammad – the historical Muhammad, not the Santa Claus version touted by Muslims – may pi$$ be upon him – was a minipulative, cutthroat, highwayman. A thief who was run from his own hometown. Everywhere in the world where Muslims have "converted" the people, the reality is they terrorized the people into submission by cutting off heads. In Islam convert = terrorize. The Quaran is a blue book for developing terrorists because it appeals to mostly poor, ignorant males. The teachings of Islam are over 1400 years old and need to be brought in line with the times, but they will not because of ignorance. it is a midieval religion with 21st century weapons, and that is scary.
Lies after lies after desperate attacks.
I'd like for everyone on here, Islam shouldn't be learned from hate/evangelist sources. This is where hate mongers on here get their info from. Twisted verses, unreliable material is their game. Islam should be learned from educational Muslim sources.
I've already given my email, anyone willing to object please reply there.
Nice to read something positive about this great world faith, rather than the usual mudslinging.
Adam, you have never read the Quaran. Read it cover to cover and then rethink what a great religion it is. If you have not read the Quaran and the Haddith, you can get English versions from local mosques. It is pretty tidious and boring, but well worth it in order to understand it's manipulative power and it's negative messages. But until you read it, don't talk about it because you don't know what you are talking about. Unless you are ok with spelling out how women should be punished; or that it is ok for Muhammad to have access to widows, nieces, daughters, slave girls, etc.; that it is ok to smite unbeilevers across their necks; that you should never turn your back on an enemy; that it is your duty to extract vengence, etc. I can go on because I have read it and studied it and you other fools like you have not read it.
Stephen Douglas: why should you assume Adam or any of the other "fools" posting here hasn't? Perhaps he IS ok with all of those things. Even in our bible it is ok, apparently, to get drunk and sleep with one's own daughters. Or should I assume that the Old Testament is ok with you...?
I think this Imam is thoughtful and caring of his community, and he loves them. This is a positive thing for his select community and positive for the greater diverse community, and I am appreciative of his efforts. I am saddened by those who seek to pick out negatives, these people are probably from my own Christian community, and there are a few negatives, some downright awful, in our own Old Testament. Lets build each other up, not tear each other down. My prayer is for peace and love, not for domination. Blessings to the forward progress of humanity on our earth, and to this Imam and his community.