Part 1: Why Muslims Must Participate in the Political Process in the United States

Part 2: How do Muslims Participate in the American Political Landscape?

Part 3: Why a Third-party Choice is Relevant?

Part 4: How do Muslims Contribute to Generating Hope through their Role in US Elections?

Part 5: How do Muslims Interact with Non-Muslims in America?

Part 6: Are Our Mosques and Islamic Centers Doing Their Job Properly?

Part 7: Role of the Mosque in Madinah under the Prophet’s Leadership and Mosques Today

In our previous article, we identified common civilizational values such as human dignity, individual right to education, self-determination, respect for life, social cohesion, family values, and so forth. We have recognized these values because of the attempts to create discord among us in the name of a clash of civilizations.

We will discuss the subject later in the context of the clash of civilizations, in this article we would like to underline the role and mechanism of practicing such values in early civilizations in history and their implications in America today.

The prophet of Islam Muhammad ﷺ introduced these values in Madinah during the foundational period of Islamic civilization. Under the Prophet’s ﷺ leadership, the mosque in Madinah was not only a place of worship; it also was a place for community members to organize charitable, educational, judicial, military, and political activities.

Students of history will find similarities between the Prophet’s ﷺ Mosque and the role of Ziggurats in ancient Mesopotamia.

One should also note that people belonging to other civilizations conducted similar activities centering on pagodas, stupas, temples, and pyramids; not in the sense of their architectural design, but in terms of their overall role in the life of their respective civilizations.

In other words, religious ideas formed an integral part of governing cultural, economic, legal, political, and social activities in all civilizations in history. Modernity, however, has reduced the role of religions in civic life due to the misuse and misrepresentation of religions in medieval Europe.

Unfortunately, we are all subject to a misperception of religion in society today. With this setting, imams and community leaders should contemplate on how they could translate prophetic teachings in America today. Given the protesting students on campuses, they should recognize that the idea of universal human dignity, which is a common civilizational value, has motivated them.

Imams and community leaders should highlight that the prophetic message was not new in history; all early civilizations laid their foundation stones based on this idea of human equality and dignity, which they learned through divine guidance. This idea of the role of divine guidance in early civilizations is a question that would demand an in-depth examination of sources, and we shall undertake this discussion later.

Nevertheless, imams should note that only a rational approach will enable them to reach out to non-Muslim students and communities, and we would like to emphasize that the Socratic Method of inquiry as opposed to the Sophistic method of relativity will guide us in the right direction.