People do crazy things for religion.

Take for example hundreds of families belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Chantilly, VA, trying to self-fund a mosque for the past decade. In an extremely friendly lending environment, the women from these families sold $500 dresses, their husbands made $5 kabob rolls, and their children cooked $.50 brownies to raise funds. And the Community’s executives, instead of lobbying governments for petrodollars, dug into their checkbooks to donate — urging others to reciprocate.

Photo credit: Patch.com / Mary C. Stachyra

Well, on the eve of Jan. 29th, someone went crazy at this under-construction mosque in Chantilly VA: it was vandalized. All the custom glass windows on thefirst floor were shattered, leaving behind rocks, beer cans and a financial damage of $60,000.

There is a bright line distinction, though, between both crazy acts: one is driven by knowledge and love, while the other by ignorance at best, and hatred at worse.

This is not the first time such ignorance (or hatred) was directed at a mosque. Google the term “mosque vandalized” and you find 244,000 results. Just within 10 days of bin Laden’s death, three mosques were vandalized in New York, Maine, and Portland; so one more in Virginia is hardly ground breaking news.

What is news is the fact that we still know so little about these Muslims. Who are they? Why do they want to come to “my” community?

As an Ahmadi Muslim, allow me to tell you who we are.

Since 1924, members of the oldest Muslim organization in America have advocated loyalty to one’s country of residence. Instead of religious extremism, they are focused on education — hailing the first Muslim Nobel Laureate (in Physics) in 1979. Instead of male chauvinism, Ahmadi Muslim fathers empower their daughters, helping them to win Rhodes scholarships. And instead of confused pessimism, this community commemorated the 10th anniversary of 9/11 by raising more than 10,000 units of blood in collaboration with the American Red Cross. Pretty crazy, right? Or call it “Psychicemotus,” if you want to use a fancy word from the Grammy award winning musician Yusuf Latif ‘s album, also a respected member of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA.

On the topic of vandalism though, a thought may cross someone’s mind about the brutal church burnings and atrocities committed against minorities in Muslim countries. It’s shameful. It’s contrary to what Islam teaches, “Allah did not repel some men by means of others, there would surely have been pulled down cloisters and churches and synagogues and mosques, wherein the name of Allah is oft commemorated (22:41). Therefore, the Ahmadiyya Muslim community has publicly denounced such horrific acts.

I wonder how a mutual understanding of each others’ belief would impact the minds of those who vandalize a house of God; no matter whether we call it a church, synagogue, temple, or mosque.

But all is not lost in this battle against a pocket of ignorance. As the word spread, not only that other Muslims reached out to help but local churches also extended notes of sympathy, synagogues expressed support, and non-Muslim friends asked where to send a check. Look at the largest mosque in Northern Europe and one of the largest mosques in North America , both self-funded and belonging to the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, and one thing is clear: We seek your prayers, not payers, to take this peaceful mission forward.

The perpetrators left the crime scene in dark, but it’s heartening to see our nation and its constitution standing by our side in broad daylight. Stones can shatter a glass window but they cannot touch our iron resolve.

We are coming to Chantilly, VA to join hands with anyone interested in making this world a better place. Whether that is by feeding the hungry, providing free medical care to the indigent, cleaning a highway, or raising a good child. We are coming to Chantilly, VA because it is our community too.

Steve Jobs famously said, “We’re here to put a dent in the universe.” A universe plagued by hunger, disease, poverty — and so much tumult. Throwing rocks at a mosque or whining about them, only puts adent on our nation’s face. We are all better than that.

Let’s join hands as neighbors and pledge to go crazy — good crazy — and make that dent in the universe.

Follow Dr. Faheem Younus on Twitter: www.twitter.com/FaheemYounus

Get this. After Denver Broncos won against the Pittsburgh Steelers on January 8th, one such friend called me, frantic. He believed that Tebow’s evolution into this charismatic evangelical Quarterback posed a threat for Muslim Americans like his teenage son. Poor Tebow had no idea that his innocent 80-yard touchdown pass, against the Pittsburgh Steelers, had triggered such a panic.

The story is multilayered though. My friend’s son was drifting away from Islam for a while. Partly because of some tough questions. Questions like why his Imam at the mosque did not practice what he preached, and why his father degraded women, and why the family elders refused to even acknowledge issues surrounding homosexuality and… you get the point, right? His father sent him to the Imam for answers who exercised, shall we say, unnecessary roughness. So the boy immersed himself in beer, football and his Christian friends.

Now imagine the options for this Muslim teenager. On one side was dogma, while the other side had football, friends, booze, and a touchdown pass that people were calling, divine. Ouch!

Even if the Imam was comfy cozy, his clout was no match to the status of a rookie whose name is now practically a verb. Who knew if even a 130 people subscribed to the Imam’s Facebook page (that is, if he had one) in comparison to Tebow’s 1.3 million fans. We knew that 23,000 people followed the first ever Muslim congressman Keith Ellison on Twitter in comparison to Tebow’s 900,000 plus followers. And while neither the Congressman nor the Imam had the privilege to be showcased by a network documentary, Tebow had been the subject of one by ESPN titled, “The Chosen One.”

Yikes! See how a sweet young man, who committed the sin of openly committing to God, became a threat for an entire group of people?

This limited pitched battle is a small flick compared to the proselytizing war between evangelical Christianity and Islam — worldwide. With both sides taking pride in preaching the message, each new territory influenced is typified as a first down; and each convert, a field goal. Even though the score, worldwide, stands at 2.2 billion to 1.8 billion in the favor of Christianity, Islam is rapidly closing the gap in what appears to be the fourth quarter of human civilization.

In such a tight race for religious market share, brand Tebow could be a cause for concern.

My friend had such concerns. So he pleaded me to: “Please talk to my son and confirm that he does not look at Tebow’s performance as ‘miraculous,’ that he does not believe God is micromanaging the outcomes of the 2011 Football season, that he is not going to convert to Christianity.”

“People don’t convert because of football games” I retorted since a 2009 report by the Pew Forum on religion and Public Life stated that more than one-quarter of American adults (28 percent) leave the faith in which they are raised in favor of another religion — or no religion at all. And their reasons to leave were complex. Religious dogma, conflict between religion and science, and a desire to intermarry between religions were all factors, in addition to others, leading to conversions. Catholics and Protestants were, in fact, losing large numbers to the “unaffiliated” category — the fastest growing group — since three people move into it for every person moving out.

If data means anything, then Brand Tebow is not the threat to my friends’ son; his own flawed understanding of Islam is. And he is not likely to lose his “market share” to Evangelical Christianity; he is likely to lose it to atheism and agnosticism.

So as promised, two days before the game between Broncos and Patriots, I asked my friend’s son: Do you think Tebow’s evolution into this phenomenal champion for Christianity has the potential to affect a Muslim mind like yours?

“Tebow’s evolution…” he said with a wicked smile and then added, “No way. Tebow should first reconcile the concept of ‘evolution’ with his Christianity.”

Then came Tebow’s crushing defeat; at the hands of New England Patriots.

My friend was relieved — more by Tebow’s defeat as compared to his son’s response.

But the reality is: Brand Tebow is here to stay; just like his son’s tough questions for Islam and Christianity.

After landing at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York as an exchange visitor, I was faced with a culture shock. I knew the word “Manhattan” but I didn’t know what it actually meant. Was it a fruit? A car? A newspaper? I knew the name Michael Jordan but I didn’t know who he actually was. A singer? A scientist? A politician? I knew Thanksgiving was an important holiday in America but I didn’t know what to do on thanksgiving? Eat? Pray? Love?

Don’t forget. This was 1996, when internet was not ubiquitous and search engines meant using a pillow sized book called Yellow Pages. But despite spending a lot of time, the Yellow Pages could not expand my understanding of the above three queries.

So I did what we doctors do best: read a book. It was a book about American cultural literacy.

Reading about the history of thanksgiving, however, opened up a Pandora’s Box of controversies. Is it a Christian holiday? Is it a secular holiday? Is giving thanks to God a good idea or should we be thanking our fellow human beings? Or is it a reminder of the “genocide of the native Americans” and therefore should not be celebrated at all.

This was all too complicated for a medical doctor who was now having second thoughts about learning the history of Manhattan or Michael Jordan. “Who knows … they may turn out to be just as controversial?” I thought.

Which left me with the loaded question: What should I, as a Muslim in America, do on Thanksgiving?

One good thing about medical residency was that sometime a holiday would simply pop-up on your schedule and you literally had to do something with it. So my first reaction to “do something” with my first Thanksgiving was to thank God. Thank Him for giving me peace, security and opportunity in America.

To that end, I found a rainbow of Quranic verses exhorting Muslims to thank God in various ways. Here is one for each color in the rainbow.

Want a promising violet, try: “… If you are grateful, I will, surely, bestow more favors on you;” (14:8); How about an acknowledging indigo: “(Abraham was) thankful for His bounties; God chose him and He guided him unto a straight path” (16:121); Or the true blue thanks of another prophet “Assuredly, he (Noah) was a grateful servant” (17:3); Or a the combination of a green encouragement with a yellow warning: “Remember Me so that I will remember you, and give thanks to Me and do not be ungrateful to Me” (2:152); Or consider the simply orange truth: Surely, Allah is gracious towards mankind, but most of them are not thankful…’ (10:61); and if all fails, here is the red hot chastisement: “If you are thankful I will add more unto you. But if you show ingratitude My punishment is terrible indeed” (14:7).

But God was simply missing from most American Thanksgiving celebrations. Why? Because many atheists claim that giving thanks to our fellow human beings, those who make a true difference in our day to day lives, is more important than thanking a nebulous (in their opinion) entity.

There is much credence, (in my opinion), to the atheist’s point of view of thanking our fellow humans. Prophet Muhammad also reminded Muslims, “The one who does not give thanks for a small blessing will not give thanks for a great blessing, and the one who does not give thanks to people will not give thanks to Allah” (Abu Dawud). By helping the poor, respecting the elders, giving up his seat for a guest, showing unconditional love and exercising fairness in every day affairs, the prophet taught Muslims an important lesson. Thank you is not just a word; it’s an attitude.

Making the thanksgiving holiday a focal point of the Native American controversy is an over simplification. So I will leave it for a separate discussion.

15 years later, as a naturalized US citizen, there is much that I still don’t know about a lot of things. But I do know what an American Muslim should do on Thanksgiving: Give thanks.

Let’s thank our beautiful country, let’s thank our living constitution, and let’s thank the people around us. Only then can we truly thank God.

By the way, adding Turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, and a pumpkin pie to the day would be a fantastic idea too.

Follow Dr. Faheem Younus on Twitter: www.twitter.com/FaheemYounus

All three of them represent ethnic or religious stereotyping.

Keeping that in mind, what should you say to someone using hijab, a Muslim woman’s head cover, while going to “trick or treat” or a Halloween party? Bad idea.

Why?

For starters, hijab, a religious symbol of modesty for more than a billion Muslims, has already faced constitutional tricks. House bills in Oklahoma and Minnesota have attempted to pass legislation that would prohibit women from wearing a hijab for driver’s license photos. And Oregon attempted to ban religious dress, including a hijab, for public school teachers.

Our cultural treatment to hijab is more vitriolic though. Here is an example: One of my close family members who wears an outer garment and a hijab was unloading groceries from her car when two kids from the neighborhood screamed “witch, witch, witch” while looking into her eye. Not just once. They repeated it during all three trips that it took for her to move all the groceries. She felt deeply hurt — not by the kids, but by their mothers who were present but simply laughed at the incidence.

Don’t think that a Muslim American women’s chagrin is limited to Halloween. Ignorance about hijab is a year-around phenomenon in some segments of our society. How do I know that? I simply asked my female family members. And before I could blink, they shared not only their painful experiences but also the five commonly asked questions that they face about their hijab (including the answers they give). So here we go:

1. Aren’t you hot in this dress?

Well yes, on hot days it’s not easy to wear yet another layer of clothing. But then we are reminded of a famous saying, “Faith makes things possible … not easy.” Wearing a hijab is a part of my faith.

2. But isn’t Muslim head cover a cultural practice?

A Muslim head cover is a religious commandment, not a cultural practice. The Quran exhorts believing women to “restrain their eyes and guard their private parts, and that they disclose not their beauty except that which is apparent thereof, and that they draw their head-coverings over their bosoms” (24:32).

3. Do you sleep in it? Do you take a shower in it?

Hijab is a protective gear, just like a biking helmet. We wear helmets while riding bikes, not when we are sleeping or bathing. Similarly a hijab is worn primarily when a Muslim women is out of her house.

4. Will your five year old daughter also wear it when she grows up?

She will make her own choice.

5. You don’t have to wear this symbol of oppression now that you are in America.

I wear it by my choice, not because someone coerced me into it. My hijab is a symbol of my faith commitment and I should proudly wear it precisely because I am in America — the beacon of religious freedom.

This is not about celebrating or not celebrating Halloween, this is not about allowing or banning the cultural burqas forced upon women in the developing world, and this is most certainly not about condoning or condemning the remarks of two innocent children.

This is about the ignorance (at best) or bigotry (at worst) of adults toward a Muslim women’s right to choose her dress, a phenomenon the President acknowledged when, in his 2009 Cairo address, he asked, “to avoid dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear.”

But for every ignorant or bigoted citizen, we find many who are aware and compassionate of the diversity in our nation. Just last week, as my wife was waiting in a pediatrician’s office, another young boy looked at her dress and said, “Mommy, isn’t that a cool Halloween costume!”

“That’s a religious dress son, not a costume,” his mother rebuked while exchanging a smile with my wife. Now, that was truly American.

So here is my request: if you see a woman dressed in a head cover and an outer garment, please, tell your children that she is not a witch and that hijab is not a Halloween costume.

Hijab has already won the constitutional tricks in Oklahoma, Minnesota and Oregon. Will cultural America reward it with the treat of acceptance now?

Faheem Younus is an adjunct faculty member for religion and history at the Community Colleges of Baltimore County and a clinical associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He can be reached at Faheem.Younus@Ahmadiyya.us

Yet he believes in a “no return, no refund” policy for those who may be dissatisfied with Islam.

As a proud Muslim, I completely disagree with this notion. Sadly though, many face harassment and persecution at the hands of the so called Muslim governments who insist that the punishment for leaving Islam is death.

Meet Yosef Nadarkhani, one such gentleman, born to Muslim parents in Iran whose dissatisfaction with Iran’s oppressive perversion of Islam led him to Christianity at the age of 19. He was serving as a pastor in October 2009 when he was arrested for apostasy and later sentenced to death by hanging in 2010. The Iranian supreme court hinged his fate to a simple question: was he a Muslim before converting to Christianity or not? So now that the 11th branch of Iran’s Gilan Provincial Court has declared that Nadarkhani belong to a Muslim family and therefore must recant his Christian faith, he could be executed within a week.

And Kamal is not the only one against this “no return, no refund” policy when it comes to leaving Islam. A 2011 Pew survey showed that 86% of Jordanians, 84% of Egyptians, 76% of Pakistanis, 51% of Nigerians and 30% of Indonesians supporting death penalty for apostasy. Remember, there are well over 500 million Muslims just in these five countries. In corporate terms, that’s like 350 employees who have never read (or misread) their company’s policy and procedures manual: The Quran.

The Quran refers to apostasy several times (2:217, 3:86-90, 4:137, 9:66, 9:74, 16:106-109, 4:88-91, 47:25-27) and yet never prescribes any worldly punishment for it, let alone death.

So how do millions of Muslims justify such a barbaric act in the name of Islam? Well, because theirclerics claim that leaving Islam is not just apostasy, but treason – a crime punishable by death.

What non-sense. Merriam-Webster dictionary’s defines treason as, “the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign’s family or the betrayal of trust.” Apostasy, conversely, poses no danger to the government or anyone’s sovereignty.

Actually, Islam does not even allow anyone to brand another person as an apostate. It is a self-declaration. And Islam’s return policy is, in fact, even more generous than the Home Depot:

“Those who believe, then disbelieve, then again believe, then disbelieve and thereafter go on increasing in disbelief, Allah will never forgive them, nor guide them to any way of deliverance” (4:138).

Thus, I ask these self proclaimed scholars: How would someone “again believe” if the punishment for disbelieving was death in the first place?

But declaring apostasy a crime punishable by death, Iranian clerics display a clear insecurity. But God’s trust in His “product” appears to be far more than Home Depot’s trust in their tools.

“He who turns back on his heels shall not harm Allah a whit” (3:145).

Hold on you Iranian clerics. Before quoting Ibne Khtal, Tulaiha, Aswad Anasi, Maqees Sababah or the seven men from the tribes of Ukal and Uraynah (whom Prophet Muhammad sentenced to death) to support your decision, realize that all of them were punished for committing murders, not changing their faith. The rule at Home Depot is similar: you break the tool; you pay the price.

Nadarkhani should not have to pay any price; instead he should be free to practice any faith. The fact that he has been imprisoned for the past two years is enough to make me, a Muslim, sick to my stomach. How can these Iranian clerics enforce him to believe in Islam when God says in the Quran (10:100), “If thy Lord had enforced His Will, surely all those on the earth would have believed without exception. Will thou than take it upon thyself to force people to become believers?”

Despite all this data, I was unable to change Kamal’s position on the issue. So I asked him, “what would you do if Home Depot abolished their return policy altogether?”

“That’s easy” he said. “I will switch to the other home improvement store, Lowes”.

And then we wonder why Nadarkhani changed his faith…

Faheem Younus is an adjunct faculty member for religion and history at the Community Colleges of Baltimore County and a clinical associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He can be reached at Faheem.Younus@Ahmadiyya.us

A year later, he found his purpose. Where? In a network of U.S. based “Jihadis.”

This brings us to a 2007 NYPD report analyzing the radicalization process of American youth. It laid out the phases of pre-radicalization, self-identification, indoctrination, and “Jihadization” which turn an “unremarkable individual” into a terrorist. While everyone does not have to go through each phase, the report underscores, this sequential pattern played out perfectly in Ahmad’s case, barring one huge difference.

Ahmad joined a group of “Jihadis” who emphatically rejected the notion of violence in the name of Islam. Instead they were waging a Jihad of the pen, not sword. They were letter writers, not sword fighters.

The group, “Muslim Writers Guild,” was founded by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in 1936 (India), established in America in 1980 and revived after 9/11.

So back to the pattern of radicalization as the NYPD report elucidated.

Ahmad’s comrades, the Jihadis of the pen, were “unremarkable individuals.” But instead of gravitating towards the Salafi version of Islam during the “pre-radicalization” phase, they followed the Ahmadiyya, a peaceful Muslim sect whose founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad stated, “In this Age, it is the sword of the pen with which we are attacked… We should use our pen (not sword) to prove the truth of the religion of God”.

Where the second phase of “self-identification” was a piece of cake (as Ahmad did not have an identity conflict), self-improvement was a hard nut to crack. Writing, as it turned out, was harder than fighting. And the same media outlets which lamented “Where are the moderate Muslims?” would routinely reject his tediously crafted pieces for the next four years.

Thanks to the phase of “indoctrination,” requiring a spiritual sanctioner, Ahmad never gave up. When a Danish newspaper published offensive cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in 2006, the current Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community declared, “We will not launch a rally, but instead we will wage a jihad by the pen.” The Jihad of the pen against the insults hurled on the Prophet had been sanctioned.

Finally, on February 17th 2006, Ahmad’s first letter, analyzing the controversy, was published in the Sonoran News stating, “While we categorically denounce the foul-minded and ill-mannered actions of newspapers that published offensive caricatures of Prophet Muhammad, the irresponsible and disgusting reaction by some Muslims is equally condemnable”.

Ahmad’s “Jihadization” continues. He now serves as the Chairman of The Muslim Writers Guild, a group that has published over 400 Op-Eds and letters to editors over the past decade in leading newspapers, both in America and abroad. The group’s membership continues to swell and guess who joined in 2011: Osama, another American teenager, who published his first op-ed after the death of Bin Laden!

With the President calling a “lone wolf attacker” the biggest U.S. threat, the need to channelize the anger of these lone wolves from gun to pen could not be greater. Add to the images of falling towers the pictures of Abu Ghraib prison abuses, videos of dead Iraqi civilians, and Islamophobic rhetoric of politicians and you have a recipe for aimless rage and vengeance. If Plato was right in saying, “Of all animals the boy is the most unmanageable, in as much as he has the fountain of reason in him not yet regulated” then one could argue that any “unremarkable individual,” regardless of race, religion, or nationality, who experiences what Muslim American youth have experienced over the past decade, could turn into a lone wolf attacker.

Muslims, please do Islam a favor: Reject the notion of a violent Jihad when, in the age of reason, Islam is actually under the attack of pen. Ever heard of Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller, or Daniel Pipes?

The misguided, self-proclaimed “Jihadis” of violence hijacked the last decade. Muslim writers aim to reclaim the coming decade with the Jihad of their pen.

Dr. Faheem Younus serves as an Adjunct Faculty for Religion and History at the Community College of Baltimore County.

Ask Mark Stroman. An enraged 31-year-old white American, who fatally shot two Southeast Asian men in Dallas, TX, within a month of 9/11, 2001. His third victim, Rais Bhuiyan, a 37-year-old Muslim from Bangladesh, survived a facial bullet injury. Stroman was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death in 2002. But when Bhuiyan, a practicing Muslim, started a movement to save Stroman’s life, an altogether different narrative emerged. When asked why, Bhuiyan responded: “In Islam it says that saving one human life is the same as saving the entire mankind.” Bhuiyan went as far to create a website called World Without Hate and worked with Stroman’s lawyers for a new lease on his life.

Lesson 1 for individual Muslims: You can’t be a “Muslim for Life” unless you actually stand up to save a life.

Not for the life of me, you might argue. One story of compassion is not enough to undo New York, London, Bali, Bombay, Madrid, Tel Aviv … No, this is not a list of the world’s fashion capitals (God save Paris!); instead they are reminders of deadly terror attacks during the past decade — all by Muslims. But that’s like mentioning Ku Klux Klan, The Army of God, Lambs of Christ and Hutaree groups in a single breath to take a shot at all Christians — which is absolutely not my intent.

My intent is to project Islam as a religion of life, not death.

And the Holy Quran is replete with such messages. Islam upholds life in matters of abortion (17:32) by protecting the rights of the unborn. Islam upholds life for the female infants (81:9) who were being buried alive. Islam upholds life by allowing a hungry individual in distress (2:174) to even eat pork in order to save life. Islam upholds life, yet in cases of murder (2:179), by allowing the option of blood money. Islam upholds life by not prescribing the death penalty as the only punishment for any crime.

More globally, Quran declares, “Whosoever killed a person … it shall be as if he had killed all mankind; and whoso gave life to one, it shall be as if he had given life to all mankind (5:33).” Precisely the verse Bhuiyan quoted.

Not again, you might push back. A few sweet verses from a Holy text are hardly any proof of Islam’s commitment to life. Why has this sweetness not penetrated the Muslim communities?

It has. Come visit one, among many, American Muslim community which is breathing life into these Quranic verses.

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11, America’s oldest Muslim organization, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, has launched nationwide campaign called “Muslims for Life.” Thousands of their volunteers are distributing flyers, working with American Red Cross, reaching out to hospitals, colleges, churches and synagogues in order to raise 10,000 units of blood as their way to pledge solidarity with the victims of 9/11. Since each unit of blood can potentially save three lives, the Ahmadiyya Muslims are striving to save 30,000 lives during the month of September, 2011. The community has organized or partnered nearly 300 blood drives nationwide this month.

So it’s time for lesson 2, for Muslim leaders: Action, not speeches, is needed to link the image of a Muslim with love, life, and liberty. After a decade of death and destruction, both at home and abroad, all Americans are well served if we pledge solidarity with the victims of 9/11 by donating blood; not to score political points but to uphold the sanctity of life.

The message, we peaceful Muslims are giving to the killers behind 9/11 is simple: You take blood. We give blood.

“I tried to kill this man, and this man is now trying to save my life. This man is inspiring to me,” Stroman said before he was executed on July 20th 2011.

This is what “Muslims for Life” is all about – real inspiration.

This is my response to an embarrassing question that always comes up during my religious courses and lectures: “If Islam truly champions the values of equality, freedom, and compassion, then why do we see the Muslim world in chaos?”

Case in point: Syria. Since the largely peaceful uprising against a four decade long dictatorship started four months ago, nearly 1700 civilians have been killed by the regime, including 200 deaths in the week leading up to the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan.

And since Muslim governments were the first to demand a halt in U.S. military operations against Taliban during the 2001 Ramadan, Syrian forces must have exercised restraint during Ramadan, right?

Wrong.

Ground raids and tank shelling continued against the residents of the cities of Hana and Deir Ezzor claiming a dozen lives and maiming many more all during the first week of Ramadan.

Perhaps the reason White House spokesman Jay Carney called the cruelty “grotesque.”

Crushing a largely peaceful protest with brutal force by the Syrian regime during Ramadan illustrates a larger point; the hypocrisy of variegated Muslim dictators. The Saudi King spins around in Mercedes’ while women in the Kingdom yearn for a driver’s license. The Iranian Ayatullah hands down death sentences to apostates while eager to spread his brand of faith to others. And the Pakistani government makes life hell for minorities like Christians and Ahmadiyya Muslims while providing safe havens to terrorists — all in the name of religion.

“We will get you to New York”, these leaders promise the masses while cruising down 95-south.

And demanding peace from non-Muslim governments during Ramadan? Well, that’s just another one of their hypocrisies. The 1980-88 war between Iran and Iraq showed no respect to Ramadan. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Ramadan never brought a lull to fighting between the Palestinians and the Israelis during the September 2000 intifada. And in 2008 the Taliban rejected a Pakistani ceasefire in the northwest of the country, the Taliban stronghold, during Ramadan.

President Assad reads this and muses, “But we have a consistent record. Remember when Syria and Egypt launched the 1973 war against Israel during Ramadan?”

Disgusting.

If Muslim autocrats claim to be the followers of Prophet Muhammad (sa), they must take the high moral ground — I-95 North — as leadership in Islam is a trust, not a feather in the cap. The Prophet (who never sought leadership in his lifetime) said, “Office is a trust and a source of limitation and remorse on the Day of Judgment except for him who takes it up with full sense of responsibility and duly discharges its obligations (Muslim). ” The Holy Quran further supports this: “This is the Home of the Hereafter! We give it to those who desire not self-exaltation in the earth, nor corruption” (28:84).

That’s two out of two for many Muslim autocrats who are clinging on to power through corruption and force for the purposes of self-exaltation.

I am sure they are feeling bewildered and trapped. Here is why: If they play the religion card, Prophet’s saying “I do not appoint anyone to public office who asks for it or desires it (Bukhari and Muslim)” stands in their way. And if they switch to the secular standards, then relinquishing power is the natural response to such a large scale uprising.

Some falsely accuse the Prophet of fighting during the month of Ramadan by citing the battle of Badr. What is glossed over though is the fact that Muslims were merely defending themselves against an army three times their size, bent on annihilating them.

People ask me, “Will the Muslims following these leaders on 95-South, ever change direction?” “They already have,” I respond. “The younger Muslims look at the exit signs and wonders: ‘Why are we in South Carolina or Georgia if our destination was New York.’ Then they either take charge, replace the drivers (the Arab Spring) or they simply disembark and take a northbound bus (folks like me).

My generation remains proud of Islam — the faith, and we remain proud of millions of hardworking Muslims — the followers. But we are ashamed of these autocrats. And I say to them: Forget the Arab spring. Instead brace for revolts in every region, in every season. For your conduct brings us all shame.

Not to mention the embarrassing questions that I end up facing during my courses.

As an adjunct faculty for religion and history at the Community Colleges of Baltimore County, Dr. Younus has given dozens of courses about true Islam. He also serves as a clinical associate professor at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine. He can be reached at Faheem.Younus@Ahmadiyya.us

From an Islamic standpoint, the Big Mac in this case is America’s penchant with an interest-based financial system. Neither slashing trillions in spending nor creating a Super Congress would prove beneficial. Unless we address the fundamental issue of interest, raising debt ceilings is just like increasing the upper limit of “normal cholesterol”: it doesn’t make you healthy.

But the true blue capitalists keep hammering the Keynesian economic concepts, arguing that demand alone is not always enough to stimulate full employment. Thus requiring external forces, such as governments, to create jobs and regulate business cycles, even if it means borrowing more money.

The Keynesian fans never give a straight answer to one simple question though: How would we ever pay off the principal and interest on this $14 trillion plus juggernaut?

That’s where I think the Islamic teachings have something to offer.

Islam not only endorses private ownership for both men and women — “And covet not that whereby Allah has made some of you excel others. Men shall have a share of that which they have earned, and women a share of that which they have earned” (4:133) — but it also declares their properties as sacred, “O, people! Surely your blood, your property and your honor are sacred and inviolable…” (Last sermon of Prophet Muhammad).

Islam disapproves of wealth accumulation in a few hands though by stating, “…it may not circulate only among those of you who are rich” (59:8).

Remember, as of 2007, the top 20 percent of Americans own 93 percent of America’s financial wealth, compelling the bottom 80 percent to survive on a high interest (high cholesterol) diet.

And God warns of war if interest is not abolished,: “O ye who believe! fear Allah and relinquish what remains of interest, if you are believers. But if you do it not, then beware of war from Allah and His Messenger” (2:279-80).

I don’t find it funny, therefore, when some joke about starting a global war as one of the ways to reduce our national debt.

Like President Obama, Islam expects the wealthy to pay more. While Obama proposed a tax on wealthy American’s income, Islam imposed a 2.5 percent contribution (Zakat) only on savings.

This 2.5 percent contribution is imposed on a Muslim’s savings and stock-in-trade, payable to the state annually to fund social programs. Zakat is due on gold and silver too. Zakat on savings is not considered a “tax” by Muslims but a mean of purifying one’s wealth.

Imagine if you own a business and pay 2.5 percent on your profits or savings annually. Wouldn’t it provide incentive for you to work hard, expands operations and employ more people in order to increase your revenue? It’s like being on a treadmill with a 2.5 percent incline — perpetually. Say goodbye to high cholesterol!

Islam encourages circulation of wealth and is tough on hording. “And those who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah — give to them the tidings of a painful punishment” (9:34). So if you save a million dollars a year, you either spend it to run the economic engine or keep paying $25,000 annually.

It also, sort of, gives a money back guarantee if we eliminate interest: “Whatever you pay as interest that it may increase the wealth of the people, it does not increase in the sight of Allah; but whatever you give in Zakat seeking the favor of Allah — it is these who will increase their wealth manifold (30:40).”

If you are murmuring, “go tell your Muslim governments to take their Islam’s advice then instead of begging for financial aid from America”, I want you to know that I agree with you 100 percent.

If you feel that I am trying to introduce sharia in the U.S., rest assured, I have no such intentions. I cannot help but think like a doctor who loves his country. I know that simply raising the “normal range” of cholesterol without fundamental lifestyle modifications would not decrease a patient’s risk of succumbing to massive stroke or a heart attack.

Islam’s solution for our financial problems, I believe, can potentially eliminate the risk of our credit ratings suffering a stroke or our financial health succumbing to a heart attack.

As Islam proposes to eliminate debt, rating agencies like Moodies are proposing that United States should altogether eliminate the debt ceiling.

That’s like a patient saying, “Doc, I know the risks. Now could you please let me go so I can have my Big Mac, fried chicken and ice cream…”

Faheem Younus is an adjunct faculty member for religion and history at the Community Colleges of Baltimore County and a clinical associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He can be reached at Faheem.Younus@Ahmadiyya.us